Sermon – The Five Graces of the Holy Spirit, Sixth Sunday of Easter – (John 14:15-21)

Chrysostomos, Commentaries on John, 74

After the Lord says, “Whatever you ask of me, I will do for you” (John 14:13), He adds, so that people do not think that simply making a request is enough: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” It is as if He is saying: Then I will do what you want.

Or, because they were naturally saddened when they heard that he was going to his Father, he said, “To love me is not to grieve but to keep my commandments.” And that is what love is: to obey and believe in the one you love.

But it was natural for them to seek Him in His physical form and to desire the comfort they had before. So He says to them, “I will also pray to the Father, and He will give you another comforter.”

Saint Augustine says the word Paraclete has two meanings: “Advocate and Comforter.” Christ is also the Paraclete; for He is our advocate before the Father and the Comforter who uplifts and strengthens the apostles “with the sweetness of His miracles and His preaching.” Therefore, Christ, speaking of the Holy Spirit, says, “He will give you another Comforter.”

COMFORTING

Saint Thomas Aquinas says that five benefits come to us from the Holy Spirit:

1. It cleanses from sins. “He who does something must do it again. The spirit is created by the Holy Spirit, for God creates all things through Him. Indeed, God creates all things out of love for His own good.” God does not create out of need; even if He did not create, He would still be God and would be eternally happy. He creates because He loves, and God’s love is the Holy Spirit. “Send out your Spirit, and creatures will be created, and the earth will be renewed.” (Psalm 103:30). “Love covers all sins.”

2. It illuminates understanding. It illuminates understanding because we have learned everything we know from the Holy Spirit. John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

3. He helps us and, in a way, enables us to keep the commandments. Indeed, no one who does not love God can keep God's commandments. John 14:23: "He who loves me will keep my word."

4. It reinforces the hope of eternal life, for He is like the guarantee of one's inheritance. A person is worthy of eternal life insofar as he is the Son of God and resembles Christ. A person resembles Christ because he possesses the Spirit of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit.

5. It counsels us in our doubts and teaches us what God's will is. “Let anyone who has ears hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 2:7)