Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (14: 21-26) in which Jesus says, “The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them”.

This reading begins to teach what love means: to love Jesus means to keep his commandments. This is not a matter of mere obedience but of loving imitation. If I love a person I want to keep that person’s commandments, both out of loyalty and out of respect for that person’s qualities: the commandments will reveal and mirror that person’s qualities. So, the Law given by Moses reveals God’s nature by what he commands. In the same way the actions of Jesus reveal his and the Father’s nature: Jesus heals, he loves, he judges, he forgives, he commands. To obey the commands is a response in love: we need to do just that.

We have also for the first time one of the four sayings on the Paraclete – the Holy Spirit. ‘Paraclete’ is the Greek for the Latin-stemmed ‘Advocate’, who is ‘called to the side’ of someone in need.

The Paraclete is to represent Jesus, to carry on Jesus’ work, to act in the name of Jesus and to make Jesus present when Jesus is no longer there. We will learn gradually what this implies.

The first element is teaching, to complete and explain what Jesus has revealed, the implications of the Good News of Jesus. We see this in the Church, making present to every generation the implications of the Good News. The presence of the Paraclete makes it possible for frail and fallible human beings to mediate the work of Jesus.

Today’s Gospel Challenge – Let us show our love for Jesus by imitating him and let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us.