Posted on 05/22/2018 8:07:12 AM PDT by Salvation
One of the quirks of the post-conciliar liturgy is that the octave of Pentecost was dropped. Generally, the post-conciliar age has tried to emphasize the gifts and works of the Holy Spirit, so eliminating the octave of Pentecost is quite paradoxical. The Feast of Pentecost ranks right up there with Easter and the Nativity, both of which have an octave, yet the octave of Pentecost fell away. So it is that on the Monday after Pentecost we are back to ordinary time and green vestments.
However, priests have the option (which I intend to exercise) of celebrating votive Masses of the Holy Spirit for every day possible from now until next Monday.
On the blog this week we will be reflecting a bit on the Holy Spirit and His role in quickening the Church and empowering her for her mission of making disciples of all the nations.
In today’s post we will consider some of the biblical images for the Holy Spirit, and in so doing, strive to learn more about what God the Holy Spirit does for us. These descriptions do not reduce the Holy Spirit to simply fire, water, or tongues. Rather, the Holy Spirit is described as being like these things but at the same time greater than they are.
1. Wind
Scripture says,
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting (Acts 2:1).
Note that the text speaks of the Spirit as being like a mighty rushing wind. It but does not say that He is a mighty rushing wind, for the Holy Spirit cannot be reduced to mere physical things, even if He is like them.
This text brings us to the very root meaning of the word “spirit.” Spirit refers to breath. This etymology is preserved in the word “respiration,” which is the act of breathing. So, the Spirit of God is the breath of God, the Ruah Adonai.
The very Spirit of God was breathed into Adam! As we know, though, Adam lost this gift and died spiritually when he sinned. As a result, we lost the Spirit of God and died spiritually. St. Paul says plainly that we were dead in our sins (cf Col 2:13).
We see in this passage from Acts an amazing and wonderful resuscitation of the human person, as these first Christians experience the rushing wind of God’s Spirit breathing spiritual life back into them. God does CPR; He brings humanity, dead in sin, back to life! The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us once again as in a temple (cf 1 Cor 3:16).
This image of the rushing wind reminds us that the Holy Spirit brings us back to life and sustains us. If Christmas is the feast of God with us, and Good Friday is the Feast of God for us, then Pentecost is the Feast of God in us. The Holy Spirit, like a rushing wind, breathes life back into us.
2. Fire
Scripture says, And tongues, like flames of fire that were divided, appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
The Bible often speaks of God as fire, or in fiery terms:
So it is that our God, who is a Holy Fire, comes to dwell in us through His Holy Spirit. As a Holy Fire, He refines us by burning away our sins and purifying us. As Job once said, But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold (Job 23:10).
Fire changes everything it encounters. Nothing goes away from fire unchanged; it may be consumed, converted, purified, warmed, mollified, or steeled—but nothing goes way unchanged.
Thus, God the Holy Spirit, like a Holy Fire, is within us. It is changing and transforming us, burning away sin, refining us, enlightening us, stirring the flame of God’s love in us, and bringing us up to the temperature of God’s glory. He is kindling a fire that gives light and warmth in our darkest and coldest moments. Little by little we become a burning furnace of God’s love and we give warmth to those around us.
As fire, God is also preparing us for judgement, for if He is a Holy Fire, then who may endure the day of His coming or of going to Him? What can endure the presence of Fire Himself? Only that which is already fire. Thus, we must be set afire by God’s love.
So, in the coming of the Holy Spirit, God sets us on fire to make us a kind of fire. In so doing, He purifies us and prepares us to meet Him one day, to meet Him who is a Holy Fire.
3. Tongues
The fire is described as tongues. Through this we learn that one of the chief fruits of Spirit is to help us witness to others. What is a witness? It is one who speaks of what he has seen, heard, and experienced.
Of this need to witness, the Lord said,
The spirit comes as tongues in order to strengthen us for our mission, for witness. And, oh, how this witness is needed today! Evil has triumphed because the good have remained silent; pulpits have been silent; parents have been silent. The tongues of fire remind us that God wants bold and fiery saints who are courageous witnesses in a doubting, deceitful, scoffing world.
Many martyrs have died courageously over the years, yet many of us today are afraid because we think that someone might raise an eyebrow at us. Pray for the courage of tongues, the courage to speak.
4. Water
Jesus often used water as an image of the Spirit:
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:37-39).
In the Gospel of John, the giving over of the Holy Spirit is described powerfully, even at the very moment of crucifixion:
Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe (John 19: 30-35).
In this flow of water, the Spirit comes forth in a kind of Johannine Pentecost. It is a classic Johannine play on words that he relates that Jesus “gave over his Spirit,” a phrase that can mean that He died or that He gave us of His Holy Spirit.
The Fathers of the Church also see water as a fitting image for the Spirit.
Thus, water is another fundamental image of the Holy Spirit, for all things are dependent on water to sustain their existence as well as to activate and empower their gifts. I cannot speak more profoundly than did these two saints and Fathers, so I will let their own words suffice.
5. Dove
We know that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove. Scripture says,
… and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased (Luke 3:22).
Again, note the use of simile and analogy. The Holy Spirit is not a bird or a body of any sort. Rather, He is seen in bodily form as being like a dove. The Holy Spirit is God; He is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.
The image of the Holy Spirit as a dove is reminiscent of the story of Noah:
After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth (Genesis 8:6-11).
The dove announced to Noah that the bitterness and death that overwhelming sin had brought was now at an end. The dove brought Noah a sign of peace and a sign that the promise of God to cleanse the world was now fulfilled. Noah, having passed through the flood within the safety of God’s ark, may walk in newness of life.
So, too, for us. In the Holy Spirit is peace, shalom. The long reign of sin is ended, and grace is now available to us. We, having passed through the waters of baptism, may walk in newness of life. The Holy Spirit descends on us like a dove, bringing peace, promise, and every good grace.
Here we have five images that help us to ponder the Holy Spirit’s work in us. Surely there are other images and other ways of describing His work, but these five speak powerfully.
This video, “Romancing the Wind,” features a performance of a kite ballet:
Monsignor Pope Ping!
Thanks for the ping!
My pleasure.
Ping to the usual specious conflating of the institution of Catholic Church with the Ekklesia of Jesus The Christ ...
Trinity =
God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit
Now I understand why the wéek between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday looked like a broken link. It was an octave that should not have been broken up.
Thank-you for the posting.
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