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1.
“I Will Not Leave You Orphaned”
In today’s
Gospel, Jesus says:
“I will not
leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.”
Those are
deeply personal words.
Jesus speaks
them at the Last Supper, on the night before his Passion, when the disciples
are anxious and afraid because they know suffering is coming. Separation is
coming. Their world is about to change.
And Jesus
does not say to them:
“You are on your own.”
Nor does he
merely say:
“Be confident in yourselves.”
Instead, he
says:
Whatever
comes, we do not face it alone.
Whatever lies ahead, Christ does not ask us to face it by ourselves.
“I will not
leave you orphaned.”
That is the
promise.
The Holy
Spirit—the Advocate, the Consoler, the Spirit of Truth—is the fulfillment of
that promise. The Holy Spirit is not merely a feeling or vague inspiration. The
Holy Spirit is the abiding presence of God with us and within us.
And on this
Mother’s Day weekend, we recall that Jesus speaks here with the language of a
parent.
A loving
mother or father not only gives life, but continues to accompany the child with
prayer, sacrifice, encouragement, and love.
A loving
parent says:
“I will come looking for you if you are in trouble.”
“I will stand behind you when you are discouraged.”
“I will not abandon you when you are afraid.”
2.
The Love That Does Not Abandon
Now this
does not mean parents are perfect.
As we grow
older, many of us can probably think of things our parents could have done
differently. I certainly can.
But at the
same time, I also look back with gratitude for what my parents did do for me—and even
some of the things they didn’t
do for me.
Sometimes we
can thank our parents for what they did not do:
for not solving every problem,
for not always telling us exactly what to do,
for allowing us to struggle while continuing to pray for us,
for allowing us to grow.
But they
were present.
And now,
looking back, I can see that through their patience, sacrifice, encouragement,
and love, God was caring for me through them.
Not because
parents are the Holy Spirit.
They are not.
But because
mothers and fathers can become instruments of the Holy Spirit—signs of the
faithful love of the Father who says:
“I will not
leave you orphaned.”
And perhaps
that is why Mother’s Day touches people so deeply.
Whether our
mothers are living or deceased, whether our relationships were easy or
complicated, we recognize something sacred in the love that continues to care,
continues to pray, and continues to look out for us.
And the Lord
does the same thing with us.
Jesus says:
“I am coming
to you.”
Not:
“Come find me if you can.”
But:
“I am coming to you.”
3.
The Holy Spirit in the Midst of Suffering
Now
sometimes people hear promises like this and wonder:
if God is with us, then why is there still suffering?
Why illness?
Why tragedy?
Why death?
Pope
Benedict XVI once reflected that the deepest question is not simply why God
allows suffering and death. The deeper question is:
What will our response be?
Because very
often, it is precisely in moments of sorrow and tragedy that the love of God
becomes most visible.
We see it
when families gather around someone who is sick.
We see it when people sacrifice themselves for another person.
We see it when someone remains faithful through grief.
We see it when people forgive, comfort, encourage, and persevere.
Sometimes we
even see someone who is suffering deeply continue to care lovingly for another
person who is struggling even more.
In other
words, we often see the Holy Spirit most clearly not by escaping suffering, but
by the way love appears in the midst of suffering.
The Holy
Spirit does not promise that we will never experience pain.
The Spirit
promises that suffering and death will not have the final word.
4.
Saint Marianne of Molokai
It is
fitting on Mother’s Day weekend to remember Saint Marianne Cope, who worked
alongside the much more widely known Saint Damien of Molokai.
Most people
know Father Damien because he gave his life serving people suffering from
leprosy on the island of Molokai in the Hawaiian islands in the Pacific Ocean.
But in the
1800s, Molokai was not known as a place of tourism or beauty. It was known as a
leper colony—a place where people suffering from leprosy were isolated,
abandoned, and often separated from their families.
And Sister
Marianne Cope did not abandon them.
Unlike
Father Damien, who went to Molokai as a young missionary priest, Marianne was
already well established in religious life. She was respected, experienced,
secure in her vocation, and a leader in her religious community.
But at the
age of 45, she left all of that behind to go and serve people whom society had
largely rejected and forgotten.
The people
on Molokai were not officially orphans, but in many ways they had been treated
like orphans.
They were
isolated.
Rejected.
Feared.
Separated from family.
Often left without dignity or hope.
And Sister
Marianne remained with them.
She helped
organize hospitals and schools.
She cared for children.
She formed choirs.
She helped restore dignity to people who felt forgotten.
She reminded suffering people that they were still loved by God.
In other
words, she lived the words of today’s Gospel:
“I will not
leave you orphaned.”
5.
Consumed by Love
The Church
often speaks about the Holy Spirit through images of wind and fire.
At
Pentecost, the Spirit comes as a strong driving wind and tongues of fire.
And
recently, I was reminded of that in a very concrete way.
Every year
in the Church, we renew the sacred oils used in the sacraments. There was some
remaining chrism oil from a previous celebration that needed to be disposed of
properly. Since it is sacred oil, it is traditionally burned or buried.
So I wiped
the remaining chrism oil into a paper towel and brought it outside.
I put a
match to it.
And
honestly, I was surprised.
That one
small flame caught quickly, and the oil-soaked paper towel burned steadily and
beautifully until the entire towel had been consumed.
And I stood
there thinking:
that is what the Holy Spirit is meant to do in us.
That same
chrism oil is placed upon us at Baptism.
At Confirmation.
At Ordination.
The Holy
Spirit is meant to burn within us—not destructively, but as the fire of divine
love.
The fire
that purifies.
The fire that strengthens.
The fire that gives light.
The fire that enables us to give ourselves completely to God.
And perhaps
that is what happened in the life of Saint Marianne Cope.
She was
consumed in love.
Not
dramatically.
Not loudly.
But faithfully.
Holiness
often looks like that.
Remaining
faithful when we are tired.
Sacrificing quietly for others.
Continuing to hope when life becomes heavy.
Refusing to abandon another person.
And
sometimes all it takes is one small spark:
a small prayer,
a small act of charity,
a small act of forgiveness,
a small return to God.
The Holy
Spirit can work powerfully even through what seems very small.
And that is
the great promise of today’s Gospel.
We are not
abandoned.
We are not orphaned.
We are not alone.
The Advocate
remains with us.
And Christ
still comes looking for us.
Still caring for us.
Still refusing to leave us orphaned.
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