Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 17, 2020: You are in me and I in you...

You are in me and I in you…

How do we prepare a place for Christ to dwell in us?

  In the Last Supper Discourses of John’s Gospel, Jesus prepares his disciples for a future without his physical body living among them, promising them another Advocate who will be with you always.  This Advocate is the Spirit of truth – he will remain with the disciples and be in them.  In his time on earth, Jesus has not just touched them without, he has touched them within, has come to dwell within them because of their faith and belief in him.  As he prepares to leave them, he wants them to know they will never be alone.  God does not intend to work from a distance after Jesus dies and rises – God wants to dwell within us, in close relationship with us.  We know him because he remains in us and will be in us.  This is a continuance of God’s constant and ever-faithful care of God’s people, as expressed in Psalm 66:  Come and see the works of God, the psalmist sings, while I declare what he has done for me.

  The early Christians understood the importance of the Spirit coming to dwell within God’s people.  When, in the Acts of the Apostles, Philip converts a great part of the population of Samaria, Peter and John go down and lay hands on the people, and they received the Holy Spirit.  The First Letter of Peter reminds us that, for this to be an ongoing indwelling, we must prepare a place for the Spirit:  Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.  We are to align our hearts with Christ alone to allow him and only him to rule our hearts such that nothing else may get in the way.  As Christ was brought to life in the Spirit, so will we be brought to new life, lifted out of our brokenness, draw beyond ourselves into God’s love as God’s love, the Spirit itself, dwells in us.  Even now, so long after his death and rising, Jesus’ life continues within us, through the Advocate and the love Christ reveals to us and in us... if only we open our hearts to his truth and sanctify him as Lord therein!

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

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