John 14:23-29 The Holy Spirit will teach you everything and remind you

Jesus is preparing to depart.  He tells them, "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."

It is difficult to say good-bye to family and friends when they have come for a long visit and have to depart for their own homes.  It is even more difficult when someone dies and we long and yearn for one more touch, one more word.  It is these combined that Jesus prepares us.  We should not despair not become despondent though, for the Father will send us the Advocate in Christ Jesus' name.  It is the same Advocate whom the Father sent at Christ's baptism to help him in his ministry and prepare for his death and Resurrection into glory: It is the third person in our Triune God, the Holy Spirit. 

It is suggested that we rejoice for Christ as he returns to his home in heaven and paves the way for us to follow.  We should not live in this world, but be always ready for the next.  Our greatest joys and triumphs here in this world are pale in comparison as to what will come, and although they are joyful, it their shadow form, dont' they resemble suffering when compared to the joy of heaven?  We have much to look forward to.  We have much to prepare for.

In working with Confirmanti we asked them to reflect on what comes next for them after they receive their Sacrament of Confirmation.  They were uncertain and thought they may a little lost.  They are where the Apostles were as Jesus was preparing to depart.  However, they are hopeful because they know the Spirit will descend upon them and direct them as it does all of us to continue to share the Good News.

Luke 4:1-13 Temptation in the Desert

"Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days..."

These lines remind us of Jesus' baptism at the Jordan when the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus and the Voice of God the Father was heard saying, "This is my son in whom I am well pleased."  The Spirit then brings him to the desert where he is tempted. 

We are all temped every one of us, even once we are baptized.  We are given the fruits of the Spirit to help us in our life's journeys.  What are these gifts from God that we should be aware of and be comfortable employing in face of temptations and life's troubles?  They are wisdom, understanding, fortitude, counsel, knowledge, piety, and fear/awe of the Lord.  These gifts can help us so much.  They helped Jesus in the temptations in the desert.  These gifts of the Holy Spirit helped to lead Jesus our of the desert.  They help us too in our tough times.  When we lose our pride and ask God for help, that is when we can be led by the Spirit the best. 

We are called to conversion and our Lenten journey should help us there.  Let the Spirit guide you in his love and mercy, through acts of kindness and charity toward others. 

Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 Baptism of the Lord

There was once a woman who asked whether she should have her child baptized.  The woman's mother wanted the grandbaby to be baptized, but the mother and father didn't follow any faith, and the mother especially struggled because she had been raised Catholic and her first husband, who was a devout Catholic, had been killed in a tragic accident; In some ways she still blamed God.  In the end the mother decided that she did not live her faith; that she would allow the child to be raised in a home devoid of religion and he could decide for himself when he was an adult whether he would pursue faith.  The grandmother, when he was an infant, took Holy Water from the Jordan River and claimed him for Christ in the hope that if he should die, he would have the hope of attaining heaven through God's mercy.

In light of today's Gospel where we hear of the Glory of the Father descending with the Holy Spirit upon the Son, that cleansing, that holiness, and rich blessing, knowing that this is similar to the baptism that we experience when we are baptized into Christ, it is almost unfathomable that parents struggle to decide to baptize their children; this however is due in part to our current age of secular relativism.  God is not bound my time or current human philosophies.  We need to look to the Eternal and the meaning of our sacraments, instead of whether we find them convenient. Jesus was baptized with water and the Holy Spirit.  "The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.  He commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them." (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1257.    Let us pray that we do not prevent the little ones from coming to the Lord.