Friends,
once again in today’s Gospel Jesus promises to send us the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit is the fuel of the Church, the energy and life force of the
Body of Christ. And we can’t get him through heroic effort. We can only
get him by asking for him. That’s why, for the past two thousand years,
the Church has begged for this power from on high.
Jesus
told us that the Father would never refuse someone who asked for the
Holy Spirit.
So ask! And ask again! Realize that every liturgy is a begging for the
Holy Spirit. Fr. Hesburgh of Notre Dame once commented that the one
prayer that is always appropriate—whether one is experiencing success or
failure, whether one is confident or afraid, whether one is young or
old— is "Come, Holy Spirit!"
He’s
right, for this is the fundamental prayer of the Church. Mind you, we
pray it, as the first Apostles did, in the presence of Mary and with her
support. In the Hail Mary, we say, "Pray for us sinners, now and at the
hour of our death." What are we asking her to pray for but the Holy
Spirit?
Jesus said to his disciples: "Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned."
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