Come, Holy Spirit!

The solemnity of Pentecost marks an end and a beginning. Liturgically speaking, the Easter season is closed by the fulfilment of Christ's greatest promise: "when the Counsellor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me" (Jn 15, 26).

The Risen Lord concludes his earthly mission by ascending to the Father. On the other hand, the Pentecost event heralds a new beginning: the Holy Spirit's era. The Ascended Christ continues to work in his Church through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we, as Christian believers, are not left on our own, unattended and uncared for. Before ascending into heaven Christ promised us: "I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matt 28, 20). The powerful outpouring of the Spirit on the Church is the extraordinary accomplishment of this promise.

The Holy Spirit is the third consubstantial Person of the Holy Trinity. As St Basil the Great teaches, "the Holy Spirit is inseparable from the Father and the Son" (De Spiritu Sancto, 64). "The Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty co-eternal" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 266). An essential aspect in the theological reflection on the Holy Spirit is that of describing Him as the Spirit of Grace.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Grace because He personally intervenes in human history, particularly in the lives of men and women, to make them pleasing to His heart. Spiritually speaking, in the prophet Hosea's words, there is an extraordinary, yet delicate, manner of how the Spirit invites each person to turn back to God. "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her" (Hosea 2, 14). Is not kindness a basic fruit of the Holy Spirit? Through it the Spirit encourages, challenges, invites, and proposes new ways of living our basic human and Christian vocation: being holy. "As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy" (1 Pt 1, 15-16).

The Spirit is the protagonist after a person's conversion of heart! Since He is "the Spirit of truth" (Jn 15, 26), only He can pinpoint to us if our hearts are immersed and imprisoned in "idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like" (Gal 5, 20-21). Unfortunately, these sinful ways of being are not only affecting us individually, but also as a Church, the People of God.

But thanks to our incessant and heartfelt invocation  Come, Holy Spirit! we, as a Church, are praying today to the Holy Spirit to infuse in each and every one of us His formidable and life-giving fruits of "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal 5, 22-23).

It is solely in opening the door of our hearts to the Spirit that we can cherish from this world the reality of living in God's kingdom.  

The Holy Spirit is God's personal intervention in our chaotic lives. His very presence wants to bring about in us communion with God, others and ourselves. Being the Spirit of holiness, the Holy Spirit "blows where [He] wills (Jn 3, 8). He is the source of that inextinguishable fire we feel in our hearts each time we dare to open our eyes, that we may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God" (see Acts 26, 18).

In this day of Pentecost let us be open to the Holy Spirit's anointing so that through his powerful action we experience again God's peace and authority in our lives.

"Come Holy Spirit of the living God. Fall afresh on me. Melt me, mould me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me."