Posted on 05/17/2016 8:15:22 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. And thus 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 I hope to reflect a bit on the Holy Spirit and His role in quickening the Church and empowering her for her mission of making disciples from all the nations.
In todays post I 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 simply reduce the Holy Spirit to fire, water, or tongues. Rather, the Holy Spirit is described as being like these things, but also greater than they are.
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 He is a mighty rushing wind. For indeed, 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 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 Spirit, the breath of God).
So the very Spirit of God was breathed into Adam! But, as we know, Adam lost this gift and died spiritually when he sinned. And thus we lost the Spirit of God and died spiritually. St. Paul says plainly that we were dead in our sins (cf Col 2:13).
Thus 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 Gods Spirit breathing spiritual life back into them. God does CPR and 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).
And thus 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.
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:
And so it is that our God, who is a Holy Fire, comes to dwell in us through his Holy Spirit. And 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 is consumed, converted, purified, warmed, mollified, or steeledbut nothing goes way from fire unchanged.
And 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 Gods 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.
Tongues – The Fire is described as tongues. And thus we learn that one of the chief fruits of Spirit is to help us witness to others. What is a witness? A witness is one who speaks of what he has seen, heard, and experienced.
Of this need to witness, the Lord said,
Thus 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, yet many of us are afraid that someone might merely raise an eyebrow at us. Pray for the courage of tongues, the courage to speak.
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).
And 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.
And thus this 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 words suffice.
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 here. The Holy Spirit is not a bird or a body of any sort. Rather He is seen in bodily form 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.
And so, too, for us. In the Holy Spirit is peace, is shalom. The long reign of sin is ended and grace is now available to us. And we, too, 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.
And thus we have these five images 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 to us for now. Please feel free to add your own reflections.
Monsignor Pope Ping!
So the Holy Spirit comes and goes with believers?... A believer, born from above, can get caught without the Holy Spirit?
What are you trying to say?
HUH?
Just asking about what the essay puts forth, that the Holy Spirit comes into believers, but the Catholic Church teaches that Catholic believers must put Him back in by following the sacraments and that when they sin they must re-up the Holy Spirit by confession and the Eucharist. Doers that mean that the Holy Spirit comes and goes many times in the life of a Catholic?
He forgot “oil.”
No. It’s just that some people are too concerned with the modern world that they do not notice the Holy Spirit working in their lives.
I was asking about the Holy Spirit working IN people. There is no doubt His work is restraining much ‘lawlessness’.
Just asking about what the essay puts forth, that the Holy Spirit comes into believers, but the Catholic Church teaches that Catholic believers must put Him back in by following the sacraments and that when they sin they must re-up the Holy Spirit by confession and the Eucharist. Doers that mean that the Holy Spirit comes and goes many times in the life of a Catholic?
This is not at all what the Catholic Church teaches. When we sin, the Holy Spirit remains with us, and it is through the action of the Holy Spirit that we come to have contrition for our sins and ask God’s forgiveness. As Paul tells us in Romans 8:26, the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.
So why is it a sin in catholiciism to stand on God’s Promise that when you believe in the one Whom He sent for our salvation, you are right then born from above? ... And does this post rise to your level of needing to be reported to the rel mod?
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