THE GIFT OF GOD

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THE GIFT OF GOD
THE HOLY SPIRIT

ANDREW APOSTOLI, C.F.R.

FOREWORD BY
ALAN NAPLETON

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina

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Permission for the release of these three titles under the auspices of TAN Books has been granted by the Society
of St. Paul, Inc., ST PAULS / Alba House, 2187 Victory Blvd., Staten Island, NY., USA.

In composing this work, Father Apostoli relied principally on his vast store of knowledge for biblical quotations
and, as such, many passages may be paraphrased or seem to derive from a number of different authorized Catholic
versions of the Bible.

Cover and interior design by Caroline Kiser

Images by Piosi and Sopelkin / Shutterstock

ISBN: 978-1-5051-1042-5

Published in the United States by

TAN Books
PO Box 410487
Charlotte, North Carolina 28241
www.TANBooks.com

Printed and bound in the United States of America

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 DEDICATION
With love and filial piety,
this book is dedicated to Our Blessed Lady who,
chosen by the Father,
received the Eternal Word within her womb
and gave Him flesh,
by her humble faith and ready obedience
to accept the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit
at the Annunciation!
May her prayers and example assist all Christians
to receive an abundant outpouring of the Gift of God,
the Holy Spirit, in their personal lives!

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Foreword to the Golden Jubilee Edition
Foreword to the First Edition
Introduction

Part I—The Holy Spirit: The Gift of God

1 The Gift of God
2 Obtaining the Holy Spirit: Gift and Gift-Giver
3 Fervent Devotion to the Holy Spirit
4 Decline in Devotion to the Holy Spirit

Part II—The Holy Spirit: The Spirit of Life

5 The Spirit of Life
6 The Spirit in Our Death and Life in Christ
7 Wind and Breath: Symbols of the Spirit of Life
8 Additional Symbols of the Spirit of Life: Water and Fire

Part III—The Holy Spirit: The Spirit of Courage

9 The Holy Spirit Strengthens Us in the Struggles of Life
10 The Holy Spirit’s Gift of Fortitude
11 Patience: A Virtue Flowing From Fortitude
12 Two Fruits of the Spirit of Courage: Faithfulness and Perseverance

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THE FIRST VERSION OF THIS BOOK, published by Alba House, was brought to
completion with the generous help of a number of persons. Three individuals stand out
in a special way: Mary Majkowski, who faithfully typed the text through various
revisions (with the assistance of a patient and understanding family, who often shared
their dinner table with the author!); Rene Bumb, who enthusiastically volunteered her
skills to edit the text; and my confrère, the late Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., who
wrote the Preface and made numerous valuable suggestions.
Others who helped in various ways include Camille LaManda, Penny Wolfe, Tara
Blackwell, Mary Battersby, Marty Fay, Susan Brawley, and Michael Apostoli, the
author’s brother. Recognition is also made of those who offered assistance and
encouragement as the project developed, especially that of supportive prayer.
For this second edition, the author wishes to thank Pam Presbitero for her help with
researching the various quotes and prayers that have been added to this work, as well as
editing and proofing the updated manuscript. The author also wishes to thank Alan
Napleton from the Catholic Marketing Network and Conor Gallagher at TAN Books for
agreeing to reprint this updated version.
And of course, no acknowledgment would be complete without thanking God, from
Whom all blessings flow. May this book redound to the glory and praise of the Most
Holy Trinity! Gratitude goes to Our Lady, to St. Thérèse of Lisieux, to St. Pio of
Pietrelcina, OFM Cap., and Venerable Father Solanus Casey, OFM Cap., whose
intercession was daily sought throughout the preparation of these pages.

