St John the Evangelist Parish

June 15, 2025

The Most Holy Trinity

I am amazed at how my four siblings teach their many kids in age-appropriate ways. For example, now that my nephew Brandon is 24, they give him insights and freedoms that would have been positively confounding or even dangerous when he was a toddler. Imagine if they had taught him at age four how to drive a car, use a credit card online, or handle power tools. But eventually, they did, and he is a high-functioning young man, I’m proud to say. They are good teachers.

This week, we learn that Jesus teaches us in a similar way. He tells his Apostles, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now” (John 16:12). How disappointing for them. But imagine, at that moment, before his resurrection and ascension, if the Lord had started telling them about synods and sacraments, popes and parishes, martyrs and monasteries, rosaries and relics, catechisms and crucifixes? They would have been absolutely overwhelmed, confused, and discouraged. He tells them what they need to know and when to realize it.

So he does for us. Jesus has unceasingly taught the Church as she matures through the centuries, just as he teaches you and me through our lives in ways we can understand. Our task should be to learn what he is teaching us now, knowing that (although revelation per se is complete in him and his Apostles), he never ceases to teach us as we spiritually mature. Be confident: he knows what you are ready to learn now.