Today’s Gospel offers a unique insight into the work of sanctity in a few short lines. Jesus is talking with His apostles about how an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will come to them. However, in order for the Holy Spirit to come, Jesus must return to the Father. Jesus notices that this news fills the apostles with grief. They cannot imagine what it would be like to lose Him.
It is God’s Will, which means it is Jesus’ Will, that he return to heaven. It also means that this plan will be for the good of the apostles and the good of the whole world. In that moment, the apostles can only see their loss. How can the Messiah leave them?
Jesus is teaching the apostles how to let go, even of good and beautiful things, so that they can more freely receive what God intends for them. In this case, the Holy Spirit was coming to dwell intimately with the new Christian community and to continue spreading the faith of the salvation found in Jesus Christ. This isn’t a trade in, as if the Spirit is somehow better than Jesus. The Holy Spirit is, in every way, God, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. But His presence with us is uniquely His own and different from Jesus walking on the earth.
Being a saint involves listening closely to the whisperings of the Spirit. Just like the apostles had to let go of Jesus to receive the Spirit, we may be asked to let go of something good or fulfilling in order to receive something new from God.
Like the apostles, this isn’t a trade-in system like when we trade in a new phone for an upgrade. God’s ways are not our ways. We may not be able to see with clarity how the experience or situation being sacrificed can ever be replaced. However, we can trust in God’s faithfulness. St. Paul reminds us that, “all things work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
El Evangelio de hoy ofrece una visión única de la obra de la santidad en unas pocas líneas. Jesús está hablando con sus apóstoles acerca de cómo vendrá a ellos un Abogado, el Espíritu Santo. Sin embargo, para que el Espíritu Santo venga, Jesús debe regresar al Padre. Jesús nota que esta noticia llena de dolor a los apóstoles. No pueden imaginar cómo sería perderlo.
Es la Voluntad de Dios, lo que significa que es la Voluntad de Jesús, que regrese al cielo. También significa que este plan será para el bien de los apóstoles y el bien del mundo entero. En ese momento, los apóstoles sólo pueden ver su pérdida. ¿Cómo puede el Mesías dejarlos?
Jesús está enseñando a los apóstoles cómo dejar ir, incluso las cosas buenas y hermosas, para que puedan recibir más libremente lo que Dios quiere para ellos. En este caso, el Espíritu Santo venía a habitar íntimamente con la nueva comunidad cristiana y a seguir difundiendo la fe de la salvación que se encuentra en Jesucristo. Esto no es un intercambio, como si el Espíritu fuera de alguna manera mejor que Jesús. El Espíritu Santo es, en todos los sentidos, Dios, la Tercera Persona de la Santísima Trinidad. Pero Su presencia con nosotros es únicamente suya y diferente de la de Jesús caminando sobre la tierra.
Ser santo implica escuchar atentamente los susurros del Espíritu. Así como los apóstoles tuvieron que dejar ir a Jesús para recibir el Espíritu, a nosotros se nos puede pedir que dejemos ir algo bueno o satisfactorio para recibir algo nuevo de Dios.
Al igual que los apóstoles, este no es un sistema de intercambio como cuando cambiamos un teléfono nuevo por una actualización. Los caminos de Dios no son los nuestros. Es posible que no seamos capaces de ver con claridad cómo la experiencia o situación que se sacrifica puede alguna vez ser reemplazada. Sin embargo, podemos confiar en la fidelidad de Dios. San Pablo nos recuerda que “a los que aman a Dios, todas las cosas les ayudan a bien y son llamados conforme a su propósito ” (Romanos 8,28).
Kate Taliaferro is an Air Force wife and mother. She is blessed to be able to homeschool, bake bread and fold endless piles of laundry. When not planning a school day, writing a blog post or cooking pasta, Kate can be found curled up with a book or working with some kind of fiber craft. Kate blogs at DailyGraces.net.
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Tami Urcia grew up in Western Michigan, a middle child in a large Catholic family. She spent early young adulthood as a missionary in Mexico, studying theology and philosophy, then worked and traveled extensively before finishing her Bachelor’s Degree in Western Kentucky. She loves tackling projects, finding fun ways to keep her little ones occupied, quiet conversation with the hubby and finding unique ways to love. She works full time, is a guest blogger on 
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