[Salvation]

Come Holy Spirit!

Pentecost Sunday

Pastor’s Column

May 19, 2013

 

          One day (in a former parish), the youth minister ran up to me frantically, pleading with me to help her out of a bind.  It turned out that she was scheduled to give a short talk on the Holy Spirit to her High School youth class and couldn’t think of anything to say at all!  Looking back at this, it strikes me as funny, but how many of us could come up with even a five or ten minute talk on how the Holy Spirit is active in our lives?

          One way for us to grasp at the nature of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Spirit, is to realize that essentially each member is in an infinite and total relationship with each other.  For example, the Father and the Son love each other so much that this love is a person: the Holy Spirit.  In this sense, the Trinity and a human family are similar—the love of the parents (ideally!) is reflected in persons raised by both – the children.

          Scripture makes it quite clear that we are meant to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit and with each other.  Relationships are nourished by our communications with others and by the thoughtful things we do for them, as well as what we are willing to suffer for them, and ultimately, by our commitment to them.  Before I prepare or preach a sermon, hear confessions, or write a column, I always ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, that he will speak and act through me, and I invite you to do the same in your own lives.  Many people say a prayer to the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the day (like “Come Holy Spirit!”), or when getting into a car, or before starting some task or before making a difficult decision. 

          The Spirit is responsible for many of the inspirations that we take for granted in our lives, and provides gifts for the church at large.  Being a lector, Eucharistic Minister, teacher or even a priest, sister or deacon are only some of the gifts God has given to the church, but all of us have received the unique gift of ourselves and this is what God really wants from us.   Everyone has gifts from the Spirit, and they are always meant for others, whether they are family, co-workers, people at church or strangers we meet or who are in need. 

          The Holy Spirit is often represented in Scripture as various mysterious (non-human) forms, such as a dove, tongues of fire, wind, or water.  All of these are, of course, simply images that help us grasp through our human senses and imagination the Holy Spirit, which by its very nature is both invisible and thus unable to be directly seen.  But you can sure tell when the Spirit is present and absent!

          When the Spirit is absent, we see “sexual vice, impurity, sensuality, worship of false gods (such as money, sex, materialism, pleasure), sorcery, antagonism, jealousy, bad temper, quarrels, disagreements, factions, drunkenness and rivalries.”  When the Spirit is present, we see the opposite:  love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and chastity (both lists from Galatians 5). Come Holy Spirit!

          Father Gary

[Salvation]

St. Paul Center Blog

A Mighty Wind: Scott Hahn Reflects on Pentecost

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on 05.17.13 |

Acts 2:1-11
Psalm 104:1,24,29-31,34
1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13
John 20:19-23

The giving of the Spirit to the new people of God crowns the mighty acts of the Father in salvation history.

The Jewish feast of Pentecost called all devout Jews to Jerusalem to celebrate their birth as God’s chosen people, in the covenant Law given to Moses at Sinai (see Leviticus 23:15-21; Deuteronomy 16:9-11).

In today’s First Reading the mysteries prefigured in that feast are fulfilled in the pouring out of the Spirit on Mary and the Apostles (see Acts 1:14).

The Spirit seals the new law and new covenant brought by Jesus, written not on stone tablets but on the hearts of believers, as the prophets promised (see 2 Corinthians 3:2-8; Romans 8:2).

The Spirit is revealed as the life-giving breath of the Father, the Wisdom by which He made all things, as we sing in today’s Psalm. In the beginning, the Spirit came as a “mighty wind” sweeping over the face of the earth (see Genesis 1:2). And in the new creation of Pentecost, the Spirit again comes as “a strong, driving wind” to renew the face of the earth.

As God fashioned the first man out of dust and filled him with His Spirit (see Genesis 2:7), in today’s Gospel we see the New Adam become a life-giving Spirit, breathing new life into the Apostles (see 1 Corinthians 15:45,47).

Like a river of living water, for all ages He will pour out His Spirit on His body, the Church, as we hear in today’s Epistle (see also John 7:37-39).

We receive that Spirit in the sacraments, being made a “new creation” in Baptism (see 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15). Drinking of the one Spirit in the Eucharist (see 1 Corinthians 10:4), we are the first fruits of a new humanity - fashioned from out of every nation under heaven, with no distinctions of wealth or language or race, a people born of the Spirit.