Sunday Meditation: The Birth of the Church

We have come to the conclusion of the Easter season, the Feast of Pentecost Sunday.  It is interesting that of the readings, there are differences between the liturgical years but there are similarities.  The first reading from Acts (2:1-11) where the Holy Spirit descends in tongues of fire is always read no matter which year.  The second reading varies per liturgical year, and the Gospel is usually fixed to the one today, though I have seen options.  I don’t recall any of those options ever being read.

Two years ago, I embedded a clip from Dr. Brant Pitre explaining the Jewish roots of Pentecost.  It is only four minutes long, but it is well worth listening to.  A key takeaway is that the descent of the Holy Spirit in tongues of fire mirrors the descent of God on Mount Sinai in a fire when He brings down the Ten Commandments.  There is more and you should listen to it all.

I found the introduction to today’s Pentecost Mass in the magazine Magnificat (May 2026 Issue, p. 364) particularly insightful.  I will quote it.

 

By the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Church remains in every age vivified and sanctified by Christ’s presence.  The Holy Spirit prepares us with his grace to draw us to Christ.  He manifests the risen Lord to us, opening our minds.  He makes present the mystery of Christ.  He reconciles us, bringing us into communion with God.  And he interiorly perfects our spirit, communicating to it a new dynamism so that it refrains from evil for love.  When the Holy Spirit comes within us, “it is quite natural for people who had been absorbed by the things of this world to become entirely otherworldly in outlook, and for cowards to become people of great courage” (Saint Cyril of Alexandria).

The quote from St. Cyril is excellent but I particularly liked the sentence, “And he interiorly perfects our spirit, communicating to it a new dynamism so that it refrains from evil for love.”

 

Today’s Gospel:

 

On the evening of that first day of the week,

when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,

for fear of the Jews,

Jesus came and stood in their midst

and said to them, "Peace be with you."

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

"Receive the Holy Spirit.

Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,

and whose sins you retain are retained."

~Jn:20:19-23

 

There are many aspects of Pentecost we can explore.  In my introduction above I linked to a post on the Jewish roots of Pentecost.  I also spoke on the Holy Spirit entrance into our hearts, and more on that later in the pastoral homily.  But for the exegesis I would like to post this homily from Archbishop Edward Weisenburger on the meaning of Pentecost as the birth of the Church.

 

Archbishop Weisenburger:

We then come to the Christian experience and meaning of  Pentecost, which is the fiftieth day after Easter, when we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy  Spirit on the Apostles gathered together with our Blessed Mother in the upper room after Jesus'  ascension and the beginning, some would say the "birthday," of the Church itself. But that image of "birthday of the Church" is not a perfect one.  Let me explain. 

 

When that great historical event of Pentecost took place, St. Peter, whom Jesus clearly left in charge, was there. But the papacy as we understand it today was still a long way off. That humble fisherman left in charge often stumbled, made mistakes, and eventually it took his co-workers and St. Paul to correct him in error and get him back on track with the Gospel.  No.  On that first, great, historical Pentecost, with its outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon those gathered in the upper room, there were no basilicas or cathedrals. Not until the 4th century. There was no St. Peter's Square. That would come 16 centuries later. There was no Vatican. That would come 18 centuries later.  There was no pope putting on military armor, like Pope Julius II, going into battle against his enemies to defend the Papal States. There were no encyclicals. We believe the first one came in the early 1700s. There were no Cardinals.  They appeared in the 11th century. There was no formal canon law, which evolved primarily from the 12th century. No Benedictine monks until the fifth century, and no Jesuits until the 16th. 

 

No, at that first, historic Pentecost, with the empowering of the Apostles, and our Blessed Mother with the Holy Spirit, none of this was there. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that these developments were not willed directly and inspired by the Holy Spirit, or profoundly helpful as the Church grew through the centuries. I'm only saying that all too often we identify "the Church" with real estate, bureaucracy, titles, offices, and laws, instead of the foundation upon which it would be built, which were the faithful, the people themselves. 

