Sunday, December 16, 2007

Jn 4, 16-23 The Father seeks true worshipers in Spirit

(Jn 4, 16-23) The Father seeks true worshipers in Spirit
[16] Jesus said to her, "Go call your husband and come back." [17] The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband." Jesus answered her, "You are right in saying, 'I do not have a husband.' [18] For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true." [19] The woman said to him, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. [20] Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem." [21] Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. [22] You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. [23] But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
(CCC 728) Jesus does not reveal the Holy Spirit fully, until he himself has been glorified through his Death and Resurrection. Nevertheless, little by little he alludes to him even in his teaching of the multitudes, as when he reveals that his own flesh will be food for the life of the world (Cf. Jn 6:27, 51, 62-63). He also alludes to the Spirit in speaking to Nicodemus (Cf. Jn 3:5-8), to the Samaritan woman (Cf. Jn 4:10, 14, 23-24), and to those who take part in the feast of Tabernacles (Cf. Jn 7:37-39). To his disciples he speaks openly of the Spirit in connection with prayer (Cf. Lk 11:13) and with the witness they will have to bear (Cf. Mt 10:19-20).

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