What has become of the Holy Spirit?
This is a question Pentecost 2001 brings to my mind. I ask that you ponder it with me. It seems that we have in our lives both individually and corporately relegated the Holy Spirit to a somewhat meager role. We have the tendency to make the holy spirit something less than “the lord and giver of life who spoke through prophets”.
What has become of the Holy Spirit? I ask again. Have we relegated him to be the great entertainer for example? We do that whenever we invest ourselves to heavily into the entertainment value of the liturgy. When we complain that the mass is not contemporary enough or that the liturgy has not emotionally touched me are we not then questioning his entertainment value.

What has become of the Holy Spirit? Have we made the holy spirit the great magician? We do that whenever we look for only the miraculous, the extraordinary. Disregarding the ordinary aspects of our lives we question the Spirits ability to touch our lives where we live day today.

What has become of the Holy Spirit? Have we made him the great evaluator of our religious education program. Each year we pride ourselves that our youths are able to memorize the gifts of the Holy spirit and the fruits of the Holy spirit. If there are able to do that than we conclude that their preparation in religious education has ended. And by the way the Bishop will be impressed! The truth of the matter is that within 24 hours of confirmation most of them have forgotten the list. Do not get me wrong memorization is a great pedagogical tool. But would not the Holy Spirit be better served if we teach our youth by word and example, by what we say and do, how transforming the Holy Spirit can be in our lives when we intimately place ourselves at the service of others.

In so may many ways the Holy Spirit is misunderstood. In so many lives he is thwarted from entering our sphere of activity. Prevented from acting because, once again, we are overcome with fear.
The Sacred scripture today speak of the Holy Spirit as the evangelizer of the Good News and once again the giver of peace.

In and around that upper room the Holy Spirit was present not for the sake of the individual disciples. No the holy spirit was present for the sake of all.

The “mighty work of god” was not merely to reiterate the old news in a new way . IE: God has chosen his people Israel. No the “mighty work of God” communicated by the Holy Spirit is “new news. “ New news that God has called all to himself through Jesus. That the salvation we seek is a gift of god for all to participate in . Irrelevant of culture, irrelevant of social status, irrelevant of gender. God calls all to be all they can be -proclaimers of the Good news of Jesus.

We also learn from the Scripture that the Spirit cannot be contained-
“for the spirit blows where it will” It is not bound by place, it is not bound by time, it is not bound by persons.
Today on this Pentecost it is ironic that the body of the great pope John XXIII lies in state once again in preparation for transfer. This Pope who reigned from 1958-1963 was the pope who opened the doors of the Church to the workings of the Holy Spirit. In his call for “aggiornamento” he opened the doors of the church to engage the modern world not run from it. He called the Church to address the problems of the “Pilgrim people of God” not the perfect people of God.

The great work of the Holy Spirit through the second Vatican Council led us away from isolation toward community. It led us out of condemnation of others toward toleration and respect. It brought us out of the fortress mentality of protection into an arena of cooperation.

Some among us would like to return to days of yore when all was uniform and predictable. This was indeed a comfortable place to be. But that form of Catholicism is too small . That form of Catholicism asks to little of us. We must become aware that the essence of Catholicism is not convenience. The Catholicism that is blessed by the Holy spirit is that Catholicism that asks not where we have been but rather where are we being led to preach the good news of Jesus. The form of Catholicism empowered by the Holy Spirit calls us to be prophetic for the life and dignity of all in the midst of the “culture of death”. John Paul II has invited us over and over to enter into the new millennium not with fear but with the peace of the Holy spirit. We have been called anew to experience the power of the Holy Spirit not in a passive way but rather in a profound, powerful Pentecostal way.

Deacon Dan Laurita
<deacondan@mail.pclnet.net