 

When you think about it, what the Holy Spirit fell upon at Pentecost was unwashed fishermen, peasant carpenters, housewives, greedy tax collectors, and a lot of other marginal people, who found themselves glued together by three things. First, baptism into Jesus. Second, the breaking of bread in the Eucharist. And third, the overwhelming, loving witness of very ordinary people.

 

It seems that these three factors were the basic building blocks of the Church.  And what's more, each of those present discovered that he or she had some gift to offer, some ability, talent, or something in some way useful for the building up of the Church, and their gifts were honored, put to use, and treasured.  Brothers and sisters, that's what we find when we look to the early Church. The Church   immediately after the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit at that first, historical Pentecost.  And if you had been there in the first century, and asked, "What is the Church?"  The response you would have received, perhaps worded or articulated in a host of ways, would simply have been something more like, "We are simple people, baptized into Jesus' life, and gathered together around God's word and the breaking of bread. We have a variety of gifts, joyfully putting them to use for the Lord. And knowing that in God's power, nothing can stand against us. We will continue on, joyfully allowing the Lord to use us as he pleases."

That was a long, extended quote but a very insightful one.  That point is one to remember.

For the pastoral homily I’m going to go to an Italian Dominican, Br. Giovanni Castellano, who serves in England with the historic Black Friars.

 

Br. Giovanni:

Well, today we have yet another episode in the Easter drama we've been living for weeks now. But we should beware of thinking that Pentecost is merely an extra episode, an optional addition to what the Lord has already done. It is not something we could do without. Pentecost is truly the fulfillment for us of the Lord's death, resurrection, and ascension.  And the reason is that if all the wonderful things that happen to our Lord are to have any meaning or any effect in our lives, that is because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  Receiving the spirit is our way of entering the history of salvation which the Lord accomplished in his own life.

 

What exactly this means of course is another very good question. The fathers compare the spirit to a sunbeam which has of course all sorts of effects. It nourishes plants. It produces solar energy and it also makes us sweat during a rather unwelcome heatwave in Britain.  The spirit in the same way works in many ways in us. I found a page online listing the 70 effects of the Holy Spirit. And I was tempted to go through all of them with you this morning, but I thought they might not be a good idea.  So perhaps I'll just comment on a couple of them. First, the spirit gives us a new heart.  God had promised this through the mouth of the prophet. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.  We are given the capacity for a supernatural love… in Christian theology, supernatural means what exceeds our natural capacity and is then a gift from God. And the most supernatural thing of all is a love like Christ's, a divine love which gives itself up for its friends. And this is the love that the Holy Spirit makes possible in us.

 

But there is a second crucial thing the spirit does. He makes us work for the kingdom of God. Again, black friars exists today because of the visionary leadership of be Jared. He was certainly inspired by the Holy Spirit to bet on something which perhaps others would not have dared to do. He said, "We are beginning without a penny, but we shall build as the money comes in." He'd been given a vision for the future and had the courage to act on it.  The apostles after the ascension were gathered together in prayer, but they were still paralyzed by fear like on the day of the resurrection as we saw in John's gospel. Only when the spirit comes upon them do they receive the boldness to go out and proclaim the gospel to the world.  So the spirit changes our heart, but he also gives us a vision and a mission and with it the strength to carry it out.  The spirit teaches us how to love the world and how to build up the church.

 

So, with the Spirit teaching us “how to love the world and how to build up the church,” Br. Giovanni combines two of the major themes for today. 

 

 

Sunday Meditation: Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.”

 

Let us turn to this beautiful hymn, “Come, O Holy Spirt, Come,” set to the melody of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.

 

 

Come, thou Holy Spirit, come,

and from thy celestial home

shed a ray of light divine;

Come O Holy Spirit Come.

come, thou Father of the poor,

come, thou source of all our store,

come, within our hearts to shine,

Come O Holy Spirit Come.

