The gospel reading for today continues the high priestly prayer of Jesus (Jn 17:11b-19).  He continues to pray for His disciples that they may be one and that they be protected from the devil as they suffer hate in this life because of the Word.  He asks that they be consecrated in the truth as He sends them out into the world.  If the world hated Jesus and His disciples while Jesus was still walking the face of the earth, might we not expect that that despising of His message would not continue and grow as the Church expanded?  Knowing all this would happen, and realizing that the prince of this world would always be on the prowl “looking for [someone] to devour” (1 Pt 5:8), the Lord sent them out anyway.  He continues to call for this same witness today as He has done in ages past and will do in future days until the end of time.  So we should not be surprised, nor should we shrink in our duty, if we are reviled for speaking the truth and defending it boldly and firmly.  As with the first disciples, Jesus wants us to be consecrated in the truth.  Let us read the scriptures, seek to understand our Faith, and invoke the Holy Spirit that we may be guided in all truth.  Then, when persecution comes, we may, like the apostles, “rejoic]e] that [we] had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name” (Acts 5:41).

Today, we pick up where we left off yesterday, which happens to start a new chapter (Jn 17:1-11a).  This is the beginning of the so-called “high priestly prayer” of Jesus.  Here Jesus speaks to His Father in the presence of the disciples.  He asks that He be glorified as He glorified the Father through His work.  Jesus disciples believe that He came from the Father; Jesus prays for them since they must remain in the world but Jesus will be leaving soon — this sentiment, seen above, are the closing words of this passage.  We should be comforted to know that our greatest defender, our greatest ally, our greatest friend, has gone to heaven.  There He prepares a place for us if we die in His grace, but He also helps us on our earthly sojourn.  Considering the wonders of the heavenly abode should give us an abiding hope for eternal life.  Knowing that Jesus is here for us in all of our life circumstances is a comfort and strength to help us through even the most difficult events, anticipating with joyful hope the day we meet Jesus face to face.  If we believe in Jesus as the disciples did, recognizing that He is the Word of the Father, and then obeying that Word, we can look forward to hearing the following words when we leave time and enter eternity: “Well done, my good and faithful servant. […] Come, share your master’s joy’” (Mt 25:21).

Now past Ascension Sunday, we continue the sequence in John with the next five verses (Jn 16:29-33).  The disciples claim to know, understand, and believe in Jesus, but He tells them that very soon they will scatter and leave Him alone (except that, of course, the Father will be with Him).  Jesus’ last words (above) show that He realizes they will return to Him, but that doing so will be bad for them in this life but that they should never lose hope.  These words have provided encouragement throughout the ages and continue to do so today.  From red martyrs to white martyrs, from prisoners physically to prisoners of sin and vice, to all troubled by any cares, many have rested on the Lord Jesus’ words to bring them through trials.  So we should learn from Jesus and those who imitated Him.  When the world turns upside down and/or our lives seem topsy-turvy, remember that Jesus predicted all of this.  So while the prince of the world continues to roam and seemingly gain power, we recall who has conquered sin, Satan, and death.  Let us persevere, trusting in the Lord, until the end so that we can enter his kingdom and the place He has prepared for us (Jn 14:3).  Meanwhile, let us never stop working on the Lord’s behalf here on earth to fulfill the Our Father’s plea to have “thy kingdom come” (Mt 6:10) no matter the cost.

For the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, we go back to the last verses of Mark (Mk 16:15-20).  In this passage Jesus gives His disciples the Great Commission: spread the Gospel throughout the world.  Believers must be baptized and then they will do wondrous things; those who persist in unbelief will be condemned.  It goes on to say that the disciples did then go out after the Ascension to spread the word with the Lord’s help and accompanying signs.  Jesus’ ascension into heaven should serve as a reminder of where our hope lies.  We long for the day when we too will be welcomed into the arms of the Father in soul, and then later reunited with our bodies at the end of time.  But we also must take heed of Jesus’  last words: those who don’t believe will be condemned.  As has been mentioned before in these posts, belief comes from hearing the Gospel (we must become familiar with the Word) and following it with an ever greater desire to do so perfectly.  It’s not simply calling out “Lord, Lord!” but obeying His teaching (Mt 7:21).  Let us resolve to ever more conscientiously pray, listen, learn, and act in precise accordance with God’s will for us.

As was the case yesterday, we begin with the last verse of the previous reading (Jn 16:23b-28).  Jesus tells the disciples (and us), with the words above, that we should ask of the Father in Jesus’ name.  Jesus goes on to say that He will be telling them clearly about the Father, from whom Jesus came and to whom He will soon be returning.  This notion of asking and receiving has appeared in these posts before but is worth repeating because the Lord felt it was worth repeating.  The promise of “complete joy” sounds wonderful to us and is desired by any clear thinking person.  But what do we consider joy?  If it is anything that is sinful or immoral, any pleasure we receive from it will certainly be fleeting.  If it is a valid choice but not in God’s plan for us, it will be unsatisfying.  God has put a longing for Him in us.  He also has a plan for each individual.  When we couple this longing with a sincere desire to follow His will, only then will true and (ever)lasting joy be found.  Recall the words of St. Augustine in his Confessions: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”  This does not mean that trials and tribulations will not be part of our lives, though.  They certainly were a part of Jesus’ life and the lives of all of His friends and loved ones.  He even promised/warned those that follow Him will be required to take up their cross daily and follow Him (Mt 16:24).  And don’t forget these jarring words: “I give you My word, there is not one who has given up home, brothers or sisters, mother or father, children or property for Me and for the Gospel who will not receive in this present age a hundred times as many homes, brothers and sisters, mothers, children and property—and persecution besides—and in the age to come, everlasting life” (Mk 10:29-30).  It will be worth it.

