Pentecost, B May 19, 2024
Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
What is the Holy Spirit to you? Really, I should say “who” is the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is a person! Yes, Jesus sometimes talks about the power of the Holy Spirit in a more abstract way, but we see the personal dimension in today/tomorrow’s gospel. Jesus says “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” Hear how personal that is? “He will guide you.”
So, while Pentecost is about the fantastic power given to the apostles to perform miracles, and bear witness to Christ, it is also about our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Indeed, without an authentic relationship to the Spirit, those miracles and acts of power will not only be less frequent, but also less effective. So, how do we build up a relationship to the Holy Spirit? The same way you build up any relationship: spend time with him, speak to him, listen to him.
Spend time with the Holy Spirit. Spending time with Jesus, the Son of God is pretty straightforward because we have the Eucharist, which is his bodily presence. Yet, the Holy Spirit is God; present everywhere just like the Son and the Father. Even though all three persons are one God, there’s a certain thematic emphasis we can put on how they are present. The Father is more closely associated with creation and providence, so experience of nature or reflections on the past often help us see him.
With the Holy Spirit, we put a particular emphasis on themes of sanctification, beauty, wisdom, and love. Sanctification is the process of becoming holy. Being around holy things and holy people is one way we to pay attention to the presence of the Holy Spirit. All of the Sacraments make the Holy Spirit present, not just Confirmation. Indeed, confession is explicitly connected by Jesus to the Holy Spirit.
So, if you want to spend time with the Holy Spirit, go to confession and Mass! This is closely tied to beauty. To grow closer to the Holy Spirit, take note of beautiful things inside the Church and out. Make good use of art and music designed to call attention to the Holy Spirit. This in turn points us to wisdom. It takes a certain kind of wisdom and skillfulness to make beautiful things. Recognizing that wisdom and skill is one way of noticing the presence of the Holy Spirit.
People often associate the Holy Spirit and Charismatic movements with energy and excitement and emotion. Fair enough. But do you know where else we can find the Holy Spirit? Philosophy, specifically good philosophy. The “wisdom literature” in scripture teaches us much about the Holy Spirit and these sections are chock full of philosophical teachings. So yes, even the seemingly low-key academic philosopher can have a profound relationship with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is present when we read and ponder the wisdom of great thinkers.
The best way is love. We spend time with the Holy Spirit by spending time in acts of love. Not wallowing in the warm emotion of family and friends – although that has a place too. No, I’m focused on the conscious choice to do good for another and recognize that that very choice is a sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence. Want to spend time with the Holy Spirit? Volunteer, sacrifice, serve, donate and pay attention.
Just being around is not enough, though! We ought to speak with the Holy Spirit. If you only ever say “the Holy Spirit,” then you’re only talking about him, not to him. Talk to him. Ask him for guidance. Thank him for holy things, beautiful things, wise things, loving things. Get comfortable with frequently muttering “come holy spirit” under your breath throughout the day.
Most importantly, we must listen to him. [pause in silence] Such silence is essential in hearing the Holy Spirit. I often marvel at how little silence people have in their lives. I admit I sometimes stay silent around people on purpose just to see how they respond. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, silence can teach us a lot about what we really think and feel about ourselves and others. Well, it can also teach us to recognize and pay attention to the Holy Spirit. Learning to “hear” the voice of the Holy Spirit in prayer and in silence is an ongoing task. Still, it isn’t as if one day we’ll hear a voice in our heads. It’s more that we learn to recognize subtle differences in our own thoughts and desires and so learn to know which ones line up with God’s will and which ones don’t.
Yet this familiarity with the voice of Holy Spirit does not start with silent reflection. It’s much easier than that, actually. It starts with listening to the Holy Spirit when he speaks out loud. Where is that? The Church. Every authoritative teaching and command of the Church is the voice of the Holy Spirit. If you don’t listen to the Ten Commandments, if you don’t obey the precepts of the Church, if you don’t participate in the sacraments, and if you always rebel against Church leaders, then you aren’t going to hear the Holy Spirit correctly elsewhere. You can’t ignore and defy him in public and then expect him to share intimate secrets and personal advice with you in private. Those who knowingly defy the Church and claim to hear the Holy Spirit are either liars or they are being deceived. Error and defiance are never from the Holy Spirit.
The real secret to a relationship with the Holy Spirit is not mystical experiences or secret meditation techniques. It is obedience. Not unthinking obedience, but the habit, the virtue of freely and sincerely submitting your will God as he speaks in and through legitimate authority. This kind of obedience eventually produces deeper understanding and wisdom; it trains our hearts to recognize the more subtle ways the Holy Spirit guides in prayer, in service, and in silence. The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal power to “wield” however you want, it is not the warm feeling you get when your kids do something cute, he is not just your personal biases pretending to be inspiration. Who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is God. He is a divine person to whom we owe everything. By his infinite generosity, we can have a real relationship with him. One that starts with accepting what he has already said to us in Scripture and Tradition; one that grows in the choice to hear him also in silence, in beauty, in wisdom, and above all in the self-giving love the takes the one thing which most belongs to us – our own wills – and gives them back to the God who is Love.