REJOICE

The Holy Spirit in the Form of a Dove

An elderly gentleman passed his granddaughter’s room one night and overheard her repeating the alphabet in an oddly reverent way. “What on earth are you up to?” he asked. “I am saying my prayers” explained the little girl. “But I can’t think of exactly the right words tonoght, so I am just saying all the letters. God will put them together for me, because he knows what I am thinking. ” Christians who have similar childlike faith rejoice that though thier lives may be in shambles, God will put them together. The God whom they believe is not up in the sky, but dwells within them as the Holy Spirit. They know that, as the Holy Spirit came on the nascent church at Pentecost, so he came on them also, though in a less spectacular way, at their baptism and confirmation ” to lead them to complete truth” (Jn. 14: 26). True believers are deeply aware of their utter dependence on the spirit for “no one can say ‘ Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (I Cor. 12: 3), nor can they even pray without him.

The Holy Spirit as Tongues of Fire

We rejoice today, because the feast of Pentecost reminds of the gentle and explosive power of the Holy Spirit when it blows like wind. At times, it blows gently. When fear rises in us while sick and old because we are not sure whether anybody will care for us in time to come, when hopelessness grows in many of us, who are young because we are afraid whetehr e will find any job when anger is deep in many of the depraved and poor among us because we see the rich growing richer, whe apathy leads some of us to dependence on alcohol and drugs as the easiest way to cope, the Spirit can bring calm and quiet to our troubled hearts. But the Spirit of God does not blow always gently. In fact, at Pentecost, He ” came from Heaven like a rush of the mighty wind ” (Acts. 2). Since then the same mighty Spirit has been known to blow down great but corrupt institutions or to burn to ashes gigantic but unjust social systems. We rejoice today because Pentecost reminds us of the consuming and unifying power of the spirit when he burns as fire. At Pentecost, He came as “Tongues of Fire” (Acts 2: 3) and He consumed the hearts of the disciples so powerfully that he drove them out of Jerusalem, scatterin gthem like seeds all over the earth, filling them with words which changed many lives, but which eventually got almost everyone of them killed. The spirit of God is a unifying fire as well. At Pentecost, those who received the spirit spoke foreign languages and where understood by all, thus signaling the arrival of the spirit unites all people of God which he continues to do even today through our baptism. As Saint Paul says, “It was by one spirit that all of us, whether Jew or Greek; slave or free where baptised into one body ” (I Cor. 12: 13). We also rejoice for this world because of the presence of the Spirit in the world, the separated members of the human race will one daybe restored to unity, like the limbs of a single body, by being joined to Christ, their common head.

The Holy Spirit on the disciples on Pentecost

We rejoice today because of the feast of Pentecost reminds us of the cleansing and life-giving power of the Holy Spirit when he flows like water. referring to the Spirit, jesus said ” If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Who so ever believes in me, rivers of living water shall flow from his heart.” (Jn. 7: 37 – 38). we are washed clean and brought back to life by the water of baptism. It is not the water itself that does them, but the Holy Spirit who is in and with the water, and faith, water water by itself is an ambiguous symbol, bringing too mind both rain and flood, drink and drawing. It is the Spirit holding the baby in the water that transforms it for him or her into cleansing and life giving water. Without the holding, the water will drown us, so even though our hearts may have become arid, we can still experience a river of living water in it, because of the presence of the Spirit in it.

We rejoice today because Pentecost reminds us of the consoling and comforting power of the Spirit whom Jesus called, ” The Comforter” (Jn. 14 : 16). As a mother holds the wounded and frightened child and with her breath inspires trust, rekindles confidence and gives life back again, so the Spirit is with us in times when we are blown down, too weak even to pray. He will hold us and breathe us back to life. Should we wither and fade, He will gather us up in His arms. he is ready to use our limbs, our heartbeat, and our beath as rythms of God’s own spirit to bring comfort. Finally, when the tents which we are in now becomes burnt to ashes, he will hold us in peace forever.

Let us not hesitate to seek the ai of the Holy Spirit, whatever may be our standing in life. He is not a tamed force carefully bottled in ecclesiatical institutions, available to be served out in rational doors according to the decisions of the hierarchy or the ministry of specially illuminated saints. he is the Lord of the church, not subject to human control and, like the wind, he blows wherever he chooses. Let us therefore constantly pray to the Spirit especially today, to come and fill our empty hearts. It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.