In the face of great trials and tribulations we are not alone. We have an Advocate sent by God to comfort and aid us. I read where a three-man expedition to the arctic ended in disaster with all three perishing in the frigid wasteland. A year afterward a rescue party came upon the frozen corpses. In the hand of the leader a little note was found. He wrote: “All the time it seemed there were four of us.” In the midst of grief or tragedy, people of deep faith testify to the comforting Presence we call the Holy Spirit, our Advocate.

From Father Edwin J. Duffy’s book “Father Duffy’s Reflections.” Father Duffy is pastor emeritus of St. Pius X Parish in Manoa