Excerpt from the June 5th bulletin, Dcn. Jim Reinhardt
Come, Holy Spirit, Come!
The Person of the Holy Spirit in the Blessed Trinity is sometimes the most difficult to know and understand. Perhaps it is because the Holy Spirit is not given a human identifier asvthe Father and the Son have. It may be a bit difficult for us to relate to a white dove, a tongue of fire or even more difficult, the wind!
However, as baptized Christians we interact with the Holy Spirit more often than you may think. It is the Holy Spirit that is the mover of all things of God. In our creed we say that “by the Holy Spirit God was made man as He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary”. Further on in the creed, we profess our belief in the Holy Spirit who is “the Lord and giver of life” and “proceeds from the Father and the Son” and is the person of the Trinity that “has spoken through the prophets”.
In these words, we profess that the Holy Spirit has been active for all times. The Holy Spirit has been manifesting Himself among Christian people in a special way since Jesus ascended into heaven. Jesus Christ had to ascend so that he could then send the Holy Spirit down upon the people of the new Church established on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit ensures that the Church will last for all time, guides the Church even through imperfect hierarchy and also guides each of us (also imperfect) who are baptized as we allow him to work in and through us.
We have each been given the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of our baptism. It is then that He begins working in our lives. As we mature, the Church gives us a greater manifestation of the Holy Spirit when we are confirmed. However, it is not only through the sacraments that the Holy Spirit helps us to grow in holiness, but he also provides us with special graces—or gifts—to all the baptized who desire it. In one of the documents from the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, it says that “he (the Holy Spirit) makes them fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church”.
If we are given the same Holy Spirit that fell on the believers in the upper room, we might ask, “Why is it that I don’t experience the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit that are written about in the Acts of the Apostles?” In the Acts of the Apostles, we have read about such gifts as speaking in tongues, proclaiming prophecies, healing the lame and sick, casting out demons and special graces to live holy and virtuous lives. These SAME gifts of the Holy Spirit are available to us in our present age. We just need to ask for them and they will become an active part of lives and help us to draw even closer to Jesus and His Church.
I can personally attest to the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit. I attended a life in the Spirit Seminar (LSS) as a senior in High School and my life has been forever changed. I have seen and experienced many manifestations of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been instrumental in the direction of my life including the college I attended, my career, my marriage to Nadine and my ordination as a deacon. I can look back and see how the Holy Spirit was at work in my life in a very tangible way.
For those of you who want to unleash more power of the Holy Spirit in your lives, our parish is going to host a 7-week Life in The Spirit Seminar. It will begin on August 30st, 2022 at 6:45 PM followed by 6 successive Tuesdays, ending October 11th. There will be more information in the coming weeks including in the bulletin this weekend. We will be extending an invitation to participate in the seminar to our neighboring parishes, so you are welcome to invite anyone that might be interested in participating with us.
In the meantime, let us all pray on this Pentecost weekend that the Holy Spirit continues to direct our lives and help us to make decisions that will lead to heaven!
Deacon Jim Reinhardt