Sunday after the Ascension: The Holy Spirit
by VP
Posted on Sunday June 01, 2025 at 12:00AM in Sunday Sermons
The Ascension - James Tissot
" When the Paraclete cometh the Spirit of Truth." JOHN XV. 2, 6.
1. Our Lord's promise to send the Holy Spirit was not for the Apostles only.
2. But for all His disciples until the end of time.
3. How we need the Holy Spirit.
4. His work within our souls-faith, holy fear, piety, and peace.
OUR Blessed Lord, before He departed and left His disciples, consoled them by telling them of the Paraclete, Whom He would send them. He knew how they would grieve at His departure; how they would miss Him, Who had been to them strength and solace and inspiration. So He tells them that He would send another Paraclete-Comforter. It would be for Him -the Holy Spirit of God, the third Person of the Blessed Trinity-to teach them, to warn them, to defend them from evil. Recall His words: "I will ask the Father and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever" (John xiv. 16). "When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will teach you all truth" (John xvi. 13). "The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you" (John xiv. 26).
We see that our Lord's promise was not only meant for the disciples there present, but for all His disciples until the end of time-" that He may abide with you for ever." Yes, for each soul of man has need of the Spirit of Truth, that we may keep His commandments and abide in His love. We need the Holy Spirit because of our own nature we are weak and ignorant and sinful. Self, self-seeking would soon become our guide, our master, and ultimately our ruin, if not checked and made subservient to the Holy Spirit. We need likewise the Holy Spirit to counteract the false standards, the allurements, the seductions of the world. We have to live in the world, yet we have to endeavour to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. We need the Spirit of Truth finally and most emphatically, "that we may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is. . . against the spirits of wickedness. Therefore, take unto you the armour of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect . . . with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" (Eph. vi. 11-17). We are often warned in the Scripture about the evil one," lest we fall into the snares of the devil," as St. Paul says (1 Tim. iii. 7).
From the dangers from ourselves, the world, the spirit of evil, we see most plainly the absolute necessity of receiving, obeying, and being guided by the Spirit of Truth. With the help of God, let us try to realize what the presence of the Holy Ghost is to our soulsHis power, His holy gifts, and the effects of His presence. Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you,” says St. Paul (1 Cor. iii. 16).
The Spirit of God, that other Paraclete, as our Blessed Lord called Him, is given to us in order to inspire our souls with noble aspirations and courage to endeavour to fulfil them. "To us God hath revealed them by His Holy Spirit . . that we may know the things that are given to us by God” (1 Cor. ii. 10, 12). It is He Who teaches us to believe, to pray, to endure. The Spirit not only teaches us, but with His divine power enables us to fulfil our duties. "The Spirit also helps our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself asketh for us" (Rom. viii. 26).
Thus the Spirit works within our soul, and the first effect is the holy fear of God. That holy fear is “the beginning of the fulness of wisdom." It is not a servile fear, but a fear that makes us feel and appreciate the presence of God, that we are partakers of the Spirit of God" (Heb. vi. 4). A fear it is that makes us anxious about God, to remember that His all-seeing eye is upon us, to long and try to please Him in all we do.
And the second effect speedily develops from this reverential fear into the love of God, which is called piety. Piety is that disposition of heart that turns to God as our Father; and makes us look upon the Son of God, our blessed Redeemer, as our Friend! our Brother! "Because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts" (Gal. iv. 6). This piety is the power that makes us adhere to God, and strive to give our whole heart to Him.
Peace is the third effect; that peace which the world cannot give. A peace in spite of our life being a warfare! A warfare against self, the world, and the evil one. This is the blessed peace of a soul that believes and trusts that it is cared for and loved and protected by its God, and is striving to be faithful to Him.
But we must not be content that the Holy Spirit has taught all this, and that we know it and believe it To know the Truth is not all. To know the blessed effects that the indwelling of the Spirit would work in our hearts is not sufficient. Besides knowing, we must be led by the Spirit, we must walk by the Spirit; and to do this we must day after day most carefully, patiently, lovingly, cherish the Spirit of God within us." Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Francis Paulinus Hickey
