 |
| John 14:15-21 |
We live in the Age of the Holy Spirit! In Salvation History (the story of God’s relationship with us and His leading us closer to salvation—life with Him) God revels Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament God communicated with His chosen people as Yahweh, I Am. Later, God sent Jesus into the world to be the intermediary between God and man and to give us a Way to the Father; “God became man so that man might become like God” (St. Athanasius). In today’s Gospel, after Jesus ascends to the Father, he promises that He will send an advocate (this word means both defense attorney and judge) to be with us—the Holy Spirit.
Jesus explains that we cannot see the Spirit but that we will know the Spirit because the Spirit will be within us like our breathing in and out (the world Spirit in Greek “pneuma” means breath). The Holy Spirit is God’s presence dwelling in us just like our breath and the Spirit assists us in living as we should (“if you love me, you will keep my commandments”). The nearness of God’s Spirit allows us to more readily hear God’s Word and be strengthened by His presence. Oftentimes the Holy Spirit is recognized when our conscience is leading us to making the right decision, that is God’s Spirit, which dwells within us, helping us when we are in need of guidance (or when we don’t think we need guidance!).
At Mass there is a moment called the epiclesis (pronounced like EpiPen…’epi’….cleesis) where the priest calls down the power of the Holy Spirit onto the gifts of bread and wine that through the power of the Spirit they may be transformed. We live in a continuous state of Epiclesis, continually calling the Holy Spirit to come into our lives and to transform us.
It is rare that we direct prayers to God the Holy Spirit, but we should because Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit into the world to help us. Dear Holy Spirit, be with me today and help my heart to become more like the heart of God; Father, Son and Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment