Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Acts 16: 11-15
John 15:26-16:4a

In this passage of the gospel Jesus speaks of the Advocate, “the spirit of truth that proceeds from the father.” Is it this Advocate, this spirit, working to “open the heart of the woman, Lydia, listening to Paul preach described in the other reading for this day?

Today the Church honors Joseph Damien de Veuster, a Belgian priest who ministered to the Leper colony on Molokai where he contracted leprosy and died. He was, like Lydia in the Acts of the Apostles, moved and opened by the Holy Spirit to do his work. I imagine him feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit every day, every day as he worked among the lepers.

I sometimes wonder, as I get ready for work in the morning do I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit? Is it the Holy Spirit that moves me to not get stressed by traffic delays? Is it the Holy Spirit that moves me to be patient with difficult clients? Is it the Holy Spirit that causes me to listen, really listen, when someone asks for my help?

Chris Kokoszka