As we prepare to celebrate Pentecost and the birthday of the Church, it’s a good time to consider a little more deeply who or what the Holy Spirit is, and what role he plays in our lives today. As a member of the Divine Trinity, we know that the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force in the world, but a divine person. Beyond that, the Holy Spirit remains a mystery for many of us, and our use of imagery or symbols such as fire, the wind, a dove, etc. can confound our attempt to understand him fully.
Years ago I read an excerpt from Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s The Divine Romance that has stuck with me and led to a deeper understanding and appreciation for the Third Person of the Trinity. Sheen spoke of the love between the Father and the Son that is “so powerful, so strong, and so perfect, that it forms between them a living bond.”
Sheen continues:
“They give themselves in a love so infinite that, like the truth, which expresses itself only in the giving of a whole personality, their love can express itself in nothing less than a Person, who is Love.
Love at such a stage does not speak; does not cry; does not express itself by words, nor by canticles; it expresses itself as we do in some ineffable moments, by that which indicates the very exhaustion of our giving – namely, a sigh, or a breath. And that is why the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity is called the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost.”
What magnificent imagery for who the Holy Spirit is! Can we doubt the power of the Spirit when we view him in this way?
At Pentecost, the power of the Holy Spirit was poured out onto the Apostles transforming them from men who were alone and afraid, hidden away, into courageous men who boldly set out to proclaim the gospel of the Lord to the ends of the earth. There would be no more hiding in their lives. There would be no more fear.
The very same Spirit was poured out on us at our Baptism, and if we are open to his working within us, as the Apostles were, we too can be transformed.
Veni Sancte Spiritus. Come Holy Spirit.
© 2017 Catechist’s Aide
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