The Holy Spirit, Our Advocate: A Mother’s Day Reflection on God’s Presence With Us

 6 Sunday Easter, Year A

On Mother’s Day, we give thanks for mothers, grandmothers, and all those who have cared for us with patience, sacrifice, and love. Jesus promises in the Gospel that he will not leave his disciples orphaned, but will send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, to remain with them and strengthen them. The faithful love of mothers helps us glimpse the deeper mystery of the Holy Spirit, who nurtures, guides, supports, and gives us life.

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This past week, we had a little bit of excitement here in the church during our weekday Masses. I think it was Wednesday. I was celebrating Mass, and I began to notice that everyone was looking up at the rafters. Some young people in the church were even starting to take out their phones to take pictures, because we had a bird flying around the church, high up along the rafters.

We waited until the end of Mass. The bird stayed up there for a while, and eventually we were able to open the doors at the back and chase it out. It seemed to like going into the choir loft, but finally we got it outside.

Then the next day, I came to celebrate Mass again, and this time there were two birds in the church. One was flying along the rafters, but the other was a little more aggressive and came quite close to me. I wondered what I had done to offend it. It even started resting on these trees here in the sanctuary. Then, at a certain moment, I saw that it had landed right on the top of the tabernacle.

When I went and looked more closely, I noticed something I do not think I had ever really noticed before. On the top of the tabernacle, there is an image of the Holy Spirit. So there was this bird, perhaps a little more aggressive than the Holy Spirit, standing right beside the image of the Holy Spirit.

It was a good reminder of the season we are in now in the Church. We are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. Soon we will celebrate the Ascension. And we are preparing for Pentecost, when we celebrate again and recognize the gift of the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell within us.

Jesus speaks about this gift of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel today. The Gospel is taken from Saint John’s Gospel, from a section that some people call Jesus’ last will and testament.

You know how, in movies, someone is about to die, and they call together the people closest to them? They are on their deathbed, and when that happens in a movie, we know the person is about to say something important. We know we should pay attention.

Jesus is doing something similar in the Gospel today. He has gathered his closest followers after the Last Supper. In this section of John’s Gospel, Jesus does three important things.

First, Jesus gives consolation to his followers. He knows he is about to be arrested and put to death. He wants to encourage them, strengthen them, and give them hope for what lies ahead.

Second, Jesus reminds them of his most important teaching. Close to today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Love one another as I have loved you.” He tells them to keep his commandments. And in John’s Gospel, this central commandment is the commandment of love: to love others with the sacrificial love with which Christ has loved us.

Third, Jesus appoints a successor. Jesus says that he is going back to the Father, but he will not leave his disciples orphaned. He will send the Holy Spirit to be with them.

This is the role of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, in our lives. The Holy Spirit is sometimes the person of the Trinity whom we ignore or do not speak about very much. Yet the Holy Spirit is the presence of God in our hearts and in our lives. When Jesus ascends to the Father, the Holy Spirit is God’s presence dwelling in our hearts, keeping us together as a community, and assisting us to continue the mission of Jesus.

In the Gospel today, Jesus gives us some helpful ways to understand who the Holy Spirit is. He gives us language and images to help us wrap our minds around this mystery.

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Advocate.

That is a word we sometimes use today for a lawyer, or for someone who defends another person in court. As many of you know, courtroom television shows have always been popular. Law & Order was popular some time ago. More recently, there was Suits. But I grew up often watching reruns of Matlock.

I do not know if anyone remembers that show. What was so interesting about Matlock was that he was this elderly gentleman of a lawyer. He had a caring, grandfatherly quality. He could be a bit curmudgeonly at times, but he was always looking for what was right. When he found someone in need, he stood by that person. He advocated for them. He helped them until justice was done.

This image of the Holy Spirit as Advocate is a particularly helpful way to understand the Spirit. Jesus speaks about his followers going out into the world, where they will encounter difficulties and struggles as they carry out his mission.

