A Pentecost Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right
Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Our commemoration at Mass of the day the Holy Spirit descended on the Our Lord's disciples immediately grips our imaginations with these incredibly dramatic words of Acts 2:
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
But even as we feel the power of the Holy Spirit in these words, do they leave us with a better knowledge and understanding of this mysterious Third Person of the Blessed Trinity? I don't know about you, but I've always had a clearer picture of God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit is another matter. As a result, my relationship with the Father and the Son flows, in a sense, a bit more naturally and smoothly than my relationship with the Holy Spirit.
While the following may not fully cure this imbalance, this passage from The Inner Life of the Soul helped me to gain at least a basic, functional knowledge of God the Holy Ghost. The author first attempts - and I think successfully - to describe how most of us perceive the Father and the Son. He then gives us the key to a clearer picture of the Holy Ghost.
God the Father seems to us, - does He not? - as a vast, loving Power, outside of ourselves, compassionate, patient; our Creator, Who made us out of nothing, Who takes care of us; Who pities us (to use the tender words of Holy Writ), even as a father hath pity on his children; One who knoweth whereof we are made, and remembereth - inspired word that the tired mind rest upon! - remembereth that we are but dust; and who will will one day raise us up from the dust, to endless life with Him.
God the Son is our very Brother Who took our nature on Him, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh; and Who will wear that nature eternally when time and earth are dead; our Lover, standing outside our hearts, knocking and tirelessly waiting to find entrance and welcome there; our Child, coming to us in the Blessed Sacrament, to lie in the cradle of our hearts, and let us brood over Him and sing to Him with the music of our prayers. Yet, amazing thought!, theology names Him the Divine Wisdom, a most loving Wisdom truly, but not distinctly the Divine Love. Who, then, is God the Holy Ghost?
Mary, Queen of the Blessed Trinity!, answer us. Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, Spouse of the Holy Ghost!, reply that the Holy Ghost is Love.
Here lie the keys to the world's mysteries, a subject vast enough for a lifetime. Let us today take but one thought from among the many.
Said one of the most famous of the great French preachers: "The world saw the saints, and believed in holiness." How were those saints formed? By the personal action of the Holy Ghost on the individual soul. At this moment, as we speak and write, He is at work upon your soul and mine; no less than God Himself at work within our hearts. No wonder that Boussuet in his grand phraseaology speaks of the seriousness of the Christian life! Let us kneel down, for we are actually in the real presence of God the Holy Ghost, and beg Him to reveal Himself to us, and teach us what love is and how to love. For love is the fulfilling of the law.
St. Bernard puts it this way: "The Holy Ghost is the sacred kiss of the Father and the Son, their imperturbable peace, their undivided love." So "Love" is the key. Of course, we'll never have a completely clear picture of the Holy Spirit, just as we will never have a completely clear picture of the Father or the Son. Nevertheless, we finite created beings can grow ever closer to His Infinite Being, despite our imperfect understanding. And that's OK. We take what we can get and pray for the grace to deepen our relationship with Him.
Let's wrap up today's Pentecost Sunday thought with our most ancient prayer to the Holy Spirit.
And here, the same words expressed in one of our most ancient and beautiful chants.
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
But even as we feel the power of the Holy Spirit in these words, do they leave us with a better knowledge and understanding of this mysterious Third Person of the Blessed Trinity? I don't know about you, but I've always had a clearer picture of God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit is another matter. As a result, my relationship with the Father and the Son flows, in a sense, a bit more naturally and smoothly than my relationship with the Holy Spirit.
While the following may not fully cure this imbalance, this passage from The Inner Life of the Soul helped me to gain at least a basic, functional knowledge of God the Holy Ghost. The author first attempts - and I think successfully - to describe how most of us perceive the Father and the Son. He then gives us the key to a clearer picture of the Holy Ghost.
God the Father seems to us, - does He not? - as a vast, loving Power, outside of ourselves, compassionate, patient; our Creator, Who made us out of nothing, Who takes care of us; Who pities us (to use the tender words of Holy Writ), even as a father hath pity on his children; One who knoweth whereof we are made, and remembereth - inspired word that the tired mind rest upon! - remembereth that we are but dust; and who will will one day raise us up from the dust, to endless life with Him.
God the Son is our very Brother Who took our nature on Him, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh; and Who will wear that nature eternally when time and earth are dead; our Lover, standing outside our hearts, knocking and tirelessly waiting to find entrance and welcome there; our Child, coming to us in the Blessed Sacrament, to lie in the cradle of our hearts, and let us brood over Him and sing to Him with the music of our prayers. Yet, amazing thought!, theology names Him the Divine Wisdom, a most loving Wisdom truly, but not distinctly the Divine Love. Who, then, is God the Holy Ghost?
Mary, Queen of the Blessed Trinity!, answer us. Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, Spouse of the Holy Ghost!, reply that the Holy Ghost is Love.
Here lie the keys to the world's mysteries, a subject vast enough for a lifetime. Let us today take but one thought from among the many.
Said one of the most famous of the great French preachers: "The world saw the saints, and believed in holiness." How were those saints formed? By the personal action of the Holy Ghost on the individual soul. At this moment, as we speak and write, He is at work upon your soul and mine; no less than God Himself at work within our hearts. No wonder that Boussuet in his grand phraseaology speaks of the seriousness of the Christian life! Let us kneel down, for we are actually in the real presence of God the Holy Ghost, and beg Him to reveal Himself to us, and teach us what love is and how to love. For love is the fulfilling of the law.
St. Bernard puts it this way: "The Holy Ghost is the sacred kiss of the Father and the Son, their imperturbable peace, their undivided love." So "Love" is the key. Of course, we'll never have a completely clear picture of the Holy Spirit, just as we will never have a completely clear picture of the Father or the Son. Nevertheless, we finite created beings can grow ever closer to His Infinite Being, despite our imperfect understanding. And that's OK. We take what we can get and pray for the grace to deepen our relationship with Him.
Let's wrap up today's Pentecost Sunday thought with our most ancient prayer to the Holy Spirit.
Come Holy Spirit,
Fill the hearts of Thy faithful,
And enkindle in us the fire of Thy Love.
Send forth Thy Spirit
And they shall be created,
And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
And here, the same words expressed in one of our most ancient and beautiful chants.
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