By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily while celebrating the annual Red Mass for legal professionals in Monroe County, at the Basilica of St. Mary Star of the Sea in Key West, March 13, 2024.
Last night, I confirmed a group of youngsters from this parish. In the confirmation ritual, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Paraclete, a word borrowed from the Greek, Paracletos. In the Gospel according to St. John, which was originally written in Greek, Jesus refers four times to the Holy Spirit as Paracletos.
I try to take care to pronounce “paraclete” carefully; but I am sure that the kids — and their parents — hear parakeet. This Greek word — paracletos, not parakeet —can be translated as Counselor, Advocate, Helper, and Comforter. Literally, it means “one called alongside” to aid, exhort and encourage.
We should not be surprised, therefore, to learn that this Greek word was used in legal settings to refer to an attorney making a defense in court on behalf of someone accused. Thus, the Holy Spirit as “paraclete” is given to us, Christians, to stand beside us in support as we battle temptation and endure the trials of this world and to rebut the accusations of the “Accuser,” that is the devil. (Apologies to any prosecutors here today.)
Today we honor you and your noble vocation — and your dedication and devotion to the rule of law.
It was once commonly recognized that the essential American legal principles of equality, rights, and government by consent, were derived from the laws of God, articulated in the Declaration of Independence under the general appellation of the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” and incorporated into the various state constitutions and the federal Constitution. If you visit the U.S. Congress, you will find several reliefs of notable persons enshrined on the walls in the upper gallery — among them are two popes, and the great lawgiver, Moses. They didn't get enshrined in Congress by accident but for their contribution to the understanding of law and its purposes.
Our legal system recognizes the rights of the individual to seek redress for grievances while at the same time affirming the presumption of innocence. These principles undergird our American system of justice and due process. As Americans we are ruled by law — not by despots or by mobs.
How important, then, that that same Holy Spirit which guided St. Thomas More, guides us today when our contemporaries and we ourselves are often tempted to consider deceit, selfishness, and subordination of the common good as legitimate means for winning political office or professional advancement At this Red Mass, we invoke the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete to stand beside you, to support you as you battle temptation and endure the trials of this world.
How many times have we prayed the Lord’s Prayer? Every time we pray the Our Father we say, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Some other translations have it “and subject us not to the trial.” It might sound like we’re saying that God is setting us up to fail by sending temptations our way. But that’s not what the Lord’s Prayer is really saying.
So, what is it that we are praying for? We pray that God will protect us in the time of temptation and deliver us from the time of trial. We are asking God to be with us when we face the devil himself.
So, we pray, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” There are all sorts of temptations — of varying kinds and intensities.
Some temptations are of the flesh; others of the spirit; but all involve a “testing” or “trial.” And what is tested is our spiritual resolve — our spiritual muscles if you will. We are always to resolve to do good and to avoid evil.
But if our willpower is weak and flabby, if our mind or intellect is clouded or confused so that it doesn’t recognize what is good, then we will be a pushover for the devil.
We must remember that the devil always comes to us in disguise — he is always disguised as something or someone that is good. That’s the way the devil works, he takes something good and corrupts it; he takes goodness and then devalues it, debases it, corrupts it.
When began the 40 days of our Lenten journey, we heard again the words with which Jesus began his public ministry: “Repent and be faithful to the Gospel.” This repentance, this conversion of heart and mind, is a necessary prelude for us to experience the Easter joy of Jesus’ resurrection, when we will all renew our baptismal promises to reject Satan, turn away from sin and live as children of God.
To renew our baptismal promises as we will do on Easter Sunday, then, means to recommit ourselves to that seeking for holiness which should be what our life in Christ means for us as Christians, as Catholics. If we seek holiness, as Pope Saint John Paul II reminded us, then “it would be a contradiction for us to settle for a life of mediocrity marked by a minimalist ethic and a superficial religiosity.”
Through the special tasks of our Lenten observance, that is through prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we are to work on resolving “those contradictions” in our life that divert us from the pursuit of holiness. Like the Hebrews who were slaves in Egypt, we are called to “exodus” – to come out and leave behind the fleshpots of Egypt, to leave behind habits of sin, those attitudes that harden our hearts to God and to our neighbor. This “exodus” is necessary if we are to “pass over” from death to life, from sin to forgiveness, from slavery to vice to freedom.
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells us: Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.
Today we pray that the HOLY Spirit -the Counselor, the Advocate, the Helper, the Comforter – the Paraclete – will stand alongside you as you carry out the solemn duties of your profession. As we make our “exodus” from this life may we Passover into the life to come.
Come, Holy Spirit, come! Fill the hearts of your faithful and you shall renew the earth.
