Today's Gospel

Call on the Spirit of Truth

Is there a word or a phrase or an idea that jumps out at you today? It's interesting. This is one of those readings where all three persons of the Holy Trinity have a role, have a place, I mentioned, I've spoken about. The opening line, Jesus says, "I have so many things to tell you, but you can't bear them right now." You think about that, as a parent, you're mindful of that of kids, right? There's things you want to teach them, the things you want to tell them about the world, but you have to be careful, not to overshare in a way that breaks them or in areas that they can't carry yet because their little selves are still growing up. They're still developing. And we are those children to God, and we have that immaturity in our spiritual life. And so Jesus is saying, "I got things to tell you guys, but you're not ready."

How do we hear that? If someone said that to you, what would you think? Would you think, "Wow, man, that's offensive. What do you mean I can't bear it? I can take it. What do you got? Give it to me." Or would you hear it, "Wow, there's a lot more for me to know about. There's a lot more for me to learn. What do I have to do, Jesus, to be able to bear it? You say I can't bear it now, but what do I have to do? How do I need to change? How do I need to grow?" And very often, we assign motive to the speaker. And someone could say, "Hey, you can't handle it." And that could be an insult. And someone could say, "You can't handle it. You're not ready for it." And that could come out of real love and concern.

They're saying the same thing. It's the way that sometimes we interpret it. Sometimes we hear it and assign motive. And we usually either assign very positive motive or very negative motive. We don't get caught up much in the middle when we start assuming people's motives and different things. But Jesus, he talks about, "Hey, you're not ready yet for some of these things," but then he goes on and says, "Hey, but I'm going to send the Spirit of truth. He's going to come. He's going to tell you everything you need to know."

But he's going to share the things that he heard, and he's going to share the things that were mine. And so what is he saying? There's one message. He's saying, "I've heard these things from the Father. And I've shared these things with you. And I'm going to send the Spirit. And He's going to share the things I've shared with you, with you. And He's going to share the things He heard with you." And so what's Jesus saying here? He's saying, "There's one message. There's one God, three persons, one message." And that's a beautiful thing. That's one of the beautiful things about our religion, our faith. It brings clarity. It brings clarity. We might not always like the clarity, but it brings clarity.

The church has something to say about everything, everything. Sometimes people go to their church, non-Catholic church, and they might ask their pastor or their elders, "What's our church's teaching on this issue?" And they might be met with, "Well, we don't have a teaching on that issue," or, "Whatever's in the Bible." A church is not like that. Church has a teaching. Whatever the issue is, church has a teaching, church provides clarity. We might not like the clarity sometimes. Nonetheless, clarity is a gift. Clarity is a kindness. There's genius in clarity. And so today, let's be grateful for the clarity that the one holy Catholic apostolic church brings to our lives. Have a great day. Remember, don't just be yourself, be the-very-best-version-of-yourself, all that God created you to be.