In today’s Gospel Jesus promises us that “I will not leave you orphaned; I will come back to you and you will have life.” Our faith, nurtured in this great paschal season, tells us that God-made-flesh is God-with-us, never abandoning us and always filling us with life.

It should be a great comfort to all of us, who share in the pain and suffering of ordinary life, to know that the Spirit of Jesus is with us always. It should be especially comforting to know that Jesus will not leave orphaned all those whom the world casts aside: the poor and homeless, the racial and ethnic minorities, the sick and dying, the prisoner and the refugee.

The coming of the Spirit should fill us with dreams and visions of a better world. Let us dream, in the Spirit, of a classless society in which all people are regarded and treated as equals.

Let us dream, in the Spirit, of a nonviolent world in which there is no war, no terrorist attacks on innocent people, no murder, and no death penalty.

Let us dream, in the Spirit, of a world of economic justice in which all people have their basic needs met, and no one lives in poverty, hunger, or homelessness. Let us dream, in the Spirit, of a world of love, forgiveness, and service.

The People of God believe that they are led by the Spirit of the Lord, who fills the earth.

Motivated by this faith, it labors to decipher authentic signs of God’s presence and purpose in the happenings, needs, and desires in which this People has a part along with other men of our age.

For faith throws a new light on everything, manifests God’s design for man’s total vocation, and thus directs the mind to solutions which are fully human.

Vatican II, Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 1965:11