We, too, as we journey through life, are in need. We encounter trials. We encounter opposition. We encounter the ordinary challenges of daily life. And the Holy Spirit is our Advocate: the one who is with us in the courtroom, so to speak; the one who speaks on our behalf; the one who strengthens us and assists us, especially in times of need.

Jesus also uses the image of not being orphaned. The Holy Spirit is with us so that we are not left alone when Jesus returns to the Father.

Jesus came, especially in John’s Gospel, to make us sons and daughters of God. He came to make us brothers and sisters of Jesus, members of the same family, with God as our Father, who gives us his very life. When Jesus leaves, he does not leave us orphaned. The Holy Spirit is God’s presence in our lives.

It is providential that we hear this reading as we celebrate Mother’s Day. On this weekend, we congratulate, celebrate, and give thanks to God for the gift of our mothers, our grandmothers, and all those who have cared for us in our lives.

One way we can consider the mystery of the Holy Spirit is by thinking about our own mothers. So I invite each of us to take a moment, perhaps in silence, to picture our own mother. Or perhaps it is a grandmother, or another person in our life who cared for us in a motherly way.

Think about the way mothers care for us. Think about the sacrifices they make, the way they remain close to us, the way they give of themselves in order to give us life. Think about how, whatever happens in our lives, our mothers are there to help us and support us.

Perhaps our mothers are still with us. Perhaps they have already passed away. On this Mother’s Day, we pray for all our mothers, especially those who have died, and we give thanks to God for the gift of our mothers in our lives.

When Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as the one who does not leave us orphaned, I think we can understand this in a deeper way by considering the love of our mothers. Mothers care for us. They nurture us. They remain with us. They sacrifice for us. In an even greater way, the Holy Spirit is with us in our lives, to guide us, support us, strengthen us, and give us life.

This weekend, then, as we prepare our hearts for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is this great gift of God in our lives. The Holy Spirit is our Advocate. The Holy Spirit is the one who does not leave us orphaned.

People often describe the Holy Spirit as the forgotten person of the Trinity. The Spirit can be hard to describe, but the Spirit is so important and so vital in our lives. As we continue the celebration of Easter and approach Pentecost, we pray that we may receive a renewed grace of the Holy Spirit, a renewed understanding and appreciation of the Holy Spirit, who is God present among us. 

From Carpenter to Cornerstone: Jesus the Builder of God’s Home

 6 Sunday of Easter, Year A

Jesus is not only a carpenter but a builder, the one who prepares a dwelling place for us in the Father’s house. Through his rejection, self-sacrifice, forgiveness, and love, Christ becomes the cornerstone of the spiritual home God is building. As members of his Body, we are called to become a place of welcome, light, hospitality, and hope for the world.

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From art, movies, and holy cards, many of us are used to seeing images of Jesus growing up as a carpenter. Perhaps we picture him working alongside St. Joseph, making a table, shaping a piece of wood, or building something useful with his hands. This image is not wrong, but the Scriptures give us a slightly broader picture.

In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is called a tekton. This word can be translated as “carpenter,” but it can also mean a builder, a craftsman, or a labourer, someone who works with wood, stone, or other materials. So yes, we can call Jesus a carpenter. But even more broadly, we can call him a builder.

That image of Jesus as builder comes through very clearly in today’s second reading and Gospel.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that in his Father’s house there are many dwelling places. He goes to prepare a place for us. This is a beautiful image when we remember that Jesus’ foster father, St. Joseph, was a builder. Jesus, who grew up in the home of Joseph, now speaks of building together with his heavenly Father.

This image can resonate very powerfully for us who live in the Lower Mainland. We know that housing can be scarce, precious, expensive, and a source of real anxiety. People worry about finding a home, affording a home, and holding on to a home. Good housing can feel difficult to obtain.

Against this experience of scarcity, Jesus speaks of the generosity and abundance of God. In the Father’s house, there is room. There is a place prepared for us.

