Dear Father Angelo,

I kindly ask you for some clarification on today’s Gospel.

Why is it necessary for Christ to return to the Father as a sine qua non to give his disciples the Holy Spirit?

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Vincenzo

The priest’s answer

Dear Vincenzo,

  1. The words spoken in full by Jesus are: “But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16,7)

Shortly before this, he says: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always (John 14,16) and “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name – he will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you.” (John 14,26)

  1. The first and most immediate explanation is the following one: if Jesus had remained here even physically, how could he have been beside to each of his 

disciples and have helped them to the ends of the earth? This Paraclete or Consoler makes Jesus present in every person who receives Him.

For this very reason his departure was advantageous to his apostles and is still so to each of us.

  1. In his commentary on the Gospel of St.John, St. Thomas raises your own

objection: “Could Jesus not have sent his Spirit while he was living in the flesh?”

His answer is yes, “because the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descended even on Jesus Christ after his baptism and never parted from him, who had received it since the moment of his conception and without measure. But he didn’t want to give it to his apostles while he was still with them for four reasons.

  1. The first reason is the following: starting from a statement by St. Paul: “even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh (as before the passion), yet now we know him so no longer” (2 Cor 5,16) because his humanity is now clothed with the glory of God, St. Thomas concludes by saying that it was more useful and advantageous that Jesus had left because of their indisposition; because the Holy Spirit, which is spiritual love, is not compatible with carnal love.

Now, his disciples were fond of the humanity of Christ with a rather carnal attachment, not having been elevated to his divinity through spiritual love; therefore they were not yet capable of (receiving) the Holy Spirit.

  1. The second reason is similar to the one I have presented, which is the most immediate meaning. St. Thomas says: ”As long as Christ was with his apostles, he himself was the sufficient help for all of them; but after his departure they remained exposed to many tribulations; therefore another Consoler and help was immediately given to them. That’s why, shortly before that, Jesus had said “he will give you another Advocate” (John 14,16) 
  1. The third reason: Christ could not give the Holy Spirit as man, but as God. “As long as he was with his disciples he seemed to be a man, like one of them. Therefore he didn’t want to give them the Holy Spirit before his Ascension so that it would not appear that it was a man to give it.
  1. The fourth reason: if Jesus had given it from here, his disciples could have been able to do greater miracles than his. In fact Jesus said that they would do greater ones in his name. (John 14,12)

“In doing so, the people might have doubted that he was Christ and from that would come divisions. Hence the deferral of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit predicted by Psalm 67,19: As he ascended on high … he gave gifts to men.

So says St. Thomas: “he did not want to send him earlier to safeguard the unity of the Church and to prevent people from being divided from Christ”.

Wishing you that the Holy Spirit will always be with you, I bless you and remember you in my prayers.

Father Angelo

Questo articolo è disponibile anche in: Italian Spanish Portuguese