Today is the culmination of the Easter Season. What makes the season so important is that it celebrates the culmination of everything that God has done to save us from final damnation. This is why it ends with Pentecost Sunday everything that Jesus has done from his birth, death and resurrection end with the coming of the advocate who is God with us from here forward. It is the holy spirit that works through the Church and leads us to grow as the Body of Christ.

As I was working on what I would say in this homily, a thought popped into my mind: to whom is the Holy Spirit the advocate. We know He is the advocate for us, but he is advocating for us to whom.
I remember the image that we had growing up of the judgement of God and the advocate standing by our side defending us before this judgement. Yet, that advocate is not the Holy Spirit, that advocate portrayed in the New Testament is Jesus defending us before the Father. Indeed, this is well outlined in the letter to the Hebrews.

The holy Spirit is our advocate at a different instance. He is the one who defends us against Satan.
Now understand who Satan is, he is called the accuser. Experts on the devil tell us that he is quite legalistic, an expert in a sense on the issues of law. It is the Devil who accuses us. There is no mercy under the law, there is only the black and white sense of law.

The law says that it is illegal to run a stop sign. We know that it is illegal to do so at any time of day, even when to do so will hurt no one. However, is it still illegal to do so when you are driving someone to the hospital who is showing the signs of a stroke? Yes, there is no exception nor mercy under the law; this is the legalism of the Devil.

It is this law that is used against us at all times, not human law, but divine law and every time we break it, the accuser is there to call for our condemnation. Remember, there is no forgiveness under the law ever. It is the Advocate who not only is our representative before the accuser, but is our guide and leading others away from the legalism of the law and into the freedom of mercy.
However, mercy is a product of love and charity towards others. There is no love and charity towards others in legalism there is only condemnation and damnation.

The advocate guides us in a world where Satan drives the law. The law of the world is filled with condemnation.

You and I know that as St. Paul teaches us, under the law there is no salvation. That is because none of us can live it perfectly. The minute we fail at one jot or tittle of the law we can be condemned as unrighteous and no longer worthy of life in God’s world. Yet, it is God, the final judge who bestows his mercy upon us. But as we heard Jesus pray to the Father last week, we are in the world and not of it. There is no mercy among those caught up in the world because they reject the source of mercy and give themselves to the source of the legalistic.

Throughout all of this is the one who listens to the Holy Spirit. As the accuser (Satan) attacks, the Holy Spirit defends. He who defends us against the accuser, counsels us to focus on Christ and the eternal.

This is what the Holy Spirit does. He defends us in front of the accuser who seeks to use the law to enslave us. This is also why you cannot fight evil, God fights evil, you just stay in the counsel of the Lord.

This is the message that the apostles preached to the newly baptized.
To whom do you listen? Those in the world who seek to condemn you everyday, or he who defends you against the legalism of the accuser. Obviously, listen to the the advocate. He is truly an agent in your salvation. Remember, the Devil has only your destruction at heart. It is the advocate who makes sure that the Evil One fails.