In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is preparing to leave His disciples. The approach “the farewell discourses.†We read it today, as we approach the end of the Easter season, aware that Jesus left His disciples in stages. The ascension of Jesus was the final act of leaving His apostles, but since His arrest and crucifiction Jesus had only appeared occasionally.
Here we are today, on this Sunday between the Solemnity of the Ascension and the next week’s celebration of Pentecost. We are still in the Easter season, but it is drawing to its close and we are looking towards next week’s celebration marking the coming of the Holy Spirit and with it the start of the Church as we know it. When we think about the changes that we inevitably face in our lives, there is a strong temptation to control everything, to plan it all out and to be sure that there is as little risk as possible. There is a lot of merit in this approach, of course, and we would be irresponsible if we didn’t, say, plan moving and instead found ourselves on moving day without a van, or the keys to the new house. But Jesus reminds us that there is another element in coping with change and coping with responsibility. He teaches us to trust God and to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When we do this, we can be reassured that whatever decisions we make, or however much it feels as though life isn’t going according to plan, we are not alone. Instead we trust and know we have the best guidance possible.