(Jn 16:5-11)

In ancient times there were no lawyers, and one had to defend oneself by finding witnesses.

The accused could be e.g. guilty but worthy of pardon, or innocent yet unable to show evidence.

In such cases, absolution was secured by an esteemed person from the audience, who rose from the assembly and stood silently beside the accused, vouching for him and thus justifying him.

This is the action of the Spirit, in Jn referred to as the Paraclete: 'called alongside'.

Jesus was condemned by the experienced masters of the official religion as a lunatic, a heretic, and an unforgivable sinner.

It is to be expected that those who renounce simulation and accept Christ as Lord of their lives will also be judged in the same way: they will feel their identity of destiny with Him.

But in us there is a silent force of conviction that harmonises even accusations, that frees us from externally induced tensions.

Correspondence that reknots the threads of the vocational weave, that brings the soul back to the inner concert, for the mission; and makes one restart even after the labours of idiotic harassment.

This intimate and friendly power is not related to obstinacy, but to listening to oneself - outside of any local, cultural, social or religious conditioning parameters.

All for the task at hand, and without exhausting our sharp energy in direct confrontations.

There is an inner world of Presence that opens doors.

It has a secret power of authority (devoid of judgement or imposition) that releases the soul from the incessant struggle against adversity.

And one gladly relies on such silent virtue: of the independent life that emerges and comes.

'Sin' (vv.8-9) is in fact the inability to accept the Call to follow one's own Seed, one's own Core, one's own 'will' that detests others' dirigisme, efforts, noise.

A kernel that weaves its roots into the ground, and unerringly leads to realisation - as well as correspondence.

Thus testifying to the unrepeatable personal Calling, Pearl without even a heap of pain and obstinacy.

By Way the authentic disciple will understand that the Lord has condoned his 'sin', that is, he has erased the humiliation of the unbridgeable gap [between creaturely condition and perfection].

The latter attribute preached by common religiosity; so grown-up, accommodated, hypocritical and installed that it prevents us from becoming human.

Sinfulness in the moralistic [not theological] sense is something else.

"Justice": divine justice is not retributive, for it would distinguish mine from yours. And from division to division he would fall into the worst injustices.

The Father acts by creating: He makes Justice where there is none; He places in conformed positions, He places debts where they do not yet exist.

In short, Love remains unbalanced: it stands on the irregular side of the free Gift, which is not kept at bay.

Rather, it rewrites the whole story. With much of excess.

It is not the mercy of merits: the mereor ("mereor" is in fact the root of "meretriciousness").

"Thence shall he come to judge" - recites the Apostles' Creed: from where? The divine Judgement is not the banal, weighted one of intimist customs.

"Judgement" in the evangelical sense is the active, personal and intimate invitation of Jesus, who gives himself completely, down to the last drop of blood; who communicates his life-giving Spirit (Jn 19:30) and annihilates the accusations decreed by the "world" of convenience.

From where? From the Cross.

The same point from which he who is enlightened by the Spirit who overcomes interest and death, heals and frees from the fetters of 'ne quid nimis' [nothing too much].

The true believer knows how to be with himself in a different way. Regenerating the lives of so many brothers and sisters.

To internalise and live the message:

Do you know the error of "the world"?

Do you defend yourself by your own standards or do you allow yourself to be exonerated?

Retired in soul, pagan sadness

"Either you are young at heart, young at soul, or you are not fully Christian". The homily of the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis at Santa Marta on the morning of Tuesday, 28 May, was a veritable hymn to life, vitality, the "youthfulness of the Spirit", to be contrasted with the weary drift of so many people "retired" in soul, dejected by difficulties and sadness because "sin grows old". A breath of joy based on the "great gift that Jesus left us": the Holy Spirit.

The starting point for the Pontiff's reflection was the Gospel passage of the day (John, 16, 5-11) that reported an excerpt of the farewell speech to the apostles during the Last Supper. On that occasion Jesus "says many things", but "the heart of this discourse is the Holy Spirit". The Lord, in fact, offers his friends a veritable "catechesis on the Holy Spirit": he begins by noting their state of mind - "Because I have said this I am leaving, sadness has filled your heart" - and "he gently rebukes them" because, the Pope noted, "sadness is not a Christian attitude".

The inner turmoil of the apostles - who, faced with the drama of Jesus and the uncertainty about the future, "begin to understand the drama of the passion" - can be compared to the reality of every Christian. In this regard, Francis recalled how in the Collect Prayer of the day "we asked

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 to the Lord that He may maintain in us renewed youthfulness of spirit", thus raising an invocation "against sadness in prayer". This, he added, is precisely the point: "The Holy Spirit ensures that there is always this youthfulness in us, which is renewed every day by his presence".

Expanding on this concept, the Pontiff recalled: "A great saint said that a sad saint is a sad saint; a sad Christian is a sad Christian: he does not go". that "sadness does not enter the heart of the Christian", because he "is young". A youthfulness that is renewed and that "makes him carry on his shoulders so many trials, so many difficulties". This," he explained, referring to the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (16:22-34), "happened, for example, to Paul and Silas who were beaten and imprisoned by the magistrates in Philippi. At that juncture, the Pope said, "the Holy Spirit enters and renews everything, makes everything new; even makes the jailer young".

The Holy Spirit, therefore, is the one "who accompanies us in life, who sustains us. As expressed by the name Jesus gives him: "Paraclete". An unusual term, the meaning of which often escapes many. The Pontiff also joked about this, recounting a short anecdote about a mass he celebrated when he was a parish priest: "There were more or less 250-300 children, it was a Pentecost Sunday and so I asked them: "Who knows who the Holy Spirit is?". And all: "Me, me!" - "You": "the paralytic," he said. He had heard 'Paraclete' and did not understand what it was" and so said: "paralytic". A funny mispronunciation that however, Francis said, reveals a reality: 'So many times we think that the Holy Spirit is a paralytic, who does nothing.... And instead it is the one who sustains us'.

In fact, the Pontiff explained, "the word paraclete means 'the one who is beside me to support me' so that I do not fall, so that I go forward, so that I retain this youthfulness of the Spirit". That is why "the Christian is always young: always. And when a Christian's heart begins to grow old, his vocation as a Christian begins to diminish. Either you are young at heart, young at soul, or you are not fully Christian".

Some might be frightened of the difficulties and say, "But how can I...?": there is the Spirit. The Spirit will help you in this renewed youthfulness'. This does not mean that sorrows are lacking. Paul and Silas, for example, suffered greatly from the beating they received: "the text says that when the jailer saw that miracle, he wanted to convert them and took them to his house and healed their wounds with oil... ugly, strong wounds...". But despite the pain, they "were full of joy, they sang.... This is youth. A youthfulness that makes you always look forward to hope'.

And how is this youthfulness achieved? "It takes," said the Pope, "a daily dialogue with the Holy Spirit, who is always beside us". It is the Spirit 'the great gift that Jesus left us: this support, which keeps you going'. And so, to those who say: 'Oh yes, Father, it is true, but you know, I am a sinner, I have many, many bad things in my life and I cannot...', you can answer:

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 "All right: look at your sins; but look at the Spirit who is beside you and speak to the Spirit: he will be your support and give you back your youth". Because, he added, "we all know that sin grows old: it grows old. It ages the soul, it ages everything. Instead, the Spirit helps us to repent, to leave sin aside and to move forward with that youthfulness."

Therefore Francis urged to leave aside what he called "pagan sadness", explaining: "I do not say that life is a carnival: no, that is not true. In life there are crosses, there are difficult moments. But in these difficult moments we feel that the Spirit helps us to go forward, like Paul and Silas, and to overcome difficulties. Even martyrdom. Because there is this renewed youthfulness'.

The conclusion of the homily was then an invitation to prayer: 'Let us ask the Lord not to lose this renewed youthfulness, not to be retired Christians who have lost their joy and do not allow themselves to be carried on... The Christian never retires; the Christian lives, lives because he is young - when he is a true Christian".

(Pope Francis, homily s. Martha; https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/cotidie/2019/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20190528_santamarta.pdf)