Seventh Sunday of Easter – Year B
Posté par diaconos le 9 mai 2024
The theme of this article is the promise of the Holy Spirit. In many religions, the Holy Spirit is an agent of God who communicates with men or acts upon them. In Judaism, the Ruah, the breath of God, already intervenes in the first chapter of Genesis, at the creation of the world. The Ruah continues to manifest itself throughout the Hebrew Bible. In the New Testament, written in Koiné Greek, the word used is neuma (πνεῦμα) which also means breath of God and corresponds to the Hebrew Ruah; but we also find, depending on the context, the word Paraclete.
In Christianity, the Holy Spirit (Spiritus sanctus in Latin) is one of the three persons of the Trinity, as formulated in the 4th century Nicene-Constantinopolitan symbol. It is celebrated at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit also appears in pre-Islamic writings and in the Koran (Arabic: Ruh).
In Christianity, although the Holy Spirit is mentioned by name on numerous occasions in the Bible, there is no definition of him in any Old or New Testament passage. This vagueness is at the origin of a series of theological controversies that can be divided into three main periods : the 4th century, which saw the development of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed ; the disputes between East and West that led to the great schism of the 11th century; and the doctrinal questions raised by the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.
Among the Christians of the first centuries, Ignatius of Antioch (35-110) insisted on the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Churches he addressed. Justin of Nablus (†165) placed the Holy Spirit in third place, after the Father and the Son. Tatian (120-173) called the Holy Spirit ‘the servant of God who suffered’.
From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to John
At that time, raising his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed thus: « Holy Father, keep my disciples together in your name, the one you have given me, that they may be one, as we are one. When I was with them, I kept them united in your name, the name you gave me. I kept watch over them, and none of them was lost, except the one who goes to ruin, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And now that I have come to you, I say this to the world, that they may have my joy in them and be filled with it. I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I do not pray that you remove them from the world, but that you keep them from the Evil One.
They do not belong to the world, as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, so have I sent them into the world. And I sanctify myself for them, that they also may be sanctified in the truth. (Jn 14, 18 ; 16, 22)
The promise of the Spirit
Those whom Jesus had tenderly called children, he loved too much to abandon them as orphans who would lose more than a father in him. The rich promise he made was a guarantee that this would not be so: « I will come to you, » he told them. It was with his Spirit that he came to them and not, as several exegetes have thought, with his resurrection or even his return on the last day. The context contradicts these explanations. « If you love me, keep my commandments and I will pray to the Father, who will make love and obedience abound in you ». What Jesus was asking God to do was to give the disciples his Holy Spirit, who became their life and the life of the Church.
According to Origen and Chrysostom, our reformers Luther and Calvin made the Comforter. « What Jesus will ask of the Father, on their behalf, is therefore another support, always at hand, always ready to come to their aid, at the first call, in their struggle with the world ». The following applications flow easily from this fundamental meaning: support in times of weakness advice in the difficulties of life; consolation in suffering. In this way, he will do for them what his beloved Master had done in the last years when he was leaving them. By saying: another, Jesus implicitly gives himself the title of Paraclete (Godet).
The remark with which John distinguishes him from Judas Iscariot, which is superfluous, betrays the horror that his namesake inspired in him. This disciple was still waiting for a Messiah who would be the earthly king of Israel, the judge of the nations; he did not understand that Jesus had to manifest himself only to the small number of those who loved him and not to everyone.
Deacon Michel Houyoux
Links to other Christian sites
SMcgvl : click here to read the paper →Seventh Sunday of Easter – Ascension of the Lord
Liyola Press : click here to see the paper →Seventh Sunday of Easter, Cycle B
Video Christian Fellow Schip : click here → https://youtu.be/RW31kzSRy9Y
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