Readings: Acts 17:15,22-16; Psalm 148; John 16:12-15
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”
One of the great truths in life is that we can only learn so many things at a time. In fact, we can only learn so many things at all. Too much is even way beyond our ability to understand. And it takes a lifetime to absorb some things because it is not only a mater of the mind but of the heart: it comes while we experience it.
This is also true about our faith. We can only get into it slowly as the gift of faith is opened with joy and generosity. It is a step-by-step process, one belief builds on another, and as it unfolds gradually over time with experience, we move more comfortably in a life of faith because we believe, not in the words but in the Word, Jesus, the one who has revealed God’s love to us; the one who enters into a relationship with us, the one who, in today’s Gospel, tells his disciples – and us – that he has many things to say but that they/we are not ready for them yet.
This is where the Spirit of Truth, the Paraclete, steps into our lives. This Advocate whom Jesus sends to his disciples will reveal everything to them and will lead them towards the complete truth, truth about Himself and themselves, and about the world.
The Holy Spirit is future-oriented, leading us into the future. That’s why our search for the Truth is a life-long journey. But it is lived out each day of our lives. We are always on the way (or is it, The Way?). We can never say, “I know it all.” We will never attain the complete truth. But we always leave ourselves open to being led by the Spirit ever more closely towards the complete truth. Paul says to the Athenians in the first reading: “I found among them (their objects of worship) an altar with the inscription: ‘to an unknown god’.
On Sunday, May 21st we will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the birth of the Church. May it be a rebirth, a renewal, for all of us. Even now our prayer, our mantra, should be “Come, Holy Spirit” and lead us into the Truth, towards the one who said , “I am the truth.” Blessings. Fr. Brian