The One Who Answers The Cry
April 10, 2024
Fr. John Riccardo
My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world. The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments. Those who say, "I know him," but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him
1 John 2:1-5a
At a first reading, this passage from John would seem to be rather contradictory. At one and the same time, he exhorts disciples of Jesus not to sin, but then tells them – us – that if we do, not to fear, for we have an “Advocate.” And not just us, that is, disciples, but “the whole world,” since Jesus died for the ungodly and the “ungodly” are the whole human race (cf. Romans 5:6).
John goes on to say that there is a sure-fire way to be certain that we know the Lord: if we keep His commandments. Those who don’t are “liars, and the truth is not in them” – us. But what happened to the encouraging word about if we sin we have an Advocate? After all, sin is the breaking of a commandment. What’s going on here?
It might be helpful to start with the word “Advocate.” Usually, this word is used to refer to the Holy Spirit (cf Jn 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). Sometimes the word is translated as “Helper”, or “Comforter.” The Greek word is paraclete, and any of the words above could be adequately used. It is a legal term that refers to someone who acts as a representative of another. I once heard a teacher say that perhaps the best way to understand what is being communicated in this word is “someone who answers the cry.” With that, I think I am better able to understand what John is saying to us – after all, we are the ones being spoken to in this passage.
Someone crying is someone who is in need or hurting somehow. They are acknowledging they’re not all together and need help of some sort, thus the cry. Isn’t this us when we call out to God for His grace to help us be the men and women He made us to be and that we want to be? Isn’t this the stance of the person who comes before God in confession? “I’ve done wrong, I know! Help me, please! Help me with Your mercy and forgiveness, but also with the power of Your Spirit so that I can live in true freedom.”
It is possible, I think, that two people could do the very same thing, break the very same commandment, but be vastly different interiorly. One fails to love, either God or their neighbor, in some concrete way (I’ll use that as an example since it is the great commandment, after all). Afterwards, however, she is deeply sorrowful and quick to repent, to cry out for help from the Advocate. The other also fails to love, either God or his neighbor. Afterwards, however, he is not sorrowful, and is not repentant. Indeed he thinks nothing at all of what he’s done and has no interest in wanting to change.
In other words, there is an immense difference between a person who is struggling, trying to keep the commandments, trying to love God and her neighbor, trying to conform her life to all that Jesus has taught us and someone who has taken a stance and rejected some teaching of Jesus and is unwilling to change. The latter person, if she is calling herself a disciple, is a liar but not the first person.
Monsignor James Shea, President of the University of Mary, is fond of repeating, especially to youth, that there is something of an iron-clad rule in the Church. Since Satan has been defeated by Jesus, Shea reminds us, now the worst thing he can ever do to us is to get us to give up. And if we don’t give up, if we cry out to the Advocate, if we ask for mercy, if we’re quick to repent, if we get back up off the floor, then we always win!
As we continue to glory in these Easter days of new life, let us cry out with hope to our Advocate, asking Him to help us be the disciples we desire to be. But let us also cry out to Him on behalf of those who, for whatever reason, do not yet know Him, so that they might be enveloped in His grace and love and finally find the joy and freedom for which every human heart longs.
ACTS XXIX Prayer Intentions
April 2024
For the clergy and lay leaders who will be joining us on campus for a Leadership Immersive.
For our Board of Directors meeting.
For our Episcopal Advisory Committee, Board members, benefactors and prayer partners.
For our Rescue Vancouver LIVE Revival planning.
For all those bringing The Rescue Project to their homes and parishes around the world.
For God’s protection upon Fr. John Riccardo, our team and our families.