May 18, 2009. Homily, May 19, 2009.

19 May
Jn 16:5-11

But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

The first part of the Bible is the Old Testament - the story of God the Father's chosen people, the Jews, the sons of Judah. The Old Testament focuses on God the Father. The Old Testament is the 2000 years from Abraham to Jesus. The New Testament focuses on Jesus, that Jesus is the Son of God. Each of the four evangelists each in their own way, seeks to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. The life of Jesus, that Jesus is the truth, the way and the life, is some 33 years. What part of Scripture focuses on the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit? This passage from John and the other passages considered in this brief time of Jesus risen and before His Ascension. But in fact the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, has been with us for these past 2000 years.

" * * * if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. "

"[T]he Advocate", the Holy Spirit, will be sent to us, and was sent to us, by Jesus. The Advocate, through the Church, starting with the Gospels, teaches us that Jesus has shown us the way, to love God, and that the way to show our love for God is to love His creations, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The Advocate "will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement". "[A]bout sin, because they do not believe in me". Sin is the turning away from God, away from God's way taught to us by Jesus. "[A]bout righteousness, because I am going to the Father". When we follow God's way, our reward is righteousness, and the reward for righteousness, our reward for righteousness, is to go to the Father, to go to the Father in Heaven. "[A]bout judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned." When have you fed me when I was hungry, when have you given me to drink when I was thirsty, when have you tended to me when I was sick? Whatever and whenever you tended to the least one of these, my brothers and your brothers, you tended to me.