We all know that Pentecost is the Feast of the Holy Spirit because it was on that day, fifty days after Jesus’ Resurrection, that the third person of the Holy Trinity descended like wind and fire upon Mary and the Apostles in the upper room.
But Pentecost is also necessarily the feast of the Church because it is the Spirit that gives birth to and sustains the Church and its mission. It is only after the Apostles had received the Gift of the Holy Spirit that the they abandoned their fear, left their place of hiding, and began fulfilling the mission Jesus had given them to proclaim His good news to the ends of the earth.
So to understand this feast of Pentecost and the Gift of the Spirit that it celebrates; to better know the Holy Spirit as a Divine Person of the Holy Trinity; it is necessary to examine the effects, the fruit that the Spirit has, even until today, in the life of the Church. Today’s Gospel gives us that opportunity.
Today’s Gospel comes from the section of John’s Gospel called the Farewell Discourse, Jesus’ final instructions to the Apostles before He undergoes His Passion and death.
As all four of the Gospels make clear, the disciples had often failed to understand much of what Jesus revealed to them. They constantly needed the parables He told and the signs He performed explained to them. They fought over who is the greatest and they refused to accept that He would suffer and die.
In addition, Jesus makes it clear that He has much more to reveal to them, that they are simply not yet ready for. Like a good teacher, who knows that first graders aren’t ready for long division, He says: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.”
At the same time, He makes a promise that will assist the disciples in understanding all He has revealed. He says, ”But when He comes, the Spirit of Truth, He will guide you to all truth.”
The Holy Spirit, the Advocate’s role is to lead and guide us in our search for Truth, which is to say in our search for Christ Himself, who said, “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life,” and in our search for the Father, whom Jesus loves and came to reveal.
The Holy Spirit points us always to the reality of the Trinity. Returning to the Father, Jesus sends the Spirit so that He may be with us always and continue to accomplish the Father’s will in the world.
According to Jesus’ own words, the Holy Spirit accomplishes this mission in a threefold way: He bears witness, He glorifies and He instructs.
First, Jesus says, “He will testify to me.” The Holy Spirit testifies or bears witness to Christ whenever disciples, who have received the Spirit, live the life of Christ. In the words of St. Paul, from today’s second reading, the Spirit is present whenever disciples live “in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles go to the ends of the known world and testify, bear witness in word and deed to Jesus’ Resurrection – they preach, and teach, and heal just as He did. And throughout the history of the Church, even to this day, the Spirit raises up just such “men and women outstanding in holiness – living witnesses of God’s unchanging love.” These holy ones are the saints!
Second, Jesus says, “He will glorify me.” The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus by doing as He did and giving glory to the Father. It is only in and through the Holy Spirit that the Church can pray, calling Jesus Lord and Christ, and in His name offering His thanksgiving to the Father.
Because of the Spirit, the Church is built up into God’s Temple. Whenever the Church gathers in prayer and worship, it is the Holy Spirit that animates us – that gives life to us living stones who make up the dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Finally, Jesus says, “He will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” The Holy Spirit does not instruct by declaring new truths or revealing special wisdom. The Spirit deepens the disciples’ understanding of the Jesus they had known and followed, and the truth that He came to reveal to them.
The Holy Spirit instructs all disciples through His inspiration of the Evangelists and the authors of the Scriptures. The Spirit instructs through Sacred Tradition, through the teaching of the Apostles, and even until today through the teaching of the bishops who are their successors.
Friends each and every one of us, by Baptism and Confirmation, has been given the flame of the Holy Spirit just as the disciples were on Pentecost. The Spirit builds us up, together, into the Church and empowers us to bear great fruit.
Thus it is in the Church, it is in us, that the Holy Spirit is made visible and has its effect in the world. The Spirit wants to use you and me to bear witness to Christ, to glorify Him, and to declare what is Christ’s to the world.
Just as the Spirit came, and the Church began, when the disciples were assembled and praying in the room of the Last Supper, so too does the Spirit come and the Church begin, again and again, whenever we are together at the Lord’s Supper, and we call out in prayer: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth!”
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