Prayer of the Day

Sixth Sunday of Easter

To-day’s Gospel is part of that long Farewell Discourse which Jesus gave to his Apostles in the Upper Room on the night of the Last Supper.  Our Lord must have felt very sad that he was to end his earthly life rejected by his own people and betrayed by one of his chosen disciples.  However, it is not himself that he is thinking about but the Apostles who naturally are troubled,  anxious and afraid of what the future has in store for them without their Master.  Jesus wants to reassure them that he will not leave them orphans. (v.18)  No, he will send them ‘another Paraclete’,  his Holy Spirit who will be with them always.

The word ‘Paraclete’ comes from Greek and can be translated as helper,  counsellor,  comforter,  teacher.   This guide will be as close to us as our own breath giving us the help that we need to live our lives to the full.   He will continue the work of Jesus who in his mortal humility could not live forever.  So we need never feel we’re on our own.  The Holy Spirit is always with us,  living in our hearts.  We have only to listen to his promptings as he guides us in our daily lives.

Cardinal Mercier maintained that if we spent five minutes daily with our eyes closed to all noises and prayed this prayer,  we would become saints!