4 May 2026
How do we know
In the Gospel today, we are still in the Upper Room, in what is often called the Farewell Discourse. Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure, that is the context matters. Everything He says here is not casual, it is foundational. He is telling them how the Church will live once He is no longer physically present among them. And in that setting, He gives this promise: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit… will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” That line is not just a comforting thought; it is a structural promise about how the truth of Christ will remain present and authoritative in the life of the Church.
Notice first what Jesus does not say. He does not say, “You will figure it out.” He does not say, “Each of you will independently come to your own understanding.” He says the Spirit will teach and remind. That implies continuity. It implies that what has been revealed in Christ is not going to be lost, diluted, or reinvented, but preserved and deepened. The Spirit does not bring a new Gospel; He ensures fidelity to the one already given by Christ.
Now, that promise is given in a very specific context to the apostles. They are the ones who have heard Him directly, who have received His teaching, who are being entrusted with the mission. And that is where the Church has always understood the root of what we call the teaching office of the Church, or what we call the magisterium. The Spirit’s role is not abstract. It is concrete. It is tied to a people, to witnesses, to those entrusted with handing on what they have received.
If we step into the first reading, we see why that matters. Paul and Barnabas are preaching, and something real happens a man is healed. But the crowd misinterprets it. They begin to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods. This is something that might happen today. Maybe not calling a person a god, but thinking that the power comes from the person, giving the person too much credit for the miracle. The sign is real, but the conclusion is wrong. And Paul has to intervene: “We proclaim to you good news that you should turn from these idols to the living God.” That moment reveals something essential. Without a true and authoritative interpretation, even genuine encounters with God can be misunderstood.
That is exactly the situation the apostles would face after the Resurrection. The Gospel would spread. Signs would accompany it. But there would also be confusion, distortion, competing interpretations. The promise of the Advocate is the answer to that problem. The Spirit ensures that the Church does not lose the truth of what Christ has revealed, even as it moves into new places and new situations among imperfect people.
This is why the Church has always insisted that the teaching office is not self-generated. It is not the result of intellectual superiority or institutional power. It is a service. A service to the truth. The bishops, in communion with the successor of Peter, do not create revelation; they guard it, interpret it, and hand it on faithfully. And they do so under the guidance of the Spirit promised by Christ in this passage and elsewhere.
But this is not just a structural reality for the Church as a whole; it has implications for us personally. Because Jesus ties this promise to love and obedience: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.” The teaching of the Church is not an abstract system. It is ordered toward a life, toward living in communion with Christ. The Spirit teaches not just so that we may know, but so that we may live rightly.
And this brings us to a very concrete question. When we encounter something challenging in the faith, something difficult to understand or to accept, what is our instinct? Do we default to our own interpretation? Do we reshape it according to what feels right or what we would prefer? Or do we trust that Christ has not left His Church without guidance, that the same Spirit who was promised is still at work, preserving and illuminating the truth?
Because the Gospel is still moving, just as it was in Acts. It is still encountering misunderstanding, resistance, and reinterpretation. But it is also still guided. The Advocate has not ceased His work. He continues to teach, to remind, to bring the Church back again and again to what Christ has said and done.
So the invitation today is both intellectual and practical. To deepen our trust that Christ has provided for the Church in a real, concrete way, and to align our lives with that truth. Not as a burden, but as a gift. Because the same Spirit who guards the truth also leads us into it, so that we may not only know Christ, but remain in Him.
In the Gospel today, we are still in the Upper Room, in what is often called the Farewell Discourse. Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure, that is the context matters. Everything He says here is not casual, it is foundational. He is telling them how the Church will live once He is no longer physically present among them. And in that setting, He gives this promise: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit… will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” That line is not just a comforting thought; it is a structural promise about how the truth of Christ will remain present and authoritative in the life of the Church.
Notice first what Jesus does not say. He does not say, “You will figure it out.” He does not say, “Each of you will independently come to your own understanding.” He says the Spirit will teach and remind. That implies continuity. It implies that what has been revealed in Christ is not going to be lost, diluted, or reinvented, but preserved and deepened. The Spirit does not bring a new Gospel; He ensures fidelity to the one already given by Christ.
Now, that promise is given in a very specific context to the apostles. They are the ones who have heard Him directly, who have received His teaching, who are being entrusted with the mission. And that is where the Church has always understood the root of what we call the teaching office of the Church, or what we call the magisterium. The Spirit’s role is not abstract. It is concrete. It is tied to a people, to witnesses, to those entrusted with handing on what they have received.
If we step into the first reading, we see why that matters. Paul and Barnabas are preaching, and something real happens a man is healed. But the crowd misinterprets it. They begin to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods. This is something that might happen today. Maybe not calling a person a god, but thinking that the power comes from the person, giving the person too much credit for the miracle. The sign is real, but the conclusion is wrong. And Paul has to intervene: “We proclaim to you good news that you should turn from these idols to the living God.” That moment reveals something essential. Without a true and authoritative interpretation, even genuine encounters with God can be misunderstood.
That is exactly the situation the apostles would face after the Resurrection. The Gospel would spread. Signs would accompany it. But there would also be confusion, distortion, competing interpretations. The promise of the Advocate is the answer to that problem. The Spirit ensures that the Church does not lose the truth of what Christ has revealed, even as it moves into new places and new situations among imperfect people.
This is why the Church has always insisted that the teaching office is not self-generated. It is not the result of intellectual superiority or institutional power. It is a service. A service to the truth. The bishops, in communion with the successor of Peter, do not create revelation; they guard it, interpret it, and hand it on faithfully. And they do so under the guidance of the Spirit promised by Christ in this passage and elsewhere.
But this is not just a structural reality for the Church as a whole; it has implications for us personally. Because Jesus ties this promise to love and obedience: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.” The teaching of the Church is not an abstract system. It is ordered toward a life, toward living in communion with Christ. The Spirit teaches not just so that we may know, but so that we may live rightly.
And this brings us to a very concrete question. When we encounter something challenging in the faith, something difficult to understand or to accept, what is our instinct? Do we default to our own interpretation? Do we reshape it according to what feels right or what we would prefer? Or do we trust that Christ has not left His Church without guidance, that the same Spirit who was promised is still at work, preserving and illuminating the truth?
Because the Gospel is still moving, just as it was in Acts. It is still encountering misunderstanding, resistance, and reinterpretation. But it is also still guided. The Advocate has not ceased His work. He continues to teach, to remind, to bring the Church back again and again to what Christ has said and done.
So the invitation today is both intellectual and practical. To deepen our trust that Christ has provided for the Church in a real, concrete way, and to align our lives with that truth. Not as a burden, but as a gift. Because the same Spirit who guards the truth also leads us into it, so that we may not only know Christ, but remain in Him.