If you love me, keep my
commandments. I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor
to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive
because it doesn’t see him or know him. You do know him, for he lives with you,
and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a
little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I
live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and
you are in me, and I am in you. Those who
have my commandments and keep them are the ones who love me, and will be loved
by my Father, and I will love them and will reveal myself to them.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said to
him, “Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and
not to the world?”
Jesus answered him, “Those who
love me will keep my word. My Father will love them, and we will come to them,
and make our home with them. Those who don’t love me don’t keep my words. The
word you hear isn’t mine: it is the word of the Father who sent me. I have said
these things to you while still with you, but the Counselor, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will
remind you of all that I said to you.
Peace I leave with you. My peace
I give you, not as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.
I told you, ‘I go away, and I come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have
rejoiced, because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’ for the Father is greater
than I. I have told you before it happens, so when it happens, you may believe.
I will not speak much more with you, for the prince of the world comes and has
no part of me. For the world to know I love the Father, I do what the Father tells
me. Arise, let us go from here.
Reflection
There is a clear sequence
here: if we love Jesus, we will faithfully live out his commands; if we live
faithfully, we will experience the presence of Jesus through the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit. Does this sequence connect with your spiritual journey? Where
are you on the journey now and what might the next step be?
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for
the journey and your presence on it with me all the way.
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