Joke : A little boy stops in front of a church with his bike, and he sees the pastor come out. The boy wants to go in the church but is afraid his bike will be stolen. He tells the pastor his concern, and the pastor says "Don’t worry, the Holy Spirit will watch it.” So the little boy goes inside and the pastor says, "Let me show you how to make the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Now you try it.” So the boy says, "In the name of the Father and the Son, Amen.” The pastor says, "What happened to the Holy Spirit?" The boy replied "He’s busy outside, watching my bike. I don’t want to bother him.”

The Holy Spirit is busy. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father sends in the name of the Son is not so busy. Otherwise, the disciples of Jesus might not get any help from the Advocate. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit reported in today’s first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus’ disciples reminded people that it is not that one is saved by the Mosaic practice of circumcision, but it is “to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage.” These teachings were under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to remind people not to use the meat sacrificed to idols or the blood and the meats of strangled animals which were choked and slaughtered by cutting the throat and draining the blood according to Jewish Law. Also, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, people should abstain from unlawful marriage. It seemed that the work of the Holy Spirit cannot accomplish if there is no human cooperation. The role of the Holy Spirit is to teach, help, and remind us what to say and what to do to honor God the Father.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

In today’s Gospel, Saint John beautifully reminds us of the words Jesus promised his disciples saying, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” What the Holy Spirit teaches us is what the Lord Jesus teaches. The Holy Spirit is to make it clear and to strengthen us to do what Jesus teaches us. Jesus, for example, when he entered the temple and found that people selling, trading, and making the temple like the marketplace and he reminded them by saying, “It is written: ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of thieves” (Mt 21:13). How does the Holy Spirit help us in this teaching of the Lord Jesus? Saint Paul reminds us saying, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Cor 6:19) Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, is supposed to be the house of prayer, and is supposed to spend time in prayer to give thanks to God. This is the reminder of the Holy Spirit, but have we followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit? “I was traveling with my friends,” someone claimed, “and they were not Catholics. So, we didn’t want to separate from the group to go to Church on Sunday, and we missed Sunday Mass.” Regardless of what the Holy Spirit reminded us saying, “Go to Church on Sunday.” We heard it, but then we made all kinds of excuses not to follow. Jesus taught his disciples and the Jewish people in person, but the Holy Spirit taught us in spirit to guide us, to remind us, and to help us to do what Jesus once taught us. Have we had enough courage and strength to do what the Holy Spirit reminds us?

Jesus said to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” How did Jesus leave his peace with his disciples if it’s not to allow them to see his hands and to touch his side to increase their faith amid doubt? How did Jesus leave his peace with his disciples if it’s not to allow them to catch much fish and to eat in front of their eyes after being resurrected from the dead when Peter and the other disciples caught nothing all night long? How did Jesus leave his peace with his disciples if it’s not to allow them to recognize him at the breaking of the bread after he was resurrected from the dead? The peace that Jesus left for his disciples amid fear and doubt after his death was his true presence in the flesh and eating and conversing with them. Amid fear and doubt, Jesus strengthened them with his peace by allowing them to experience his being present in the flesh among them after being resurrected from death. He was present to his people in the flesh when he was alive and after his resurrection from the dead, but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit was present to the disciples and all of us in the form of the Spirit to guide us, to remind us, and to help us in following the Lord Jesus’ teachings.

Both Jesus and the Holy Spirit taught the disciples and us in truth, and whatever they taught us was from God the Father instructed them. However, Jesus taught his disciples in a concrete matter such as to die for the one you love by dying on the cross for the sake of the whole human race. He allowed himself to be caught so to free his disciples. The blood and water came out from his side to show how much he truly loved humanity. He loved his disciples by bending his knees to wash their feet and shared the same table with the one who betrayed him. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, strengthened the disciples to go out to witness the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus even to the point of death. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they spoke in different languages. Or rather, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, people could understand Jesus’ disciples in their own language. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, they could listen to and understand the teachings of Jesus’ disciples.

Jesus left his peace to his disciples and those who followed him, have we had his peace in our Christian life? His peace strengthened his disciples to go out to witness to the world his passion, death, and resurrection, what and how shall we witness to the world in following Jesus in this walk of life? The Advocate who came in the name of Jesus strengthened Jesus’ disciples not to fear to go out to spread the Good News, have we seen ourselves spread the Good News to others in following the Lord Jesus? The Advocate came to remind the disciples of what Jesus taught them, have we ever experienced the influence of the Holy Spirit in our Christian life? The Advocate his Father sent in his name and the peace that he left, have we received any? How would we receive them? The decision is yours.