As the Church got farther away in time from what happened on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, new problems came up. How does the community stay connected? How does the community explain Jesus to those who never knew him? How will the community keep its memory of Jesus alive and powerful?
As the community struggled with these problems, they remembered something Jesus said at the last supper. He promised an “advocate,” a “helper,” a “paraclete.” This helper will never go away or abandon the community.
This promised “helper” is the Holy Spirit. That Spirit knows everything there is to know about Jesus and about the Father. The Spirit shares the deepest secrets and desires of the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is as close to them as our own very life breath is to each of us.
This Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. This a “revealer” spirit, a teacher and one who “shows.” What that Spirit shows is everything we need to know about God.
There are no secrets between God and his people because God’s deepest desire is to share life with his people. God holds nothing back.
The process of coming to know God is a lifelong process guided by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps a more accurate description is to say we “discover” God present and acting in our daily life. God’s presence is always there calling us to seek holiness by imitating Jesus. The call comes through our thoughts, the words and deeds of others, and the deep longing in our heart which does not have words. Over a lifetime, the Holy Spirit creates a sense of “belonging to God’s family” in our hearts.
Two situations in which this feeling of belonging is clear are these: We regularly pray when in danger or trouble, and we regularly give thanks when we are blessed. The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual instincts which express the love “from” and “for” God that abides in our hearts.
In the days before Pentecost, as a community and as individuals, we need to ask God for the grace to give the Holy Spirit a “free hand” among us.