NO TRICKS FOR US
“A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” Jesus couldn’t be more enigmatic. We cannot but react in the same way as His disciples, who simply couldn’t figure out what He meant with His words.
His reply to their murmuring only added even more to their perplexity. He prophesied how the disciples’ grief over His departure will be so countercultural and paradoxical.
As it often happens with Jesus’ teachings, however, confusion and perplexity can only engender greater trust in Him. Our Lord is not up to playing tricks with us anyway, engaging us as though in a hide-and-seek game. He meant His words quite literally in fact. His departure or loss was to be only temporary, a perfectly replaceable situation wherein His Spirit will come and deepen further what He started. Besides, it was to be only His physical presence which was to disappear. It would level up to a higher and greater kind of presence — the spiritual.
And so we need not be anxious and afraid. Even thorny situations, like in the case of the early Christian community in the First Reading, can still result in something good. St. Paul would never have been the Apostle to the Gentiles that he is, if it were not for his dismay in preaching to the Jews. Even in the midst of adversity and difficulty, “the Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power” (Responsorial Psalm).
The Lord’s wondrous deeds are not magic tricks, of course. And He will never perform a disappearing act on us. No, He loves us too much that He will never leave us. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB
REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Do you believe in God’s presence through the Holy Spirit? How much do you rely on His Spirit in your daily life?
Thank You, Lord, for sending us the Holy Spirit to be Your presence in our lives.
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