Homily of the Pope at Pentecost Mass

“When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send from my Father” (Jn 15:26). With these words Jesus promises the disciples the Holy Spirit, the ultimate gift, the gift of gifts. He speaks of him using a particular, mysterious expression: Paraclete. Let us embrace this word today, which is not easy to translate because it contains several meanings. Paraclete essentially means two things: Comforter and Advocate.

1. The Paraclete is the Comforter. All of us, especially in difficult times like the one we are going through, due to the pandemic, seek consolation. But we often resort only to earthly consolations, which soon disappear, they are consolations of the moment. Jesus offers us today the consolation of heaven, the Spirit, the “source of the greatest comfort” (Sequence); What is the difference? The consolations of the world are like painkillers, which give a momentary relief, but do not cure the deep evil that we carry within. They evade, they distract, but they do not heal at the root. They calm superficially, in the realm of the senses and hardly in that of the heart. Because only those who make us feel loved as we are gives peace to the heart. The Holy Spirit, the love of God acts like this: “it enters to the depths of the soul”, for as a Spirit he works in our spirit. He visits the innermost part of the heart as a “sweet guest of the soul” (ibid.). It is the very tenderness of God, who does not leave us alone; because being with someone who is alone is already comforting.

Sister, brother, if you notice the darkness of loneliness, if you carry a weight inside that suffocates hope, if you have a burning wound in your heart, if you cannot find a way out, open yourself to the Holy Spirit. He, wrote Saint Bonaventure, “brings greater consolation where there is greater tribulation, not as the world does that in prosperity consoles and flatters, and in adversity mocks and condemns” (Sermon on the Octave of the Ascension). That is what the world does, that is what the enemy spirit does, the devil. First it flatters us and makes us feel invincible – the devil’s flattery that makes vanity grow – then it drives us to the ground and makes us feel inadequate. Play with us. He does everything possible to make us fall, while the Spirit of the Risen One wants to lift us up. Let’s look at the Apostles: they were alone that morning, they were alone and lost, their doors were closed by fear, they lived in fear and before their eyes were all their weaknesses and their failures, their sins; they had denied Jesus Christ. The years spent with Jesus hadn’t changed them, they remained the same. After they received the Spirit and everything changed, the problems and defects remained the same, but, nevertheless, they no longer feared them because they did not fear those who wanted to harm them. They felt internally consoled and wanted to spread God’s consolation. Those who were afraid before, now only fear that they will not give testimony of the love received. Jesus had prophesied to them: “the Spirit […] will bear witness to me. And you too will bear witness ”(Jn 15,26-27). they lived in fear and before their eyes were all their weaknesses and their failures, their sins; they had denied Jesus Christ. The years spent with Jesus hadn’t changed them, they remained the same. After they received the Spirit and everything changed, the problems and defects remained the same, but, nevertheless, they no longer feared them because they did not fear those who wanted to harm them. They felt internally consoled and wanted to spread God’s consolation. Those who were afraid before, now only fear that they will not give testimony of the love received. Jesus had prophesied to them: “the Spirit […] will bear witness to me. And you too will bear witness ”(Jn 15,26-27). they lived in fear and before their eyes were all their weaknesses and their failures, their sins; they had denied Jesus Christ. The years spent with Jesus hadn’t changed them, they remained the same. After they received the Spirit and everything changed, the problems and defects remained the same, but, nevertheless, they no longer feared them because they did not fear those who wanted to harm them. They felt internally consoled and wanted to spread God’s consolation. Those who were afraid before, now only fear that they will not give testimony of the love received. Jesus had prophesied to them: “the Spirit […] will bear witness to me. And you too will bear witness ”(Jn 15,26-27). After they received the Spirit and everything changed, the problems and defects remained the same, but, nevertheless, they no longer feared them because they did not fear those who wanted to harm them. They felt internally consoled and wanted to spread God’s consolation. Those who were afraid before, now only fear that they will not give testimony of the love received. Jesus had prophesied to them: “the Spirit […] will bear witness to me. And you too will bear witness ”(Jn 15,26-27). After they received the Spirit and everything changed, the problems and defects remained the same, but, nevertheless, they no longer feared them because they did not fear those who wanted to harm them. They felt internally consoled and wanted to spread God’s consolation. Those who were afraid before, now only fear that they will not give testimony of the love received. Jesus had prophesied to them: “the Spirit […] will bear witness to me. And you too will bear witness ”(Jn 15,26-27). “The Spirit […] will bear witness to me. And you too will bear witness ”(Jn 15,26-27). “The Spirit […] will bear witness to me. And you too will bear witness ”(Jn 15,26-27).

