Pentecost Sunday (May 27^th 2012)   

Gospel: John 15:26-27; 16:12-15

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Questions raised by this passage from the Gospel

1 A "paraclete" is someone who whispers to us whilst we are engaged in some activity. In what way would my behaviour be transformed if I had someone whispering to me of Christ's love for me while I went about my daily activities?

2. Can I bear witness to the love of Christ if I have not felt that love myself? Can I feel that love if I have not become aware of my own poverty and God's response to that poverty?

3. The Holy Spirit inspires us to focus on the other and not on ourselves. In what ways does the spirit of this world encourage us to become bottomless pits of selfish needs?

4. In what way does the Holy Spirit reveal the future to believers?

5. In what sense is a mature Christian faith incompatible with anxiety?

A "paraclete" is not someone who does things for us, but one who counsels us on how to act

In today's Gospel, Jesus uses the beautiful term "Advocate" for the Holy Spirit. This is a translation of the Greek word "Paraclete". In a modern legal proceedings, a lawyer normally speaks on behalf of the defendant. In fact, the defendant is required to remain silent during much of the trial, to avoid him saying something that could potentially damage his case. But things were very different in the ancient world. According to ancient legal custom, a defendant was obliged to speak on his own behalf. But by his side he had the right to have a "paraclete", or advocate, who could advise him on how to proceed. The paraclete did not do the talking for the defendant, but spoke in the defendant's ear and gave him counsel.

What does the Paraclete whisper to us? Of the love that Christ has shown us

What kind of things does the Paraclete whisper to us? According to today's Gospel, the Holy Spirit "bears witness" to Christ. How often in life do we need someone to speak to us of Christ! How the things we do and the way that we do them would be transformed if someone whispered to us of Christ whilst we engaged in our activities! The Holy Spirit reminds us of the love that Christ has shown for us and in this way transforms us into witnesses of that love. To bear witness to something is not a moral obligation. We bear witness to what we have experienced, and if we have not experienced something then we cannot bear witness to it. The Holy Spirit does not give us concepts or ideas that we have not experienced at first hand ourselves. The Holy Spirit speaks of Christ and transforms us into people who are capable of bearing witness to what we have experienced.

We must be aware of our own poverty and of God's response to that poverty before we can bear witness to the love of Christ

How do we become witnesses of Christ? The Gospel goes on: "I still have many things to say to you, but they would be too much for you now". Why are the disciples not capable of bearing the weight of what Jesus wishes to say to them? When will they be capable? After they have experienced the dramatic and glorious events of Easter; after Peter has become aware of his own poverty and has opened himself completely to the light of Christ. It is a curious fact that when we are strong we are unable to witness to the love of Christ. It is only when we become aware of our own weakness and have experienced the response of God to that weakness that we are able to bear the weight of that which Jesus wishes to entrust to us.

The Holy Spirit inspires us place the focus completely on the other. The spirit of evil, by contrast, encourages us to focus on ourselves, transforming us into bottomless pits of selfish needs and wants

"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking from himself, and he will tell you of the things that are to come". It is interesting that the complete truth is learned by following someone who does not speak of himself. He who speaks of himself has a different kind of spirit, the spirit of pride and self-conceit. The spirit of love, the spirit of God, speaks of Christ and speaks of the Father. He who is truly free is able to give the gift of life to others, but the spirit of evil is a consumer of life, who wishes us all to become consumers as well, bottomless pits that seek affirmation, reward, compensation, material possessions. The Holy Spirit, by contrast, teaches us to speak of the other, to speak of Christ and to speak of God.

            Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as the one who "will say only what he has learnt". Christ, too, said only what he had heard from the Father. He who does real good is not himself a fount of life, but finds his point of reference in the Father. Real love does not consist in an individual summoning up all of his powers of discipline and concentration and trying to carry out altruistic acts towards others. Only if I am rooted in the Father, immersed in the knowledge of his love for me, and aware of what he is saying to my heart, am I capable of acts of genuine love.

In what way does the Holy Spirit reveal the future to believers?

The Holy Spirit, we are told, "will announce to us the things of the future". Here the Paraclete assists us in responding in the best way possible to the vicissitudes of life. We must admit that many people, even in the Church, are not well assimilated to Christ. Many so-called Christians, who are active in the church, have not been truly washed clean and redeemed. This is something that must be acknowledged. How many people must still learn to read their future in the light of the Holy Spirit! We can pose the question: "What does the future hold?  Who can reveal your future for you? Can the means of mass communication uncover what is in store for you? Can instinct, or public opinion, disclose what is to come?" The various means that this world uses to forecast the future all reveal a world that is chaotic, uncertain, something to be fearful of. He who possesses the gift of the Holy Spirit, he who follows the counsel of the Holy Spirit, knows that his future is guided by Divine Providence. The Holy Spirit permits us to interpret everything with the sure conviction that God's plan is at work. A mature Christian faith is incompatible with anxiety. An anxious person, who worries about everything, and goes to pieces as soon as difficulties arise, cannot be in the possession of a well-formed faith. A mature Christian relies on the Holy Spirit for his conviction about the providential outcome of all things. The Holy Spirit at Pentecost transformed the future of the apostles. They became capable of bearing the weight of their mission. They were no longer filled with fear of a future without God.

            What is the future when it is described by someone who is not instructed by the Holy Spirit? It is something threatening, something which must be overseen by our mechanisms of insurance and self-protection. But reality never obeys our pathetic efforts to control and tame it! On this Pentecost Sunday, let us rid ourselves of the standard forecasts of the future! Let us be freed of our anxieties, which are nothing more than inadequacies of our faith. Let us do as Padre Pio advised and leave the future to providence. If we consign the future to providence, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us of God, then we will be filled with the sure conviction that the only thing the future holds is the fatherly love of God.