I know I use veterinary medicine a lot in my reflections but in one sense it has occupied a large part of my life. And in giving examples, it is always best to use what you know. This is why Christ often used examples involving shepherds, fishing, vineyards, etc. in his parables. It is what the people of His time knew about best. It is what they could relate to. We also see this in today’s first reading from Acts. Paul is speaking to the Athenians about God as the creator but also wants to relate to them the story of Christ’s death and resurrection. Could you imagine if he lead off with discussion of “this guy” rising from the dead to a group of people with a strong tradition in science and philosophy? He would have been stoned right about the time he was relating THE stone being rolled away from the tomb.
Instead, Paul first discussed the “religion” of the Greeks. The statues and shrines. He referred to them as being very religious and referred to the altar with the inscription to the Unknown God. He then used this as the jumping off point to begin the story of Jesus. He got them ready to listen to an amazing story by first putting it all in context. They were not ready to hear the glorious truth of the resurrection without being shown the limitations (gods of stone, of silver and of gold) of their current belief system.
One of the veterinary schools in the United States decided to revamp the entire system of teaching students how to be veterinarians. Most schools begin the training by giving students a foundation in subjects such as anatomy, physiology and bacteriology. Then, and only then, were they allowed to work with REAL patients. Real dogs, cats, cattle, horses, etc. It was the reward, in a sense, after suffering through all the boring stuff. This school I am referring to decided instead to have students go directly into the clinical aspect of their training. They would research the “boring stuff” as the need arose with each case they were involved in.
The strategy failed. Why? Because they were not ready for managing these cases. They did not do the ground work first before getting to the fun stuff. As we say to children at meals. No desert until you eat your vegetables.
And this is what Jesus tells the apostles in today’s Gospel reading. “”I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” They were not ready to receive the information that was to come. The apostles had not yet matured enough in their faith to understand what their future mission would be and how they were to suffer. The maturing process would come as they went through the trials of the passion, experiencing the resurrection and in receiving the Paraclete. The Holy Spirit.
Ah yes. The Paraclete. Raise your hand if you had no idea what this was when you were younger…or maybe not so young. I have a friend in our parish who refers to it as the Parakeet. I mean doesn’t the Holy Spirit descend as a dove? Why not a Parakeet? OK, maybe another sign of immaturity on my part. But, really, what a strange word. So, I did a little research. Paraclete is from the Greek, and has a few possible meanings. Most define it to mean “advocate” but can also mean counselor or comforter. An intercessor. Paraclete is even referred to in the Jewish Talmud as what results from the performance of good deeds.
The Paraclete was also said to come to help cure the unbelief or half-beliefs of the disciples. It is the nature of God the Father being revealed when God the Son ascended. Jesus Himself says in the today’s Gospel that the Spirit cannot come until after He has left. At the time of Pentecost the apostles were now ready to receive the word, the message, that they could not bear before Jesus was crucified. They were now ready to understand and act on the message that the Paraclete delivered. Not only that, but they had the spirit of the Father and the Son with them at all times. To comfort them, to inspire them and to spread the word of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
I’ve also made the association when I think of the church over the years, even back into the times of the Old Testament. I look at faith progressing from the times of the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert, the loss of faith that occurred when the kings ignored the admonitions of the prophets, the apostles initially seeing Jesus as someone who would lead them against the Romans, their denial and loss of faith in Christ at the Crucifixion. Then, finally, the courage to proclaim the Truth even in the face of martyrdom.
It is sort of like the progression in the faith we have as we grow from the innocence and ignorance of youth, the distractions of adolescence and the teen years, to the distractions that occur as we grow in our careers and families. Until the realization of the Gospels take hold. For some this happens in early years (and some of these are called saints). But for most it is a gradual maturing process. One in which we are given the information as we come to be able to fully understand, accept and act on it.
So what is this Paraclete really? It is the Spirit of the Living God. A God who no longer physically walks with us in the flesh but, even better, one that walks with us in the spirit wherever we are. It permeates or very being..if we let it. We nurture our knowledge of its presence through prayer, study and action. Notice I said our knowledge of the Spirit within us. It is not that we bring the Spirit to us through our actions. He is there always. It takes a deepening of our faith and knowledge of the faith to become better aware of that which has always been there since our baptism.
So while the Parakeet may carry some importance to me as a vet, it is the Paraclete that teaches about what really matters in life. Learning the true will of the Father and the Son.
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