”I told you all this while I am still with you. From now on the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I have told you.”
REFLECTION:
Obedience, although not always a sure indicator, is a response of love. It manifests outwardly our desire to please the beloved. Thus Jesus uses the criteria of keeping His commandments in knowing who loves Him or not. But experience tells us that obedience per se is not enough. The reasons behind the obedience are more important than the act itself. For obedience can come from a fearful heart. It can be coerced and demanded. It can also be given under protest.
And so Jesus made it clear that an obedient loving heart is where He and the Father find residence. It is a transformed heart worthy as an abode of the divinity. Hence a transformation in one‘s life accompanies once loving obedience to God. The person is slowly being divinized. The Spirit is understood. That transformed person is at ease with all things divine, so much so that listening and getting instructions from the Spirit is nothing but a normal chore. And this kind of person will never forget the word of the Lord. He or she will always be reminded by the Paraclete, the Divine Helper that comes from above.