What is the Holy Spirit for? | May 23

by f. Luis CASASUS, General Superior of the men’s branch of the Idente Missionaries.

Madrid, May 23, 2021. | Pentecost Sunday. Solemnity.

Acts of the Apostles 2: 1-11; Galatians 5: 16-25; Saint John 15: 26-27.16,12-15.

A doctor who had not deepened in prayer, but believed in the existence of God, once asked a patient really dedicated to prayer and doing good why he believed and spoke of the Holy Spirit, if it was an “entity” that seemed to do nothing; God the Father becomes sensitive through creation, Jesus became a man like us, but: Do you ever see the Holy Spirit? Do you ever hear the Holy Spirit? The patient answered, No.

The doctor continued: Do you ever taste the Holy Spirit? Do you ever smell the Holy Spirit? To all of these questions, the doctor received a “No” answer. But when the doctor asked: Do you ever feel the Holy Spirit? The patient replied: Yes, indeed.

Well, said the doctor, There are four of the five senses against you. So, I doubt that there is a Holy Spirit. Then it was the turn of the patient to ask. You are a Doctor of Medicine. It is your business to treat pains.

Did you ever see, hear, taste or smell a pain? asked the patient. No, answered the doctor. Do you feel the pain, followed the patient. Yes, I did, said the doctor.

There are four senses against you. Yet you know, and I know that there is pain. By the same proof, I know that the Holy Spirit exists, continued the patient.

Of course, the experience of the Holy Spirit is rarely sensitive in our material body, but the above story is meant to remind us that we can recognize his act in our spirit, which is undoubtedly projected in various ways in our soul and body.

More precisely, our Father Founder teaches us that the Holy Spirit makes us aware of our mystical sanctifying filiation. Actually, it awakens us to a fundamental reality, the fact that we are children of God, but not in a passive or static way, but living on a path of perfection, of sanctification, which transforms our lives profoundly, so that the arrival of the Holy Spirit is similar to natural phenomena of great energy, such as fire or a strong wind. This is the way today’s Readings remind us of it.

A good starting point for our reflection is to remember that the coming of the Holy Spirit is continuous, not an isolated event. That is why St. Paul reminds us that the Spirit dwells in us, that we are living temples of the Holy Spirit.

But this has really clear manifestations, more powerful and real than any perception of our five senses. We could say, tu put it simple, that the Holy Spirit manifests himself to each one of us as Comforter (one of his traditional denominations) and in the community as creator of unity. In other words, the Spirit acts on each disciple and also on the community, on the whole Church. These two components of his action are essential.

The Spirit comforts us by making it clear to us that our prayer, our supplication is really heard and answered. That is why it can be called a Beatific Supplication. In reality, it is a prayer that we make in chorus with the Holy Spirit, in the way that St. Paul says: We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans (Rom 8: 26).

Take an example. A young, idealistic person, who witnesses injustice, violence and inequality in the world, often intends to be an instrument of relief and help for those close to him or her, and also an agent of change and transformation of society, even of the whole world. If he sets out, he will encounter much opposition and some help, some successes and too many setbacks, for this world is the kingdom of evil. But if that young man keeps his faith, if he opens his heart to the needs of his neighbor that the Holy Spirit is insistently putting in his path, he will find full meaning in his life. Perhaps he had hoped to teach, but he finds himself caring for lepers. He may have hoped to devote himself to the young, but he ends up being devoted to the elderly. Perhaps he thought he was destined for a distant mission country, but it turns out that he is called to give a very special witness from his sickbed. Has this not happened to many known or unknown saints?

This is what Jesus was anticipating in today’s Gospel, where he reminds us of our inability to understand divine plans overnight:

I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.

But the reality, what experience tells us, is what the First Reading announces, that is, the Spirit makes us capable of giving light, hope and consolation to others in unexpected ways, both for ourselves and for our neighbor: They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his own native language?

