Gospel (Jn 15:26-27; 16:1-4)
Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them.”
Commentary
In the Gospel passage that the Church invites us to consider today, our Lord speaks to his disciples with realism about the difficulties they will have to face as a result of being his witnesses and announcing his message.
As Saint Josemaría once said, “Christian teaching on suffering is not a series of facile considerations. It is, in the first place, a call to accept the suffering inseparable from all human life.”[1]
In the world we live in today (which is not so different from the one our Lord’s first disciples knew), it can sometimes be hard for us to lead a life consistent with our identity as children of God who seek to put Christ at the summit of all human activity.
At times, we can even feel afraid of the consequences of our decision to live our faith consistently. “Fears are an uncontrolled force within us. They generate tension and anguish; they take away a lot of our freedom, and can make us timid and withdrawn or, on the contrary, lead us to become defensive and react aggressively.”[2]
But our Lord, aware of the fear that can take hold of us, offers us the remedy: the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, the One who bears witness to God at all times, because He himself is God.
Let us often turn to the Holy Spirit and ask for help to overcome our fears and to confront each day with the hope of God’s children.
[1]Saint Josemaría, Christ Is Passing By, no. 168.
[2]Jutta Burgraff, Freedom Lived with the Strength of Faith.