1. ✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (15:15-21). Taken from today’s gospel for 6th Sunday of Easter.
Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,
because it neither sees nor knows him.
But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
2. Today being the last Sunday before the ascension of Jesus to heaven, the readings focus on the gift of the Holy Spirit who will continue the work of Christ in the world through his disciples. The first reading shows the apostles carrying out the sacrament of confirmation, the calling down of the Holy Spirit, on new believers. It is meant to emphasize the importance of receiving the Holy Spirit in the life the believers.
3. In the gospel, Jesus tutors the disciples on the person of the Holy Spirit and the condition for retaining his presence in their lives. He calls the Holy Spirit the Advocate, the comforter, one who teaches, one who like a father and mother will accompany the disciples so that they will not feel like orphans. How would they get this abiding presence of God? Jesus said that knowing and keeping the commandments obliges him to ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to those who know and keep the commandments . The first thing is knowledge, the inseparable second thing is action, living according to the knowledge of the tenets of the commandments. Keeping the commandments also gives one right to be inhabited by Christ and to be loved by the Father. One cannot be inhabited by Christ and loved by the Father without being filled with the Holy Spirit, for the Trinity is an inseparable divine reality.
4. In the history of God and his people there have been people who lost the abiding presence of the Spirit of God by opting out of the obedience to the commandments after they have received the Spirit. A case in mind is Saul who in his envy decided to kill David. The Spirit of God left him and an evil spirit took over. Another case was Solomon who was blessed with divine wisdom, one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. He preferred the pleasures of the flesh and gave his body over to multiple sexual partners which led him to abandon God. The Spirit of God left him and the kingdom of David collapsed because of his sin. It means that we must strive to retain the Spirit otherwise he will abandon us.
5. From today till pentecost Sunday, much emphasis will be laid by the liturgical readings on the Holy Spirit. As an advocate, the Holy Spirit does not lose any case before God. As a teacher, the Holy Spirit leads to the whole truth. It is good that this is coming at a time when our country Nigeria is facing a time that will redefine her future with regard to litigation and the role of those who are seen as advocates in the Nigerian legal system. It is not an accident. We have to ask the Spirit God to abide in them, and lead them to the whole truth.
6. Do not be an unconcerned observer in the life of the Nation. Do your bit in observing the commandments of God so that the Spirit you have received at Baptism and Confirmation may be rekindled anew. With this you can intercede for Nigeria through the Advocate that is in you, imploring God to save Nigeria from chaos, anarchy and doom. Put your knowledge into action and spread the Spirit.
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