Priests

Jesus, guided by the Holy Spirit

In this text you will find an in-depth study of the Gospel which encourages us to deepen our understanding of the mystery of God. Drawing on the Gospel of St John, it offers a meditation on the way in which Jesus Christ is guided by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the One sent by the Father. He carries out his work for the salvation of humankind. The Spirit is at the heart of the communion between the Son and the Father and of their action to give life to humankind. First of all, it is necessary to clarify the nature of the reflection that follows. It is the result of a study of the Gospel that I undertook to prepare for this session. I was going through a period of change in my ministry. Overwhelmed by many things, I wanted to explore where Jesus found the strength to make his work and his ministry effective. For this study, I chose the Gospel of John. This explains the nature and limitations of this presentation. It is important to note that in the Gospel of John, there are not many references to the Spirit. John speaks of the Spirit who is promised and given by the Risen One, but there is only one explicit reference to the Spirit guiding Jesus« life and work: this is the testimony of John the Baptist, who says: »I saw the Spirit like a dove coming down from heaven and resting on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptise with water told me: «The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain—he is the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit. Yes, I have seen and I bear witness that this is the One, the Chosen One of God»« (Jn 1:32–34). This is John the Baptist’s profession of faith. The Spirit »descends« upon Jesus and »remains« upon him, making him his dwelling place and the »Son of God’. The Spirit who descends upon Jesus is not called ‘Holy’ because, unlike human beings, Jesus does not need to be sanctified. But the Spirit is the power that guides and shapes his mission: to give the Holy Spirit to humanity, the sanctifying Spirit. The Spirit is the deepest mystery of his life and mission. John helps us to understand Jesus’ ministry in different terms, using different categories. He speaks of Jesus as the One sent by the Father, to whom the Father entrusts his works, whilst also giving him the strength to carry them out.

I therefore decided to summarise my study of the Gospel on these points:

  • Jesus, the One sent by the Father: the economy of gift-giving
  • The Father entrusts his works to Jesus
  • The Father enables Jesus to carry out the works he gives him. Everything revolves around the verb «to give» and the word «work», which will also be the focus of our reflection.
  1. JESUS, THE ONE SENT BY THE FATHER: THE ECONOMY OF GIFT-GIVING
    1. Jesus, the One sent by the Father: the identity of Jesus; Jesus did not come into the world of his own accord: it was the Father who sent him. «Yes, you know me and you know where I am from. However, I have not come of my own accord, but the one who sent me has truly sent me. You do not know him. I know him, because I come from him and it is he who has sent me» (Jn 7:28). «I have come from God and I come from him; I have not come of my own accord, but he has sent me» (8:42). In the Gospel of John, the verb «to send» is very important. In its two Greek forms (πεμψω and αποστελλω), it occurs 39 times and points to the very essence of Jesus’ identity: he is wholly oriented towards the Father, the one who sent him.
    1. Jesus, the Father’s apprentice: This profound aspect of Jesus« identity makes him a man wholly turned towards the Father, who looks to him to learn from him. There is a very illuminating passage in this regard: »Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does« (5:19). The Father is presented as one who is at work (»my Father is always at work, and I too am at work«), and Jesus watches him, contemplating him whilst he works. And the Father does not jealously hide what he does, but shows it to the Son, who, by watching the Father at work, in turn learns how to act. This idea is emphasised once more when Jesus says: »The One who sent me is true, and what I have learnt from him I declare to the world… ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on my own; whatever the Father has taught me, I speak…’” (8:25–30).