And let us take a step forward. We too are called to bear witness in the Holy Spirit, to be paracletes, that is to say comforters. Yes, the Spirit asks us to shape his consolation. How can we do it? Not with great speeches, but by making us close; not with words of circumstance, but with prayer and closeness. Let us remember that closeness, compassion and tenderness are God’s style, always. The Paraclete tells the Church that today is the time of consolation. It is the time of the joyous proclamation of the Gospel rather than of the struggle against paganism. It is the time to bring the joy of the Risen One, not to lament over the drama of secularization. It is the time to pour out love on the world, without conforming to worldliness. It is the time to witness mercy rather than to instill rules and regulations. It is the time of the Paraclete! It is the time of the freedom of the heart, in the Paraclete.

2. The Paraclete, moreover, is the Lawyer. In the historical context of Jesus, the lawyer did not carry out his functions as he does today, rather than speaking instead of the accused; he was normally next to him and suggested in his ear the arguments to defend himself. Thus does the Paraclete, “the Spirit of Truth” (v. 26), who does not replace us, but defends us from the falsehoods of evil inspiring us with thoughts and feelings. He does it delicately, without forcing us. It is proposed, but not imposed. The spirit of falsehood, the evil one, on the contrary, tries to force us, wants us to believe that we are always obliged to give in to evil suggestions and the drives of vices. Let us now try to accept three typical suggestions from the Paraclete, from our Advocate. They are three basic antidotes to both temptations, now very widespread.

The first advice of the Holy Spirit is “live in the present.” The present, not the past or the future. The Paraclete affirms the primacy of today against the temptation to paralyze ourselves by the bitterness and longing of the past, as well as to concentrate on the uncertainties of tomorrow and allow ourselves to be haunted by the fears of the future. The Spirit reminds us of the grace of the present. There is no other better time for us. Now, right where we are, is the unique and unrepeatable moment to do good, to make life a gift. Be live the present!

Likewise, the Paraclete advises: “seek the whole.” The whole, not the part. The Spirit does not shape closed individuals, but rather constitutes us as a Church in the manifold variety of charisms, in a unity that is never uniformity. The Paraclete affirms the primacy of the whole. It is in the whole, in the community, where the Spirit prefers to act and bring the novelty. Let’s look at the Apostles. They were very different. Among them, for example, were Matthew, a publican who had collaborated with the Romans, and Simon, called Zealot, who opposed them. There were opposing political ideas, very different worldviews. But when they received the Spirit they learned not to give primacy to their human views, but to God’s all. Today, if we listen to the Spirit, we will not focus on conservatives and progressives, traditionalists and innovators, right and left. If these are the criteria, it means that in the Church the Spirit is forgotten. The Paraclete encourages unity, harmony, harmony in diversity. It makes us look like parts of the same body, brothers and sisters among us. Let’s look for the whole! The enemy wants diversity to be transformed into opposition, and that is why it turns it into ideologies. You have to say “no” to ideologies and “yes” to everything.

And finally, the third great advice: “Put God before your self.” It is the decisive step in the spiritual life, which is not a series of our merits and works, but a humble acceptance of God. The Paraclete affirms the primacy of grace. Only if we empty ourselves of ourselves do we make room for the Lord; only if we abandon ourselves to Him do we find ourselves; only as poor in spirit will we be rich in the Holy Spirit. This also applies to the Church. We don’t save anyone, not even ourselves in our own strength. If we put our projects, our structures and our reform plans first, we will fall into pragmatism, efficiency, horizontalism, and we will not bear fruit. The “isms” are ideologies that divide, that separate. The Church is not a human organization – it is human, But it is not just a human organization – the Church is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has brought the fire of the Spirit to earth and the Church is reformed with the anointing, with the gratuitousness of the anointing of grace, with the power of prayer, with the joy of mission, with the captivating beauty of poverty. . Let’s put God first!

Holy Spirit, Paraclete Spirit, comfort our hearts. Make us missionaries of your consolation, paracletes of mercy to the world. Our advocate, sweet counselor of the soul, make us witnesses of God’s today, prophets of unity for the Church and humanity, apostles founded on your grace, who creates everything and renews everything. Amen.