The Advocate and the feast of St. Joseph

It’s the sixth Sunday of Easter and it is also the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, and today’s gospel reading is from John 14: 23-29. It is about the coming of the Advocate or the Holy Spirit of God.

“23 Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.25 “I have told you this while I am with you.

26 The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name-he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the word gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

28 You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.”

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Let me repeat what our Lord Jesus Christ said, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” So who is the Advocate? In Greek he is called “Parakletos” or the Paraclete, while others call him the Advocate, someone who helps in court, while others call him The Holy Spirit of God.

We have been taught that the Advocate or the Holy Spirit of God will come when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to the Father in heaven. So when the risen Lord Jesus Christ appeared before his disciples in the locked upper room, the glorified body of Christ entered the room even if the doors were locked. Then he greeted everyone with “Peace be with you!” Then he told his disciples, “Receive the Holy Spirit, the sins that you forgive shall be forgiven them and the sins you shall retain, shall be retained.”

No doubt that all human beings have received the gift of the Holy Spirit of God, and there are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. First is wisdom, which is the gift of understanding the Love of God. There’s the gift of understanding or being able to discern things in the spirit world. Then there is the gift of counsel, which is the gift of being able to tell what is right and what is wrong and learn about the values of life.

There is the gift of fortitude or courage where we can overcome our fears, even our embarrassment to become a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the gift that encourages us to reject all occasions of sin and builds our Christian character in helping the least of our brethren. Then there is the gift of knowledge, which gives us the knowledge to know God, and helps us in choosing the right path to a better future.

We also have the gift of piety or reverence, which gives us the humility to kneel down before God and visit the Blessed Sacrament regularly because he is truly present in the Holy Eucharist. When we are in the Blessed Sacrament, we can sense the gift of fear of the Lord, where we kneel in awe at the glory and the majesty of God. That we are invited to be with God here on earth is already a great blessing that few Catholics understand. This is why we have the Blessed Sacrament exposed for all to adore, honor and love in all the chapels in our land.

I read this piece about the Holy Spirit and let me reprint this for you.

“St. Thomas Aquinas says that four of these gifts (wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and counsel) direct the intellect, while the other three gifts (fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord) direct the will toward God. In some respects, the gifts are similar to the virtues, but a key distinction is that the virtues operate under the impetus of human reason (prompted by grace), whereas the gifts operate under the impetus of the Holy Spirit; the former can be used when one wishes, but the latter operate only when the Holy Spirit wishes.”

Today is also marks an important feast of the Catholic Church, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. In the liturgical calendar, St. Joseph has two feasts in his name. The first is on March 19 as Joseph the husband of Mary and the second one is today May 1 as Joseph the Worker. The Bible gives honor to St. Joseph not because of his words, but of his silence and, most important of all, his obedience to the Spirit of God.

But St. Joseph served God well as the foster father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He allowed the Holy Family to be complete and, most important of all, he served his adopted son our Lord Jesus Christ from the time he was born to the time that he grew up to be a man. It was believed that St. Joseph already died before the Galilean ministry of Jesus began. What we truly believe in is that St. Joseph loved his wife the Blessed Virgin Mary and her son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that is why he is most exalted in the heavens.

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