Day 37: Holy Spirit – Advocate

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always. 

And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, seeing He saith this of the Holy Spirit, Whom except we have, we can neither love God, nor keep His commandments? – St Augustine

The good God, in sending us the Holy Spirit, has treated us like a great king who should send his minister to guide one of his subjects, saying, “You will accompany this man everywhere, and you will bring him back to me safe and sound.” How beautiful it is, my children, to be accompanied by the Holy Spirit! He is indeed a good Guide; and to think that there are some who will not follow Him. – St John Vianney 

Paraclete (Greek word Paráklētos).  Para means ‘beside’ or ‘next to’. Kletos means ‘called in’ or ‘invited’. Parakletos means “One called in or invited to be beside or next to you to offer help”. 

When Jesus was with His apostles, He protected and provided for His apostles. He walked with them and dined with them. Jesus was close to His apostles. He taught them the truth and always cared for and lead them. When the Pharisees tried to trip Jesus or His apostles by their questions, Jesus spoke up for them and defended His apostles. Before His departure, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His children to advocate for them.

An advocate or lawyer is one who pleads or defends the cause, he understands the case and the client.  

Similarly, the Holy Spirit always advocates for us. He knows us most intimately, understands our situations and circumstances. He constantly pleads on our behalf and defends us.

Also, the advocate (lawyer), offers counsel (advice) and the client accepts the advice. 

When we surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, His Holy Spirit and His authority, and accept the Holy Spirit’s counsel, Holy Sprit will help us discern and direct our thoughts and our actions. Holy Spirit defends us in all our battles, brings us victory and helps us gain eternal life. 

With the Advocate on our side we can learn the truth (through his counsel), and overcome all the lies, false accusations hurled against us. We can triumph with the help of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit of Truth.  When we rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us daily, we learn to recognize right from wrong, truth from lie, and slowly our understanding opens up to the Father’s divine and eternal plan for us. Jesus by His most holy wounds and most Precious Blood has won the victory for us.

What a great advocate we have on our side. Thank you Jesus. Thank You Holy Spirit!

One thing to note is, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, needs to be called in to work by your side and you need to listen,  be obedient to His counsel.

Pray to the Holy Spirit to help you recognize and follow the voice and directions of the Advocate – who is truth, love, peace, clarity, and grace  – not chaos, not confusion, not hate, not division, not lies.

Have you invited the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to take over your cause, your case, your life, your decisions? 

Whose voice do you listen to daily? 

Do you listen to the voice of the Advocate or the accuser? 

Come Holy Spirit, my Advocate come!

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit shed Thy light in our souls. Holy Spirit engrave Thy law in our hearts Holy Spirirt inspire in us the practice of good. Holy Spirit, grant us the merits of all virtues. Holy Spirit, make us persevere in justice. Holy Spirit, be Thou our everlasting reward. (Part of the Litany of the Holy Spirit)

1 John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

• Litany of the Holy Spirit
• 500 Praises to the Holy Spirit (Pray a few of them as you can)