The Holy Spirit is the Teacher of Truth! (HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 6TH WEEK OF EASTER MAY 2023

HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 6TH WEEK OF EASTER (MAY 17, 2023)

Acts 17:22-18:1; Ps.148; John 16:12-15

The Holy Spirit – Teacher of Truth!

In today’s gospel, Jesus says: “when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth”. Like God the Father, we cannot learn about the Holy Spirit in the labouratory but from what has been revealed and from our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Today, Jesus reveals to us that the Holy Spirit is the teacher of truth. Since Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, it simply means that the Holy Spirit teaches us about Jesus himself. No wonder Jesus said “He will glorify me”.

From the opening sentence of today’s gospel, it is clear that we have many more things to learn. In as much as we have many things to say to/ask from God, the Lord himself has many more things to teach us through the Holy Spirit. This calls for attentiveness. To live under the unction of the Holy Spirit means to be dispose to learning. This learning does not take a formal outlook like that of the classroom; rather it happens anytime and anywhere. We must be dispose to learning about God in every situation of life we find ourselves in; whether joyful or sorrowful.

Readiness to learn means readiness to accept the truth. The truth is the only curriculum of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit teaches nothing but the truth. So, if we are not receptive to the truth, we invariably will detest the Holy Spirit. Indeed, many times, we have refuse the tutelage of the Holy Spirit when we deny the truth and rather present falsehood as truth. Today, is almost impossible to detect when some persons are lying. They have become so “good” in the art that they may even convince themselves to believe their own lies.

Let us bear this in mind: no matter how much you think you succeeded in lying, you actually lost more than you thought you gained. If you lie to a wise/mature person, he/she may not argue with you but will never trust you (again). When you lie to someone, you insult the person. When insults are codified, reactions to insults will also be codified. We may succeed in lying to man but we will not succeed in retaining the Holy Spirit and our integrity.

Beloved, Jesus has enrolled us into the school of the Holy Spirit by assuring us that the Holy Spirit will teach us many things. We can drop out of this school when we have no regard for the truth. Life cannot and will not have meaning for anyone who is not taught by the Spirit. In this season of the Holy Spirit, let us recommit ourselves to loving, living and teaching the truth. The truth saves more than it hurts; lies destroy more than they save.