Brethren, Jesus continues to prepare his Apostles for his departure to his Father in heaven and today tells his Apostles that His going (ascension) to His Father is for their own good and our own good too. This is because when He goes will send us an Advocate, who will be with us forever. If Jesus does not go to His Father, the Advocate will not come.
The Apostles, though none of them asked any questions, were troubled that Jesus was to leave them but little did they know the Advocate who was to come was to empower them to do the same works of Jesus Himself and would make Jesus even closer to them than he was before. It was important for them that Jesus would go and even more important for us because we never had the privilege of seeing Jesus in the way the Apostles did but we do have the same privilege of Him being with us always through his Holy Spirit. And we have the same privilege of receiving the fullness of the Holy Spirit. This advocate plays very important roles in our world as well as in our lives.
The Gospel points out some roles of this Advocate. The Spirit/Advocate is to show us the truth and light to distinguish between good and evil, sin and righteousness. John's Gospel tries to show us that the only sin is not believing in Jesus and His Father. The role of the Holy Spirit is to enlighten us about what's wrong and good but then choice is ours to make. If we don't believe in Him, we pass judgment on ourselves. The Paraclete will seal the judgments, prove and confirm the judgments especially on the final day. How?
About sin: Paraclete will show that all sin is nothing other than refusal to believe in Christ and thus the lack of righteousness. ‘Righteousness’ is a word which occurs in John only here; it normally means ‘perfect fulfillment of the Law’, so the opposite of this is sin. Believing in Christ is seeking righteousness and disbelief is Sin.
About righteousness: the Paraclete will prove the world wrong, because they rejected Jesus that He is not the Messiah, but the Resurrection will show God’s acceptance of Jesus.
About judgement: the most basic of all judgments is the condemnation of the standards of the world as opposed to those of Jesus. We judge ourselves according to the way we respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in us.
In the first reading we also see the fundamental role of the Spirit: to be with Jesus followers in any situation they are in. It was because of the power of the Holy Spirit that the prison doors were open for them and were free to continue proclaiming that believing in Jesus is the only way to be saved. We therefore should not have any fear in serving God, the Spirit is there to guide us.
Reflect today on the role of the Holy Spirit in your life. Do you feel his presence? Are you then ready to receive Him newly on the Pentecost? Pray for the Graces you need to let the Spirit be the leader of your life.
Let us pray.
Lord, may You help us always to recognize the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that daily we may continue to put in practice what He prompts in us. Amen
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