Siri, tell me all about the Holy Spirit. Siri, if you can’t be more specific, I’m going to ask Google?

Many have come to rely on Siri or Google or GPS such that they, especially some of our younger people, do not know how to use a map or a telephone book or even how to think through an issue or a problem. We live in an era of instant information, immediate results and the very false assumption that, since we have found an answer, now we have found the truth, we have “the” answer. An answer and the truth are not necessarily the same. We have lots of information, but do we have truth?

Google Maps or Waze may be able to get us to our destination, but we still have to use our brains when there are unforeseen roadblocks. A search engine may be right many times, but is it always right? And what if the search engine finds conflicting facts, don’t we need some kind of guidance to determine the truth?

You see, even before we had Siri and Google, and even now that we have technologies such as AI, we are the ones who must make choices with our lives. We must decide what route to take in life. We must make value choices. We must realize, too, that our choices always mirror what we value. Also, whether we like it or not, others will judge us based on the choices we have made.

Faith people have a barometer, a measuring stick with which to make value judgements, to make decisions.

Listen carefully to what Jesus says in the Gospel: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.”

What an unbelievable promise! God will send and did send the Spirit of truth! Is that not a tremendous gift? This Spirit is not some trite gift. God sends himself in the person of Jesus Christ to become one of us. God does not leave us orphaned and sends himself to live with us forever in the person of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth.

This Spirit will guide us to make right decisions with our lives, will help us keep our values straight, will move us in the right direction. The Holy Spirit is not the one to help us decide “should I have chocolate cake or apple pie for dessert.” These are not the kinds of questions for the Holy Spirit. I’m talking about important decisions, life decisions.

As we come towards the end of the Easter season our scripture readings point us in the direction of the Holy Spirit, God present in the Church even up to today. Our human being problems draw us away from listening to the Holy Spirit, directing us and focusing on ourselves, our wants, our desires, our cravings. Do I tell my boss to go take a hike or do I find a better way to express my concerns? Do I save my money so that my family will benefit in the future or do I blow it now on what is most appealing? Do I go to church on the weekend, or do I blow it off in favor of something else? Do I try to save face by telling a lie or do I sugar coat my lie reducing it to a so-called white lie? Have we come to the point of keeping God, especially God the Holy Spirit, at a distance. Does keeping God at a distance make our lives easier? If that description sounds familiar, then it’s time to regroup and refocus.

Someday, perhaps, when Siri, Alexa, Google and AI become very intelligent, they will answer: “Don’t ask me. Ask the Holy Spirit.”