Why Are We So Afraid? The Spirit Is With You
“I will not leave you orphans;
I will come to you.”
Yesterday we had a wonderful celebration here
of the Sacrament of Confirmation
with Bishop Andy Legot.
Where we had sixty-one of our 8th graders
get confirmed into the faith.
It was not just a celebration,
but a genuine presence of the Spirit among us.
It was a joyful celebration.
When Bishop Andy was praying over each of them
and anointing them with the Holy Spirit,
I could see each of the parents beaming.
Some were actually in tears,
but all were in wonder and awe.
We could all feel and sense the Holy Spirit
descending on each of these young people.
It was a great moment for our parish.
These young 8th graders truly need
this gift of the Holy Spirit.
And that is what the Lord promises to give.
It is the same Holy Spirit
given at Pentecost
that we hear about in today’s first reading
from the Book of Acts,
when Peter and John lay hands on them.
It is the same Holy Spirit
that each and every one of us was given
when we were confirmed.
For some of us, that was not too long ago.
For others, it was decades ago.
But the reality is that the Holy Spirit
is still with us today.
That is the gift the Lord gives us.
The gift of His Advocate.
He says in today’s gospel,
“I will come and I will be with you always.
I will not leave you orphans.”
We need to recognize that this is a gift,
and like all gifts, it has to be received.
It has to be opened.
It has to be unleashed.
As Catholics, we have some work to do
with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We are maybe a tad shy
in accepting the Holy Spirit
as one of the persons of the Holy Trinity.
We say, yes, I know Jesus and I know the Father,
but the Holy Spirit, let us leave that one aside.
This is one of the gifts we need to unpack
and let loose in our life, because we need it.
We need all the help we can get.
In today’s society, our challenge,
especially here in Silicon Valley,
is that we are told we can do it all on our own.
Rugged individualism reigns supreme,
and asking for help, accepting anything from outside,
is treated like a sign of weakness.
As Christians, we do not believe that.
We believe the gift of the Holy Spirit
is something that we need.
We want to accept that help,
because that is the love of God.
In Augustinian spirituality,
the Holy Spirit is the love
that flows between the Father and the Son.
When He offers us the Spirit,
He is saying, I am offering you my love.
Let us talk about the context of today’s reading,
because it is important to unpack this.
This is John’s gospel and
we are about two weeks away from the crucifixion.
Jesus is telling them He is about to die.
He is about to go to the cross,
but they cannot understand what He is saying.
Jesus in John’s gospel knows exactly what will happen.
He knows what is coming,
and He is assuring them: just remain in Me.
The previous metaphor: remain in Me,
because you are the branches and I am the vine.
Just remain in Me and stay with Me.
You will be fine.
Today He comes along and He says,
“Remain in Me. Obey My commandments.
I am not going to leave you alone.”
He is assuring them that no matter what happens,
He is going to be with them.
This is the gift He gives to all of us.
He goes on to die and rise,
and He gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost. We know the story.
But here we are some 2,000 years later,
still struggling to accept the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It is really a shame,
because the Holy Spirit is what can animate us.
The Holy Spirit gives us energy,
fires us up like a free energy pack.
And that is what we are looking for.
So what does that look like for us?
Here are two examples
that come from our Scripture today.
First of all, it is a gift given to each of us,
but Jesus ties it to loving one another and obedience.
Obedience to the commandments
is how we remain in God, by love.
That is how we remain on the vine,
by loving one another.
When we love one another,
then we remain in God.
That is what He is trying to assure us:
just love one another,
and you will remain in Me, and I will remain in you,
and the Father will be with you.
That is the connection we are trying to make.
But here is the critical part:
when we feel loved and connected,
we feel a powerful presence.
I want to give you two examples.
The first is what Jesus is talking about today.
When He is gone, His love remains,
because love does not die.
For those of us with loved ones
in different cities at different times of the year,
you know that when they travel to another place,
you still feel their love.
Just because they are in Kansas or in New York
does not mean the love you share has disappeared.
In fact, sometimes when they are in a different city,
you can feel their love even more intensely,
because you are thinking of them, and it is heart to heart.
This is also true when somebody dies.
When we lose a loved one,
we still remember them in our hearts,
and that love does not die.
Sometimes it gets even more intense,
because we can feel their presence in a very special way.
That is what Jesus is talking about.
I am going to be with you,
and you are going to feel my presence.
That is me. Do not misunderstand it.
That is my love. That is my Advocate with you.
The second example is what we celebrate today.
It is Mother’s Day, another beautiful example.
Our mothers have a way of loving us.
Fathers do it too, do not worry,
you will have your day but today is for mothers.
When we are a little child running around the room,
our mother watches everything,
caring for us from a distance.
We look up, see those eyes, and that comforts us.
We do not think too much about it,
but we know we feel secure because of that love.
That is a powerful thing.
When we become teenagers, we resent that love.
We think, what are you looking at?
Just leave me alone. Go somewhere else.
But it is the same love that holds us.
It is the exact same love.
And then when we leave the house,
that love still holds us,
still cares for us from a distance.
It is powerful, and it hurts.
The mother who loves from a distance
has an aching heart,
a heart that aches for the wounded heart,
the little things that broke us apart.
But they still love us from a distance.
When we are far away, we do not even see it.
But if we tune into it, we can definitely feel it.
That is the love of God, that tenderness that says,
you are never left alone.
I am always accompanying you.
A mother, even on her last breath,
is still ministering to her children,
even as she is dying.
I have been there.
I have watched it time and time again.
They are more worried about their children
as they die than they are about themselves.
It is a beautiful thing.
That is the love Jesus is talking about.
If we can abide in that love,
remember that love, hold on to that love,
and be present to that love.
The truth is, we do not do that in a vacuum.
We do it in our families.
We recognize our mothers
as the first example of that love.
But beyond that,
to those whom we mother beyond our families,
those whom we love beyond our community.
That is the love that holds us together.
Secular society has it wrong.
We absolutely need each other.
No amount of swipes on our phones,
no amount of apps can get us together.
While they promise us connection,
they actually give us isolation.
We need to reduce our time alone.
Being alone is not bad,
but when we think it is the end, it is not.
Human connection — that is in us.
And no amount of AI is going to change that reality.
We need to embrace our own humanity,
and we need to hold on to that love for one another.
That is the example Jesus came among us to show.
So today, as we honor mothers among us,
what we really honor
is their example of God’s love for us:
that they accompany us,
that they show us the Spirit,
the Advocate who is always with us.
Today we acknowledge Christ,
whose promise of the gift of the Spirit,
the Advocate is always with us.
As He says to us.
“I will not leave you orphans;
I will come to you.”
A Blessing for All Who Mother
By Fr. Brendan McGuire
To you who have carried life
in your body or in your prayers,
who have nursed the wounded knee
and the wounded heart,
may the God who whispers,
I will not leave you orphans,
whisper it now to you.
For you have been His echo on earth,
the steady gaze across the room,
the patient love that waited
to be remembered.
To mothers and grandmothers,
to godmothers and stepmothers,
to those still hoping to hold a child,
to those who have buried one,
to every woman who has mothered
a friend, a stranger, a soul not her own,
may the Paraclete walk beside you,
called alongside
as you have been called alongside us.
May you be tenderly held
by the One who never leaves,
and never has.
Amen.
© 2026 Fr. Brendan McGuire