Stay next to me! The need for someone to hold our hand

Summary

Commentary on the Gospel of the sixth Sunday of Easter - year A

Acts 8.5-8.14-17 Ps 65 1Pt 3.15-18 Jn 14.15-21

Therefore it is not without reason that the Holy Spirit is promised,
not only to those who don't have it, but also to those who already have it:
to those who don't have it, why have it,
to those who already own it so that they possess it more abundantly
St. Augustine,Homily74.2

Life as a process

One of the hardest experiences in life is feeling alone while struggling.

Sometimes it's simply a matter of facing the struggle of living, the fear of not making it, other times it's a matter of fighting against injustice, against misunderstandings, against wickedness.

Yes, because life is still a great trial, where we don't always occupy the role of judge or witness, sometimes life even puts us in the dock.

The Paraclete

Perhaps it is precisely this image of life as a great process that can help us understand why Jesus you reassure us by telling us about another Paraclete, a second Paraclete, in fact the first is himself.

Paraclete it literally means the one who is called to stand by, more precisely it is the lawyer who stands by our side to speak on our behalf, indeed even takes our place in the fight, faces the accuser for us. Jesus continue to do this through holy spirit.

Stand beside

In fact, if a person loves us, it is unthinkable that he leaves us alone.

Experience teaches us that it is precisely in times of difficulty that we realize who are the people who really care about us. A father or a mother, if they are truly such, would never leave the son alone when in danger.

Indeed, a parent also feels from afar that the son it is in danger. A friend, if he is a true friend, does not abandon us when misfortune falls upon us.

That's exactly what Jesus he is trying to tell his disciples. A word of consolation, which is the other meaning of Paraclete, the comforter: I'm beside you!

We are well aware that often what we want most is not someone who can solve our problem, which perhaps sometimes cannot even be solved, but we simply want someone who is close to us.

In this sense, we too become instruments of the Paraclete when we know how to stay close and console, like the disciples who by laying on their hands invoke the Spirit upon others (see Acts 8:17).

Knowing how to be there

Unfortunately, when someone speaks to us, many times we are already thinking about the answer to give, the most important thing would be to listen and stay close.

In fact, the disciples are afraid of being orphaned, that is, of being alone, of no longer having a father defend and support them. This image is probably also linked to the fact that in rabbinic culture the teacher is felt as a father: Jesus he is master, fatherand comforter.

After all this is thelove, know how to be there! The Gospel verses that we read this Sunday begin and end with this reference to thelove and the commandments.

Perhaps, to our modern sensibility, this juxtaposition may be paradoxical, yet thelove it is real when you see it and see if there are any criteria.

A love it's not generic either love. L 'love it is concrete, it can be seen in the facts, it is a love that is in context. The commandments are the words we need to say to each other and the words we need todoto express thelove.

When you love someone, you want to be with them. Jesus he wishes to remain with his disciples and when one truly loves one can always find a way to remain. Jesus reassure disciples of all times that He will find a way to always be with them.

is thatlove that we may have seen in the eyes of a loved one who was dying and who was looking at us at that moment to tell us not to worry because he would never leave us.