The Gospel reading for the day comes from John 5:17-30. I invite you to read it along with this reflection.
Jesus answered and said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also.”
John 5:19
What Jesus says about Himself says something about the Father and His love for us. Think of the depth and intensity with which Christ loves us. Then think of what He says in the Gospel. The Father was not crucified, but the love shown in Christ’s gift of Himself reveals to us the depths of the Father’s love since Christ does only what He sees the Father doing.
The One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of his Son, is truly God. Consubstantial with the Father and the Son, the Spirit is inseparable from them, in both the inner life of the Trinity and his gift of love for the world. In adoring the Holy Trinity, life-giving, consubstantial, and indivisible, the Church’s faith also professes the distinction of persons. When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him.
CCC 689
What is seen in Christ’s love and gift of Himself is a love that all three persons of the Trinity have for us. Think of what this connection means in the other things Christ says. “Jesus answered him, ‘If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) If our God, who is love, dwells in us, our God that loves us limitlessly, it makes sense that the greatest command and thing we can do is love our God back. It is also fitting that we received the new command to love, as He has, since it is that love which flows through us in God’s indwelling in us.