  1. The Father sends the Son to give him to mankind. Whilst the verb «to send» reveals to us the deepest identity of Jesus, it tells us nothing about the origin of this mission, nor about the intentions of the One who sends him. When John seeks to shed light on the meaning of this mission, he uses the verb «to give» (διδομι). The Father gives Jesus to mankind: the Son’s mission is the manifestation of the Father’s love for mankind. «For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him» (3:16–17). The Father gives Jesus so that he might be food: «…»It is my Father who gives it to you, the true bread from heaven« (6:32). The faith that saves is a gift from the Father: »No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them’ (6:44). And the Father will crown Jesus’ work by sending the Paraclete (14:16) and will also give the disciples whatever they ask for in prayer made in Jesus’ name (15:16; 16:23). The Father sends his Son and gives him to humankind to fill them with his gifts.
    1. The Father sends his Son to fill him with his gifts. Whilst the gift is the Father’s attitude towards humankind, it is also the Father’s attitude towards Jesus. The Father has placed everything in his hands (13:3). He has given him his words: «…the words that you have given me, I have given to them…» (17:8; cf. 12:49; 3:34; 7:16; 8:26; 12:50; 14:24; 17:14); the works to be carried out: «…the works which the Father has given me to carry out…» (5:36; cf. 17:4; 4:34; 9:3; 10:32; 10:37); and gives him everything he asks for (11:22; cf. 11:42). «He has given the Son authority over life» (5:26); and also to give it (5:21; 17:2–3). He gives him the disciples (17:6, 9; cf. 10:29; 6:37–39; 17:2); «authority over all flesh» (17:2); judgement (5:27); glory (17:22–24); his name (17:11–12). And this is because «the Father loves his Son; he has placed everything in his hands» (3:35). The Father sends his Son and lovingly entrusts him with a mission (5:10), a mission that will lead him to the highest glory: «Father, glorify your Son… glorify me with the glory I had with you before the world began» (17:1, 5).
  1. The Son: self-giving to the Father for the salvation of the world. Whilst the Father gives himself entirely to the Son and entrusts his mission to him, this mission is for the Son the source of immense glorification, in which the Father showers his Son with his gifts without measure (« »The one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, and God gives the Spirit to him without measure«») (3:34); in the same way, the Son responds to the Father by giving himself to him without any limit whatsoever. He does not seek his own glory (7:18), nor that which comes from men (5:41), but only the glory of the Father: «Father, glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you» (17:1); « »I have glorified you on earth; I have completed the work you gave me to do« (17:4). The Father’s glory consists in giving eternal life to humankind: »I give them eternal life« (10:28); »…by the authority over all flesh that you have given him, he gives eternal life to all those whom you have given him« (17:2). That is why he gives people the Father’s word (17:8, 14); the new commandment (13:34) which will fill them with joy (13:15–17). He knows that this will require him to give the water that wells up to eternal life (4:10–14); to give his own flesh as food that remains for eternal life (6:27), even if, to do so, he is asked to give his own life. (6:51). His love for humanity will lead him to the very end: »Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the very end’ (13:1). Unreserved self-giving to humanity, springing from total devotion to the Father: ‘I have made your name known to the people whom you took from the world and gave to me. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you’ (17:6–7).
  1. Everything that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine. We can thus understand a first aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus: the Father gives everything to the Son, and the Son responds by giving himself entirely for the salvation and life of the world. The Spirit brings about the «emptying» of which Paul speaks in his Letter to the Philippians: «Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave and becoming like human beings. And being found in human form, he humbled himself even further, becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross!» (Phil 2:6–11).

