Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Have you ever been invited into someone’s inner circle? An inner circle is typically a privileged, exclusive relationship based upon ultimate trust and confidence. Such a group is usually small in number and carefully selected. It’s not often one becomes part of an inner circle. And yet with God we find just the opposite! God desires that every human soul be part of the inner circle that is the Holy Trinity. Today’s Gospel reveals this sublime invitation.
Jesus gives us a glimpse into the inner life of the Trinity, “He [Holy Spirit] will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” The Spirit glorifies Jesus – he makes known Jesus’ divine majesty. As the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture explains, “The Spirit’s work of glorifying Jesus coincides with the Son’s glorifying the Father (revealing the Father by doing his saving work; John 17:4) and the Father’s glorifying the Son (glorifying his humanity in the resurrection and ascension; 17:1, 5).” The brilliant majesty of the Holy Trinity shines forth in the mutuality of the glorification of each Person. God destines us in Christ to enter into this glory.
Following Jesus is not limited to one’s earthly existence. God invites us to follow Jesus from our Baptism through his Paschal Mystery into glory! Indeed, “the Son of God became man so that we might become God. The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 460). The Church is not saying that we become deities, rather the Church professes the inherent mystery of the Incarnation – Jesus became human, sharing our humanity, so that we could become partakers of his divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), so that we could enter his inner circle.
The Catechism states, “God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange” (Catechism 221). The Father, in love, sent the Son to suffer, die, and rise so that we could be restored to relationship with him and enter into this divine “inner circle,” into communion with God. The relationship of Father and Son is total, self-giving love. Catholic theology identifies the love between Father and Son as the Spirit himself. The Holy Spirit of love has been sent into our hearts and lives to teach us, strengthen us, and help us to follow Jesus. Faithful followers of Jesus offer themselves to God in sacrificial, self-giving love that reaches to our neighbor. The more completely and totally we love as Christ loves, the closer we are to glory. We are only able to follow Jesus obediently through the grace and power that God provides to us through the Holy Spirit. As we surrender to the Spirit, he makes the reality of Trinitarian love present to us, and draws us into that “inner circle,” into communion with God.
Since the Holy Spirit is Love himself, the more receptive and available we are to the Spirit, the more power we receive to love more purely and perfectly. How often do you pray to be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit? Consider each morning asking the Spirit to fill you and give him permission to have access to every part of your being and your life. Such a prayer is powerful and transformative. Confessing our sins regularly gives the Spirit greater access to our lives, as well. Frequent reception of the Eucharist leads us into Jesus’ Sacred Heart and enables us to love as he loves. Praying for more of the Holy Spirit during Communion is another great opportunity. The chorus from one of the great hymns of the Church, Spirit of the Living God, forms a simple yet powerful prayer. Let us pray today to be empowered by the Holy Spirit and transformed in his love, joyful members of his inner circle.
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me,
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.
I’ll see you in the Eucharist,
Elizabeth Wells