"From the Office of Bishop Raymond J Lahey, Diocese of Antigonish, NS"

Re-discovering the Holy Spirit

Vatican II was very conscious that the Latin or Western Church had never given the same emphasis to the Holy Spirit that is found in the Eastern tradition, both Orthodox and Catholic, and consequently did much to underline the Spirit’s place within God’s plan of salvation. Pope John XXIII was partly responsible for this. He had spent time in the East, and he had acquired a wonderful conviction of the power of the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit who inspired him to convoke the Council, he said, and he always saw its proceedings as the work of the Spirit “to renew Thy wonders in our day.”

Even John XXIII’s famous remark of about the Council opening a window to let in a fresh breeze was a reference to the Spirit, for which the original Hebrew is ruah, meaning “breeze”, “wind”, or “breath” as well as “spirit”. John Paul II alluded to this when he said “that `light breeze” became a `strong wind’ and the conciliar event took the form of a new Pentecost.”

But the presence of the Spirit goes back to the very beginning of time when God breathed his Spirit upon the waters to bring to birth creation, and breathed the Spirit anew into the dust of the earth to give birth to human life. Throughout the Old Testament, the gift of the Spirit was the sign of the Lord’s anointing and his presence. The appearance of the Spirit testified to Jesus Christ as he began his public ministry, and the Spirit was his first gift after his resurrection, when he breathed on his apostles and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Indeed, many scripture scholars see the handing over of the Spirit to the disciples as the final act of Christ upon the cross, when he “gave up his spirit” to those faithful few who stood below. And, of course, it was the transforming, strengthening, powerful Spirit who came upon the gathered disciples at Pentecost, and sent them forth as Church to proclaim the Good News.

This divine Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, “who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,” is actually poured into the heart of each Christian person at Baptism, a gift renewed in Confirmation. So is fulfilled Jesus’ promise that he would never leave his disciples orphaned but would send them a Helper, a mighty Advocate. This is the Spirit who allots to Christians a whole variety of different gifts, but who as the one Spirit of God brings together that diversity of gifts and peoples into the one Body of Christ.

This is the Spirit given in Holy Orders to the hierarchical Church to keep it faithful to the Gospel, and to make it truly prophetic in proclaiming that “Good News”. This is the same Spirit who has been given also to the whole body of Christ’s faithful as an anointing from on high, and gives to that body such a sense of the faith that, in the words of Vatican II, it “cannot err in matters of belief.” This is the Spirit who continues to keep the Church today a “charismatic Church” by giving to the whole People of God gifts “according as He wills” for the renewal and building up of the Church, gifts that the hierarchy of the Church are called upon never to extinguish, but to test and hold fast to what is good.

This is the transforming Spirit of the Church’s sacraments who bestows upon the ordinary things of creation a wondrous new power to renew and change: the Spirit who animates the waters of Baptism to make them life-giving waters of a new creation, saving waters that give birth to sons and daughters of God in Christ. This is the Spirit who transforms the sacramental oils into powerful instruments to bring healing, to give strength, and to conform Christians to Christ, the great Priest, Prophet and King. This is the Spirit, who as the hands of the priest are extended over the bread and wine at Mass, is solemnly called down to change them into the Body and Blood of the Lord, and who after the consecration is again called down to change those who partake of these gifts into the united Body of Christ.

Each Pentecost is “new”. As we approach this great feast let us again call upon the Spirit, in the traditional words of the Psalms, to “renew the face of the earth.” And let that renewal begin with ourselves.