May 9th ,2010 • The Season of Easter • Alleluia!
Holy Whisperings
From time to time I turn on the C-Span network and watch congressional hearings. Sometimes the people who are summoned before congress are accompanied by their lawyer and just before they give testimony, they lean over and the lawyer whispers something to them. They then answer (or refuse to answer) the question, based on the lawyer’s advice.
I’m sure it must be a bit nerve-wracking to face members of congress, sitting in the glare of the Klieg lights and cameras, so the witnesses must be very grateful to have their lawyer at their side to guide them.
So it is with our relationship with God. In today’s gospel, Jesus tell his disciples that they will be sent another “Advocate” -- the Holy Spirit. He assures us that since we are his disciples we don’t have to face the glare of life alone and unaided. The Holy Spirit “whispers” to us what we ought to say and when we should just be silent.
When I am faced with what choices to make, what to say to someone, what to preach at Mass, what to write in this column each week, etc. I first turn to the Holy Spirit and ask for a whisper.
And while I don’t hear actual words in my ears, I do feel blessed that God is with me and that if I am still enough and listen past all the external and internal noise, I do receive guidance from the Holy Spirit.
Some people don’t trust their lawyer and they don’t follow good advice --- usually that’s when emotion takes over logic. That can happen to us in prayer too. God gives us divine direction, but we can sometimes be so caught up in the emotions of a situation, that the voice of the Advocate is distorted or drowned out altogether.
The good news is that God is continually patient with us. Jesus knew that the apostles didn’t always listen to or understand what he said -- and he was right there, physically in their midst. He knows that they (and we) don’t always get the message of the Holy Spirit either. But that’s not an excuse. As Pentecost approaches, let us open ourselves more to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst.