The consolation the Comforter gives us is not that “it makes our dreams come true”, but that it takes us even further, making us unexpected instruments for others to find God and his kingdom. That consolation is the greatest possible act of trust. This is what Mother Teresa of Calcutta described in one of her prayers:

When I am hungry, send me someone I can feed, and when I am thirsty, show someone I can drink. When I am cold, send me someone I can warm, when I am in sorrow, come whom I can console. And when my cross becomes too heavy and I cannot carry it, when I need an assistant, and there is no one nearby, lighten my heavy load and give me someone who deserves love like me, give me someone I can serve.

When it takes time, let me sit next to someone. When I need support, show me someone I can take care of, and when I need understanding, show me someone who needs understanding on my part. When I think only of myself, draw my thoughts to those who are kind. When I am poor, send me the one in need. When my eyes cease to see the holy Let me see Christ in the eyes of everyone to whom I serve food. 

This consolation of the Holy Spirit does not remove from our hearts the affliction for our heavenly Father, for in this world we do not fully possess Him.

Both contemporary culture, with its reflections on war and conflict, as well as old cultures, have asked themselves why there is disunity and division among human beings. It is a harsh reality that only our attention to the Holy Spirit can overcome.

For example, inn Greek mythology, Eris was the goddess or personified spirit of strife, discord, contention and rivalry. She was often portrayed, more specifically, haunting the battlefield and delighting in human bloodshed. Her Roman name was Discordia.

Unity is always difficult, inside and outside the Church, between friends, between men and women, between different generations, between cultures, between different disciplines of knowledge.

When reflecting on Pentecost, we often say that on that day the opposite of what happened at Babel occurred (Gen 11:1-9). Where there are divisions and estrangement the Paraclete creates unity and understanding. The Spirit triggers a process of reunification of the divided and dispersed parts of the human family.

People began to misunderstand and to distance from each other. Here the Spirit puts into action an opposite movement. He brings together those who are scattered.

Paul states that we are actually all part of the same body through the Holy Spirit: For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit (1Cor 12: 13).

In the Letter to the Galatians (or in the alternative reading to the Corinthians) we see what causes division in communities. Those who have good qualities (intelligence, good health, people skills…) instead of humbly putting their talents at the service of the brothers and sisters, they begin to expect honorary titles. They demand more respect and believe they are entitled to privileges. They want to occupy the first places. Thus the ministries of the community, from opportunities to serve, become opportunities to establish, assert their power and prestige.

How does the Holy Spirit achieve unity among us? We could say that He opens our eyes to the reality of the person in front of us. It is not enough to know that he/she is my brother/sister, but that he/she really needs me, now, that we are certainly complementary, that when we get to heaven we will be very different, without the moral and emotional barriers that separate us. The Holy Spirit tells us what to do now and at the same time reminds us of the future that awaits us. That makes us one. There is diversity of gifts, but the Spirit is the same (1 Cor 12: 4).

The witness that my neighbor is called to give is an impossible thing for me. The same is true the other way around. We are truly unique and this makes us capable of living evangelical complementarity, authentic unity in diversity.

Moreover, his Inspiration, his powerful way of attracting us, makes us understand that, in the desert of this world, in the midst of this pilgrimage, we have a common destiny and our mission is to help us walk, for we are simply returning home. Whoever lets himself be guided by Spirit speaks a language that everyone understands and everyone joins in: the language of love. It is the Spirit who transforms mankind into one family where all understand and love each other.

In this regard, we must not forget how our Father Founder, from the beginning, showed us by his example and his words the importance of ecumenical life, of an active effort to achieve and show unity with the different charisms, collaborating in concrete missions, as is the case of the three universities that we direct in Ecuador, united to the Society of Jesus. We must also be increasingly aware, in a multicultural world, of the need to unite our spiritual life with that of people of other religions, seeking to live always new and challenging forms of prayer and cooperation.

I would like to conclude with some clarifying words of Benedict XVI: From this, dear brothers, derives a practical criterion for discerning Christian life: when a person or a community limits itself to its own way of thinking and acting, it is a sign that it has distanced itself from the Holy Spirit (May 23, 2010).