Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Bible Text: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, the Advocate, I will send it to you”. John 16. 5-11
Jesus Christ is already preparing His disciples regarding the shift of phases in the life of His apostles. His mission is about to be concluded and the new era is about to begin which is the period of the Holy Spirit. It can’t be denied that the apostles had already established intimacy with their Lord and Master which means that there is already some kind of attachment between the apostles and Jesus Christ. He can definitely feel that His followers were having a hard time to let Him go away. They are already very dependent to Jesus that apparently, they cannot live without Jesus. However, Jesus has to enlighten them the reason why He has to go away. The ascension of Jesus is not for the disadvantage on the part of the apostles but for their greater benefit because Jesus will be able to send the Paraclete who will dwell in each one of them. The Holy Spirit will be the source of power so that they will be able to imitate Jesus Christ in His way of life.
We are already anticipating the new normal after this pandemic is finally over. Nobody knows how it will look like. What kind of church shall we have after this pandemic? There are a lot of theories that are surfacing so that we can still make our parish a thriving community. There might be some negative speculations. Church hierarchy and evangelizers are developing some parish programs so that we can cope up with the demand of the new normal. Jesus is rest assuring us that even the future is full of uncertainties we should not be anxious because He is sending the Holy Spirit. It will be good to have new programs for the new normal but we have to rely more on the work of the Holy Spirit. The unpleasant situation that we have just recently should not bring us fear but we have to let them go by offering them Jesus and asking Him to send us the Holy Spirit who is the comforter of the believers. How hard it is to determine what waits for us in the near future but we can make a difference through the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.