The apostle Paul helps us to become aware of what it means to have received the gift of the Holy Spirit asked for us by the Father from the Lord: and I will pray to the Father and he will give you another Paraclete. The Spirit is our Advocate – this means the name given to him by Jesus who, in the face of all the contradictions and ambiguities of our experience as creatures and disciples, attests that we are children of God. The Spirit is our Defender – the Greek term can mean this too – and through him, in any situation we can cry out from the depths of our slavery the freedom that no one can ever take away from us: Abbà! Father! Such a gift cannot be jealously guarded for oneself, but needs to be shared as the most beautiful and most precious announcement with everyone. The freedom proper to our faith allows us to authentically meet everyone in the love that drives away fear and that can lose nothing because it has received everything as a gift. The promise that the Lord Jesus makes to his disciples on the eve of his passion today resounds in our hearts in all its strength and depth: If you love me, you will keep my commandments; and I will pray to the Father and he will give you another Paraclete to stay with you forever. Every time we experience something else outside of ourselves, every time we open ourselves to the other … it is Pentecost. The maturity of the Easter gift of the Risen Christ is like a fruit that finally allows itself to be grasped and, willingly, to be tasted in order to pass on to others that life that he was able to accept within himself.

Commentary by b. Michael David, osb Community of the Koinonia de la Visitation

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey