Life in the Holy Spirit

The celebration of Pentecost marks the final day of the Easter season followed a week later by the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Remarkably, these liturgies invigorate our mission guided by the Holy Spirit to evangelize to the ends of the earth. A renewal in the Holy Spirit moves our interior glance of hope in the resurrection to an exterior life for “if we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit” (Gal 5:25). 

Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11)

Fifty days after the Resurrection of the Lord, the apostles were “all in one place … together” (Acts 2:1). Within moments they experienced in the fullness of their human senses the power of the Holy Spirit. Likened to what I would describe as an initial announcement in significant form, those gathered first heard a sound: “a noise like a strong driving wind” that covered the entire building. Immediately they saw with their own eyes “tongues as of fire” signifying the presence of God, that rested on each of them. Now filled with the Holy Spirit, those in this house were enabled by God to speak in ways never experienced. Then without hesitation or fear, they exited the interior and moved to the exterior, out into the world. They heard. They saw. They received.  They went. They proclaimed. Announcement. Encounter. Transformation. Mission.

The crowd gathered outside was the first to receive the apostolic proclamation. They heard the noise, which moved them to gather (Announcement). Then the apostles unlocked the doors, went outside, and filled with the Holy Spirit proclaimed to the crowd in multiple languages (Encounter). This moved the crowd, as they were “astonished and amazed” that they could understand what was being said, since they only saw the apostles able to speak in one language. Thus, they were able to hear “…of the mighty acts of God” (Acts 2:11). The gift of universal language indicates the Gospel message can and should resonate to all the world, to all people in all places (Mission).

The gifts (1 Cor 12:3-13)

St. Paul reminds us that the gifts poured forth from the Holy Spirt dwell within each one of us. We are truly walking tabernacles of the Holy Spirit by our baptism. Hence, we are one in the body of Christ. The many are part of the one, the people of God, with gifts more bountiful than stars, united in Jesus Christ, to serve the many in our collective mission as disciples. One for the many. Many for the one. 

Our gifts are personal from God given to directly serve the mission he has established for us. Do I know the gifts God has granted for this mission? Am I willing to use these for his glory? Am I calling upon the Holy Spirit to fortify and guide my mission with these gifts? Do I embrace the fruits of the Holy Spirit: to love rather than hate; to bear joy rather than grievance; to bring peace rather than disharmony; to be patient rather than hasty; to be kind rather than mean; to be generous rather than selfish; to be faithful rather than doubtful; to be gentle rather than harsh and to have self-control rather than self-indulgence?

Mission of good

What is my mission? What is our collective mission as the body of Christ? We are called to love God and others, in good times and not so good times. And what is love? Simply, from St. Thomas Aquinas’ teaching, love is desire and choose the good for the other. Since God is love, and first loves us, we love God and all that flows from God’s love including our neighbor. Do I desire to choose what is good and pleasing to God? Do I desire what is good for my neighbor? And what is “good?” Good is the choice that Adam and Eve did not make. Good is the choice over evil. Evil is the absence of good. Without good, there is evil. With good evil shall not prevail. 

Good is choosing the ultimate good which is life in the Blessed Trinity: father, son and Holy Spirit. Life in God is good. Life in God is Love. Hence, our mission is to proclaim the good news of life in the father, through the son and lead by the Holy Spirit. Moreover, life in the Blessed Trinity is truth. This truth comes to us as the Spirit of truth leads us to declare our faith and glorify God by our life. Love. Good. Truth. (Jn 15: 26-27) (In the New Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, the word “good” is found 899 times in 836 verses.)

Go out (Mt 28:16-20)

Great! Our mission, if we so choose to accept, is to embrace life in the Blessed Trinity and by fully utilizing our personal gifts, together go out into the world and tell the good news to all that “God loves you, Jesus suffered, died and resurrected for you to have eternal life.” 

You may ask, “Am I equipped for this?” Yes, and no. “Yes,” you are by baptism and “no,” we need help along the way.

In baptism we are immersed in the sacred waters of life in the Trinity, illuminated by the light of Christ, wrapped in the mantle of the father’s creative embrace with an indelible mark, and filled with the Holy Spirit. We are made for a mission of good, guided by the advocate, the same Holy Spirit that filled the Upper Room. And we are not alone. 

With the Holy Spirit, we are assigned heavenly beings to accompany us: angels. They light, guard and guide our earthly pilgrimage, as well as help us come to know and serve God every day; to choose the good over evil; to journey the path of light and escape the path of darkness; to seek the lost and rejoice when they are found; to go where others hesitate to journey; to find the joy in each moment of the day; to embrace the suffering; to model the Eight Beatitudes (Mt 5:1-12); to live the commandments (Ex 20: 2-17) and to rejoice in the peace.

Furthermore, we are also strengthened by the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ who comes to us in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist. Holy Communion augments our union with Christ, strengthens our spiritual life, separates us from sin, preserves us from future mortal sin, unites us more closely to others in the body of Christ, commits us to the poor and brings us to closer unity with others outside the church (Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 1391-1398).

Lastly, we have the saints in heaven, the church triumphant, who are constantly praying for us during our pilgrimage. Turn to them. They are incredible witnesses of mission and love.

Our mission is to be for others what God has done for us: to announce his coming so others may encounter God’s love in us as Christians and to serve in ways that open hearts to conversion so that they in turn may go out and be intentional disciples. Jesus gives this to us in the Great Commission: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28: 19-20). May the spark of the Holy Spirit ignite a fire within so that we may serve the greater good as intentional disciples of Jesus Christ.

Year of St. Joseph

Most blessed St. Joseph, filled with the Holy Spirit, pray that we, like you, may embrace the call to discipleship and believe and act in the glory of the Father, and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dow is the director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Baton Rouge.