WEDNESDAY, SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER
Acts 17: 15, 22 – 18: 1; Ps 148: 1-2, 11-14; Jn 16: 12-15
ETERNAL POSITIONING SYSTEM
In the first reading Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit is brilliant in the way he relates to the Athenians and brings them the message of life – the Good News. Still, they are not convinced and even mocked him. St Paul would not give up. We are told he moves on to Corinth and from the letters he wrote to them, we understand how he meditates more on the Crucified Christ, who is “a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1Cor 1:23-24).
In the Gospel of John, Jesus anticipates how the Holy Spirit will facilitate the essential work that would be entrusted to the Church, which is to lead and guide Jesus’ followers (the Church) into all the truth. An analogy of the GPS could be used here. A GPS provides direction for us to reach our destination; in the same way, the Holy Spirit works in the Church, thus, continuing the mission of Jesus. The work of the Spirit counteracts the work of Satan who spreads deception and falsehood throughout the world. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we would be trying to go through life without any guide at all, or at worst being terribly misdirected. Many live like a person driving aimlessly through the streets trying to find his or her destination unaided. The deceiver and liar, the devil wants us to get lost in this world and end up in that other destination, hell.
Who brings Christ across the millennia to us and makes us contemporaries with Christ? The Church. We would never have learned of Christ except through the Church; the witness to us of the historical events of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection and by celebrating his sacred rites, making him really present in the sacraments. Thanks be to Jesus for the gift of the Holy Spirit. He isn’t so much our Global Positioning System but our Eternal Positioning System.
Response: Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
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