“God wants to lead you to places you cannot get to without Him, and He does that by the power of His Spirit.”

“To put it simply: the Holy Spirit bothers us. Because he moves us, he makes us walk, he pushes the Church to go forward. And we are like Peter at the Transfiguration: 'Ah, how wonderful it is to be here like this, all together!' ... But don't bother us. We want the Holy Spirit to doze off ... we want to domesticate the Holy Spirit. And that's no good. because he is God, he is that wind which comes and goes and you don't know where. He is the power of God, he is the one who gives us consolation and strength to move forward. But: to move forward! And this bothers us. It's so much nicer to be comfortable.” ― Pope Francis, Encountering Truth: Meeting God in the Everyday

Gospel Text: (LK 12:8-12)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“I tell you,

everyone who acknowledges me before others

the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.

But whoever denies me before others

will be denied before the angels of God.

“Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven,

but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit

will not be forgiven.

When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities,

do not worry about how or what your defense will be

or about what you are to say.

For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”

Twice in today’s Gospel passage, God the Holy Spirit is referred to. The first mention is somewhat ambiguous in meaning: in its plainest sense, “blaspheming against the Holy Spirit” would refer to denying that the Holy Spirit is truly and fully God. The Church has had to combat such denial throughout her history.

The second mention of the Holy Spirit refers to a situation that many Christians face at some point in their lives. Whether at the point of death or with the fear of mere embarrassment, Christians at a loss as to how to defend their Faith must rely on the Holy Spirit. Even the most brilliant Christian orator or preacher (St. Augustine of Hippo being a prime example) knows that human brilliance in any measure is dwarfed by, and comes from, the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

However, the Holy Spirit teaching the Christian what to say does not mean that the Christian becomes a puppet or megaphone of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who teaches at that moment, but it’s still the Christian who must speak in his own name about the Holy Name of Jesus, making the Good News his own.