by Orlando Hernández                                                                                                               
     Over the last weeks of Easter the Gospel for the Masses concentrates on John, chapters 13-17, Jesus’ farewell discourse at the Last Supper. I tried to read these pages slowly and prayerfully more than once during these last sad weeks, asking Jesus what He wants to say to me, asking Him to console me.     When I read, He tells me first and foremost that I must be humble enough to get on my knees, take a risk, put aside my pride, serve my neighbor, and also allow my neighbor to serve me, even if by a phone call. Consolation and empathy go both ways. This is the essence of what loving each other means. When you serve others sometimes you find that you are the one being served. Two weeks ago a friend of mine with whom I hadn’t spoken for a while calls me on the phone to tell me that he had lost his wife, who was my friend too, and he was also sick with the COVID, all alone at home, trying to survive. His fever was not too high, but he had the cough, his throat burned, and he had no food. He seemed so confused and distressed that I found myself offering to take him some food.

My wife and I were terrified to do this. A strange, fierce fear of getting the disease gripped us. We are old, no? But we forced ourselves and I left all those groceries at his front door. He insisted that I take the check that he had put in an envelope and left at the door for me. I kept the envelope in the trunk of the car for over a week, afraid to take it into my house for fear of the virus.

When I finally opened the envelope I found Jesus Christ Himself looking straight at me. My friend had put one of those small prayer cards of the Divine Mercy inside. That day I had been in a bad way; the weight of this Pandemic was getting to me. I even had a hard time praying. Finding this little card in the envelope changed my whole perspective realizing that we find Jesus in each other in the most surprising ways.    

 In Chapter 14 Jesus tells me to not let my heart be troubled, because I have faith. My Lord gives me my faith and that is what strengthens me: faith that there is a God who is pure Love and in the end has the best intentions for all of us, even in the middle of this awful time. Where does this faith, this “evidence of things unseen” come from? From Him! It’s His gift of Self. He is the Way to this truth, a Truth beyond and above this sad, superficial reality under which we live. He IS that Truth, and it is packed with life to the fullest, “zoe” life, eternal life. As a matter of fact, He is that Life. From the very beginning, 12 years ago, He was the One who opened my eyes to this reality. He still comes patiently every day to revive this faith within me.    

 In the Gospel He goes on to teach me that God is an all-loving Parent who delights in being loved by me. All I have to do is call on my Divine Friend Jesus, and in a mysterious way, this loving Father and this Brother of mine are One, and they pour their “joy” upon me in such a wonderful way that I am lost in “their” Holy Spirit of Love. I am in Them and They are in me. Oh, oh, along with all my other fellow human beings! Very crowded in there! No “social distancing” within this spiritual Truth, this joy. It can be so easy if only we believe. Well, not so easy. We need His gift of faith.   

 So many of my friends feel lonely in their homes. Others are afraid of dying alone in a hospital bed, being separated from their loved ones. Some complain, “ Why has this precious time in our children’s lives been taken from them?” Some of them haven’t made a single dollar in two months.  I listen to them and sometimes cry along with them respectfully. I’m almost embarrassed to tell them, “You are not alone. God will never leave you orphans. He lives in you. Just listen for His whisper. His Spirit, the Advisor, will defend you and guide you through. Even if we are to lose our lives, our Lord promises the most wonderful place in His Father’s house. He waits for us there! Don’t be afraid!”      It is not easy to say this to someone. It is even harder for them to accept this when they are in the middle of their own Passion! What I do notice is that faith in Jesus is an incredible help. My friend ended up in the hospital and was there for about 4 days. He knew that I was praying for him. I am relieved to say that he is back home recovering. But every time we talk he cries and shares his grief with me. Everything that he sees in that apartment reminds him of his beloved wife of 42 years. They only had each other. They never had children, and their parents and siblings are gone. My friend is hurting, and yet he is a Catholic! He believes in eternal life. He is certain that they will be together again. We talk and share this belief together and it soothes the pain a little. He promised her he would live on if he could. He makes sure to take his anticoagulants and is caring for himself, trying to eat a little more each day. In my heart I know it is the Holy Spirit of Jesus Who makes sure he does!   

 Another friend, a very devout woman, a widow, away from her children and grandchildren, tells me, “I die every day, from sadness, loneliness, and anxiety, but every day I also resurrect because I am not alone, Jesus lifts me up and I pick up the phone and try to do this for someone else.” That day, when we spoke by phone, she did exactly that for me.     In the Gospel our Lord tells us He is our friend. He gives up his life for us . He wants us to be friends to him, but it is not so easy. We have to follow that difficult commandment: “Love each other the way I love you.” I am reminded of that very inconvenient statement by Dorothy Day: “You can only love God as much as the person you love the least.”   

 I see so much anger and recrimination in the news, so much division in our country, even regarding how to behave during the pandemic. The negative feelings within me take over. I find myself resenting politicians and fellow citizens who seem to “hate” me straight out of the TV screen. The Spirit of Truth that Jesus pours upon me is more than just my “defense attorney.” He is also the Prosecutor, the Convicter, pointing out each unloving feeling, lack of compassion, negative instinct, or paranoid tendency within me. I see that the way to peace begins with me. I must pray for the welfare, the health, the financial well-being of everyone in my country, listen to everyone with empathy and respect .     I can try and pray, invite the Presence of the Holy Trinity to intimately and silently rest within me. My gracious God does. But my Lord reminds me gently:      

   “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my father’s commandments and remained in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you….. This I command you: Love one another.” (Jn 15:11-14, 17)