Jesus does not speak as though he has prepared some anonymous hotel room. He speaks personally. He prepares a place for each of us. His language is full of openness, care, welcome, and love. Jesus is creating a home for us, and a home is something we need in order to flourish as human beings.

Jesus, together with the Father, has built an eternal dwelling for us. This is not only something we hope for after death. It is a reality that begins even now, because through Christ we already begin to live in communion with God.

But Jesus builds this home in an unexpected way. In the second reading from 1 Peter, we hear that Jesus is the stone rejected by the builders who has become the cornerstone. This is another image of construction. The cornerstone is the essential stone, the one on which the rest of the building depends. We might also think of a keystone in an arch, the stone placed at the centre that holds everything together.

However we understand the image, the meaning is clear: Jesus is necessary. He is the foundation. He is the one who holds together the building that God is creating.

And yet Jesus is an unexpected cornerstone. He was rejected. Christ was rejected because his way of being Messiah and Saviour was not what many expected. Jesus did not come to save through power, wealth, violence, or domination. He came as a healer. He came close to those on the margins. He created acceptance, mercy, and kindness.

At the end of his life, when Jesus was met with violence, he did not respond with violence. He responded with forgiveness, self-sacrifice, love, and reconciliation.

This is the life and mission of Jesus. This is the way by which he builds a home for us with God. This home is a beautiful image of our salvation: our relationship with God, and our relationship with one another.

But Jesus has not only prepared a place for us with God. He has also built us into a spiritual home here and now.

Often, and rightly, we think of the church building as a place where we encounter God. We gather here to pray. We celebrate the Eucharist here. We meet Christ here in a special way. But we should never forget that the church building is not the only place where Christ is present. In fact, it may not even be the main place.

The community, the Body of Christ, is the presence of Jesus in the world today. As 1 Peter tells us, we are being built into a spiritual house. We are called to be the presence of God in the world.

We have been brought from darkness into light. We are called to offer spiritual sacrifices. We are called to be a presence of goodness, hope, and mercy in the world.

This leads us to an important question: what kind of home do we create for others?

When we think about our Christian witness, our parish community here at St. Peter’s, our families, and even ourselves as individuals, what kind of home are we building? Are we creating a home truly founded on Jesus Christ, the cornerstone? Or are we sometimes creating a home that feels dark, uninviting, closed, or difficult for others to enter?

Christ calls us to be a different kind of home. He calls us to be a place where light streams out. A place of hope. A place of welcome. A place with open doors. A place where people are received, accepted, given life, and shown hospitality.

Today, Christ is presented to us as a builder. He has built a home for us eternally with God, and he has built us, his community, into a home of welcome for the world. From this home, his light is meant to shine out to those around us.

Let us pray that we may always be founded on Jesus Christ, the cornerstone. Let us pray that we may not be scandalized by the kind of Messiah he is, but instead come to live his way of forgiveness, mercy, welcome, and love each and every day.

Hearing the Voice of the Good Shepherd in a Noisy World

 4 Sunday Easter, Year A, Good Shepherd Sunday

We live in a world filled with competing voices that shape our thoughts, emotions, and decisions. The voice of Christ, like that of the Good Shepherd, can be recognized by the lasting peace it brings, even when it calls us to change. The Christian task is to create space to hear that voice and to follow it with courage in both large and small ways.

Good Shepherd floor of Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, Aquileia,1st half of the 4th century

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I took my phone out of my pocket and unlocked the screen, and I was struck by how many different messages and notifications were there. I had a couple of missed calls, something like seven unread text messages, a number of WhatsApp messages, and various news notifications. All those messages, all those voices, made me feel a bit overwhelmed, so I just put my phone down for a moment.

The smartphone, while it can be a blessing at times, is also a bit of a metaphor for the world in which we live today. We live in a world where there are so many voices, so much information coming our way, that it can be overwhelming. It is not a question of whether we follow voices or messages, because we always do. The real question is: which voices are we listening to?

