5/8/2023 (Monday) Today’s gospel reading: John 14:21-26
21 Jesus said to his disciples: He that has my commandments, and keeps them; he it is that loves me. And he that loves me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas said to him, not the Iscariot: Lord, how is it, that you will manifest thyself to us, and not to the world?
23 Jesus answered, and said to him: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him.
24 He that loves me not, keeps not my words. And the word which you have heard, is not mine; but the Father’s who sent me.
25 These things have I spoken to you, abiding with you.
26 But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you.
5/8/2023 (Monday) Today’s gospel reflection: John 14:21-26
In the gospel reading above, Jesus promises two things. First, the Father will love us. He will come to us and will make our abode with Him. Secondly, Jesus will manifest Himself to us with the help of the Holy Spirit. But there’s one condition for this two promises to be fulfilled: we need to love Him back who first loved us and the proof of our love is obedience. For indeed love is not a matter of words but of action and the action if to obey His commandments.
God is holy and certainly, He cannot make His abode in us if we are unholy. That is why, in Leviticus 11:44 and quoted in 1 Peter 1:16, God calls us to be holy for He is holy. Jesus also enjoins us in Matthew 5:48 to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. This is something that we must never forget. Anyone who claims to be saved by the blood of Jesus at Calvary must reflect upon the necessity to obey the command of Jesus to love which is the only path to holiness. There is no question that Jesus died in order to save us but we must first accept it in faith and this faith must bear fruit. Otherwise, Jesus would have died in vain just as James told us that faith without action is dead (James 2:26).
Yet, we often forget how Jesus has shown us the way. We often forget how to love the unlovable and forgive those who persecute us. We often forget to serve the poor and instead support the unjust structures that make them poor. We often forget to live by the truth of God’s love and His divine justice and instead believe in the lies propagated by those in power. But we trust in the promise that Jesus will send His Holy Spirit to remind us of all the things that He has taught us and that we have often forgotten. Let us pray then that the Holy Spirit will always remind us that to abide eternally in God’s holy presence, we must be eternally holy.
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