“THE CHRIST COMFORTER”
Saint John 15: 26 - 16: 4
Exaudi: 13 May Anno Domini 2018
Father Jay Watson SSP
I guess it depends, to a certain degree—the degree of whether one is Saved or damned to Hell—what one means by comforter. Is it only ease and relaxation from “a” comforter or is it God “The” Holy Ghost, the 3rd Person of The Blessed Trinity “THE” Comforter?
Your sinful self desires and lusts for comfort that is material. You want things to make you “feel” better. That’s selfish. That’s infantile. That’s the petulant toddler or teen or college-thing whining out…I want, I want, I want. The universe doesn’t care what you want, other people don’t care what you want, I don’t care what you want, and most importantly The Lord doesn’t care what you want!
What you NEED, now that dear Saints is a different matter. If God is God then He knows what you need. You need Him. You need saving! You need His presence. Only in His presence—not His omniscience, omnipotence, or even cosmic omnipresence—is there mercy and love. Only in His touching you and embracing you; only in His tender speaking into your ears—face to face, is there forgiveness for all the bad that you daily do, for the all the bad that is you in your falleness. Only in Him coming to you do you have a family restored. The pain that you need relieved and the emptiness inside your soul that you need filled, is the Comfort that God knows you need and gives in abundance. But not by walking and talking with The Messias in 1st century Palestine.
Yes, you confess (and believe and teach as well) that The Holy Spirit proceeds from both The Father and The Eternal Logos, The Son. But that is an inter-Trinitarian Godhead mystery which we really cannot speak of. It’s true because The Son is co-equal with The Father as God of God, of same Substance. But, in time, the so-called “economic” sending of The Holy Ghost, is a sending by Christ The God/Man…Jesus sends you The Comforter.
The Spirit, The Breath and Wind, Who is also a Person, The Divine God, The “Lord and Giver + Life” “Who with The Father and The Son is worshipped and glorified” is The Spirit of Truth. Jesus is THE Truth. All that is, was, will be, IS…is in Jesus—God enfleshed and the fullness of The Trinity. That is sent to you by Jesus to give you The COMFORT of Himself. For a brief while more Jesus is invisible to your eye’s perception and therefore The Holy Ghost makes sure you are nonetheless called by The Good News of Christ Crucified. Your sanctified “ears of faith” truly hear your Master. The Holy Ghost comforts you with The Gospel. The Gospel is Jesus: His obedience of The Law, His Passion and Suffering and Death for your Law-breaking, and His Resurrection from the dead to show you your own Baptismal + resurrection from death, hell, and the power of the devil.
These things which are all about The Only THING, that “THAT” which is the answer to all of your misery, do what they do no matter how you “feel” about it. Jesus is The Word and The Word works, creates, and does all it says. And, like the “12” who were His Witnesses since they had been with Him from the beginning, you too, are now His confessors, witnesses, and martyrs since you have been with Him since you beginning—His beginning + in You. They were thrown out of synagogues and slaughtered like sheep. Hallelujah! Now they repose in Christ’s wounds of warmth and peace awaiting the resurrection of all flesh. Be ready, be vigilant, be speaking His Name and His Love for all and to all you are surrounded with. You will be thrown out of friendships, jobs, groups and clubs, maybe even families for your fidelity and faithfulness to The Lord. Hallelujah!
You need more Word. But this doesn’t mean you just need more Bible passages thrown out to either memorize or receive instant sugar-hits from. The milk of the Word given at the breast of the Church—The Womb of The Baptismal font—becomes the strong Meat of The Word through a life of catechesis, meditation/prayer, and suffering. You need more Sacrament of The Altar. For when you receive The Christ’s Real Body and Real Blood, His Soul and Divinity, The Comforter is speaking you Truth and Peace. You know This Comforter and Your Heavenly Father when you know, receive, The Son. This passes all understanding. Hallelujah!
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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