+ At the heart of our Catholic faith is the heavenly Father and His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, whose love for each other is so perfect, so infinite, so eternal, and so personal, that this Love is God, the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, and we call Him the Holy Spirit.
The question is: What does He do? And is he essential?
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When I was
growing up, I learned about the Holy Spirit when I was learning about
Confirmation, but the extent of my learning was that the Holy Spirit is a
fluffy dove. Or, if you are dancing, you had to leave room for the Holy Spirit.
As a seventh grader, I didn’t care too much about either thing. And I certainly
didn’t see Him as something essential.
I mean, I believed that we were saved by Jesus and His Cross—but, really, what more was necessary? In a way, I was Protestant.
Later on, in my 20s, I discovered something Jesus said. He said, “It is necessary that I ascend. Unless I go away, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you.”
This struck me. Why was this necessary if I was already saved by Jesus’ cross? Or, to put it another way, why was it even necessary that I be baptized at all if I was already saved by the Cross? Why the extra step of baptism if the Cross has saved me?
These questions and the subsequent answers would lead to my intellectual conversion.
To put it briefly, the Father and the Son do not only want to save us. They do. But they also want to sanctify us. They want to make us holy.
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So, I started looking into this Holy Spirit and I soon discovered the Holy Spirit is the one who enacts the Father’s plan and makes it effective.
In the beginning, it is the Holy Spirit that hovered over the waters of creation and brought forth light and order. It is the Holy Spirit, also called the “ruah”—the breath of God—that the Father breathed into the nostrils of Adam and gave him life. It is the same breath that came as a mighty wind and separated the waters of the Red Sea. It is the Holy Spirit who gave King Solomon wisdom and the holy prophets sacred and authoritative utterance. It is the Holy Spirit that overshadowed the Blessed Virgin Mary and it was by His power that Mary miraculously conceived. It is the Holy Spirit that sanctifies John the Baptist in the womb of Elizabeth who rejoices when Mary visits with the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that is given to the Apostles in a particularly unique way this day, the fiftieth day since Easter, which we call Pentecost.
It is the Holy Spirit who inspires the Sacred Scriptures. The forgiveness of sins happens by the power of the Holy Spirit. Bread and wine are consecrated and transformed into Jesus by the epiclesis of the Holy Spirit. A man is ordained to be a priest of Jesus Christ by the gift of the Holy Spirit. And a man and woman miraculously become one by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. And they are called to be holy—hence the Sacrament is called Holy Matrimony.
It is the Holy Spirit who guards the Church, especially in Her teachings on faith and morals so that, when the Church teaches, it is Jesus whom we hear. For, “Whoever hears you [Apostles], hears me;” for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and you will know the Truth.
Indeed, without the Holy Spirit, there is no holiness. There would only be morality and wishes. But no actual power in the Sacraments or the Scriptures or the Teachings.
And why all of this?
It is not only to save us, but so that we may be holy.
And what does it mean to be holy? To be holy means to live and to participate in union with the very inner life of the Father and the Son.
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This changed everything for me.
I understood Baptism. Baptism was not a rite of passage. It is where the graces of the Cross are poured into the soul and that soul becomes the dwelling place of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Hence, you are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
And why? To save you. And to make you holy.
Confirmation: Confirmation is not about me confirming my faith and choosing my religion. (I do that every day by choosing whether or not I will follow His Commandments, go to Mass, and so on). No, Confirmation was about the Holy Spirit coming upon you and me and orienting our souls so that our holiness may lead to others’ salvation and sanctification.
Hence, you chose a Confirmation saint. Or, actually: the saint chose you.
Shoot, even the name, Christian, which is shared by Christ, comes from the Greek—Christos—meaning “anointed one”—and that anointing isn’t simply with oil. It is the divine gift of Love between the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit.
It’s about holiness.
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The soul, therefore, that desires this Spirit of God will attain the deepest treasures and great spiritual fruits. And you will know when you are receiving the Holy Spirit by those very fruits. (Just as we know a tree by its fruits.) Those fruits are joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, perseverance in suffering, gentleness, faith, modesty, chastity, and self-control.
A soul that is filled with the spirit of the world—that is, the pursuits of worldly treasures, self-comforts, self-pursuits, bitterness, resentment, agnosticism, lukewarmness—when a soul is filled with these harsh spirits, they will struggle to receive the Holy Spirit.
How can the Comforter come to the one who seeks worldly comforts and has no room for divine comfort? How can the Counsellor come to the one who has no need or desire for counsel? How can the Holy Spirit be an Advocate for the soul in sin if the soul does not acknowledge their sin? How can the gift of God be received by the soul who thinks there is no need of the Gift of the Holy Spirit? How can the gentle coolness of the breath of God find a home in a harsh soul? How can such a soul hear His whisper in prayer when the soul is filled with the loudness of the world?
How can we grow in holiness—how can we become saints—unless we understand that the Holy Spirit is essential?
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Those who ask and who make room in their hearts and minds for the Gift of the Holy Spirit will receive.
That is our prayer now. “Come, Holy Spirit!”
That’s all you have to say. “Come, Holy Spirit!”
And when you do that, you will discover that sweet anointing from above, that fragrance of God, which inspires gratitude and an ability to carry any size cross. You will grow in holiness. You will start to become a saint. And you will see Him as the saints have confessed Him in the Creed: as the “Lord and the Giver of Life who is worshipped and glorified.”
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