The Sixth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A
May 10, 2026
Acts of the Apostles 8. 5-8, 14-17; 1st Peter 3.15-18; John 14.15-21
Meditation on the Gospel Reading
v. 15: If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Some Biblical Theology: Prevenient Grace
Prevenient grace enables us to choose to accept union with God in Christ. Prevenient grace is the gift to be open to God’s Revelation.
A Basic Text: John 8:31-32
There is a basic text, John 8. 31-32, that gives us the process of the ascetical and moral life leading to divine union: “If you abide in my word, you will truly be my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” We take refuge in the Magisterium of the Church so that the obedience of discipleship will be clear and defined. Our eyes are on the goal, the ascent of Mount Carmel into divine union. Freedom as the children of God reborn in Christ comes from the grace of discipleship. Discipleship is loving obedience to Christ, the model of the resurrected life of the adopted sons of God, men and women reborn of God through grace freely given.
vv. 16-17a: I will ask the Father and he will give you another Paraclete—to be with you always, the Spirit of truth.
What Is a Paraclete
Jesus, as Son, holds us in the protection of his love. He is a paraclete, that is, an advocate, a counselor-friend, our prime spiritual director and soul-friend.
The Holy Spirit is “another paraclete.” The distinct character of the Third Person is to abide in the Trinitarian Union as the Spirit, as the Union of the Father and Son. The Holy Spirit fulfills that purpose within our spirits, that is, the Spirit causes our sharing in the divine life of the Father and the Son (See 1st Corinthians 2.6-16). He is the bond of love by Whom the Father and Son remain with us.
The Holy Spirit Is the Communion of theTrinity
The Spirit is Communion within the Trinity and within us forming the Church. He remolds us into the image of the Son, Jesus, our Savior, who is the absolute Truth for all of humanity. The Word and the Spirit are the complementary and harmonious gifts of the Father. Through the Father we exist in the divine adoption; through the Son-Word we are in the divine image, reflecting the divine sonship; through the Spirit we share in the fulfillment of love that flows from existence in adoption and the image that is filial—we are only because the Holy Trinity is—the infinite, omnipotent Trinitarian I AM.
V17a,b : The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot accept, since it neither sees him nor recognizes Him … .
The World Cannot Accept the Spirit of Truth
Do not look for encouragement from our modern culture for your following Christ in the Church. Our dominant, secular culture cannot grasp the mystery of the Trinitarian life revealed in Jesus and sacramentally present within the Church.
Our Secular Culture Writhes in Protest Against the Spirit
Our culture grates against the full message of the commandments. The spirit of our times discounts the commandments and seeks palatable dictates of convenience and immediate subjectivity. John 17:15, Jesus prays: “Father I do not pray that you take them out of the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.”
The Church Is the Resistance
The Church cannot bend to the culture in the matter of obedience: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” That is why the Church is so hated and Catholic-bashing is so prevalent in such a politically correct culture where sensitivity prevails for all groups except Catholics and Evangelical Christians.
v. 17 c: But you can recognize him because he remains with you and I will be within you.
The Centered Presence of God within Us
St. John of the Cross reminds us that God is the center of our souls. By creation, all persons have God within them as the One who sustains them in being and action. By sanctifying grace, in the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, God gives Himself in the Trinitarian relationship. The Holy Spirit is within leading us into that union. What is needed is the cleansing of obedience to the commandments of the Gospel. We need sensitivity to the life-giving Teachings of Christ Jesus, present to us through the Church and the Scriptures. In the way of purgation and the way of enlightenment we are led more and more into divine union. We offer our silence in contemplative practice. Silence is a sign, a voluntary discipline, the instrument of our obediential receptivity to the Word and Spirit. The Holy Spirit in Whom dwells the Word brings us into the experience of divine union with the Father.
vv. 18-19: I will not leave you orphaned, I will come back to you. A little while now and the world will not see me anymore, but can see me as one who has life and you will have life.
Not Orphans Abandoned, But Sons Adopted
Adopted into the divine life of the Trinity we are not orphans; we are adopted in grace so that we participate in the divine life. Adoption as set forth in the Scriptures is really rebirth into the divine life. Natural adoption cannot accomplish that; it only gives a name with rights.
What Is Divine Adoption
Adoption in Revelation means that the Holy Spirit fills us with the divine life so that we cry: Abba, Father!
Again, the world cannot see that. Our own natural ability cannot fathom it. Only faith and hope can bring us through the door of divine union. Love consummates the union. “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God (John 1.12-13).”
v. 20: On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you.
The Quintessential Words of the Contemplative/Mystical Life
Alleluia!!! This verse (v.20) contains the quintessential words of Christian contemplative life. On any day we can experience our immersion in the divine life of the Trinity as the Spirit opens us more and more into divine transformation. The experience may come during our sessions of contemplative practice or doing the Liturgy or within the daily tasks of our state of life. In that moment we are conscious of our being in God in the reality of His present glory.
The Contemplative Transformation
The immediate, loving, transcendental experience of the Trinity transforms us. The fruits of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5) or the Beatitudes describe the evidence of this transformation. This one verse sums it all up so well. Memorize the verse; sing it in your heart. “On that day”: it is real and particular; it is now. “You will know”: it will be your experience that no one can take away. “I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you”: the indwelling of the Persons of the Trinity is shared with us in grace by the merits of Jesus our Savior who died on the Cross and rose into this divine life.
v. 21: They who obey the commandments they have from me are the ones who love me; and they who love me will be loved by my Father. I too will love them and reveal myself to them.
This last sentence is a summation of what has already been said. Obedience leads to fullest love and presence and sharing in the divine life.
The First and Second Readings
In the First Reading we have this event: Philip went down to the town of Samaria and there proclaimed the Messiah. The work continues in and through the Church.
The Second Reading has this: Venerate the Lord, that is, Christ, in your hearts. Our contemplative practice is this interior veneration of Christ dwelling in our hearts. Christ is the Savior who forgives us our sins and leads us to the Father. Christ in us: Each Eucharist is its celebration and its consummation.
--William C. Fredrickson, D.Min. Oblate, St. Mary's Benedictine Monastery, Associate of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Scapular
