Finding Your True Home
Julián Carrón - “If anyone 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.”
What does Jesus mean by the expression “keep his word”? “The word” (logos) does not refer here to mere moral instructions, but to the living revelation of God himself. “To keep the word” means to welcome Christ in his entirety and to allow the eternal Word, who was “in the beginning with God,” to take shape in our daily existence. In fact, Jesus is the incarnate Word, and therefore to keep his word means to welcome his person. The term “dwelling” is deeply connected to this welcome: the same eternal Word who became flesh (Jn 1:14) now wants to dwell in the believer. The eternal Word becomes human to enable human beings to become God’s dwelling place. Those who welcome Jesus, the incarnate Word, receive the love of the Father: “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
The process of God’s revelation does not reach its peak until it penetrates the innermost depths of the person; otherwise, it would remain external to man, incapable of generating a new creature. We can understand this well because it is similar to what happens in knowing the beloved. This process of knowing the other reaches its fulfillment only when we do not stop at the surface, but allow it to penetrate our innermost being, exalting our person and bringing it to a fulfillment never imagined before. In the same way, when the presence of God, Father and Son, dwells within us, this presence is so united with ourselves that we can say: “I am not when you are not there.” If you are missing from my life, I am not fully myself. I miss you, in fact. God created us to reach our fullness in Him, and He does not stop until He reaches us in our innermost being and we become His permanent dwelling place. This is the culmination of our fulfillment, what we grope for in everything we pursue: that God dwells in our hearts.
But Jesus is well aware that this process of penetrating our innermost being can only happen gradually, throughout our lives. How can the disciples, human beings with their limitations, understand the full richness of his person in the short time Jesus is with them? Even though he tells them, “I have told you these things while I am still with you,” he is aware that there are still many other things to tell them: “I have much more to say to you, but you cannot bear it now” (Jn 16:12). Who will help them understand what they do not yet know? We have heard him say: “The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.” The Father has revealed everything he had to say to us through the Son; he is the fullness of truth. “The profound truth about God and about man’s salvation shines forth for us through this revelation in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation” (Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum, n. 2). But to fully understand the truth he brought, not only is time necessary, but also strength from above. This is the task of the Holy Spirit: “to teach us all things.” “When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. [...] That is why I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (Jn 16:13-15).
Only in this way can he give us the peace we need: “I leave you peace, I give you my peace. Not as the world gives it, I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.” It does not take much imagination to understand how his disciples must have felt at the thought that he was going to leave them and leave them alone. But Jesus does not allow himself to be influenced by his disciples’ distress. For him, there is no conflict between his love for his own and his passion for the Father. His peace is not cheap consolation, but something more. For him, the good of his own coincides with love for the Father, so he challenges them: “If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it happens, you will believe.” It will be the experience of fulfillment that the Holy Spirit brings us to that will make us rejoice that he has gone to the Father and convince us that he has not left us alone.
Sixth Sunday of Easter – Year C
Unervised Notes from the homily by Julián Carrón
May 25, 2025
(First Reading: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Psalm 66 (67); Second Reading: Rev 21:10-14, 22-23; Gospel: Jn 14:23-29)
