Dear Parish Family,  
  
When we read the Gospel of John we come to know that Jesus did promise a ‘Paraclete’, a Spirit of truth that the world does not see or accept. There could be an increasing  problem with the younger generation growing up who are so enamored by the world that they do not experience nor accept the Holy Spirit. They become very comfortable with the world and its language and its adherence to relativism that the ‘faith of our fathers’ becomes irrelevant for them. The Spirit that Christ promised would be revealed by a life of love. Is that what our young say that they hunger for?

On the part of the older generation, we might learn more deeply that our faith engages feeling as well as reason and practicality, that it involves not only practices and creed, but a personal relationship to Christ. We might ask if we really care enough about our faith that we desire to bestow it as our dearest gift to our young. Perhaps it is then that we will have experienced greater fellowship and solidarity as well as a sense of Catholic uniqueness.

The Spirit of Christ is the bearer of a mighty truth that challenges the world and transforms our hearts. We are called to lives of holy resistance and revolution. We really do offer something different and most strategic to the world. Jesus’ promise to his disciples of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-21), is part of the long “Farewell Discourse” near the end of John’s Gospel.  Jesus made this farewell to his disciples at their Last Supper, just prior to his arrest, crucifixion, death and Resurrection.  This long discourse is a unique summary of the mystery of the Incarnation and the role of the Holy Spirit. God’s promise of the Holy Spirit should not have been a mystery to the followers of Jesus who knew the Holy Scriptures.

The Jewish concept of Spirit: In Hebrew, the word for spirit is ruach  – in Greek, pneuma ; in Latin, spiritus – all of which suggest breathing.  The idea is that when a person is breathing, he/she is alive.  It is from this notion that the idea of an animating, life-giving, intelligent and active force comes.  The word (in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin), thus meant “breath”, “life” and “spirit.”  The Jewish tradition taught that when the Messiah came, God’s very own Life (Breath, Spirit) would be poured out upon all the faithful believers.

To Jesus, real love is something difficult, and it must be expressed not as sentiment or emotion but as real obedience to God. So, we weak human beings need the daily assistance of a Divine Helper in the Person of the Holy Spirit to practice real love.  The Greek word used in John’s Gospel for this Helper is Parakletos.  For the Greeks, the word ‘parakletos’ meant a lawyer, a legal assistant, a courtroom advocate. Jesus is telling us that the Holy Spirit is our Advocate who speaks up for us when we’re accused, judged, or wrongly condemned, and our witness who testifies in our behalf. Although the penalty for our sins has been paid in full by Jesus, we still need the help of the Holy Spirit in our daily struggles against sin. In addition to being Companion, Defense Attorney, Witness and Prosecutor, the Paraclete will also be present to teach the disciples and to remind them of what Jesus had taught them.

So the real purpose of the indwelling Holy Spirit is to help us grow towards maturity and wholeness.  We all have these blocks within us and they keep us from becoming what God wants us to be.  They prevent us from growing into maturity and wholeness. The brokenness that the young complain of is a pointer towards the inner need for a deeper experience of connection to heal from within with help of the Spirit.
  Fr. Tom Kunnel C.O.