Prayer of May 7, 2024

Reading time: 3 minutes

Read and listen to our prayer of May 7, 2024

Content index

Defend yourself

commentary on today's Gospel of John 16.5-11, edited byJoseph Amalfa SJ

Only young children know how to defend their mothers. With a clumsiness that makes them very powerful. And invincible.
Paolo Sorrentino

I enter the text (Jn 16.5-11)

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: «Now I go to him who sent me and none of you asks me: “Where are you going?”.

Indeed, because I told you this, sadness filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is good for you that I go away, because if I don't go away, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send it to you.

And when he comes, he will demonstrate the guilt of the world regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will no longer see me; concerning judgment, because the prince of this world is already condemned."

I get inspired

In an exchange between coming and going, the going to the Father of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit, one of the roles of the Easter breath that animates the communities is indicated: thedefense, meaning from the word “paraclete”. This defense is divided into three areas:

Defense from sin. The real sin is not believing in Jesus, it is the sin from which all the others would take life. The gravity of unbelief lies in not giving the other the possibility of the truth. It is a set of truths - of different ways of loving - that founds the communities that are responsible for transmitting the faith in a credible way. Without the embodied evidence of love, believing in Christ would lack roots.

For justice. The way in which God does justice is the cross, the choice to make the Son suffer to put an end to all other suffering. It is difficult to enter into this divine logic - and the difficulty is amplified by the multiplication of sufferings with which we live every day. But the cross is not an end in itself: it is the path towards communion with the Father. It is this intimacy that we must look at to understand the effects of this justice which would seem like a painful defeat.

From judgment. To the question if there will be a judgement, Jesus responds with a clear sentence: the prince of this world, condensed of everything that causes evil, is already condemned. It is the crisis of all the universal judgments with which we have painted our churches. Whoever causes evil already has condemnation in his evil. For everything that is moved by love the goal is to return to the one who sent us.

Only love makes the language of sin and of "Christian". justice and judgment.
The true shield that the Spirit holds to defend us is love.

Joseph Amalfa SJ

Meeting faces, meeting glances, sharing each other's story: this is the closeness of Jesus that we are called to experience. An encounter can change a life. The #Gospel it is full of these encounters with Christ that lift and heal.
Pope Francis via X