Love and Grace are Enough

This Gospel reading is utterly frightening. Jesus is warning the Disciples that there will be trouble ahead. He has just told them that he would be leaving them soon. Jesus is trying to prepare them for what to expect. They will be banned from synagogues and killing them will be seen as an offering to God. 

This conversation with His friends is the first time Jesus promises the Spirit as an Advocate. I can’t imagine they understood what he meant, but they loved and trusted Jesus. That love would carry them through the trouble ahead.

I know Father Jerry is rubbing off on me when I start quoting books about St Thérèse. In the book, Everything is Grace by Joseph F. Schmidt he is telling the story of Saint Thérèse, and he writes, 

“Only a person who had experienced a glimmer of divine love through immersion in human love would be able to proclaim God’s love convincingly. Only a person who had known personal human weakness and experienced a taste of divine mercy through the experience of human forgiveness could assert and manifest God’s mercy and forgiveness in a compelling way. Only the person who had lived the deep human desire to be connected, to be loved, and to love in return could announce with conviction God’s own longing to love and be loved.”

It is this same sentiment that Jesus is conveying to his disciples. He is reminding them of His love and mercy, both human and divine. He is helping them recall their love for Him. Trouble is coming. They must remain rooted in His love and forgiveness if they are to have the strength to handle the difficulties that they will face. It is their human relationship with the man Jesus that gives them an insight into the divine. It is that human love that will enable them to convincingly proclaim God’s divine love and mercy.

Jesus also promises an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, His Spirit that will remain with them and help them remember. They just need to remember.

Sometimes I need to be reminded too, especially when trouble is coming. God has given us the same graces he gave his Disciples. We have known human love and mercy and, therefore, have glimpsed Divine love and compassion. When we remember those glimpses, it helps us to be loving and merciful to others, even in troubling times. And, just like the Disciples, we must not forget we are not alone. His Spirit, the Advocate, is here to remind us.

When trouble comes, and it will stand firm in both the human and divine love, you know. Trust the Spirit that Jesus sends and face the difficulties. Jesus did not promise we would come through the hard times without blemish. We will often be bruised and beaten by the troubles of life. However, if we are strong enough to keep ourselves rooted in the human and divine loves we have known, we will make it through, even more in love with God than before the trouble begins.

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen