“As the Father commanded Me, so I do.”

The season we are in is the Fast of the Apostles. It is a time when we contemplate the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church, and when we examine what a life shaped by the Holy Spirit looks like. It is a time to measure our identity as the Church according to the standard of the Spirit.

The readings appointed for today show us this Spirit‑filled life of the Church. St. Paul teaches us how the Holy Spirit distributes gifts among the members of the Church—making each of us a gift and a servant to the others (1 Corinthians 12:1–12). St. John tells us that we have received “the holy anointing,” and that this anointing teaches us all things (1 John 2:21). He reminds us that the Spirit-filled life is guided by divine knowledge and heavenly understanding.

The Psalmist shows us the spirit of purity and humility in which this life is lived: “Create in me a clean heart, O Lord; renew a right spirit within me; do not cast me away from Your presence.”

And the Gospel reveals the center of all of this: our Lord Jesus Christ, and the promise He gave His disciples. After washing their feet, He spoke of fulfilling the Father’s command, of going to the Father, and of returning to them in the Holy Spirit—so that His presence would fill the Church, not depart from it (John 14).

Above all, Christ shows us that everything He did for the Church—His suffering, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and the Spirit-filled life He gave her—was the Father’s command:

“As the Father commanded Me, so I do.”

And He teaches us that the Church’s life is nothing other than following this same path of obedience:

“Whoever loves Me will keep My word; My Father will love him; We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him.”

Let us therefore contemplate the obedience of Christ.

The Obedient Spirit of Christ

What is the Father’s command? The Ethiopian hymnographer says:

“The Father is not greater than the Son, nor is the Son less than the Father; and the Holy Spirit is equal with Them.”

What, then, is this “command” between Father and Son?

It is the mystery of the Father–Son relationship. The Son lives within the Father’s bosom. He is close to the Father's heart. He listens to His Father’s heart. His heart is the Father’s heart. His thought is the Father’s thought. There is no division of mind between Them.

Why? Because the Father loves the Son, and the Son returns that love with perfect divine love. Therefore, whatever the Father wills, the Son accomplishes. The Father’s will is the Son’s “command.”

The Father’s will was to give creation to His Son. The Son, becoming man and head of creation, fulfilled the Father’s will even unto death.

He is the true Son who accomplishes the Father’s purpose.

Thus, when His hands were bound and He was led to the Cross, He said:

“The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But so that the world may know that I love the Father— as the Father commanded Me, so I do.”

The world came with the cross of the devil, the cross of the murderer of souls. Christ received it with the love of His Father. The Father’s thought is love alone, and the Son had no other response but love.

And behold—this love became the salvation of the world.

The Spirit of Our Sonship

This love—this obedience unto death—is the Holy Spirit Himself, flowing from the Father to the Son.

When we say Christ gave the Holy Spirit to the Church, we mean: He gave us the perfect love with which the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father. He gave us this love so that we might become true lovers of God like Him.

He gave us the Spirit because He made us His own, and He wants us to bear His love in our hearts and become children of God.

St. John says:

“To all who believed in His Name He gave authority to become children of God— children born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God.”

Those born of God—those who resemble the Son—do not live by fleshly thinking or by the philosophy of “more and more.” They live by keeping Christ’s word. As He kept the Father’s command, they keep His command.

And because they keep His word, His Spirit rests upon them.

St. Basil says:

“Then, like the sun, He reveals Christ—the image of the invisible God—within them. With purified eyes they behold this blessed image; they perceive the beauty of the Father beyond all speech; their hearts rise upward; their weary hands are strengthened; their journey in holiness reaches perfection; and through union with Him they become spiritual people. And the grace given to them flows outward to others.”

The Eucharistic Spirit

This Spirit enables the Church to understand everything Christ taught her. A Church led by the Holy Spirit—and likewise any Christian led by the Spirit—cannot forget Christ’s teaching, nor neglect what He commanded.

One of His teachings is:

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

From the earliest days, the Church obeyed this command. Every Sunday she gathers, breaks the bread, blesses the cup, remembers His death, resurrection, ascension, and second coming, and becomes one with Him.

She is on a journey, and she does not neglect her manna. Her manna never fails.

She breaks the bread of love and goes out into the world with works of love, humility, and goodness—bringing salvation to the world Christ loved.

Conclusion

Our Lord Jesus obeyed the Father in love: “As the Father commanded Me, so I do.”

He gave us His Spirit so that we may obey as He obeyed, and live within the Father’s plan.

Let us therefore examine ourselves: Are we walking in His Spirit?

Let us draw near to Him in the mysteries of the Church.

May the Father who gave us the Spirit of His Son, and may our Lord Jesus Christ, through the holy Church, receive glory and thanksgiving forever. Amen.