Bishop Enrique Díaz Díaz shares with Exaudi readers his reflection on the Gospel for this Sunday, May 25, 2025, entitled: “The Holy Spirit will remind you of everything I have told you.”

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Acts 15:1-2, 22-29: “The Holy Spirit and we have decided not to burden you with more than necessary.”

Psalm 66: “Let all nations praise you, Lord. Alleluia.”

Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23: “An angel showed me the holy city coming down from heaven.”

John 14:23-29: “The Holy Spirit will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

There are difficult moments in life when it seems like everything is falling apart: family, business, community. Someone told me they felt like a leaky bucket, leaking water from all sides and gradually emptying. However, they sense that peace will soon come to their heart and place their trust in the Risen Lord, whom they feel very close to their heart.

The atmosphere of farewell we find in this Sunday’s passage is curious. Jesus is about to be handed over, his disciples will disperse, some will deny him, another will betray him, everyone will be bewildered, and yet, in his farewell, Jesus conveys a message of peace, harmony, and great security. First, he reveals to them a very different experience of God than that normally presented in the Old Testament. Now Jesus announces and reveals a new, very close presence of God. The Father is not a distant god, but one who draws near to humanity and lives with it, forming a community with human beings, the object of his love. “We will make our home in him,” Jesus promises. They will not have to go to the mountains, nor through interpreters or mediators, but rather they must allow themselves to be found by Him, discovering and accepting His presence in a relationship not of servant and slave before the Lord, but in a relationship of Father and Son. We will never be lost in our solitude; in the most inviolable sanctuary of our intimacy, we have the company of the Triune God. In the face of all the evils and dark omens that lie ahead, Jesus offers a new experience of God that will encourage, strengthen, and keep the disciples faithful.

When we live in fear and despair, we can make many mistakes. Violence and injustice are not appeased with more violence, but neither are they ended with indifference nor apathy. “Do not lose peace.” This is Jesus’ proposal and one of the greatest signs of God’s presence and the coming of the Kingdom. It does not consist in the absence of problems, nor in enduring as much as possible to avoid facing greater consequences. It is not about peace imposed by weapons or by powers, based on slavery, war, or lies. It is not about a balance of political or social forces that prefer not to confront each other so as not to harm each other and allow each person to continue living with their injustices. It is not even about an inner serenity capable of facing imbalances and difficulties.

The peace that Jesus offers us is God’s gift that guarantees the dignity and security of every person, his creative blessing of justice and a state of material and spiritual well-being. It is about achieving integral growth, a sufficient supply of food and health for all, and friendly relations with God and with one’s brothers and sisters. It is to achieve for men and women all that humanity needs, both horizontally and vertically. If we seek the peace Jesus desires for us, we will live without agitation and without fear, and we will build the new humanity God desires.

In this world of ours, where violence has taken over every sphere, where the cruelest wars are justified, and the deaths of so many of our brothers and sisters already go unnoticed; where we run the risk of losing peace and of becoming cowardly, Christ invites us to strengthen our hearts and asks us: “Do not be cowardly.” How can we not be afraid of the horrors of drug trafficking when it has infiltrated all our towns and communities? Will we sit idly by, watching our young people and even children become corrupted and infected by the ambition for power, money, and vice?

Let us listen to the words of Jesus and look at the true causes, and attack them, not with weapons that are practically useless, but by going to the heart of the problems. If we succeed in instilling values ​​and strength of heart in children and young people, they will not fall into the clutches of vice. But if we neglect their education and we ourselves are not examples of consistency and perseverance, how easily naive young people will fall! It is painful to hear that some young people no longer have any aspirations other than to join gangs and drug cartels. We must offer Jesus’ proposal with greater enthusiasm and consistency. Peace must excite us. Let us not be afraid.

We are not alone in this task of building peace. The great gift that Jesus offers us in his farewell is the Holy Spirit. If we simply consider what the word “Paraclete” means, we will discover the great mission he has in our hearts: defender, intercessor, advocate, enlightener, comforter, teacher, protector, builder, and caretaker of the community and of each of its members. He teaches us and reminds us of what Jesus said, but he also infuses in each of us an inner dynamism to welcome it and put it into practice in our daily lives. We cannot be hollow or empty inside when we have the Holy Spirit. We cannot be a dry bucket that spills and wastes all the water when the Holy Spirit makes a spring gush forth within us. When we do not believe in the Spirit, we live in fear of freedom and close the doors to God and to our own fulfillment. The Spirit gives us that energy to live in a more human and liberating way that encourages us and energizes our communities. Today we must fill ourselves with hope, open ourselves to Him, and allow ourselves to be guided by His strength. The Christian is a builder of peace under the creative and joyful impulse of the Spirit. Do we live in anguish and fear, or do we allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit? Do we dynamically seek new ways to educate, encourage, and build? Are we sowers of hope? Let us allow the Spirit to act in our lives! Grant us.

Father of goodness, to continue celebrating with love and joy the victory of the risen Christ, and, overcoming our anxieties and fears, to allow ourselves to be guided by your Holy Spirit. Amen.