Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter
A short time after his conversion in Loyola, St. Ignatius was living a life of asceticism and service in Manresa. He tells a story from that time about an illumination he experienced when, as he was sitting and praying along the Cardoner River, he suddenly came to a deep understanding of many things. So profound was the change that he said of himself, “It was as if he were a new man with a new intellect.”
Jesus’ words in the Gospel today prophesy a similar experience. His statement about the Holy Spirit seems quite strange. The apostles may want to ask him, “Haven’t you already taught us everything, Jesus? What more is there to be said? Why would you not just tell us those other things now?” Of course, Jesus has said all that he has wanted to say, so what is going on here?
We forget that “to teach” implies “to learn.” Without learning, there is no teaching. The Gospels make it obvious that the disciples have not learned everything. Their questions at the Last Supper reveal some fundamental misunderstandings of all they’ve been living for the last three years. Indeed, the disciples have heard a lot from Jesus, they have even come to love him, but they have not truly learned who he is or what he’s up to.
That is the Holy Spirit’s work. The Spirit calls to mind the words and actions of the Lord, tumbles them around the mind and heart of the believer, and brings about understanding. Sometimes that happens in a flash, like it did for the Apostles at Pentecost or for St. Ignatius at the Cardoner River, and sometimes it happens slowly but surely, over the course of a lifetime. Let us ask the Holy Spirit for that gift of understanding, so that we might not merely hear the Word but indeed learn who that Word is.