Jesus said: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you.” (John 14:26)
The major theme for this 6th Sunday of Easter focuses on the importance of the Holy Spirit in our Christian discipleship and daily life as we prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday in 2 weeks.
Our creed affirms the mystery of the Triune God, one in three “persons”: the Father who creates the universe, the Son who redeems the world and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies everything. The Holy Spirit is the first to awaken faith in us and communicates to us the new life in Christ, which is to "know the Father and the one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ." Even though the Holy Spirit is the last of the persons of the Divine Trinity to be revealed, he is at work with the Father and the Son from the beginning to the completion of the plan for our salvation.
St. Paul teaches us that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, which means that God’s abiding presence or indwelling is in His Church and in each one of us. Therefore, the Holy Spirit encourages us to live a saintly life and to behave correctly as the adopted children of God, holy, dignified, unblemished before God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ promises us the coming of the Holy Spirit, who will continually teach, guide, console, sustain, challenge, correct and remind us everything that He has taught us. Because the coming of the Holy Spirit is a gracious gift of God through Christ, we should be happy that our Lord and Savior soon will leave us in order for us to receive the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit and will return later to be with us until the end of the world.
God does not want us holding a relationship of Transaction but Transformation. Therefore, Dynamic Christian disciples are those who (1) BELIEVE, (2) GROW, (3) SERVE, (4) LOVE and (5) LEAD others to Jesus. Today’s topic invites us to appreciate and prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit to renew the world and to glorify God.
How can we help each other recognize the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit within us to fulfill God’s will in our lives?