A work – that of the Holy Spirit – which will fill Jesus with immense glory and bring life and salvation to the world. It is the path of chaste love, of a life lived in chastity, with a «pure heart» (Mt 5:8), a unified heart.

  • THE SON DOES WHAT THE FATHER TEACHES HIM: THE PATH OF OBEDIENCE

The Gospel of John leads us to take a second step: the Father does not merely give the Son to humankind to shower them with his gifts, but he also gives the Son his works. This is a paradoxical expression: a work is something personal, belonging to the one who carries it out; how can anyone give their works to another? Yet John tells us that the Father gives his works to the Son.

  • The Father gives his works to Jesus – Jesus, the One sent by the Father, lives in the conviction that he gives nothing that is his own. What he has and what he gives is only what he has received from the Father. To the Jews who accuse him of blasphemy, he replies: «If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me; but if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe in these works…» (10:37–38). Likewise, he declares: «My teaching is not my own, but comes from the one who sent me» (7:16); and again: «I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself prescribed what I must say and how I must speak » (12:49). To the disciples who urged him to eat after his encounter with the Samaritan woman, he replied: «My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to carry out his work» (4:34). This is the food that sustains his life, a gift he receives with gratitude, and the very purpose of his coming amongst humankind, for «… I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me» (6:38). He is certain that in the Father’s word lies his life: «… I know that his commandment is eternal life» (12:50). His faithfulness is the condition for living in communion with the Father: «If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love» (15:10). For Jesus, there is no greater gift than this.
    • Jesus carries out the Father’s work with complete trust. The fact that he receives everything from the Father does not make Jesus a passive agent. The Son receives the Father’s will as a gift that enables him to share in that will. He can say of himself: «…I always do what pleases him» (8:29). And the Father trusts the Son: «The Father loves the Son; he has placed everything in his hands» (3:35). «The Father judges no one; he has entrusted all judgement to the Son, so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father» (5:22). «The Son gives life to whom he will» (5:21). The task which the Father entrusts to the Son is the path to true freedom: «I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete» (15:11).
    • The Passion – Resurrection: the greatest work entrusted by the Father to the Son. Whilst Jesus« entire life was lived in total devotion to the Father’s work, this devotion is most fully manifested in the Passion, which leads to the Resurrection. Speaking of his Passion, Jesus says that it is the Father’s command: »This is the command I have received from my Father« (10:18), a command that consists in giving up his own life, on a path that leads to a life in its fullness: »If the Father loves me, it is because I lay down my life, only to take it up again« (10:17). In this regard, we may note that Jesus is not passive, but acts as the protagonist. In the solemn introduction to the Passion, John presents Jesus as moving towards the gift of self, conscious of the mission he has received and in a state of the most complete freedom: »knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father… that the Father had placed everything in his hands… « (13:1–3). Here, then, we see Jesus taking the initiative: it is he who »sanctifies himself« (17:9); who goes to the Father (13:1); who leaves the world and goes to his Father (16:28). It is he who »lays down his life« (10:11, 15, 17, 18; 15:13); no one takes it from him: »No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own accord. I have the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again« (10:18). It is he, too, who invites Judas to do what he had come to do (13:27); who presents himself to those who have come to arrest him (18:4, 8). An attitude he would maintain right up to the cross, the fulfilment of his decision: ‘Then, knowing that everything was now complete, Jesus said, so that all Scripture might be fulfilled: ’I am thirsty»« (19:28). His sole desire is to conform to the Father’s will, to »always do what pleases him« (8:29). He wants »the world to know that I love the Father and that I act as the Father has commanded me« (14:31). Thus, when he affirms that his words are being fulfilled, he does so in complete fidelity to the Father: »Of those whom you have given me, I have lost not one« (18:9; 17:12). For this is the Father’s will: »that I should lose nothing of what he has given me« (6:39). 2.4 The path of obedience: the path of the Son We can then understand a second aspect that John presents to us: Jesus fulfilled his mission as the One sent by the Father in complete obedience to the Father. He can say of himself: »I have glorified you on earth; I have completed the work you gave me to do« (17:4). For him, »doing the Father’s will« and »carrying out his work« are the food (4:31–34) that gives him life. For him, self-denial means becoming »obedient even to death, even death on a cross« (Phil 2:7–8). The Letter to the Hebrews contains a most illuminating passage on this subject: »It was he who, in the days of his earthly life, offered up, with loud cries and tears, entreaties and supplications to the One who could save him from death, and having been heard because of his piety, even though he was the Son, learnt obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him …« (Heb 5:7–9). And again: »…When Christ came into the world, he said: «You did not want sacrifices or offerings… So I said: »Here I am… to do your will…’ And it is by virtue of this will that we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once and for all” (Heb 10:5–10). The Son’s obedience is a masterpiece of the Spirit, who ‘through an eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God… so that we might worship the living God’ (Heb 9:14).
  • «THE SON CAN DO NOTHING OF HIS OWN»: THE PATH OF POVERTY We have already seen how Jesus states on several occasions that the works he performs are not his own, but the Father’s, and that he receives them as the gift that gives him life. However, the Gospel of John leads us to another insight: the Father does not merely entrust his works to the Son; he also «gives» him the power to carry them out.
