"If you love me, you will keepmy commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be inyou. "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
John 14:15-20
Jesus the Christ forewarns his apostles of times to come when he will no longer be in evidence as an earthly figure, but will not leave them without the Holy Spirit. He alone can give a description in so few words of the most powerful impetus given to mankind, one we take for granted since it is not tangible, has no scientific substantiation and is not recognized by humankind as a whole.
But that does not deny its existence, and can be felt by any as a spirit of grace sustaining one through times of unbearable hardship, as the spirit of inspiration behind a masterpiece that reaches out to all, as the spirit of love seen when catastrophic events occur and all humanity bonds together to support those in need.
Once experienced as a reality, the mystery of this other-worldly love is so life-changing that one realizes the need to nourish it within one's soul. Lent is just the time for reaching out beyond our human perceptions. We can only hope and pray for directions, and that our St. Michael's might be the signpost for each of us in our search.
Elsie Zapffe-Verdeja
John 14:15-20
Jesus the Christ forewarns his apostles of times to come when he will no longer be in evidence as an earthly figure, but will not leave them without the Holy Spirit. He alone can give a description in so few words of the most powerful impetus given to mankind, one we take for granted since it is not tangible, has no scientific substantiation and is not recognized by humankind as a whole.
But that does not deny its existence, and can be felt by any as a spirit of grace sustaining one through times of unbearable hardship, as the spirit of inspiration behind a masterpiece that reaches out to all, as the spirit of love seen when catastrophic events occur and all humanity bonds together to support those in need.
Once experienced as a reality, the mystery of this other-worldly love is so life-changing that one realizes the need to nourish it within one's soul. Lent is just the time for reaching out beyond our human perceptions. We can only hope and pray for directions, and that our St. Michael's might be the signpost for each of us in our search.
Elsie Zapffe-Verdeja
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