Jesus said to his disciples,
If anyone loves me,
He will keep my word,
And my Father will love him,
And we shall come to him,
And make our home with him.
Those who do not love me do not keep my words,
And my word is not my own.
It is the word of the one who sent me.
I have said these things to you while still with you,
But the Advocate,
The Holy Spirit,
Whom the Father will send in my name,
Will teach you everything,
And remind you of all I have said to you.
Peace I bequeath to you,
My own peace I give you,
A peace the world cannot give.
This is my gift to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You hear me say,
I am going away and shall return.
If you loved me,
You would have been glad to know that I am going to the Father,
For the Father is greater than I.
I have told you this now,
Before it happens,
So that when it does happen,
You may believe the gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you,
Lord Jesus Christ.
I think that we find ourselves in a time where loneliness on so many different levels has become a norm.
Over the past two years,
It has become okay to not see another human being for days on end.
And slowly,
With the world opening up,
We find that we are stuck in that,
That we have become so used to not connecting,
That this loneliness is the norm.
Oftentimes also then,
The loneliness can be described as a darkness,
A feeling of being absolutely isolated,
Without being able to see anything,
A way out,
Or to see hope,
To feel hope.
When we get used to this feeling,
We don't realize that the neighbor across the street is feeling the exact same thing.
Jesus said to his disciples,
If anyone loves me,
He will keep my word,
And my Father will love him,
And we shall come to him and make our home with him.
I don't know how much clearer Jesus could have been.
If anyone loves me,
He will keep my word.
Now,
What does that have to do with the loneliness that we are feeling,
With this darkness that we are feeling,
With the sense of separation that we are feeling?
What does Jesus say?
What is the word of Jesus?
Jesus said love,
Love one another,
Love God,
Love one another as yourself.
So love yourself,
Love God,
Love each other.
But we have become so used to keeping people physically at a distance,
Which translated into emotional distancing and spiritual distancing,
That we are almost caught in a loop,
Caught in a loop of despair,
Of disconnect.
And unfortunately,
This has taken us back spiritually.
It has made us forget that Jesus came to break down the illusion of separation.
To break down this illusion,
This wall,
This curtain that we had,
That we think that we are alone,
That we are not connected on many,
Many,
Many,
Many different levels.
The illusion that I am standing here and I am alone,
That I am not connected to every single person,
Every single being on this planet.
To make us forget that inside of me is the Holy Spirit,
Which means that I am not alone.
I have God inside of me and God is inside each and every one of us.
The Holy Spirit resides in us all.
What does that mean?
What does that mean?
I am connected to every single being on this great planet of God.
And all of a sudden,
These words come through.
My Father will love him.
We shall come to him and make our home with him.
God is here.
We must just start living what Jesus wants us to do.
If we start reaching out to each other with love,
Without wanting anything in return,
But just reaching out because I recognize God inside of you.
I honor God inside of you.
Then we will become aware of the divinity that the Father and the Son are making their home with us.
Because the Spirit resides in us.
The Advocate,
The Holy Spirit,
Whom the Father will send in my name,
Will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.
Aren't these words of Jesus just beautiful?
I don't know,
For some or other reason,
There's this excitement in me today.
This feeling of something big is going to happen.
Maybe more and more of us will start remembering the words of Jesus when we connect to the Holy Spirit,
When we start recognizing that there is something inside of us.
This little voice that's always there,
Whispering,
Whispering.
The problem is that in this life that we find ourselves,
We have connected so much with the anxiety that the perception of disconnect has created in us.
That in this anxiety,
We start filling our lives with things.
We joke in the office that I work in,
They say,
I love things.
I like things.
Or you like things.
When I like things,
You like things.
And we fill our lives with things.
Clatter and noise and TV and games and anything not to feel this anxiety.
So we try and artificially curb this anxiety by keeping the mind busy.
And in that,
Unfortunately,
We don't then connect to the silence where we can listen and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
The voice of the Holy Spirit that reminds us of the words of Christ.
Love God.
Love each other.
Love each other as ourselves.
Recognize God in all when we do that.
Share the love of Christ that is unconditional.
But in our reading today,
I think it is such a phenomenal reminder.
Powerful,
Powerful reminder to just stop.
Stop everything that you are doing and make the time.
Dedicate a moment every day,
If you can,
To just stopping and connecting.
Allowing the presence and action of God,
Of the love of God to enter you fully.
And when we do that,
I really do believe that we will start seeing a shift in this energy of anxiety.
This energy of disconnect that we have become part of,
That we have started to identify our beings and ourselves with.
So usually I would say the challenge or the focus that I would like for you to have for the week would be very much external.
See if you can smile at a stranger.
See what you can do for somebody without sharing it on social media.
But this week,
Let's try something completely different.
And not only for a week,
But for the next month.
It is my prayer that you will take a time,
A moment every day to go and sit in silence and to say,
Here I am,
Lord.
Speak.
I am listening.
Amen.
