Receive the Holy Spirit

05-28-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

We celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, the day on which the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles in Jerusalem and transformed them from fearful and traumatized disciples to fearless witnesses to the Gospel and animated beneficiaries of the new covenant.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Most Holy Trinity. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, he is equal to, yet distinct from, the Father and the Son. In Old Testament Hebrew, He is Ruach Yahweh, the breath or wind of God who was present with God at creation (Genesis 1:26), He is the initiator of Divine order (Genesis 1:2), the Sanctifier, the One who affects renewal, the Advocate, our light and guide, the One who empowers all that the Father chooses. In the second account of creation, when God made man, it was by breathing His Spirit into him that God bequeathed life to Adam (Genesis 2:7).

The Holy Spirit was responsible for empowering and inspiring the leaders, judges, priests and prophets of Israel throughout the Old Testament beginning from Moses to the last of the true prophets. When King Saul, Israel’s first monarch was anointed, he was so full of the Holy Spirit that He prophesied (1 Sam 10:1-13). When Saul disobeyed God, the Holy Spirit was taken away from him and instead, an evil spirit tormented him. This may have been the reason why King David prayed, “cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me” (Psalm 51:13). Job recognized the life-giving function of the Holy Spirit when he asserted, “for the Spirit of God has made me, the breath of God keeps me alive.” God Himself promised the Holy Spirit on the whole of Israel in the new covenant (Ezekiel 36:26) and on the Messiah (Isaiah 11: 2).

In the New Testament, it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that the Word became flesh and was conceived in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Luke 1:35). At His baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Christ in the form of a dove and led Him to the desert where He was tempted. When Jesus was about to complete His work on earth, He promised the gift the Holy Spirit to His Disciples: “And I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever” (John 14:16). It was with the Holy Spirit that the resurrected Christ empowered His Apostles to forgive sins in His name (John 20: 23). It was in fulfillment of the promise made by Christ to His Disciples that the Holy Spirit descended on them fifty days after His resurrection on the day of Pentecost. When they received the Holy Spirit, the Apostles were animated, revived and emboldened to fearlessly preach the Good News. From that day, the activities of the early Church were habitually prompted by the Holy Spirit who led them to make the right decisions in order to fulfill their Christ-given mandate.

As we commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles on Pentecost, let us pray for an outpouring of God’s animating and sanctifying Spirit on the Church and in our individual hearts so that we all may experience a fruitful renewal in our witnessing to the Gospel without fear.

Please be kind and may God bless you.

Fr. Manasseh