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In today's gospel we hear
Jesus promise his disciples that the Father would send an Advocate, the
Holy Spirit. It was important for the disciples to understand that even
after Jesus’ passion and death, resurrection and ascension, he would not
leave them alone. The Spirit would teach them everything and
remind them of all that Jesus had told them. The same Holy Spirit dwells
in the Church today. The Spirit also lives in the hearts of the
faithful, the ones who love Jesus and keep his word.
Since Easter we have been listening to passages from the Acts of the
Apostles. Luke might have called this book the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
It has more to say about the Spirit than about the Apostles. It was
openness to the Spirit that made the young Church so powerful in her
evangelizing efforts. The apostles and disciples prayed to the Holy
Spirit to resolve difficult situations. The Spirit chose Matthias to
succeed Judas. It was the Spirit who enabled the early church to embrace
the gentile community so that the gospel could reach the ends of the
earth.
As the church continues to
proclaim the gospel to our age she faces new and different problems. We
need the Holy Spirit as much today as ever to discern what to do and how
to do it. In our personal lives we need the Spirit to help us make right
decisions for ourselves and for our families.
In the passage from Revelations we are told that the new and heavenly
Jerusalem will be built on the foundation of the apostles. We continue
to build on the good work of those Christians who went before us.
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