 

Thou of comforters the best,

thou the soul's most welcome guest,

sweet refreshment here below;

Come O Holy Spirit Come.

in our labour rest most sweet,

grateful coolness in the heat,

solace in the midst of woe,

Come O Holy Spirit Come.

 

O most blessed Light divine,

May that Light within us shine,

And our inmost being fill!

Come O Holy Spirit Come.

In your absence, we have naught,

Nothing good in deed or thought,

Nothing free from taint of ill.

Come O Holy Spirit Come.

 

Have a blessed Feast of Pentecost!

Faith Filled Friday: St. Basil on the Holy Spirit With Commentary

Hat tip to Alice for suggesting this would make a good blog post.

This is my commentary on the Office of Readings for May 19^th 2026, a couple of days ago, which was an excerpt from St. Basil’s treatise, On the Holy Spirit.  It has an extra significance with the weeks leading to Pentecost.

St. Basil the Great (330-379 AD), or sometimes referred to as St. Basil of Casearia, was roughly contemporaneous with St. Augustine of Hippo.  In some respects, St. Basil is the Eastern Church’s equivalent to how we hold St. Augustine in the Western Church.  Both were hugely influential theologians from which subsequently flowed doctrine and spirituality. 

Just as Augustine addressed several heresies in his treatises, Basil responds to Pneumatomachianism, which taught that the Holy Spirit is not God, with On the Holy Spirit,.  You can read the entire treatise at New Advent.  The Office of Readings takes a passage from Chapter 9 of On the Holy Spirit and breaks it down into seven paragraphs.  I will quote the paragraph and comment below it.

†††

From office of readings May 19^th 2026
Second reading
From the treatise On the Holy Spirit by Saint Basil the Great, bishop
The work of the Holy Spirit

Paragraph 1:

The titles given to the Holy Spirit must surely stir the soul of anyone who hears them, and make him realize that they speak of nothing less than the supreme Being. Is he not called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, the steadfast Spirit, the guiding Spirit? But his principal and most personal title is the Holy Spirit. 

Paragraphs 691 and 692 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church lists a number of other names for the Holy Spirit.  Let us list them all, including the ones St. Basil identifies:

the Spirit of God, Spirit of truth, the steadfast Spirit, the guiding Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, advocatus (the advocate), consoler, the Spirit of the promise, the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of glory. 

Paragraph 2:

To the Spirit all creatures turn in their need for sanctification; all living things seek him according to their ability. His breath empowers each to achieve its own natural end.

Interesting St. Basil says that “all living things seek him according to their ability.”  Other than mankind, what other creature did St. Basil have in mind that has the ability to seek him?  All animals have breath, and so perhaps he considers the breath of the Holy Spirit empowering animals to their natural end?  Is the act of breathing a supernatural sanctification of the Holy Spirit?  It provides life at every moment.  From the Nicene Creed, the Holy Spirit is “the Lord, the giver of life.” 

Paragraph 3:

The Spirit is the source of holiness, a spiritual light, and he offers his own light to every mind to help it in its search for truth. By nature the Spirit is beyond the reach of our mind, but we can know him by his goodness. The power of the Spirit fills the whole universe, but he gives himself only to those who are worthy, acting in each according to the measure of his faith.

Quoting St. Paul: “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh, but established as Son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 1:1-4). 

The Holy Spirit is the source of holiness because it sanctifies, just as he sanctified our Lord, and so was the source of Christ’s power.

Paragraph 4:

Simple in himself, the Spirit is manifold in his mighty works. The whole of his being is present to each individual; the whole of his being is present everywhere. Though shared in by many, he remains unchanged; his self giving is no loss to himself. Like the sunshine, which permeates all the atmosphere, spreading over land and sea, and yet is enjoyed by each person as though it were for him alone, so the Spirit pours forth his grace in full measure, sufficient for all, and yet is present as though exclusively to everyone who can receive him. To all creatures that share in him he gives a delight limited only by their own nature, not by his ability to give.

