Come Holy Spirit

We are constantly reminded that reading John’s Gospels defies literal translation and that if we suspend our literal inclination and allow the words to become flesh in us we might intuitively feel their presence and know their meaning. This is easier said than done, in that, I have found over the years that it often requires sitting with the words for a while and continue to mull them over. In time this contemplative exercise enables us to pull back the veil and somewhere within the words begin to resonate with meaning. How many times do these same readings read year in and year out, begin to reveal new meanings…as if the words are fading in and out from literal to palpable and back?

Padovano tells us that Jesus words will never be completely understood by those who reduce faith to words or doctrines or by those who reduce faith to static religious exercises. In John 14: 15-21, Jesus says: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.” How well the words neither sees him nor knows him illustrate the need to suspend our literal tendencies.

Have we ever seen the Holy Spirit? This is not a trick question. Let’s think for a moment. The best descriptive images we see in readings associated with the Holy Spirit are tongues of flame or a freely blowing breeze. However, in this week's reading we get two helpful hints that offer a pretty good image of just what the Holy Spirit looks like.

The Holy Spirit looks like an Advocate --the one who stands up for us when we need it; the one who speaks on our behalf; the one who lends a helping hand, takes your side, and won't leave us while you're down. The Holy Spirit looks like Jesus. The Spirit is "another advocate" because Jesus is the first. The Spirit, Jesus goes on to say, will abide with us and is sent in his name to remind us of his will for us. In a very real way, the Spirit affirms Jesus presence in us and through us, and helps to keep his promise that he will not leave us orphaned. You know him, because he abides with you, and lives with us.

John’s Gospel is as relevant today as it was when it was written two thousand years ago. There are advocates for the love and presence of God in our midst…and there are adversaries. It’s especially poignant now as we continue to be challenged with this awesome plague that has changed our lives forever. We see the , the Spirit of God in advocates who hold the hands of the sick and dying, in advocates who step out of their comfort zone to help the infirmed and advocates who protect us from ourselves. Just what inspires them to defy their own natural instincts to retreat? Perhaps the answer can be found in the word “inspire,” to inhale, to impel, to move, to feel, to know…Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your divine love. Amen