"Come, Holy Spirit!” “Come, Lord Jesus!" | Seventh Sunday of Easter | Sunday Reflection

Jesus’ ascension into heaven was also His enthronement at the right hand of the Father. It’s what we celebrated last Thursday, Ascension Thursday. In the first reading today, Saint Stephen sees the Lord Jesus at the right hand of the Father in glory. Notice, however, what Stephen says: “Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” In Saint Stephen’s hour of need, Jesus is not merely sitting but standing—that is, He is actively responding to Stephen’s prayer.

Jesus, at the right hand of the Father in glory, is not distant but close to Stephen in his suffering and martyrdom. Jesus is standing up, reaching down, drawing ever closer. He is delivering Stephen and receiving his soul into glory. No wonder Stephen can be filled with joy, even in his death. With His ascension into heaven, Jesus does not abandon us but is our hope.

Jesus is not removed or aloof as Stephen suffers or as the Church suffers or when we suffer. He is never passive or slow to act, even when it sometimes seems like that. He is standing at the right hand of God, responding to our prayer, interceding, intervening, helping.

Jesus gives to Saint Stephen the glory He had with the Father before the foundation of the world. The gospel today communicates Jesus’ longing to share that love and glory with us. Jesus speaks like a lover who wants us to be with Him. The Church, on her part, longs to receive this gift—the love and glory of God in Jesus—and so she cries out in the second reading: “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Notice, in the second reading, how it is not the Church on her own who cries out to the Lord Jesus. It’s the Holy Spirit who enables her to cry out and who prepares the Church to be received by Christ. It is “the Spirit and the Bride” who cry out to Jesus: “Come!” The Holy Spirit inspires and gives voice to the Church’s longing for the coming of Jesus to make all things new. The Holy Spirit also keeps the Church faithful to the words and will of Jesus.

In these days between Ascension and Pentecost, we look to the Holy Spirit. We pray not only “Come, Lord Jesus!” but also “Come, Holy Spirit!” The Holy Spirit prepares us even now for the coming of Jesus. It is He who transforms us even now for eternal life. It is the Holy Spirit who enlightens, purifies, and heals us. The Holy Spirit, poured into our hearts at Baptism, makes it possible for us to live, even now, the life of God Himself.

We don’t turn to the Holy Spirit often enough in prayer, yet every good inspiration comes from Him. The more attentive we become to His voice praying deep within us, the more in tune we become to God’s ways and purposes.

In these days before Pentecost, we deepen our love of God the Holy Spirit. It is He who applies to us everything that belongs to Jesus and so draws us close to the Father. The Holy Spirit plunges us into the saving mystery of God. He reorients our lives entirely to the Father in Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is the Great Witness to Jesus and He makes us true witnesses to Jesus. He gives us the strength of Jesus, changing our suffering into a share in Christ’s passion, enabling human suffering to share in divine glory.

As Jesus ascended into heaven and promised the Holy Spirit, He sent His followers out as missionaries to the whole world. The missionary era began, and “everybody knew that this missionary era could never end until the same Jesus, who went up to heaven, would come back again” (Saint John Paul II). We are in this missionary era even as we pray: “Come, Lord Jesus!”

“Come, Lord Jesus!” the Liturgy cries out today. But before He comes back, we have work to do. We have His life to live, and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we have the responsibility and joy of making Him known and loved in our times. We pray “Come, Lord Jesus!” more effectively when we also pray “Come, Holy Spirit!”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit . . .