Let the Spirit of Truth Guide You

By Steve Martin

     While praying the Liturgy of Hours for Wednesday Morning Prayer this past week, one of the antiphons really struck me deeply. “I have many more things to tell you, but they would be too much for you now.  When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you to all truth, alleluia.” This antiphon is drawn from Jesus’ words in John 16:12-13. It really helped open my mind and heart in preparation for Pentecost Sunday.

      As I prayed that morning, these words highlighted a foundational truth about God’s process of revelation. Without the Holy Spirit, man cannot bear the truth. We can know that God exists, but the great mysteries of our faith cannot be grasped without the power of grace. 

     In The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Pope Pius XII elaborates on this. “Though human reason is, strictly speaking, truly capable by its own natural power and light of attaining to a true and certain knowledge of the one personal God, who watches over and controls the world by his providence, and of the natural law written in our hearts by the Creator; yet there are many obstacles which prevent reason from the effective and fruitful use of this inborn faculty. For the truths that concern the relations

between God and man wholly transcend the visible order of things, and, if they are translated into human action and influence it, they call for self-surrender and abnegation. The human mind, in its turn, is hampered in the attaining of such truths, not only by the impact of the senses and the imagination, but also by disordered appetites which are the consequences of original sin. So it happens that men in such matters easily persuade themselves that what they would not like to be true is false or at least doubtful.”

     After Jesus ascended to heaven, the Apostles had to wait for the Father’s gift of the Holy Spirit before going out to spread the Gospel and build Christ’s Church. They would not have been able to handle the whole truth without the help of grace. They needed the Spirit of truth to guide them before they could lead others. 

     On this Solemnity of Pentecost let’s remember that God sent the Spirit of truth as he promised. Let’s remember that it is the Holy Spirit who animates the Church. Lastly let’s trust the guidance and teachings of the Church. It is in and through Christ’s Church that the Spirit of truth guides us to all truth. 

Christian Prayer: the Liturgy of the Hours, Catechism of the Catholic Church, pg. 37