Gospel Lectio Divina for The Sixth Sunday of Easter - May 7, 2023
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
READ
Jesus said to his disciples: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."
MEDITATE
If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Whenever I do not sense God’s presence or love, I admit it is because I am not keeping his commandments. It’s not that he completely turns away from me when I sin, but sin creates a blockade, a veil between him and me. It creates a darkness in which I can see nothing clearly, a fog that makes everything seem relative or pointless.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.
Jesus keeps the same theme throughout this passage: If you love me and keep my commandments, I will reveal myself to you. Then you will live in me and I will live in you.
This rings true for me, but I have been bothered by a very particular doubt that is like a thorn in my side. If I believe in something, of course, that is how I will start to see the world. In other words, if I want to believe that Jesus will reveal himself to me if I keep his commandments, then my mind is already primed to accept every slight coincidence that even hints at the possibility that Jesus is revealing himself to me. Human beings have an innate inclination that is difficult to surmount: We believe what we want to believe. So, how does Jesus propose a different way of believing? How is Christianity different?
The one who does not believe says the teachings of Christianity just aren’t self-evident enough. Yet, the one who does believe says they are self-evident and sometimes even obvious. “To those who don’t believe, no explanation is possible. To those who do believe, no explanation is necessary.” These words, you may have heard, are written by the tunic of St. Juan Diego in the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Those who believe take confidence in miracles like this, and like the Shroud of Turin or the many eucharistic miracles. Those who do not believe say these things are not enough. Then there are those who are in between; those who want to believe but still say there is not enough evidence for them to believe.
I’ve been stuck in this conundrum for a while. I want to believe, but I’ve found that when I do believe I get tricked into thinking certain experiences are Jesus revealing himself to me when they’re actually not. Upon further reflection, I notice that the experience was just part of the coincidences of life. Whenever I get stuck like this though, the obvious truth is actually right in front of me: God is not limited by my experiences. Whether or not he answers my prayers does not validate or negate his existence. God is much bigger than my experiences of him.
When I remember this, it finally becomes easier to believe than to not believe. When I try to put God in a box and limit him to my own experiences, he eludes me. However, when I admit that he is beyond my comprehension, that there are some things that I know or believe are true even though I can’t explain them–strangely, it is then that I become more certain that he exists and everything Jesus says is true.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.
I need to backtrack here to a previous verse because only now does it make sense. We cannot contain God. When we try to wrap our heads around him, we will fail every time. But here God is saying that he will come to us. We do not need to wrap our heads around him because he already revealed himself to us. He came to us as Jesus. In Jesus, we have seen the Father. He lived among us, spoke with us, gave us the truths we were seeking, and–most importantly–died for us. Now he comes to us in the Holy Spirit and the Eucharist.
That is why, when he lives within us, we receive an uncontainable joy. It’s because his presence within us overflows from within our hearts and minds. This is what inspired saints and missionaries to evangelize. The joy of Christ’s presence within them was too much for them to just contain it within themselves. It has to come out. They have to share it with the world because it’s just overflowing from the deepest depths of the hearts, minds, and souls.
PRAY
Dear Lord,
Thank you for living within me when I do your will and follow your commandments. You are always with me, and you are always willing to welcome me back. It’s just a matter of how close I want you to be. When I sin, you are still there. When I keep your commandments, you come closer and your presence is more evident to me. This is not because of some relativistic mind trick my brain plays on me. When I sin, I cover my spiritual eyes and choose not to see you. All of this becomes as clear as day when I simply choose to follow you. Help me to make that right choice every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
LISTEN
If I love God, I will follow his commandments. In other words, if I love him I will listen to him. In order to love someone, we have to know them. We cannot know someone if we do not listen to what they have to say. God is revealing himself to us through Jesus. He is inviting us to abide in him, and asking to abide in us. One proof that we are listening is to give a response. God is calling us to share in his abundant life. What is our response?
Kilby is a freelance writer from New Jersey and managing editor of Catholic World Report. He received his undergrad degree in humanities and Catholic culture from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. In addition to working with the Knights of the Holy Eucharist (knights.org), he has served as a journalist for Princeton Packet Publications, and the Trenton Monitor, the magazine for the Diocese of Trenton. Some of his published work can also be found in St. Anthony Messenger, Catholic Herald (UK), and Catholic World Report. For the latter he is managing editor. Find more of his writing at ramblingspirit.com.
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