Pentecost Sunday May 23, 2021
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
“May the force be with you.” You may have seen this quite a bit on the internet at the beginning of this month, a reference to the popular fictional world of Star Wars. The opportunity for making a pun on the 4th of May is just too good to pass up. Of course, Catholics often add their own flare by responding “and with your spirit.” It think it’s fun.
What I don’t think is that force is a good analogy for God, specifically the Holy Spirit. So many people, probably without realizing it, seem to imagine the spiritual realm to be something like the force. This impersonal, invisible realm that grants extraordinary powers to those who can get in touch with it. If you look at blogs and articles about yoga meditation, chakras, ki energy, and horoscopes, you’ll pick up on this. I am afraid that many people, Catholics included, think of the Holy Spirit as some kind of spiritual energy like the force from Star Wars.
You can even take some passages from scripture to support this idea. Ezekiel uses the Holy Spirit to bring life back to a bunch of dry bones. In John 7, Jesus speaks about “rivers of living water” that “flow from within.” It sounds kinda like the light side equivalent of Emperor Palpatine’s exhortation to “let the hate flow through you.” In John 20, Jesus gives the Apostles the Holy Spirit, which gives them the supernatural power to forgive sins. The Holy Spirit really does grant people supernatural powers; Not like wielding a light-saber or the Jedi mind-trick, but the gifts of the Holy spirit include healing the sick, reading souls, and raising the dead. Padre Pio could be in two places at once, Joseph Cupertino and many other saints sometimes levitated. Is the idea of the “Force” from Star Wars really such a bad comparison?
Yes, for many reasons, but one above all. The Force is not a person. The Holy Spirit is. Jedi and Sith alike wield the force as they wish, making this invisible power into just another tool or weapon. The Holy Spirit cannot be wielded, and he cannot do evil. The spiritual world is not a bunch of invisible energies that, once understood, can be used in the same way an inventor uses electricity or magnetism. The spiritual world is, by definition, personal. To be authentically spiritual is to be in a relationship with other persons. This includes other human beings; It includes angels; It includes… or rather is founded on God himself.
God is three divine persons while still being one, single God. This mystery of the Trinity is the focus of next week. Today is about the Holy Spirit, a person we have a relationship with… at least we’re supposed to. Jesus spent three years building up a relationship with his Apostles and all of us are called to likewise have this relationship. Once he’s built up his followers, he promises them another relationship, another advocate, consoler, and friend: The Holy Spirit.
Unlike a relationship with a human person standing right in front of you, a relationship with the Holy Spirit is largely invisible. But it is very real! Over time, as you come to know someone or especially if you spend your life with them, they kind of become a part of you. Many spouses can attest to that. With the Holy Spirit, it starts with becoming a part of us. This relationship is very much internal. Again, the Holy Spirit is not an external invisible force, he is a person.
Yes, he grants gifts and miracles, but these are not magical powers at the whim of whoever has them. They are gifts from one person to another. A gift is a manifestation of the relationship and the love, but it is not identical to it. You manifest your love by giving flowers, but the flowers are not the love itself. The Holy Spirit manifests in us in many ways, including miracles, but these signs are not the Holy Spirit himself. And the reality is that all of us are given these gifts.
In Baptism and again in Confirmation, we are “given” the Holy Spirit. This means we are given the ability to have that invisible, interior relationship with the Holy Spirit, with God himself. Through that interior relationship, we are able to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, who is no longer visible on earth, and with God the Father. But it’s not just “me and my Holy Spirit friend.” As with Jesus, a relationship with him must include a relationship with other Christians, with the Church.
The Holy Spirit loves you because the Holy Spirit is love. And like all lovers, he gives gifts to the one he loves. St. Paul tells us clearly in 1 Corinthians 12 “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” Because God loves you, you receive gifts of faith, hope, love, wisdom, fortitude, piety and so on. These help to make you personally holy. Because God loves other people through you, you also receive gifts to help you serve others. These other-focused gifts are called “charisms.” You can read a little more about them in the bulletin as well as on the diocesan web site.
Everyone who has a relationship with the Holy Spirit is given some kind of charism – a supernatural gift to help you serve others. Some of these are more obviously miraculous: healing someone of cancer. Some are not: administration, hospitality, teaching and so on. Yet, they are supernatural in their effectiveness and in that they help souls get to heaven. If you’ve been baptized and especially if you’ve been confirmed, you have at least one such gift.
What do you do if you don’t know what it is? Don’t treat it like some kind of impersonal force. Treat it as it is, a gift from a person. Don’t know what the gift is? Ask the person who gave it to you. Focus more intentionally on your relationship to the Holy Spirit. Talk to him more. Ask him to give you his gifts, to recognize them, to use them well.
The Holy Spirit is real, the force is not. Connecting with the Holy Spirit not only brings supernatural abilities, it brings something more valuable: joy. Our Easter journey into joy has always been anticipating this day. Joy is the fruit of a relationship with the Holy Spirit. It is the fruit of recognizing and using the gifts given for your sake – faith, hope, and love – and the gifts given for the sake of others – the charisms.
Do you want joy? Then seek out the Holy Spirit! “May the force be with you?” No, the force does not love, does not give joy. No, I’d much rather invoke my unique authority as a priest to say,” the Lord, the Holy Spirit, be with you!” And all his gifts too!