May 19, 2024
Pentecost
Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15
In the Gospel passage of this Pentecost Sunday (Jn 15:26-27.16:12-15), Jesus speaks to us about the work of the Holy Spirit, how the Spirit acts in us and for us.
Jesus calls the Spirit by the term ‘Paraclete’ (Jn 15:26), and it is important to understand the meaning of this term.
Paraclete means ‘The One who is called on to be near’, and it is a legal term, that of a figure who, in ancient times, appeared in trials and had a significant role in favor of the accused. In fact, in ancient trials, the accused could not have anyone speak on his behalf to defend him, as is the case today. The accused had to defend himself.
But he could have someone, a paraclete in fact, someone he trusted, whom he called to be close, who proposed the words to be said, supported him, and accompanied him.
He did not do things in his place but was there with him.
Well, Jesus speaks of the Spirit as a paraclete, one who comes close and speaks to us.
He does not tell us insignificant things, but words about our salvation.
The rest of today's Gospel revolves around the fact that the Spirit speaks to us and what He wants to say to us.
The first thing is that the Paraclete does not speak of himself (Jn 15:26) nor does he speak on his own (Jn 16:13). Both aspects are fundamental.
Certainly, when we love someone, we speak of the one we love, not about ourselves.
And when we esteem someone, we make their words our own, we take their words and start using them, as we feel they are ours, because they seem true and beautiful, because we feel it is important for others to hear them as well.
This is precisely what the Spirit does: he speaks to us about Jesus, and he does so by repeating to us the very words of Jesus, those that he himself first heard.
He does not invent anything, he does not improvise, and he does not think he has something more important to say: he knows that Jesus is the ultimate and definitive Word, which we need in order to be saved. He simply reminds us of this, he brings it to our remembrance, especially in tiring and difficult contexts, in which we find ourselves living, and in which we are in danger of forgetting.
For this reason, because he does not say things of his own but what he himself has heard, he is the Spirit of truth (Jn 16:13).
Then, the Paraclete does this with us: he constantly prompts us, he constantly repeats to us the truth of our life, which is Easter, or Jesus, or God's infinite and eternal love for us.
But we must be careful, because, for Jesus, truth is not something to know, but a way of living, a new life. In verse 13, Jesus tells his disciples that the Spirit will lead them not so much to truth, but into all truth. It would seem an insignificant nuance, but it is not so.
It is not a matter of knowing something more, of understanding something that we could not understand before. If before we were not able to bear the burden (Jn 16:12), it is not just because it was something beyond our capacity to understand, but because it was another way of living, of thinking, of loving.
By talking to us about Christ, by bearing witness to him, the Spirit gives him to us, he conforms us to his image: He communicates Him to us, meaning, he offers Him to us as a possibility of life, he enables Him to live in us.
Speaking to us of Christ, witnessing him in us, the Spirit gives him to us, forms him in us: he communicates him to us, that is, he offers him to us as a possibility of life, he makes him live in us.
The second emphasis Jesus gives to the words of the Spirit is that He will announce things to come (Jn 15:13). What does this mean? Perhaps the Spirit lets us know in advance how things are going to be so that we can guess the future?
Obviously not.
Knowing future things means having a profound intelligence of life, a wisdom born of faith, and knowing the meaning of history and the direction history has taken with Christ's Passover.
The future things, towards which we walk when we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit, are the full and final victory of Christ over that which makes man's life bitter. Even though it may not seem like it at times, we are walking towards this future, which is somehow already present among us.
And it can even be more present if we also bear witness (Jn. 15:26) of Jesus, just as the Spirit does in us and for us: hence, at Pentecost, the Church is born, a community of brothers and sisters who are witnesses of the Lord Jesus, crucified and risen, for each other.
+Pierbattista
