And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And I will ask the Father, &c, i.e, If ye persevere in My love, and keep My commandments, I will obtain for you by My prayers the Holy Ghost, which the Father will pour upon you at Pentecost. And He will work through you even greater things than I have wrought.
And I will ask, as man. For Christ as man prays for us, says S. Augustine.
Another Comforter, i.e, another than Myself. From hence it is plain that Christ also was the Paraclete of the Apostles and the faithful. That Isaiah , He is—1. an Advocate, an Intercessor, according to those words of Paul, "We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 2. An Exhorter, an Inciter3. A Comforter, as the Syriac translates. All these meanings are included in the Greek παζάκλητος. But when Christ went away, He sent another Paraclete, even the Holy Ghost, who in these three things took Christ"s place. For, 1. He is the Advocate of the faithful, "Who intercedes for us with groanings unutterable" ( Romans 8:26). He ...
He mingles once more the human with the Divine, and neither reverts to the pure glory of the Godhead, nor yet altogether confines His range within the limits of humanity, but traverses both, wondrously and at the same time indistinguishably too, forasmuch as He is at once both God and man. For He was God by His nature, inasmuch as He was the Fruit of the Father and the Effulgence of His essence; and again, He was man, inasmuch as He has become Flesh. Accordingly He speaks as God and at the same time as man: for after this manner it was possible to preserve duly such forms of language as befitted the dispensation in flesh. Notwithstanding, while we are searching for the meaning of the passage before us, we say this: that at this point also, of necessity, our Lord has introduced the mention of God the Father, for the building up of their faith, and for the exceeding profit of the hearers; as indeed the argument will demonstrate as it proceeds. For when He bade us ask in His Name, and rev...
Paraclete. This is a comforter: or also an advocate: inasmuch as by inspiring prayer, he prays, as it were, in us, and pleads for us.
For ever. Hence it is evident, that this spirit of truth was not only promised to the persons of the apostles, but also to their successors, through all generations. (Challoner)
I have not changed the word Paraclete, which signifies, both and advocate and a comforter. He shall remain with you, and in you, for ever. What greater happiness, what greater security for the faithful, than to have this divine promise, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, remaining with the Church for ever, to protect her, and preserve her from all errors and heresies? (Witham)
If the Holy Spirit had been promised only to the apostles, their successors could not have challenged the promise. But the promises and privileges were not merely personal, but attached to their office perpetually. Hence, the Holy Spirit, in every age and clime, perpetually watches over the Catholic C...
For the men of olden time and the law foretold to us the characteristics of the Church, and the Church represents those of the new dispensation which is to come. Whence we, having received Christ, saying, "I am the truth"
Happily the Lord Himself employs this expression of the person of the Paraclete, so as to signify not a division or severance, but a disposition (of mutual relations in the Godhead); for He says, "I will pray the Father, and He shall send you another Comforter . even the Spirit of truth".
"another Comforter "indeed;
