Holy Spirit Promises I

The Easter season is about resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. St. John's Gospel connects these two events, saying that Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to his disciples on the day of his resurrection. The Feast of Pentecost celebrates the truth of Easter through the Holy Spirit. There are five promises about the Holy Spirit in John's Gospel. The first promise is that Jesus will send another paraclete, or helper, who is the Spirit of truth. This Spirit will help the disciples live in the truth of their relationship with God. The Spirit will dwell within the disciples, acting from within their hearts. This promise is like a dear friend sharing their capacity for compassion and kindness. Jesus places within us his own capacity for living in the truth of his relationship with the Father. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a gift in seed, which will grow into a living experience of love with Jesus. This promise is worth embracing and there are four more promises to explore. Ref Greetings friends, what a joy to share the Gospel. The Easter season is the season of resurrection, that's for sure. It is as well the season of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. These two realities, resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit, are really only two aspects of a single event. St. John in his Gospel tells us that it was on the evening of the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection that is, that Jesus came to his disciples, breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. That's in chapter 20 verse 22. In a certain sense for St. John, Easter Sunday is also Pentecost Sunday. To say this again, the Feast of Pentecost is the liturgical celebration of the truth of Easter made alive in the life of the Church through the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we prepare for the Church's celebration of the Feast of Pentecost on the last Sunday of Easter, I would like to offer some reflections on what are commonly called the five paraclete or Holy Spirit promises in St. John's Gospel. First though, we take a moment to prepare our hearts to yield to the Gospel promise by quieting our inner selves. If you will, take a deep breath, slowly in and slowly out. Come Lord Jesus, allow your Holy Spirit to bring your word to life in me. May I hear your voice, good shepherd. The first promise comes from John chapter 14, 16 and 17. We read, Jesus said, And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another paraclete to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it, but you know it, because it remains with you and will be in you. This passage introduces us to the central subject of this promise, as well as the four promises that will follow, that is the paraclete. Well, to be more precise, it is the promise of another paraclete. Jesus, and this only in John's Gospel, identifies himself as a paraclete. Now the Greek word parakletos is multivalent. It means one who offers counsel, who assists, who defends another, who stands up for another, who gives comfort to another in distress. Now before the lies and darkness of the world, Jesus himself has stood with his disciples as a paraclete, defending them with the truth of the Father, and assisting them to embrace the light and life that comes by loving the Father and their neighbor. Jesus himself is this truth of the Father, precisely in his being the Son of God, which is to say in his relationship with the Father. It is this relationship of complete gift and receptivity, existing from all eternity between the Father and the Son, that is the truth of our existence as human beings. Jesus in his humanity is the revelation of this truth. Now in this passage we just shared, Jesus promises the disciples that when he leaves this world, they will be given another paraclete. The Spirit will help them in the face of assaults from the world to live the truth, to live that is in the relationship that the Son shares with the Father from all eternity, and which is theirs because of Jesus' saving death and resurrection. This promise is that once Jesus has passed through death to life at the Father's right hand, the Spirit will come to dwell in the disciples. According to Fr. Ignace de la Poterie, now this comes from his massive work, it's a two-volume work on the truth in St. John's Gospel. In that tome he discusses the role of the Spirit, who is really the chief protagonist of the truth in John's Gospel. Over and over he points to the Spirit. So according to Fr. Ignace de la Poterie, a new mode of presence and action of the Spirit is here promised in this reading we just had, by Jesus for the time to come. In action or presence, and this is so crucial, most intimate, most interior, and therefore most immediate, the Spirit will act from within the disciples' hearts." Imagine, if you will, a very dear friend of yours. You admire in this friend her enormous capacity, for instance, of compassion and kindness. You have experienced this compassion and kindness firsthand from your friend, and have even been encouraged to grow in compassion and kindness yourself from her example. What if, though, by an act of the will, she could simply bestow her very own capacity for compassion and kindness upon you? That would be precious indeed, wouldn't it? This is something of what Jesus is extending to His disciples in this first promise. With the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus places within us His very own capacity for living the truth of His relationship with the Father. The intimacy, the trust, the assurance and peace that we see in every aspect of the life of Jesus because of His all-encompassing trust in the Father. This intimacy, trust, assurance and peace comes to live in us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now let's be clear about how this promise comes to life in us. St. John, in his first letter, speaks of this indwelling of the Spirit as a gift in seed. That's chapter 3, verse 9 of the first letter of John. As a seed, it is not yet the full-grown plant. Still, a tomato seed, for instance, well cared for, becomes nothing other than a tomato-bearing plant. This seed of the Spirit, promised us by Christ and bestowed in baptism, if tended well, will increasingly become in us the living experience of our shared relationship of intimate love with Jesus, for God the Father, in the communion of the saints. Now that is, I would say, a promise worth embracing. And to think, it is only the first of five such promises from our Lord. Once again, let's read John, chapter 14, verses 16 and 17. Jesus said, And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another paraclete to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you and will be in you. Let me encourage you to sit with this promise for the week ahead. Claim it peacefully within your spirit. Ask Jesus, throughout this week, to reveal his faithfulness to bringing this promise to life in you. And friends, it is a joy to share the gospel with you.