Contemplate this: The Spirit is present everywhere but yet present distinctly in each individual.  He permeates everywhere, thereby sanctifying everything, and always unchanged.  He is eternally self-giving but yet is never diminished. 

Paragraph 5:

The Spirit raises our hearts to heaven, guides the steps of the weak, and brings to perfection those who are making progress. He enlightens those who have been cleansed from every stain of sin and makes them spiritual by communion with himself.

Priest: The Lord be with you.
People: And with your spirit.
Priest: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
People: It is right and just.

“And with your spirit” is a reference of the power of the Holy Spirit at work through the priest.  With that acknowledgement, the priest exhorts the congregation to lift up their hearts.  From the power of the Spirit the congregation then lifts them up.

Paragraph 6:

As clear, transparent substances become very bright when sunlight falls on them and shine with a new radiance, so also souls in whom the Spirit dwells, and who are enlightened by the Spirit, become spiritual themselves and a source of grace for others.

“After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.  And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Mt 17:1-5).

The light that emanates from Jesus’s face comes from the Holy Spirit burning through Him.  The Holy Spirit is there in the scene as the cloud that casts a shadow.  The glow in Jesus is a foreshadow of the glow when we achieve perfect holiness, either in this life or more likely in the next.

Paragraph 7:

From the Spirit comes foreknowledge of the future, understanding of the mysteries of faith, insight into the hidden meaning of Scripture, and other special gifts. Through the Spirit we become citizens of heaven, we enter into eternal happiness, and abide in God. Through the Spirit we acquire a likeness to God; indeed, we attain what is beyond our most sublime aspirations—we become God.

We can only wait for that glorious day with hope and faith.  This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit.  It fulfills Jesus’s promise that He will send the Paraclete to complete the apostle’s baptisms.  From the Gospel of John: “He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn 20: 22-23).

 

 

Sunday Meditation: The Spirit of Truth

The Sixth Sunday of Easter—the second to last Sunday of the season—continues with Jesus’s Last Discourse, and, if you notice, these discourses are focused on the coming of the Holy Spirit.  These Gospel readings, then, set the stage for Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus tells the disciples that after He dies and rises and stays with them for a while (forty days) the Holy Spirit will come to them. 

I’ve been impressed with the Gospel reflections of Gina Hens-Piazza who provides reflections at America magazine.  She points out this week that Jesus in this passage is defining what love is.

 

Jesus, however, is suggesting a different relationship between love and obedience. He never threatens to withhold love, even when we turn away from the commandments. Instead, he makes obedience to the commandments the means by which we love one another. The concrete nature of love in human relationships becomes the means by which we love him. After all, whether they be mandates of commission or omission, commandments such as “Honor your father and mother” or “You shall not commit adultery” aim specifically at cultivating and preserving loving relationships among people. For Jesus, love is not contingent upon obedience but is the product of obedience. Divine commandments facilitate love of one another and result in love of Jesus.

Love in the Christian sense is certainly more complex than an emotional feeling.

Today’s Gospel:

 

 

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.”

~Jn:14: 15-21

 

 

Today’s reflection comes from Fr. Greg Heille O.P. from St. Louis.  He is one of the Dominican friars from the St. Albert the Great Province that provides these “Know Before You Go” homilies.  Fr. Greg rightly emphasizes the foretelling of the coming of the Holy Spirit in this passage.

 

Fr. Greg:

Our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrate a holiday that is called the Festival of Weeks which is held seven weeks and one day, or 50 days, after Passover…Well fifty days translates to Pentecost, and so we have in two weeks from now the solemn Feast of Pentecost, 50 days after our celebration of our Easter Sunday.  Early in our Easter season our celebration was all about “Alleluia, He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!”  But now late in the Easter season our celebration has more of a spirit of “Veni Sancte Spiritus, Come Holy Spirit."