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 FOREWORD TO THE
GOLDEN JUBILEE EDITION

SOONER OR LATER, I think we all come to realize that we are on a journey, a

realization that often comes with age as we are faced with the certainty of our own death
and begin to contemplate what’s next. Certainly, the individual life journeys of each of
us are different, faced as we are with an endless option of paths and choices. But even
with all the variety of options and challenges that we encounter, our journeys are still
somehow similar in that we were created to end up in the same place—in the arms of a
loving God. Whether we believe it or not, that is our true destiny.
Like each of you, my journey has been unique. I’ve experienced more than my fair
share of joy, and I am no stranger to the pain and suffering that we all inevitably
confront along the way. Now that I’m in my late 60s, I look back and realize that the
decisive moment in my journey took place nearly thirty years ago, when I made the
decision to leave the corporate world and offer to God whatever modest talents I
possessed for the work of His Church.
Not surprisingly, this course of action does not usually reward one with earthly
treasure. However, it often provides one with riches of a more enduring kind, and
sometimes allows you the company of some of the most exceptional people on the face
of the earth. People who have made the conscious decision to serve their Creator
completely, giving Him their all, and leaving nothing for themselves. People who radiate
love so clearly, yet powerfully, that they truly reflect Christ’s love for us and, like Christ,
inexplicably draw us to them and him. Father Andrew Apostoli, CFR is one such soul. I
have come to know him as a wise and holy man of God who has fully dedicated his life
to his vocation as a Franciscan friar for over fifty years. I feel very privileged and
blessed that he has played such an important role in my journey!
I have known Father Andrew for nearly thirty years, and his friendship and spiritual
guidance has meant more to me than I think he will ever know. When we first met, I had
just experienced a reawakening to my Catholic faith and found myself coordinating a

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conference at a place that we have both come to love, a shrine in the heart of Mexico
City that marks the spot where the Queen of Heaven appeared to a humble indigenous
man nearly 500 years ago—the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Here, the Mother of
God spoke of her love and help that was available to each of us. In this Shrine, she left
an image of herself on St. Juan Diego’s tilma, which has been miraculously preserved
for nearly five centuries.
Father Andrew spoke at that conference, and that very same day we became fast and
dear friends. We decided then and there to make an annual pilgrimage to Our Lady’s
Shrine and did so for over a decade, bringing along hundreds of other individuals and
families from all over the country. Father Andrew’s love for our heavenly Mother was
apparent even then, and it was truly a beautiful thing to behold. His deep devotion to Our
Lady, which was so apparent as I watched him speak about her on those trips, shines
through in his many conferences, TV and radio appearances, and writings.
I have also spent a lot of time with Father Andrew in Yonkers, at his New York
Friary in the heart of the Bronx. While there I have observed the way in which the
younger men and women in this growing religious order look up to him as a spiritual
father. With great admiration and respect, they lovingly seek his guidance, deriving
benefit from, as have so many others, his deep store of spiritual and practical wisdom.
Father has also taken me to some of the mission outlets run by the CFR’s, places where I
think he feels most at home. There, alongside the men and women of his community, he
joyfully tends to the needs of God’s poor and neglected; such missions are oases in the
middle of the concrete jungle, places where people are reminded that they, too, are
children of God.
Although Father Andrew is always very busy serving the Lord, he has never refused
any request that I have made of him. Almost twenty years ago, I asked if he would serve
as spiritual director for a new organization I had founded, and, of course, he agreed.
Called the Catholic Marketing Network, this apostolate is made up of a variety of
individuals and entities serving the Lord in many ways. Since the organization was
comprised mostly of lay people who had certain temporal responsibilities that went
along with their spiritual activities, I asked Father to help the organization navigate
through the often unusual, challenging, and overlapping worlds of spirituality and
commerce. Keeping the spiritual element at the fore, Father Andrew helped to create a
Eucharist-centered organization while making himself available to the many individuals
who have gotten to know and love him as their spiritual guide and mentor in the effort to
bring quality Catholic products to God’s people.
Father Andrew was greatly blessed in that he was ordained to the priesthood by the
late great Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. And quite providentially, Father was to play a
pivotal role in the effort to open the cause for this wonderful churchman’s canonization.
After several years of petitioning numerous dioceses to open the cause, Bishop Daniel R.
Jenky, C.S.C. of the Diocese of Peoria agreed to do so. As soon as it was open, Father
asked me to help organize the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation and serve as its
founding Executive Director. I was amazed and humbled that someone like me would be

