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We celebrate this weekend the Solemnity of Pentecost. Christianity recalls the wondrous event that took place shortly after Jesus ascended into heaven when the Holy Spirit descended in the form of tongues of flame upon the disciples as they prayed in the upper room.
When I was a young man, I asked an old priest what the Holy Spirit is. He told me that it's a mystery. His answer to me, although correct, was unsatisfying. I always thought that when someone said something was a mystery, what they were really saying was that they didn't know the answer.
Since then, I have learnt that there are some things which no matter how much we might learn there'll still be far more to learn. This is above all true about God. How could we ever hope to grasp even a minor portion of the infinite reality of God? It took centuries for the Church to even find adequate words to express our basic belief that there are three persons in one God; that one of those persons has both a divine nature and a human nature; and that Holy Spirit is one of those three persons.
There are various theological explanations of what the Holy Spirit is but each of these must fall short of the sublime reality which is ever beyond our full comprehension. The one that has made the most sense to me is based on relationships between persons. Father implies a relationship between a person who is a progenitor and a person who is an offspring. Son implies a relationship between a person who has received his existence and a person from which he has gained that existence. In this relationship the first person of the Blessed Trinity gives to the second person of the Blessed Trinity his very essence. Hence the second person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus the Son, shares the same divine Being with the first person of the Blessed Trinity, the Father, the great I AM. That Being given to the Son by which the Son may be called equally God is the very the essence of God. And the exchanged Being to which the Father, the first person, and the Son, the second person, both relate is one and the same essence of God, the third person of the Blessed Trinity, called the Holy Spirit.
As the Father is best known for his work of creation and the Son is best known for his work of salvation, the Holy Spirit is best known for his work of sanctification. It is the Holy Spirit which comes to us and transforms us in such a way that we might be likened to Jesus who in his incarnation likened himself to us.
This is why Christians who respond to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit seem to catch fire and are lifted above their previous way of life. The Holy Spirit within them moves them to work and pray in a Christ-like fashion. We see this in the response of the apostles who having received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost went out courageously and proclaimed to the crowds without fear the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit even caused that their human limitation of speech wouldn't thwart the message and they were heard by each person present speaking in their own native tongue.
Join this weekend with Christians throughout the world as we pray; "Come Holy Spirit, come; fill the hearts of your faithful; and enkindle in us the fire of your love."
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Finding Faith is written by area pastors. This week's column comes from Rev. Fr. Joseph Orr of Holy Spirit Catholic Parish, Lock Haven.