Pentecost and the Spirit of Truth
By Father Raniero Cantalamessa

Let us listen to the passages in John 14-16 that speak about the Holy Spirit. Let us read these texts, which are bracketed by other discourses, straight through and as a whole, italicizing the titles of the Spirit.
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of Truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him because he remains with you, and will be in you… 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… When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me…

“If I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

“When he comes, the Spirit of Truth, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you” (John 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-15).

Let us discover the relevance for our time of this revelation concerning the Spirit. Let us concentrate our attention on the two titles for the Holy Spirit dearest to John: Spirit of Truth, and Paraclete or Advocate.

The Spirit of Truth. The sense of the word “truth” alternates in John between the divine reality and the knowledge of the divine reality. The traditional interpretation, especially the Catholic one, has understood “truth” above all in the second sense, in the dogmatic sense. The Spirit guides the church through councils, the Magisterium, the tradition.

This is an important aspect of the action of the Spirit of Truth—the most important, if you like—but not the only one. There is a more personal aspect that we must keep in mind: The Holy Spirit gives us access to the very life of Christ. St. Irenaeus calls the Holy Spirit our “commun-ion with God,” and St. Basil says that “through the Spirit we become intimate with God.” We no longer know God “through hearsay” or through go-betweens but “in person.”

The action of the Spirit is not limited only to a few solemn moments in the life of the church. There also exists an inner action, daily and uninterrupted, in the heart of every believer. “He remains with you, and will be in you” (John 14:17). This is the anointing “that comes from the holy one” that gives wisdom, that remains in us, that teaches everything and makes us stand firm (1 John 2:20,27).

This teaching that the Spirit imparts in the innermost recesses of every believer must be placed under the discernment and judgment of the community and especially its pastor so that the “Spirit of Truth” is distinguished from the “spirit of error” (1 John 4:1-6). But the fact that this interior and personal guide of the Spirit can be subject to deception and abuse does not justify suppressing it or regarding it with suspicion. If the saints became what they were, it was above all through submission to this secret guide that moment by moment suggested to them what was most pleasing to God and conformed best to the Spirit of Christ.

The Advocate. The other title of the Spirit in John is that of Paraclete, or Advocate. “Another” Advocate, Jesus calls him. During his life on earth Jesus was himself the Advocate: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest,” he said (Matthew 11:28). When he promises the Advocate, it is almost as if he had said: “Go to him, all who labor and are burdened, and he will give you rest!”

The Holy Spirit plays in us a role exactly opposite of the one played by the spirit of evil. The Holy Spirit defends the faithful and “intercedes” ceaselessly for them before God with “inexpressible groanings” (Romans 8:26-28). The spirit of evil accuses believers before God “day and night” (Revelation 12:10). But the defender is infinitely stronger and more victorious than the accuser! With him we can conquer every temptation and transform the temptation itself into victory.

How does this “perfect consoler” console us? He is in himself the consolation. He consoles by making the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples resound in our hearts: “In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world” (John 16:33). He consoles by testifying in our spirits that we are children of God (Romans 8:16).

Thirst, Or Fear? “On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed, ‘Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink’” (John 7:37). The first condition for receiving the Holy Spirit is not merits and virtues but desire, need, thirst.

The practical problem about the Holy Spirit lies right here. Are we thirsty for the Holy Spirit or do we have an unacknowledged fear of him? We sense that if the Holy Spirit comes, he cannot leave everything as he finds it. He could even make us do “strange” things that we are not ready to accept. Whoever the Holy Spirit touches, the Holy Spirit changes! Our prayer for having the Spirit sometimes resembles the prayer of Augustine before his conversion: “Grant me chastity and self-control, but please not yet.” We are tempted to say, “Come, Holy Spirit, come . . . but not right now, especially no strangeness! Isn’t God order, decorum, composure, and equilibrium?”

If the apostles could have chosen for themselves the way the Spirit should have manifested himself, they would never, ever have chosen to speak in unknown tongues, exposing themselves to the ridicule of the people who said, “They have had too much new wine” (Acts 2:13). Therefore, let us ask the Holy Spirit to take away our fear of him. Let us say, “Come, Holy Spirit! Come now, come as you wish.”

Receive the Holy Spirit! On Easter evening, Jesus breathed upon his disciples and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit,” almost begging them to accept his gift. In this gesture the great prophecy of Ezekiel concerning the dry bones is fulfilled: “Thus says the Lord God: From the four winds come, O spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life” (Ezekiel 37:9).

The son of man is now no longer Ezekiel, a prophet, but the very one who is also the Son of God. He cries to the Spirit, calls him, and breathes him out. He does not call him outside of himself “from the four winds,” but from himself, from his open side. Even today he stands before the disciples and the church and repeats his pressing invitation: “Receive the Holy Spirit!”

Let us expose our faces and our souls to this breath of life and let it quicken and renew us. Even today, if the entire church received this powerful breath, if the Spirit entered in force in all its realities, it “would rise and walk” and would newly be “a great army without end.”