There are three great celebrations in the calendar of the church: Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. Christmas is the celebration of the Son, Jesus, the Word made flesh. Easter is the celebration of the Father calling the Son back to life. Pentecost is the celebration of the Holy Spirit poured upon the church.
And today that is the feast we celebrate, the feasts of the Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is important that we ask ourselves as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday the question, “Are you a spiritual person?” Different answers can be given to that question; “Yes, I am. I go to mass everyday and I do works of charity for the needy.” Others might say “No. I’m not. I don’t regularly attend Sunday mass. Only when I feel the need for it.” Still, there are those who might say, “I’m not sure or I don’t know.”
The answer we give to that question has a great deal to do with the solemnity we are celebrating today: Pentecost. Fifty days after the resurrection of the Lord, the promise of Jesus, the word he gave to his disciples, and kept, was he would never abandon them. On the first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes and remains with them in order to be the abiding presence of Jesus.
To answer whether we are a spiritual person, we go back to St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles where he asks the question, “Have you received the Holy Spirit?” Right away we can answer this question with a simple ‘yes’. For does not the Church teaches that in baptism we are renewed and regenerated by the Holy Spirit.? And does she not also teach that in the sacrament of confirmation we are strengthened in our faith by the same Spirit? Indeed, to the question “have we received the Holy Spirit?” we can and should in fact answer yes.
When St. Paul asked the disciples in Ephesus whether they have received the Holy Spirit and found out they had not, he baptized them and laid his hands on them. Thereafter, the Holy Spirit came down upon them and immediately they began to speak in tongues and prophesy in God’s name. With sensitivity they listened to God’s word and with courage and boldness, they proclaimed the works of the Lord. They were empowered to do all these because they have received the Holy Spirit. Not only did they receive the Holy Spirit into their lives but they responded to the Spirit’s many gifts.
Have we received the Holy Spirit? Yes, we have. But that does not make us automatically a spiritual person. There is a more important question we need to ask: “Have we responded to the Holy Spirit?” It is a response where we not only believe in the truth about the third person of the Trinity, but a response wherein our way of seeing events, our manner of relating with people and our method of living our lives is constantly challenged, radically rooted and deeply inspired by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We have to remind ourselves that we can only be in touch with Christ if we have been in touch with the Holy Spirit. And we can only respond to the Holy Spirit in faith if we allow her to be who she is: the Parakletos, which literally means ‘he who is called to one’s side.’ A paraclete is an advocate, a mediator, a comforter, an intercessor.
Responding to the Holy Spirit means allowing her to be the Paraclete. It means a life where one’s relationships are animated by the urgings of the Spirit; where one’s actions are led by her inspiration and where one’s way of thinking is enlightened by her wisdom. Simply said, it is docility of our entire life to the directions of the Holy Spirit. To live under the direction, urging and enlightenment of the Spirit must not be interpreted as mere exterior agreement of our actions to a set of rules given by God for us to follow. Rather, it is a gradual growth of our inner eye to see with growing clarity and listen with greater sensitivity to the will of God. It is not an anxious attitude of trying to do everything with righteous perfection. But it is a strong, sound and serene certainty that what our mind and heart desires to do is the desire and delight of God’s heart.
Life led by the Spirit, characterized by docility to God’s will, becomes a reality if we stop relating to God only in terms fear or too much dependency on doing this or not doing that. They are helpful. And at times they are the only practical and sensible way especially during moments of dryness and aridity in our spiritual life. But to remain there would be infantile spirituality. At one point in our spiritual life, we have to respond to God’s call through the Spirit in our own free and personal way as the wind blows freely where it wills. This is the person directed, urged and led by the Spirit. He is a person uninhibited and unbounded in exploring God’s presence in his life and constantly attuning his ways to God’s ways, his eyes to God’s face and his heart to God’s voice. He not only has received the Spirit but has maturely responded to the Spirit.
Thus, the spiritual person not only prays, “Come, Holy Spirit” but cans also proclaim, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has sent me to bring the good news to others!”
