Homily for Tuesday, 12 May 2015– Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Readings of the day: Acts 16:22-34; Psalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8; John 16:5-11

Have any of us ever heard of events like those in our reading today from the Acts of the Apostles and wished we had the strength Paul and Silas did under persecution? Paul and Silas continue to praise God while in prison and then, miraculously, they break free of prison. Also, the jailer and “everyone in his house” suddenly embrace the Christian faith.

Or, when we hear today’s Gospel reading, from John, do any of us feel some empathy for Jesus’ disciples? Jesus is about to be taken from them; about to die a shameful death on a cross. Jesus senses that “grief has filled” his disciples’ hearts, so that they are too afraid and sad even to ask questions anymore. None of them asks Jesus, “Where are you going”? I can identify with Jesus’ disciples here in John’s Gospel. I am not sure, if I were in their situation, whether I would behave any differently than they do.

But Jesus encounters his disciples’ grief with the promise of “the Advocate”; the Holy Spirit. He does not reprimand his disciples for not having the strength to understand that his death will not be the end, but only the beginning of their mission; of the Church. No, Jesus promises his disciples the strength they will need for this mission; the strength that only the Holy Spirit can give them.

And even amid their grieving, Jesus’ disciples show tremendous strength. They show that they are already receiving the strength of the promised Holy Spirit; the strength they need to admit that they are sad; confused; in need of God’s presence to carry on. And only when Jesus’ disciples admit their need for God; for the strength of the Holy Spirit for their mission, does Jesus give this strength to them.

The strength to grieve; the strength to admit when we are troubled; when we need the support of loved ones and from God, is the same strength from the same Holy Spirit that empowers Sts. Paul and Silas to break from jail and bring the jailer’s household into the Christian faith. Imagine the jailer and his family when they accept baptism: Did they not know that accepting baptism put them at risk for the same persecution that Paul and Silas experienced? Their trust in God and in the message of Christ preached by Paul and Silas is as much the work of the Holy Spirit as the strength to grieve and to be sad but, in grieving and sadness, to continue to trust in God.

We have this same strength in ourselves as did Jesus’ disciples in our Gospel reading; as did Sts. Paul and Silas in Acts. God invites us today to trust that we have this strength of the Holy Spirit in us and among us. God invites us to let the words of our Psalm today resonate within us: “Your right hand saves me, O Lord.” Give us the strength you have already given us, Lord; the strength of your Holy Spirit. Give us the strength that advocates for us always, in good times and in bad; in our successes and happiness as in our sadness and our grief; the Holy Spirit’s strength that brings us your salvation.