 

In a way the Gospel from John 14 looks ahead to the next four weeks of celebration in our liturgical cycle.  A week from now we will celebrate the Feast of the Ascension…Our Gospel today in a way gives a hint of ascension because as we think about Jesus ascending into heaven we can wonder where is He now.  And our Gospel today, John 14, says, “I will not leave you orphans.  I will come to you.”  “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.”  The word advocate in Greek is paraclete, and its etymology is “one who is called aside to help.”  A helper.

 

So as we approach Pentecost we ae being promised by Jesus a paraclete, one who will walk along side of us to help.  We will not be left as orphans…Jesus was brought to life in the Spirit.  The Spirit walked with Jesus as His helper.  He was raised to life in the Spirit…And we begin to realize that what God has done for Jesus so too He does for us.  He raises us up in the Spirit.  He walks along side of us as a companion, an advocate, a helper.

 

That is the heart of our lives in the Spirit.  We have a “vital connection to Christ and the Father through the Holy Spirit.”  Be sure to listen to the end to where Fr. Greg explains that synodality is a walking of us all together on the Way.

For the pastoral homily, Cardinal Blasé Cupich of Archdiocese of Chicago combined this Gospel passage with a link to today’s Mother’s Day holiday.

 

Archbishop Cupich:

We've seen some remarkable transformations in this group of disciples that formed the early church.  We have Philillip who now very publicly addresses the people and speaks of Jesus.  Philip was the one who wanted death to know from Jesus the way that he was going.  And Jesus said to him, "How long have you been with me and yet you do not know me?" But all of a sudden with the gift of the spirit, something changes in him dramatically.  And it occurs to me as we celebrate Mother's Day that there are many qualities that are reflected in mothers that we find in this early church that's transformed by the spirit.

 

The first thing is the way the the disciples take initiative. Jesus is no longer with them. They're on their own.  And yet they go out and they make a difference.  How often mothers are the ones in the home who have to take initiative to get things going. Maybe those times in which there are birthdays or celebrations of holidays. They're the ones who take the initiative. They're the ones who kind of learn on the spur of the moment. I remember my own mother who was married when she was uh a young 22 years old and by the time she was 30, she had six children and she had to learn how to balance her life and balance being a mother to all those children. She took initiative much like we see in that early church.  But we also see these early disciples being willing to adapt and be flexible to the point that there were new members of the community who were different. We hear about of course the formation of the deacons. When the Greek Christians felt that they were being overlooked, the disciples were able to adapt and create a whole new order within the church that of deacons.  They paid attention to the specifics of the different groups that were there.  I think my mother reflected that as well. She always said that each child was different. The being a parent is not an exact science simply because there are so many variables in each child that comes along. She was once asked, "Do you love any of your children more than the others?" And her answer was swift and clear. No, she said, but only if they need it.  I think that that's the way each one of us have experienced our mothers as well.  That they know us and they look for ways in which they're going to meet the needs of each one of us in our particular circumstances, much like the early church was able to do.

 

Mothers as well were the point of unity within a family. So often the ones who brought people together for healing, telling and encouraging us to have forgiveness, but also the kind of unity that stays with us in our life even when our man mothers pass from this life. Much like the unity that we hear about in the gospel where Jesus says, "Even though I will be away from you, I will be in you as my father is in me and I am in you." How often we are able to carry within us the voice, the image, the words of our mothers within us. In a way showing us that the unity within a family is being able to have a sensitivity to the lives of others but also a fond remembrance of each other no matter what the circumstances are in life. Even if we are separated by distance or even by death.

 

God bless our mothers.  They are the image of Jesus in our lives.

 

Sunday Meditation: "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.”

 

How can we not listen to “Veni Creator Spiritus” after Christ’s foretelling of the Holy Spirit? 

 

Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, come

from thy bright heav'nly throne;

come, take possession of our souls,

and make them all thine own.

 

Thou who art called the Paraclete,

best gift of God above,

the living spring, the living fire,

sweet unction and true love. (...)

