Many years ago, when I was studying in Rome, I assited at a celebration in the Olympic Stadium in Rome, with Pope St. John Paul II. It was a celebration for athletes; there were probably over 50,000 athletes present, some of the most famous sportsmen and women from all over the world were there too.  Suddenly they asked us all to be silent,  we saw a teenage girl crouched at the start of the 100 metres,  but she was alone.  There was no one to run against her.  The starting shot was fired, and she began to run very fast. Then we noticed another athlete at the finishing line, and she was clapping her hands and calling out to her, here, here…here.  Then we realised what was happening.  The girl was blind, and that is why they asked us for silence, so that she could hear the starting shot, and the instructions of her coach. She was not afriad of falling, she was not afraid of running into something, because there was a voice she trusted. In todays gospel, we hear Jesus making a promise to his followers, He promises a person a voice,  one who will speak to them in their hearts,  especially in moments of darkness and fear, this is the Holy Spirit. Over a month ago over 130 cardinales entered the sistine chapel in Rome for the conclave. A lot of the voices in the media were prediciting who would be the next sucessor of St. Peter. All of these voices got it wrong, and thankfully the cardinales listened to the one voice that we should listen to, The Holy Spirit. Once again we were all pleasantly surprised to welcome Pope Leo XIV, as the choice of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus promises us also the Holy Spirit, there will be moments of doubt,  of worry of darness, and fear in our lives.  All we have to do is to listen to this voice,  He will turn on a light in our darkness,  and he willl give us the courage to face the challenges and keep going  just like that blind girl in Rome many years ago. We are currently living in a very challenging time for our Church in Ireland and indeed all over the world. There are many  worldly voices saying that the church must do this or that, but the one voice that we need to listen to, is the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Easter church was a very fearful church, but after the coming of the Holy Spirit they were energised and went out into the streets to proclaim the Good News. Let us trust that the Holy Spirit will  light up the darkness  in our church and show us the way forward of bringing the good news of Christ to this world.