The Feast of Pentecost is one that should give us great hope and enthusiasm for the living of the faith in the face of difficulty. Consider three titles of the Holy Spirit: Consoler, Advocate, and Paraclete.

Consoler: What an inspiration to know that God has this nickname which describes He Himself granting us His consolation! This is why
it is a work of mercy to visit the sick, imprisioned and to console the grieving. This week I visited a young mother in the hospital and hope that my surprise visit was some consolation. How fitting that we console one another in the Holy Spirit.

Advocate: God promises to be our defense lawyer! Satan is the accuser, but with God as our defense lawyer, we have nothing to fear! This year the image of having the Lord as our lawyer, while He is also described as the judge! Can you imagine the courtroom where the prosecuting attorney finds that the judge and defense lawyer are one and the same? The prosecutor would wail and gnash his teeth!

Paraclete: God promises to be the one to come to our side. We are never alone. It is said that trials reveal true friends, as the fair-weather ones fall away. God is the one who accompanies us through every trial. So much so that He unites our sufferings to His. “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2:20)

Living thus in the spirit, St. Paul speaks of the “mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to His holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.” (Col 1:26-7).

pax,

Father John Mosimann