We continue in John, starting with the final verse from yesterday’s reading (Jn 16:20-23).  Remember that Jesus had just told the disciples that soon they would be mourning but soon after they would be joyful.  He likens it to a woman in childbirth who experiences tremendous suffering but forgets it all when the baby is born.  This is like what the apostles will soon experience except that they will never lose that joy.  Jesus wraps up by saying the line at top and then tells them that they will be given anything asked for in Jesus’ name.  What wonders are in store for us on the last day!  We will no longer have questions — we will come to an understanding of God’s plan for us and for the world.  So now when we wonder about why bad things happen to good people, why this malady befell me or a loved one, why someone so young had to die, why so much pain and heartache afflict me and others, why I have been so blessed, and so on, we can’t be promised full understanding, but we should strive for a total acceptance of God’s providence as the priest prays at Mass on our behalf: “In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Picking up (Jn 16:16-20) where we left off yesterday, Jesus continues His conversation with the disciples.  He tells them that He will be leaving soon but will be back shortly thereafter.  They do not know what He means and He responds with the words at top.  The disciples truly did grieve when the Lord was taken from them so cruelly after most of them had abandoned Him and even denied Him.  Whether they recalled these words of Jesus during the first Good Friday or Holy Saturday we don’t know.  But if they did, they surely would have been hard-pressed to see any light at the end of that dark tunnel.  Isn’t it the same with us?  When we are in the depths of difficult times, whether physical illness, emotional pain, financial troubles, concern over a dear relation in dire straits, mourning the loss of a loved one, it can be hard to conceive that we will ever emerge from this darkness into true joy.  It is not uncommon that we move past these things in this life, but more importantly we have the hope for fulfillment in the next.  By living life as Christ commanded and exemplified we can rest assured in the hope of eternal life when are time on this mortal coil has ended.  The world (and its “prince”) does rejoice at the removing of God from its midst as it actively continues to do so.  This makes believers sad.  But no matter the circumstances, never despair.  Jesus Christ is victorious over the world, the flesh, and the devil — hearken back to the incredible joy of the disciples on Easter Sunday.  He promised us that ” the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against” the Church He established under Peter (Mt 16:18)– and He keeps His promises.  We are on the right side of history, so let us build up the Kingdom whatever animosity or persecution it brings: “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.” (Mt 5:11-12a)

Continuing with the next four verses (Jn 16:12-15), Jesus continues to speak to the disciples about the coming Spirit.  Realizing that the disciples could not process all that He was saying to them, Jesus promises what is declared in the quote above.  The Spirit glorifies the Son by taking from Jesus what Jesus has received from the Father and declaring it to the disciples.  What a wonderful insight into the mysterious workings of the Trinity — their perfect union and communication is given to us through the Church.  Thus, all revealed truth can be found safeguarded in the church established by Christ, the Catholic Church.  What a wonderful treasure.  Two thousand years of accumulated wisdom in expounding this truth — and developing a deeper understanding of it — is freely given to us.  Through the blessing of gifted preachers and teachers, in talks and writings, this can all be ours.  We have no foundation to claim ignorance.  We come to know Christ through our Faith: Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are the love notes of the Trinitarian God to the people He cares for so deeply and for whom He died.  We must not spurn Him by not opening these missives.  Rather we must constantly strive to come to know our beloved more deeply.  “Tolle lege,” as Augustine was once told: “Take and read!”

The gospel reading today (Jn 16:5-11) picks up where we would have left off yesterday had it not been a feast day.  That reading, which wrapped up chapter fifteen and started into sixteen, emphasized the coming of the Holy Spirit and how He would be sent to the apostles to bear witness to Jesus.  This will lead to their persecution and even death (“the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God” [16:2]).  Today, Jesus again mentions the coming of the Spirit (the “Advocate”), after Jesus returns to the Father, to do what is mentioned in the headline because of the unbelief and following of the “ruler of the world” (v. 11) that He will find on the earth.  It is easy to get discouraged in a world that is not only becoming secularized, but more and more seems to be hostile toward religion and morality. Little persecutions now, for holding onto the Faith, may lead to bigger ones later.  We should take comfort that we are not alone and that we would not be the first and certainly not the last to suffer for our convictions.  The good news is that God is in charge.  The devil may be exercising more forcefully his dominion on earth, but we always have the Spirit to convict the world.  Let us pray to the Holy Spirit that humanity will turn back to God and build up His kingdom rather than seeking ways to tear it down.  Let us pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all believers so that the strength of our moral convictions will never waver in the face of adversity or persecution and that we may always be an advocate for the Truth.

In four of the last five days we have heard parts or all of today’s gospel passage (Jn 15:9-17).  Today we hear it because we celebrate the feast of the “thirteenth” apostle, St. Matthias. Recall that in this reading, Jesus expresses His love for us as He is loved by the Father.  We remain in that love by keeping the commandments.  He goes on to speak of the greatest love as being that in which one dies for a friend.  We remain in His friendship by doing as He commands; we know His commands because He has told us everything the Father has told Him to convey.  Jesus chose the apostles to “bear fruit that will remain” (v. 16) by loving one another.  The words near Jesus’ closing in this passage (above) serve to further remind us who is in charge of our relationship with God.  Grace is a gift.  Faith is a gift.  Recall these beautiful words of one of the Eucharistic Prayers: “You have no need of our praise.  Yet our desire to praise you is itself Your gift.  Our prayer of thanksgiving adds nothing to Your greatness but makes us grow in grace through Christ our Lord.”  So we must never think that we are doing God a favor by honoring Him, praying to Him, returning to Him, and so on.  Rather, our attitude must always be: “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” (Luke 17:10)