In today’s Gospel (Jn 14:15-21), the sixth Sunday of Easter, year A, Jesus speaks to the disciples about the Holy Spirit using the term "Paraclete" (παράκλητος). The noun “Paraklētos” signifies a comforter, a defender, or both simultaneously. It means literally “one who stands beside another” like a defense attorney (Advocate). In the Old Testament, God is the great and ultimate defender and comforter of His people (Cf. Is 51:3; 57:18; Jer 31:13; Zech 1:17). In salvation history, this "God of consolation" (Rom 15:4) has become "incarnate" in Jesus Christ.

In promising the Holy Spirit to his followers Jesus said: “If you ask Me for anything in My name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever” (Jn 14:14-16). In this context, Jesus, in fact, defines himself as the first Comforter or Paraclete (Jn 14:15). The Holy Spirit, being the One who continues Christ's work and brings to fulfillment the common works of the Most Blessed Trinity. This means that just as Jesus defined himself, the Holy Spirit could be defined too as Comforter: "the Comforter who will be with you [us] forever." (Jn 14:16).

The entire Church, following Easter, had a vivid and powerful experience of the Spirit as comforter, defender, and ally—amidst external and internal difficulties, persecutions, legal proceedings, and the routines of daily life. In the Acts of the Apostles, we read: "The Church was being built up and was progressing in the fear of the Lord, and was filled with the consolation (paraklēsis!) of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 9:31). As Christians, we must now draw a practical consequence from this for our lives. We ourselves must become paracletes! While it is true that the Christian must be "another Christ," it is equally true that he must be "another Paraclete." The Holy Spirit not only comforts us but also empowers us to comfort others. True consolation comes from God, who is the "Father of all consolation." It descends upon the one who is in affliction; yet it does not stop there. Its ultimate objective is attained when the one who has experienced this consolation uses it, in turn, to comfort his neighbor - doing so with the very same consolation with which he himself or she herself was comforted by God.

One does not settle for merely repeating sterile platitudes that leave things exactly as they were - ("Take heart! Don't lose hope; you'll see that everything turns out fine!") - but rather, one conveys the authentic consolation that the Scriptures provide, capable of keeping our hope alive (Rom 15:4). This explains the miracles that a simple word or gesture, offered in an atmosphere of prayer, can work at the bedside of sick persons. In circumstances like this, it is God Himself who is consoling and comforting the person through us. In a certain sense, the Holy Spirit needs us to act as the Paraclete. He desires to console, to comfort, to defend, and to exhort; yet the Holy Spirit possesses no mouth, no hands, or eyes with which to "give body" to His consolation. Rather, the Holy Spirit has our hands, our eyes, and our mouth. The Apostle’s exhortation to the Christians of Thessalonica: "Encourage one another" (1 Thess. 5:11), should, strictly speaking, be translated as: "Be paracletes to one another." If the consolation we receive from the Spirit does not flow from us to others; if we seek to selfishly hoard it for ourselves; it will soon become corrupted.

Hence the significance of the beautiful prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi: "Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love..." In light of all these, it is not difficult to recognize that there are, even today, paracletes all around us. They are those who lean over the terminally ill and the suffering; those who make it their concern to alleviate the loneliness of the elderly; the volunteers who dedicate their time to visiting patients in hospitals. They are those who devote themselves to children who have been victims of abuse of any kind, whether within or outside the home. They ought to be you and I.

We conclude this reflection with the opening verses of the Pentecost Sequence, in which the Holy Spirit is invoked as the "perfect Consoler": "Come, Father of the poor; come, Giver of gifts; come, Light of our hearts." Perfect Comforter, sweet Guest of the soul, Sweetest relief. Rest in weariness, Breeze in the summer heat, Solace in tears.” Come, sweet Holy Spirit. Come, heal our drooping spirits and our weary bones (Acts 8:5-8, 14-17). Come, “sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts” (1 Peter 3:15); and draw us into deepest intimacy with Jesus, the indwelling Holy Spirit. Then, we would know this Joy, and praise would become a limitless well from which we drink and live. Amen. . Shabbat Shalom, and God love you.

Fr Emmanuel