  • In Jesus, the Father brings his work to completion. Whilst, on the one hand, Jesus welcomes with a heart full of gratitude the works entrusted to him by the Father, on the other he acknowledges that it is the Father who acts within him for the salvation of the world. The boldest statement in this regard is found when Jesus says: «The Father who dwells in me does the works» (14:10). Elsewhere, he uses the expression «the works of God» (9:3), or «the works of the one who sent me» (9:14), «the works that come from the Father» (10:32), «the works of my Father» (10:37). These are not merely the works that belong to the Father, but the works that the Father brings to completion. Jesus« prayer at Lazarus’s tomb, in which he acknowledges that what he is doing is a gift from the Father: »Father, I thank you for having heard me. I know that you always hear me…« is significant (1:41–42). People, too, attribute to God the healing power that dwells in Jesus. The man born blind replies to those who accuse him: »We know full well that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is devout and does his will, God hears him« (9:31). Martha, too, says to Jesus: »… I know that whatever you ask of God, God will grant you’ (11:22). In Jesus’ works, the love and tenderness of the Father, who cares for his children, are made manifest.
    • Jesus does the Father’s works. Whilst Jesus often refers to what he does as «the Father’s works», he does not hesitate to speak of his part in the Father’s work. He never says «my works»; his brothers, who do not believe in him, will say «the works that you do» (7:3). But when speaking of what he does, Jesus says: «The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise» (5:19–20). It is the Father who acts and involves Jesus in his work. It is in this sense, then, that Jesus can say: «I must carry out the works of the one who sent me» (9:4); «the works that I do in my Father’s name» (10:25). His participation in the Father’s work is the sign that he is sent by the Father: «If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me; but if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works…» (10:37–38).
  • The Passion and Resurrection: the work of the Father and the Son. As he enters into his Passion, Jesus appears to cease acting. He does nothing, says nothing, takes no action. He allows himself to be at the mercy of men: he is arrested (18:12; 19:1, 6, 17); led away (18:12; 28); sent away in bonds (18:24); handed over (19:16); scourged (19:1); crucified (19:16, 18, 23); his clothes are stripped from him (19:23); a sponge is held to his mouth (19:29); his side is pierced with a spear (19:34); he is buried (19:38). When speaking of his death, Jesus always uses verbs in the passive voice: «to be lifted up» (3:14; 12:32); «to be glorified» (12:23; 13:1; cf. 7:39; 12:16; 17:1). John recalls the night when Judas left the Upper Room (13:30) and the meeting with Nicodemus («it was he who had previously gone to Jesus by night») (19:39), which frame the entire account of the Passion. The night during which one cannot act (9:4), during which darkness seems to have the upper hand (11:9–10). The night during which the Father, too, remains silent, after what Jesus said to Peter at the time of his arrest («…shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?») (18:11). He will not mention the Father again until his encounter with Mary Magdalene (20:17). The Passion is the time of Jesus« powerlessness and the Father’s silence. Yet in the depths of his weakness and the Father’s silence, Jesus finds the greatest fruitfulness. As he died, he »gave up his spirit« (19:30); lifted up from the earth, he draws all people to himself (12:32); he becomes the focus of everyone’s gaze (19:37). The sufferings of his death are like the pains of childbirth (16:21), the birth of the new man. In his death and resurrection, he acquires the very power of God: »authority over all flesh«, a power which enables him to give »eternal life to all those whom you have given him« (17:2). A power which he exercises above all by sending the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, from the Father (15:26; 16:7). It is through his death that he becomes »the bread of life« (6:52) and »a spring of water welling up to eternal life« (3:14). Through his death, all Scripture is fulfilled (19:28; 19:36), and Jesus, »having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the very end« (13:1), can say: »It is finished« (19:30). The Passion is no longer the time of works, but it is certainly the time of the Father’s »work«. To the Jews who asked him what works one must do to please God, Jesus does not draw up a list of things to do, but says: »This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he has sent« (6:29). The works that God seeks are those which reveal the work that God accomplishes in the heart of man. And this applies to the Son as well. Whilst all his works are a manifestation to the world of the Father’s love, the Passion is his masterpiece, »the work« that the Father accomplishes in his Son for the salvation of the world. The Passion is the greatest manifestation of the communion that unites the Father and the Son: »If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me; but if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe in these works and know once and for all that the Father is in me and I am in the Father« (10:37–38; cf. 4:11). »The Father and I are one« (10:30). A communion into which the Son wishes to bring humanity, and which is the supreme gift he leaves us: »I have given them the glory which you have given me, so that they may be perfectly one as we are one: I in them and you in me« (17:22). 3.4 The Son’s poverty, the world’s riches We are thus led into the third aspect of the mystery of Jesus» life: the Father not only entrusts his works to the Son, but also gives him the power to carry out those works. We then understand the meaning of what Jesus says: «The Son can do nothing of his own» (5:19); he does not have the strength to do so. He receives his strength from his Father by making himself wholly available to the work the Father wishes to accomplish in the world and for the sake of the world. Jesus« path is one of boundless poverty, which is the source of the fruitfulness of his ministry. This is what Paul tells us when he writes: »You know the generosity of our Lord Jesus Christ, how, though he was rich, he became poor for your sake, so that through his poverty you might become rich« (2 Cor 8:9). A masterpiece of the Spirit who »came down and remained’ upon Jesus, a masterpiece of the Spirit in the heart of every person throughout history, in accordance with Jesus’ words: ‘He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is mine. That is why I said: ‘He will take what is mine and make it known to you’” (16:14–15).
  • CONCLUSION