 

O guide our minds with thy blest light,

with love our hearts inflame;

and with thy strength, which ne'er decays,

confirm our mortal frame. (…)

 

Through thee may we the Father know,

through thee th'eternal Son,

and thee the Spirit of them both,

thrice-blessed three in One.

 

In Gregorian Chant!  Beautiful!

 

Sunday Meditation: Pentecost Sunday

We close the Easter season with Pentecost Sunday.  There are several readings that one can choose from.  I am going to select this short one from John’s Gospel, chapter 14.  I found that as I surveyed the homilies, it doesn’t matter much which is the reading.  The homilists all preach on the descent of the Holy Spirit and what that means in you.  If you’re interested in the Jewish roots of the Holy Spirit, I included in last year’s meditation on Pentecost an explanation by Dr. Brant Pitre.  

In one of today’s possible Gospel readings, Jesus explains how on His departure the Father will send the Holy Spirit down.

 

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.

 

"Whoever loves me will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

Those who do not love me do not keep my words;

yet the word you hear is not mine

but that of the Father who sent me.

 

"I have told you this while I am with you.

The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything

and remind you of all that I told you."

   ~Jn 14:15-16, 23-26

 

Fr. Joseph Mary of the Franciscan Capuchins in his A Simple Word podcast provides a great homily.

There is a lot of information in there, but that empty glove illustration is phenomenal.  You can think of the rest of the homily as the Holy Spirit being the hand that slides into us to do the will of God.  That is so memorable.

For the pastoral homily I turn to Bishop Robert Barron, who skips any explanation of the Holy Spirit’s descent—he’s probably done it repeatedly over the years—for an explanation of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  For this Bishop Barron want you to turn to Galatians 5:22 on.  I’m going to quote it here for you to have handy.  I am going to highlight the nine fruits.

In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  Now those who belong to Christ [Jesus] have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.  Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envious of one another. (Gal 5:22-26)

 

Now combining, Fr. Joseph Mary’s glove analogy with Bishop Barron explanation for the fruits, we can see that just as the hand goes into the glove so it can pick up the book, the Holy Spirit goes into us allowing us to perform these nine fruits.

 

Sunday Meditation: The Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything.

 

For the hymn, let’s turn to John Michael Talbot’s beautiful, “Come Holy Spirit.”

 

“For without your grace, all turns to ill.” 

Sunday Meditation: The Peace of Christ

As in last week, the Sixth Sunday in Easter of Year C keeps the Gospel reading in the Farewell Discourse. Here Jesus tells the apostles of the coming Holy Spirit.  This is a rather complicated passage.  Notice the progression of thought.  It starts with mutual love with the Father and moves to “we” will come to dwell in those who are in that love, making a dwelling place.  Then the Holy Spirit, referred to as the “Advocate,” or, in other translations, the “Paraclete,” will guide and teach those in that love.  The Holy Spirit will bring you peace.  So who is the “we”? 

 

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Whoever loves me will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;

yet the word you hear is not mine

but that of the Father who sent me.

 

“I have told you this while I am with you.

The Advocate, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name,

will teach you everything

and remind you of all that I told you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives do I give it to you.

Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

You heard me tell you,

‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’

If you loved me,

you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;

for the Father is greater than I.

And now I have told you this before it happens,

so that when it happens you may believe.”

~Jn 14:23-29

 

The “we” is the Trinity!  This Sunday I am going back to Fr. Tim Peters who does a magnificent job explaining the Gospel.

 

I am going to Fr. Peter Hahn of the St. Leo the Great Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for the pastoral homily.

The peace of Christ is “the most priceless gift and treasure that you and I can have.”

 

Sunday Meditation: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you."

 

For the hymn, we go back to John Michael Talbot, with his simply titled, “Peace.”  There is quite long introduction to this piece before we get lyrics, so hang in there.

 

Those were the first words of Pope Leo when he came out on the balcony, “Peace be with all of you.”