The Gospel of John, Chapter 14: 26

Who is the Holy Spirit? The opening words of the Bible allude to Him: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void; there was darkness over the deep and God’s Spirit ( breath in Hebrew) hovered over the water” (Gen 1/1).

These words of Genesis show us the peculiar power of God’s Spirit. At a moment when creation had neither shape nor sense nor life, the Spirit of God is seen hovering over it. In the next verse this same Spirit surges over the void, summoning the world into being with all its teaming life and beauty as the source of life and order, as well as the power that secures and maintains it.

Human life, however, is not simply a biological phenomenon, it is history; and it is here that God’s Spirit is especially active. The Old Testament shows the Spirit as the source of Joseph’s wisdom before the throne of Pharaoh and as the power that rested on Abraham and Moses. The Holy Spirit is praised as the source of salvation for all God’s people because as long as the Spirit is in their midst they will have nothing to fear.

In today’s scripture, Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit ” will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” ( John 14: 26 ) When it comes to meditating on the scriptures, we must never forget that the Holy Spirit is our guide. I was reminded of this a while back when I encountered a man in the Church parking lot in Okeechobee with the door of his car wide open. Thinking he was having a problem, I approached his car and asked if he needed help. He looked up at me and said he was reading his bible which he was gently holding in his lap. I complimented him and asked how long he was doing this. With tears in his eyes, he told me he was doing this most of his life. He had been injured in the war and, when in hospital, he found a bible inside the table by his bed. It was a Gideon bible, and he began reading it. It was , he said: ” the best medicine I ever received, and slowly it restored me to health. I read it every day now,” he continued. “I always carry a dictionary with me so I can look up big words, but the Holy Spirit is my teacher, and He never lets me down.” This lovely man, whom I was blessed to encounter, understood well what Jesus is saying about the Holy Spirit in today’s scripture. The bible indeed is our text, but the Holy Spirit is our teacher who will open our minds to everything Jesus told us in scripture.

We also discover that it is the Holy Spirit who brings together the community of believers, just as He first summoned order and life from the void. Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit; He is equipped with the Holy Spirit at His baptism and driven into the desert by the Spirit. Indeed, the Spirit is the moving force behind every activity of Christ and His followers. We don’t even have to worry about what to say, Jesus reminds us, for the Holy Spirit will “reveal to us the truth about God,” and will lead us ” into all truth.” ( John 16: 13 )

St. Paul says that we are temples of the Holy Spirit ( 1 Corinthians 6: 19 ) Our thoughts, our words, and our deeds should be inspired by the Holy Spirit whose task it is to bring harmony, order, and beauty into lives that might otherwise be overwhelmed by chaos.

Come, Holy Spirit!

Fr. Hugh Duffy

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