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Sunday of Easter, May 25 2014

Have you ever wondered what the Holy Spirit looks like?

I used to wonder about the wind. I could always feel the wind on my face, or see the wind moving the
trees, but I could never physically see the wind. I knew it was there but it was always invisible. One of
my elementary school teachers told us that the wind was the breath of God or the Holy Spirit moving
about in our midst. This was a great theory but I wanted to see the wind, I wanted to know what the
Holy Spirit looked like and her definition never did satisfy my curiosity.

As I grew and learned more about our faith I was taught that we received the Holy Spirit in the
Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. I dont remember my Baptism, but I do remember my
confirmation, which in those days, included a tap on the face from the Bishop, and I realized that
through him I received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the tap was supposed to awaken those gifts
within me, but I still couldnt see what the Holy Spirit looked like.

Today in the Gospel, Jesus is preparing the Apostles for the days not far away when he wont be with
them any longer. He promises to send them another Advocate to be with them forever.

He is preparing them for Pentecost when the Holy Spirit will rest on them like tongues of fire. Not too
long ago we also heard in the dialogue of Jesus Baptism, (Luke 3: 21-22) that the Spirit descended on
him like a dove. Again very visual explanations, but does that mean like the wind in the trees, that every
time we see a fire or a dove we are looking at the Holy Spirit? I dont think so, but I do think they are
good reminders.

So what does the Holy Spirit look like? Todays Gospel is in part about seeing and recognizing, and I
think that most of us have a hard time recognizing God working through the Holy Spirit even though
He is sometimes right there, right before our very eyes. So to help us, Jesus promises to send us
another advocate which is the Holy Spirit, and here in this text we get a few hints of what the Holy Spirit
looks like.

Firstly the Holy Spirit looks like an Advocate. What is an Advocate? Well an advocate is like your lawyer.
He stands up for you when you need it; speaks on your behalf; lends you a helping hand, takes your side,
and wont leave you while youre down.

Secondly the Holy Spirit is another advocate. In the 1
st
letter of John, Chapter 2 verse 1, we are told
that: we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; so if Jesus was the first
advocate, the Holy Spirit must look a lot like Jesus. Therefore we have seen the Holy Spirit many times,
not just in pictures, but anytime that someone stands up for another.anytime someone bears the love
of Christ to another.anytime someone gives a hungry person something to eat, or anytime someone
gives shelter or clothing to a homeless person.

So when was the last time you saw the Holy Spirit and who did the Spirit look like? Perhaps the Spirit
looked like a friend, a family member, a nurse or a teacher - maybe a food bank or soup kitchen
volunteer. Maybe the Holy Spirit looked like a priest, a nun, a member of our faith family or a co-
worker. Maybe the Holy Spirit looked like Pope Francis when he washed and kissed the feet of inmates
or when he embraced a severely disfigured man.

Now I know what the Holy Spirit looks like. He looks a lot like us whenever we open our hearts to
others.

The point is that the Holy Spirit is IN us and if we let the Spirit work, we will see a difference in our
neighborhoods, in our schools, at our work sites, in our Parish and in our city.

We need to put the image of God working from somewhere up in the sky aside and open our eyes to the
reality that through Baptism we have become living Christs in this world.

St Theresa of Avila so plainly reminds us:
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
yours are the eyes, and you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours.
God is reaching out with intense and overwhelming love for all people, and that reaching out comes, as
St. Theresa just told us, from within. Jesus promises his presence and the presence of the Spirit to those
who keep his commandments to love and to serve one another. The love he commands is not a feeling.
The love he commands is about a master washing the feet of his disciples, and a king dying the death of
a criminal. The love he commands goes back to that someone who stands up for another.that
someone who bears the love of Christ to another.that someone who gives a hungry person something
to eat, or that someone who gives shelter or clothing to the homeless.

The word IN is a tiny little word that seems pretty insignificant but Jesus tells us that: We know the
Spirit, because he abides with you, and he will be IN you.

God is working to transform this world that he loves so much; He is working through the Power of the
Holy Spirit that is - God working in love IN you and IN me.

Christ has no body on earth but ours.

Now we know where to find the Holy Spirit and now we know what the Advocate looks like!