In this first part of the year we have celebrated the death and rising of the Lord and his ascension . . . into the eternity of the Father. All of these things happened so that the Holy Spirit might be with us with one goal, to redeem the world and the people in it and to give to God this whole redeemed world. Pentecost then is the fulfillment of Easter.

All that Jesus did was to bring us human beings into the light of God the Father. That is why people can live God’s own life. The Holy Spirit of the eternal God is poured out into us, like breath, to make us live for God. She is here, she lives in us, she makes us holy, she strengthens us, and she comforts us. She is the pledge of eternal life, the promise of absolute triumph. So the all holy God is now at our center, living in our nothingness, giving life to our weakness. Eternal life lives in people who are destined to die.

The only problem of course is that we cannot always fully grasp the meaning of this. God is ours. He has not only given us a gift, he has given us his whole being; his wisdom, his understanding, his ability to judge right from wrong, his knowledge, his courage to witness, his reverence for what he does, wonder and awe in all that he is and makes. Pentecost tells us that God is our God. He is with us, he is in us.

Like the wind, the Spirit of God blows wherever she will, through all the streets of the world to touch humans. Today, we thank God for that touch. We are truly loved children of everlasting life. The challenge for you and for me is to go on seeking a faith that never falters, rather than earthly certainty.

To make God live in us, rather than the world, or as Saint Paul says, the flesh. To be free for God and his plan that will give life rather than choosing license that will bring death. Joy which will bring true happiness, rather than the passing joy of this world.

The challenge for you and for me is to learn from these and other dualisms that our search has to continue. The Spirit is not distant and weak, rather we are searching in the wrong place. It is an invitation to daily conversion, turning back to God, being strengthened by the Spirit in our weakness, our sinfulness, our carelessness, our darkness and coldness. May we turn and pray, “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.”
 

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne

REFLECTION

1.       Who is the Holy Spirit to you?

2.       How does the Holy Spirit guide you in your relationship with God, with self, with others?

3.       How does the Holy Spirit in-form your choices at this moment?

(NOTE:  The Biblical Hebrew word for spirit is ruwach (also transliterated as ruach), meaning wind, breath, inspiration; the noun is grammatically feminine. In the "Odes of Solomon'; the oldest surviving Christian hymnal, the Holy Spirit is grammatically female.  Therefore, the word “he” in the original text of the reflection (above) has been changed to the word “she” and “her” (underlined) to denote the Holy Spirit as the feminine principle of the triune God.