4th Sunday after Easter 7 May 2023 The Holy Spirit
It is expedient to you that I go; for if I go not the Paraclete will not come to you.
(Gospel, Jn 16, 4-14).
It will be the same sort of things that Our Lord did, but in greater amount and more variety.
Naturally Our Lord would be missed as He ascended back to Heaven, but His disciples would be consoled as the Holy Spirit comes upon them.
It is time for the Church to go universal, to aim for global reach. The Gospel was never meant only for Jews, or only for that generation. It is God's will that all people in every place and time come to know Him as Father and Saviour.
It is not easy to proclaim the Gospel so widely. We have this great treasure but we cannot give it away. It is partly our fault, insofar as we are earthen vessels (2 Cor 4,7).
Others will see our inadequacies and conclude that they do not wish to be like us!
We can only say that what we have to offer the world is something that goes beyond any personal merits or demerits. We offer eternal life. It is not ourselves we proclaim but Christ (2 Cor 4,5).
Anyone can benefit from His coming; everyone should.
Our Lord leaves the small band of apostles and disciples, assuring them that they can conquer the world if they avail themselves of the strength that God will provide.
There will be much resistance. Many will try to water down the Gospel, both as to what it demands and what it promises.
The Gospel demands Be holy for I am holy (Lev 11,44) ; the world says that because God forgives we do not have to worry about offending Him.
God says we should aim for perfection. He wants us to be as good as He made us to be.
The Gospel promises cleansing of sin and eternal life, while the world seeks material gain and pleasure.
The Holy Spirit will make plain what Our Lord was intending. There is a lot of static on the line, as the simplicity of the heavenly message is distorted in so many ways.
The Holy Spirit continues to come, however, and there are breakthroughs.
People start to desire what God desires, and to see what He is trying to achieve.
Where can we find the plain message of the Holy Spirit? It is all the things we say in the Creed; it is all the things Our Lord says in the Gospels. Plus we have Saints, Popes, Councils, Spiritual teachers to expand on these teachings (always through the Holy Spirit).
Everything comes from God and goes back to Him. We have freedom to serve Him or rebel against Him. The Holy Spirit will make it clear to us what the choice involves. He helps us to see the deceptions and falsehoods all around.
He helps us to see a straight course to Heaven.
Jesus can be present in more places than one, but all the more so when He is welcomed.
His hope is that all the world will seek Him and recognize Him when they do find Him.
He may be a bit difficult to find through all the smoke but we can clear our way through and find the Truth - not so inaccessible as we feared.
It always works better if we are without sin. Then, we are so much closer to God as a matter of course, and we can perceive His presence and activity which would have still been obscure to one in sin.
Come, Holy Spirit!
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