John 16: 5-11
Jesus said to his disciples: "Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For 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."
Dawg's Thought:
Today's prayer intention - for legislation around the world, and especially in the Philipines, that defends life, from conception until natural death.
Today's reflection comes from the late Pope John Paul II:
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We wish to bring to a close these consideration in the heart of the Church and in the heart of man. The way of the Church passes through the heart of man, because here is the hidden place of the salvific encounter with the Holy Spirit, with the hidden God, and precisely here the Holy Spirit becomes "a spring of water welling up to eternal life". He comes here as the Spirit of truth and as the Paraclete, as he was promised by Christ. From here he acts as Counselor, Intercessor, Advocate, especially when man, when humanity find themselves before the judgment of condemnation by that "accuser" about whom the Book of Revelation says that "he accuses them day and night before our God". The Holy Spirit does not cease to be the guardian of hope in the human heart: the hope of all human creatures, and especially of those who "have the first fruits of the Spirit" and "wait for the redemption of their bodies".
The Holy Spirit, in his mysterious bond of divine communion with the Redeemer of man, is the one who brings about the continuity of his work: he takes from Christ and transmits to all, unceasingly entering into the history of the world through the heart of man. Here he becomes as the liturgical Sequence of the Solemnity of Pentecost proclaims the true " father of the poor, giver of gifts, light of hearts"; he becomes the "sweet guest of the soul", whom the Church unceasingly greets on the threshold of the inmost sanctuary of every human being. For he brings "rest and relief" in the midst of toil, in the midst of the work of human hands and minds; he brings "rest" and "ease" in the midst of the heat of the day, in the midst of the anxieties, struggles and perils of every age; he brings " consolation", when the human heart grieves and is tempted to despair.
And therefore the same Sequence exclaims: "Without your aid nothing is in man, nothing is without fault". For only the Holy Spirit "convinces concerning sin", concerning evil, in order to restore what is good in man and in the world: in order to " renew the face of the earth ". Therefore, he purifies from everything that "disfigures" man, from "what is unclean"; he heals even the deepest wounds of human existence; he changes the interior dryness of souls, transforming them into fertile fields of grace and holiness. What is "hard he softens", what is "frozen he warms", what is "wayward he sets anew" on the paths of salvation.
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Take care and God Bless.
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