Wednesday in the Sixth Week of Easter, May 8, 2024

John 16, 12-15

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

The Lord continues to speak to the Apostles during the Last Supper.  He speaks to them of the future, of his continuing relationship with them and of how this will be made more sure by the sending of the Holy Spirit who will help them to understand him even after they no longer see him.  The human mind, unlike the angelic mind, is easily overwhelmed and best understands events in retrospect, and even then only partially.  We are like the two disciples on the way to Emmaus after the Lord has left them: “Was not our heart burning within us, whilst he spoke in the way and opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24, 32). 

“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.”  How the Lord yearned to tell them everything about his life with the Father, and of the Father’s plan for the salvation of the human race, thousands of years in the working, and of the Church he would build on Peter that would spread to all the world!  We see the wisdom and the love of the Lord who measures out what he gives according to the capacity of the receiver to receive.  He will give all he has spread through time.  How well he knows the creatures he has created!

“But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.”  That is, I, the Lord, have taught you all truth and the Holy Spirit will guide you so that you may understand what I have taught.  He will be a most sure Guide who will lead you carefully.  

“He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.”  Just as Jesus only speaks what he hears the Father saying, so the Holy Spirit comes to us as a servant and a spokesman for the Father.  “The things that are coming”, among which would be the mission to, and the baptism of, the Gentiles.  We see an example of how the Holy Spirit works in the case of the centurion Cornelius and the Apostle Peter in Acts 10, in which the Holy Spirit brings them together in such a way that Peter declares, “In very deed I perceive that God is not a respecter of persons.  But in every nation, he that fears him and works justice is acceptable to him’ (Acts 10, 34-35).

“He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”  The Holy Spirit, who is the living bond of love that unites the Father and the Son, will glorify the Son just as the Son glorified the Father while on earth.  He does this in a magnificent way through the inspiration of human authors to write the sacred books of the Holy Scriptures.

“Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”  The Lord Jesus speaks in this way in order to teach that the Persons of the Holy Trinity are individual and yet in the most perfect union with one another.  It is a union in which the souls of the just shall share.

The twenty-seventh article in our continuing series on the Holy Mass: The Post Communion

Following the reception of Holy Communion, the communicants return to their places and the priest returns to the altar.  The priest washes his fingers over the chalice in order to cleanse them from any particles of the Host.  He then drinks the water from the chalice, saying, “What has passed our lips as food, O Lord, may we possess in purity of heart, that what has been given to us in time may be our healing for eternity.”  Formerly, wine would be mixed with this water but now it is an option seldom taken.  Silence prevails over the congregation as they give thanks to Almighty God for the great gift of his Son.  On very solemn occasions, such as Christmas or Easter, a choir may sing briefly, but this is a time of prayer. The priest quietly dresses his chalice and Hosts that remain after Holy Communion are brought back to the tabernacle.

When all is finished, the priest prays the Post Communion or final prayer.  Here is the Post Communion Prayer for the 6th Sunday of Easter: “Almighty ever-living God, who restore us to eternal life in the Resurrection of Christ, increase in us, we pray, the fruits of this paschal Sacrament and pour into our hearts the strength of this saving food. Through Christ our Lord.”  We should note that the prayer is once again addressed to God the Father as nearly all the prayers at Mass are.  After the Father is addressed, some action of his is called particularly to mind, in this case his restoration of us to eternal life.  Then, emboldened by this recollection, the petition is made: “Increase in us, we pray, the fruits of this paschal Sacrament and pour into our hearts the strength of this saving food.”  The priest closes the prayer by asking it in the name of Jesus the Lord, who commands us to do so.  This form is reminiscent of the form found in the psalms.

Next: The Ite, missa est