I Got This

A Reflection on the Gospel for May 26th, 2019:
Sixth Sunday of Easter

John 14.23-29

Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

“You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.”

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When I ask my children to “keep my word”, or “do as I say”, I am asking them to trust in me, because I love them. We know from 1Cor 13:7 that love “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”. This is a great mantra for a mother when teaching her child. And it is the way God would have us perceive His Love. As my children often fail to heed my word, I often fail to follow God’s instructions to trust and love. I suppose this is partly because I have lived of the world for many years, and the world doesn’t operate under these principles. I also sometimes have this bonehead idea that I know what I’m doing and don’t need any advice. My track record would clearly show that this notion is a farce. My children often feel the same way. “I got this, Mom” he said as he drove his bike straight into the ditch.

Sitting quietly in prayer to hear my Father’s words is a persistent uphill battle for me. This is the main arena where I wrestle with God—with trust and obedience. I recently heard someone who is new to the faith explain how grateful he was that in Christianity it’s OK to talk about our struggles with prayer as we stagger toward holiness. I couldn’t agree more, and I am grateful for my sometimes stumbling humanness because it participates in both my failures and my successes. For as the Son is in the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the Son and the Father, and the Father is in the Spirit and the Son, I, in my humanity, though prone to fall, am also capable of great good because of He who lives in me.

"When we are in Him as He is in us, we are at home and at peace—fully attuned through obedience and trust."

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When we are in Him as He is in us, we are at home and at peace—fully attuned through obedience and trust. Jesus, fully in tune with his Father‘s word, fully in a state of perpetual grace, fully obedient to his Father, our Father, hears his Father’s words steadily as they come. As They weave in and through one another, so are we woven in Their likeness, sent forth by the Spirit to weave ours and other’s lives into Their holy tapestry. Jesus is, in these words of scripture, gently explaining this very nature of the Holy Trinity, and the essential manner in which we can participate in the fullness of the Three in One.
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Let us Pray:
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: lead me to rest quietly in Your presence, Lord, so that I may steadily hear Your voice as You speak.

​Lori MacDonald

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