Led by the Spirit to Action!

Monday, May 19, 2025

Acts 14:5-18; Jn 14:21-26

Today’s Gospel highlights the role of the Holy Spirit in helping us discern the inseparable link between loving Jesus and obeying his commands. 

Within the farewell discourse, Jesus underlines the help of the Holy Spirit toward an actionable faith. In this regard, we find words like ‘keep’ and ‘observe’ being repeated thrice. 

We may reflect on the Gospel from two angles. 

At first, Jesus means that the one who loves him can only reveal it in obeying his commands. Hence, a love that does not manifest itself through justifying deeds is only hypocritical. We must note that Jesus does not refer to a love that is reduced to or looks more like an emotional response. Instead, the words of Jesus underscore a love that is born of conviction to fulfill it in action. The indwelling of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is extended to those who love Christ and are capable of translating such love into action. 

Secondly, Jesus invites us to reflect on the role of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate or Helper, who will be sent by the Father in Jesus’ name. The important role of the Holy Spirit will be to ‘remind’ the faithful of Jesus’ words that call for action. Thus, the significance of the Holy Spirit is revealed not just in ensuring the continuity between Jesus’ teaching and our action but also in comforting the believers and sustaining them in their journey of discipleship. Jesus reveals that the Holy Spirit nurtures our faith, helps us with discernment, and inspires our love to bloom into action.

Let us pray that we may discern the work of the Spirit in us to observe Jesus’ commands. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar