During a retreat some time ago, one person said, “I have trouble understanding the Trinity.” I thought to myself, “You are in good company!” Then the person said, “We have the Father, we have Jesus and we have Mary.” As I write this message, we are in the season of Pentecost, the season of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the misunderstanding expressed by the person is due to the fact that often the Holy Spirit appears to be forgotten.
In an attempt to reassure and encourage his disciples, Jesus said in his farewell discourse, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth”. The Advocate is the one who exhorts, comforts, helps and appeals on our behalf. The word “another” Advocate suggests that Jesus was also an Advocate. To call the Advocate “the Spirit of truth” means that the Advocate shares in the work of Jesus, because Jesus is the truth. The work of the Advocate is to keep the truth of Jesus present to the world after Jesus’ departure.
As we remember this on the Feast of Pentecost, we need to remind ourselves that we have our own Pentecost in our baptism and confirmation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the “two principal effects of baptism are purification from sins and a new birth in the Holy Spirit”. And further, “This most Holy Trinity gives the baptized sanctifying grace, the grace of justification: giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit”.
Regarding confirmation the Catechism teaches, “From that time on the apostles, in fulfillment of Christ’s will, imparted to the newly baptized by the laying on of hands, the gift of the Spirit that completes the grace of baptism”. It continues, “It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of confirmation is the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost”.
Pope Benedict affirms: “The sacrament of baptism, by which we were conformed to Christ, incorporated in the church and made children of God, is the portal to all the sacraments. It makes us part of the one Body of Christ, a priestly people … The gifts of the Spirit are given for the building up of Christ’s Body and for ever greater witness to the Gospel in the world”.
Jesus promised the Samaritan woman that “the water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” St. Cyril of Jerusalem elaborates on why Christ called the grace of the Spirit water. He affirms that all things are dependent on water; plants and animals have their origin in water. While water comes down from heaven as rain and is always the same in itself, it produces many different effects, one in the palm tree another in the vine, and so on throughout all of creation. While the rain remains essentially the same, it adapts itself to the needs of every creature that receives it. St. Cyril concludes: “In the same way the Holy Spirit, whose nature is always the same, simple and indivisible, apportions grace to each person as he wills”. The saint goes on to say that the Spirit makes one person a teacher of divine truth, enables another to interpret holy Scripture, strengthens one person’s self-control, shows another how to help the poor, teaches another to lead a life of asceticism, trains another for martyrdom; and we can continue the list.
In a similar way Saint Basil the Great uses the image of sunshine to explain the Spirit present everywhere and to each individual. “Like the sunshine, which permeates all the atmosphere spreading over land and sea, and yet is enjoyed by each person as though it were for him alone, so the Spirit pours forth his grace in full measure, sufficient for all, and yet is present as though exclusively to everyone who can receive him”.
When we take this into our own situation, what do we notice?
We are baptized “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. When anointed with holy chrism in confirmation, the accompanying prayer is, “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In every celebration of the Eucharist we pray: “Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.” And, “May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit.” In celebrating God’s forgiveness in reconciliation, we pray, “God, the Father of mercies … sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins … I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” In celebrating the anointing of the sick and elderly we pray, “Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit.” Lest we forget, every time we begin to pray we say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
So we add, “Jesus, send us you Spirit. Holy Spirit, keep us mindful and grateful”. Amen.