Today, we
celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost, the Birthday of the Church, the end of
Easter, and the time when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles under the
form of tongues of fire who were hiding in the upper room out of fear of being
caught and accused as a Christian.
It is a celebration of the power of the Holy Spirit, of His ability to fill even the driest of bones with life, [as we heard in our first reading,] of taking anything and anybody and filling it with holiness, so that the rosary in our pocket to the bikes we will bless this weekend, to anything else, will be filled with God’s blessing upon them, and we, ourselves, made Temples of God Almighty.
So, that, like those Apostles in the upper room, being filled with the Holy Spirit we will be strengthened, unafraid, and desire nothing in life but holiness. For, while it doesn’t say it here, immediately after the descent of the Holy Spirit, those Apostles preached boldly and confidently in spite of persecution, accusation or even death itself.
For, the Holy Spirit is indeed, powerful, because He is, indeed, God, and while He does not have a name like Son or Father, we are still aware of His presence, like those in our Gospel, for, just as we feel the wind upon our face, but cannot see it, or we feel the heat from a fire, but cannot touch it, we know when He manifests Himself in our life.
Because, in the holiest of men and women, preachers teachers or confessors, His gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, piety, fortitude and fear of the Lord become indicators of His presence, become divine and beautiful gifts that He not only bestows but gifts that help us to grow in holiness to an extraordinary and, even, supernatural degree.
In fact, the Baltimore Catechism, a Catechism used years ago for religious education, puts it well, it says: “The power of the Holy Spirit, which our ship catches by unfolding the sails of the gifts, enables us to do even things that are humanly impossible. It is the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the souls of the saints that explain the seemingly impossible things in their lives.”
That is why, even today, over 2000 years later, we cannot help but constantly call upon the Holy Spirit, that is why we just finished a beautiful Novena calling upon those gifts, asking the Holy Spirit, as it says in that Novena, to Mark us, with the sign of true discipleship and to be animated in all things with the Spirit.
So, that, everyday our life becomes Pentecost, so that every moment we cannot help but be led by the wind of the Spirit, to be set on fire with His love, to be submerged into His Life Giving waters, to soar in the sky as a dove and to our let our tongue be set ablaze with His power, so that we follow His Will, we burn for His life, and we speak our faith as boldly and confidently as those Apostles.
For the Holy Spirit does not come as an Incarnate child or as a Loving and Merciful Father, but, rather, as Spirit. He is the one who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and since to proceed implies a continuation, the Holy Spirit is the “continuation” of the perfect love of the Father and the Son, equally infinite, eternal, and living. He is, in essence, as one theologian beautifully puts it: “The sigh that lovers breathe.”
Therefore, we should have a great devotion to the Holy Spirit, we should call upon Him frequently, so that the prayer of St. Augustine to the Holy Spirit, one of my favorite prayers, a prayer I recite every day and would invite everyone to do as well, should be our prayer until we can pray it no more. A prayer I would like to end with today:
Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit
That my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit
That my work too may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit
That I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit
To defend all that is holy.
Guard me then, O Holy Spirit
That I always may be holy.
Amen.
It is a celebration of the power of the Holy Spirit, of His ability to fill even the driest of bones with life, [as we heard in our first reading,] of taking anything and anybody and filling it with holiness, so that the rosary in our pocket to the bikes we will bless this weekend, to anything else, will be filled with God’s blessing upon them, and we, ourselves, made Temples of God Almighty.
So, that, like those Apostles in the upper room, being filled with the Holy Spirit we will be strengthened, unafraid, and desire nothing in life but holiness. For, while it doesn’t say it here, immediately after the descent of the Holy Spirit, those Apostles preached boldly and confidently in spite of persecution, accusation or even death itself.
For, the Holy Spirit is indeed, powerful, because He is, indeed, God, and while He does not have a name like Son or Father, we are still aware of His presence, like those in our Gospel, for, just as we feel the wind upon our face, but cannot see it, or we feel the heat from a fire, but cannot touch it, we know when He manifests Himself in our life.
Because, in the holiest of men and women, preachers teachers or confessors, His gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, piety, fortitude and fear of the Lord become indicators of His presence, become divine and beautiful gifts that He not only bestows but gifts that help us to grow in holiness to an extraordinary and, even, supernatural degree.
In fact, the Baltimore Catechism, a Catechism used years ago for religious education, puts it well, it says: “The power of the Holy Spirit, which our ship catches by unfolding the sails of the gifts, enables us to do even things that are humanly impossible. It is the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the souls of the saints that explain the seemingly impossible things in their lives.”
That is why, even today, over 2000 years later, we cannot help but constantly call upon the Holy Spirit, that is why we just finished a beautiful Novena calling upon those gifts, asking the Holy Spirit, as it says in that Novena, to Mark us, with the sign of true discipleship and to be animated in all things with the Spirit.
So, that, everyday our life becomes Pentecost, so that every moment we cannot help but be led by the wind of the Spirit, to be set on fire with His love, to be submerged into His Life Giving waters, to soar in the sky as a dove and to our let our tongue be set ablaze with His power, so that we follow His Will, we burn for His life, and we speak our faith as boldly and confidently as those Apostles.
For the Holy Spirit does not come as an Incarnate child or as a Loving and Merciful Father, but, rather, as Spirit. He is the one who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and since to proceed implies a continuation, the Holy Spirit is the “continuation” of the perfect love of the Father and the Son, equally infinite, eternal, and living. He is, in essence, as one theologian beautifully puts it: “The sigh that lovers breathe.”
Therefore, we should have a great devotion to the Holy Spirit, we should call upon Him frequently, so that the prayer of St. Augustine to the Holy Spirit, one of my favorite prayers, a prayer I recite every day and would invite everyone to do as well, should be our prayer until we can pray it no more. A prayer I would like to end with today:
Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit
That my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit
That my work too may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit
That I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit
To defend all that is holy.
Guard me then, O Holy Spirit
That I always may be holy.
Amen.
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