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John 14:12-14
New Catholic Bible
John 14:12-14
New Catholic Bible
Jesus, the Life, Communicates the Spirit[a]
12 “Amen, amen, I say to you,
the one who believes in me
will also do the works that I do,
and indeed will do even greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father.
13 Whatever you ask in my name I will do,
so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask me for anything in my name,
I will do it.
Footnotes
- John 14:12 Here is a beautiful hymn on what it means to be Christians. They are not nostalgic survivors of a great experience that is past. In daily life, with its insults and interrogations, they remain in true communion with Christ and continue his work—i.e., they bear in his name the testimony of salvation and the testimony of truth. This communion, unceasingly renewed, gives them strength to cope with attacks of despair, falsehood, incomprehension, and nothingness—what John often calls “the world.”
In this effort, which is never finished, they are uplifted by a new and constant presence of God: the Spirit. It is the Spirit who gives Christians the power to experience the divine presence in their inmost being, because the Spirit makes them live in the participation of God. It is the Spirit who gives Christians the courage to obey, as Christ did, the will of God, who is love, truth, testimony. It is the Spirit who makes them penetrate the heart of the words and acts of Jesus in the questions and debates of life.
The Spirit is the consoler of Jn 16:5-13. The Greek word Parakletos means an advocate, one who aids by his power and advice. In the situations and struggles of living as a Christian, the Spirit supports us so that we may remain united with God and bear witness to him before the world.
