6 Sunday Easter, Year A, John 14:15-21

Russian Dolls

Have you ever seen a set of Russian dolls? They are sometimes known as 'Babushka dolls'. Anyhow, they sit one inside the other. The ones you can pick up on the tourist trail very often have five, but there can be as many as two dozen dolls, all one inside the next.

It's a helpful image for what Jesus tells us in the Gospel today: "I am in my Father and you in me and I in you." Given how close that means God is to us, it is no wonder that very often we wonder where God is. Is he up in the sky? Or in the land? If God is in each one of us and we are present in God, then God is a lot more like real life than the religious images we might have for God from our childhood.

If we are looking for God, then we have to begin by listening to the movements of our own heart because that is where God chooses to dwell by means of his Holy Spirit dwelling in us. It is that same Holy Spirit that prompts us to do right rather than to do wrong in moments of difficulty. It is God's Holy Spirit in us that reveals God's deepest dream for us. Because of God's Holy Spirit dwelling in us the Christian life is known as the 'Spiritual Life'. And this time of the Church that we are living in now since the time of Jesus is known as the time of the Spirit.

So, as Christians we live by the Spirit, rather than simply by the Law. This makes us joyful, because we experience the very presence of God in us.

Living by the Spirit, we are aware that the Spiritual life is not just about not sinning. The Spiritual life is not just about being sorry for what we have done. The person in the life of the Spirit seeks to allow their life to be moulded by the Spirit of God. The life of the Spirit is positive, life-giving and joyful, not simply dwelling on the negative.

Isn't it one of the strange aspects of our experience of Christian life here in Ireland that prayers are often seen as a penance? Whether it's as a penance from the Sacrament of Confession, or going on pilgrimage to Lough Derg; very often we understand our relationship with God in terms of a penance that we have to do. Our gospel today promotes a radically different vision to that; it is the vision of God gently dwelling inside us, encouraging us, calling us, dreaming for us, loving us. Listening to God who dwells in our hearts then we ache to live in relationship with him. Our whole being becomes shaped by the presence of God in our hearts.

Vocation makes sense in this life of the Holy Spirit. Whether we're talking about the vocation of marriage or priesthood, religious life or the monastery. With God these radical, Christian ways of life are possible, but without God they lose their flavour and their essence.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
V. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created.
R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.