We have explored the Gospel of John in search of the source of the fruitfulness of Jesus’ ministry. This is an important question, because it is about understanding the path we must follow in order to live out a fruitful ministry ourselves. To conclude this study, we offer a few points by way of summary:

  • The Father is the central figure of the mission. The Father gives Jesus to humankind. It is the Father who sends Jesus amongst humankind, who takes the initiative for their salvation, and this mission is characterised by the gift: «For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life» (3:16–17). «Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives it to you, the true bread from heaven; for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world » (6:32–33). ƒ The Father gives people to Jesus The Father’s initiative is not limited to giving Jesus to people; he also wishes to give people to Jesus. «But I tell you this: you see me and yet you do not believe. Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out; for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. Now the will of the one who sent me is that I should lose none of those he has given me, but that I should raise them up on the last day» (6:36–39). And in the face of the Jews« objections, he confirms: »Do not grumble amongst yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them; and I will raise them up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets: «They shall all be taught by God. »Whoever hears the Father’s teaching and learns from it comes to me«» (6:43–45). To the disciples, who were sceptical because of his words, he said: «No one can come to me except by the Father’s gift» (6:65). It is the Father who draws people to Jesus, so that he can say: «They were yours, and you have given them to me» (17:6). Giving people to Jesus is the Father’s work until the end of history: «This is the work of God, that you believe in the one whom he has sent» (6:29). This action of the Father is not limited to those who belong to him: ‘I have other sheep that are not of this fold’ (10:16); they belong to him because they have been given to him by the Father (10:29). And it is not enough merely to listen to his word if there is not the utmost docility towards the Father who speaks in the heart of man. One must ‘believe in the one whom he has sent’ (5:24).
    • Jesus: the Father’s greatest work We have emphasised on several occasions that Jesus is the Father’s greatest work, his masterpiece. Jesus is wholly open to the Father’s working in him along a path of poverty, obedience and chastity, and the Father responds by showering him with his gifts: «All that is mine is yours, and all that is yours is mine» (17:10). «I have glorified you on earth; I have completed the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, glorify me with the glory I had with you before the world began» (17:4–5). In walking this path, he became «the way, the truth and the life» (13:5). No one can come to the Father except through him (14:6). In looking at him, we can see the very face of the Father:

«Whoever has seen me has seen the Father» (14:9). Jesus gave the Word of the Father to humankind (17:14); he himself was the Word of the Father (1:1); he revealed the Father’s name (17:6). He became the hidden power that dwells within history and leads all things to the Father: «Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you and, through the authority over all flesh that you have given him, may grant eternal life to all those whom you have given him» (17:1–3).

  • The communion of the Father and the Son: the work of the Holy Spirit. The Father’s total self-giving to the Son and the Son’s generous response, in which he gives himself unreservedly to the Father, reveal the profound communion that unites the Father and the Son. Jesus can say: «I and the Father are one» (10:30); and pray thus: «Holy Father, keep them in your name, those whom you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one» (17:11). «May they all be one. Just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me» (17:21). This communion is the work of the Spirit, who descended upon him and guided him, making his life a life as the «Son». «Yes, I have seen and I bear witness that this is the Son of God» (1:34).
  • Jesus, the One sent by the Father, involves the disciples in his mission. Jesus, the One sent by the Father, desires that his mission may continue throughout human history. To this end, he sends the disciples out on a mission, warning them that they will only be able to fulfil it in his way: «Just as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you» (20:21). To this end, he turns to Peter and asks him, as the foundation of the mission, for unreserved love: «Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?» (21:15–17). A love that will lead him even to the gift of his own life (21:18–19), and which he can learn only by following Jesus: «Follow me» (21:19, 22), whilst avoiding the temptation to think that he knows how to do things better than his Master: «If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example, so that you may do as I have done for you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is the one sent greater than the one who sent him. Knowing this, you will be blessed if you do it» (13:14–17). The apostle’s fruitfulness is rooted in a very deep communion with Jesus, like that which Jesus shared with the Father: «Abide in me, as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of its own accord unless it abides on the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. »I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, as I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing« (15:4–5). »Just as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love« (15:9–10). 4.5 The Spirit: the Formator of the Apostle This is possible only through the action of the Spirit. It is the Spirit who forms the apostles in the manner of Jesus, the One sent by the Father. For this reason, Jesus, after sending them »in the manner« of the commission he received from the Father, »… breathed on them and said to them: «Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you retain, they are retained» (20:22–23). The apostle, in his mission, has no power of his own but that which is given to him by the Spirit. He is the «Paraclete» (14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7), the Teacher (14:26), the living memory of the Lord in the hearts of believers (14:26). He opens the way to the fullness of truth (16:13) and leads us into the inexhaustible newness of the Gospel (16:13); he is the witness to Jesus, who makes disciples into witnesses: «When the Paraclete comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me. And you too will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning» (15:26–27). The fruitfulness of ministry in the Spirit («Rivers of living water will flow from within him»), which springs from a constant need to drink from the source that is Jesus (« …»Let him come to me and drink«»), the fruit of the thirst that the Father ceaselessly continues to awaken in the human heart (“If anyone is thirsty…”). ‘He was speaking of the Spirit whom those who believe in him were to receive; for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified’ (7:38–39).

Flavio GRENDELE