We have the voices of the media, whether news or social media, that shape how we think, how we view the world, and even how we feel. We have voices coming to us through family members and friends. We also have voices within ourselves, that inner dialogue that can sometimes be positive, but can also reflect a certain brokenness within us, fear, a sense of being unloved, or anxiety. We all have various voices and messages coming to us throughout the day.

In the Gospel today, Jesus uses a powerful image. He describes himself as the Good Shepherd, the one who calls his sheep, and they recognize his voice. When Jesus calls his sheep, he leads them to good pastures. There are others, however, who also try to call the sheep, but they lead them somewhere that is not good for them.

Jesus presents himself as one voice among many. The question is: do we hear him, and do we respond?

This has always been a challenge. Many spiritual writers have reflected on the difficulty of discerning Christ’s voice among the many voices we hear. Jesus speaks to us in various ways, through friends, through family, even through the media, through Scripture, and through many other means. But how can we know whether a voice we hear, an idea, an inspiration, or a message, is coming from Jesus or not?

This is a question that Ignatius of Loyola grappled with in the sixteenth century. Ignatius was one of the most influential spiritual writers on discernment. He recognized that many thoughts, images, and ideas come to us, but asked how we can distinguish what comes from God, from what comes from our own woundedness, or even from evil.

Ignatius experienced a breakthrough in his own life. He was a soldier in Spain at a time when different regions were at war, and he suffered a serious injury to his leg. While recovering, he asked for books to read. The books he preferred were stories of chivalry, tales of knights performing heroic deeds. Instead, he was given books about the life of Jesus and the lives of the saints.

As he read these, he began to notice something. When he imagined returning to a life of adventure and glory, he felt excited for a time, but that feeling did not last. It faded. However, when he imagined living like the saints, following Christ more closely, he experienced something different. He felt a deep and lasting peace, even though the path seemed more difficult.

From this, Ignatius discovered an important principle. The voice of Jesus, even when it challenges us, brings a sense of peace. It may call us to change our lives, but it does not shame us or break us down. Instead, it calls us out of ourselves, to serve others and to give of ourselves more generously. The voice of Jesus brings a lasting peace, even in the midst of difficulty.

Because of this, we need to create space to hear that voice. As we all know, we live in a noisy world, filled with constant messages and distractions. We hear the voice of God when we take time for silence, when we allow ourselves to be quiet and attentive, so that the deeper movements of our hearts can rise to the surface. We hear the voice of Jesus in Sacred Scripture, when we listen to God’s word and reflect on it, asking what it means for us. We also hear the voice of Jesus in those who are in need, both those close to us and those further away.

Jesus presents himself as the Good Shepherd. He speaks to us, and we are his sheep. But we need to listen carefully, to discern his voice among all the others.

The Gospel also reminds us that it is not enough simply to hear the voice of Jesus. We are called to follow it. We are called to act on what we hear.

This brings us to the theme of vocation. The word “vocation” comes from the Latin word meaning “to call.” Each of us has a call from Jesus. As the document Lumen Gentium from the Second Vatican Council reminds us, our primary call is to holiness, to live like Jesus and to follow him. Each of us also has a particular vocation, whether it be marriage, the single life, the priesthood, or religious life.

Within our daily lives, we also experience many smaller vocations, moments when Christ calls us to respond, perhaps to help someone in need, to serve, or to give of our time, talents, and resources in a new way.

Today’s Gospel reminds us not only to hear the voice of Christ, but to have the courage and perseverance to follow where he leads.

We are living in an increasingly noisy world, and that will not change. But the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, continues to resound. He continues to call us to what is good, to a life that is full and meaningful.

As we enter into this Eucharist, we are invited to ask ourselves a simple question. If we look back over the past week, which voices have we listened to most? Have we followed voices that lead us away from what is good, or have we listened to the voice of Christ?

Let us pray for the grace to recognize and to follow the voice of Jesus, our Good Shepherd.