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given the privilege to serve in such an important role. We worked very closely together
for several years, raising money to help cover the necessary costs associated with the
cause, while encouraging prayers that the good Archbishop might someday be officially
declared a saint of the Catholic Church. Father is a staunch devotee of Archbishop Sheen
and quotes him often in his own talks and writings, thus leading others, like myself, to an
increased appreciation for and devotion to the great man. I am truly amazed by the
clarity and moral force of his teachings, which have greatly edified me in my own
spiritual journey. Sheen’s influence on my life I owe to Father Andrew.
It is said that you can learn a lot about the founder of a religious order by observing
the present-day behavior of its members. Certainly, St. Francis is one of the Church’s
most popular saints, loved all over the world by both Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
His simplicity, humility, and desire to give God his all made him a true model of
Christian discipleship. Seeking to follow the example of this great saint, who sought to
imitate Our Lord and Savior, is a noble and mighty goal, and, in human terms, may seem
unattainable. But one need only look to the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal to see such
an imitation of Francis’ imitation of Christ lived out so beautifully. As a co-founder of
this religious order, Father Andrew’s life truly exemplifies the Christian values of total
service and generous giving that are the hallmarks of the spirit of St. Francis.
On the day of his ordination, then Bishop Fulton Sheen asked Father Andrew
whether he had been given much instruction on the Holy Spirit during his time in the
seminary. Responding that he had not, Bishop Sheen encouraged the newly ordained
priest to study, preach, and teach on the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, Whom he
referred to at the time as “The Forgotten God.” Father Andrew took this advice to heart.
Today, he is a powerful and effective teacher on the Holy Spirit. These instructional and
insightful books on the Spirit of God are priceless in their depth of understanding and
elucidation of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity of Whom Christ Himself said, “… he
will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn
14:26). It is the Holy Spirit—the Paraclete, Comforter, and Advocate—Who explains
and reveals to hurting mankind the mind and love of God.
It is fitting that these three books on the Holy Spirit have been updated for re-release
this year in which Father Andrew marks his 50th anniversary as a priest. A true man of
God, he has heroically lived out his calling to be an Alter Christus, another Christ, who
has helped this poor soul and so many others on the journey that will end, God willing,
in the arms of our loving God.

Alan Napleton
President, Catholic Marketing Network
Fort Worth, TX
January 2017

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 FOREWORD TO
THE FIRST EDITION

REFERENCES TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, or the Spirit of God, are more common in the
last two decades than they were for several centuries. Groups as sharply diverse as the
Charismatic Movement and the enthusiasts of the so-called New Age, as well as many
others who use the name of the Holy Spirit, will attribute all kinds of effects to this
Divine Person. Traditional theologians and feminist writers will evoke the Holy Spirit,
attributing gender to a pure Spirit who is neither Father nor Son, thus involving this most
mysterious Person in controversies unthought-of at the time of the writing of Sacred
Scripture. Christians as different as cloistered nuns and Quakers rely heavily on this
mysterious influence to direct their prayers and even their lives.
It is startling that with all this interest and activity, the scriptural and traditional
teaching of the Church on the Holy Spirit is almost unknown. One might ask why the
Church has any special claim to tell the world about the Holy Spirit. The fact is that,
drawing from the Holy Scriptures and especially from the words of Christ in the
Gospels, the bishops of the early Catholic Church gave us the knowledge of the Holy
Spirit beginning with the post-apostolic times and coming to a great conclusion at the
First Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. Then the Holy Spirit was declared to be a
Person and not merely an aspect of divine activity as might appear in the Old Testament.
The Holy Spirit is distinct from the Father and the Son. In defining the Holy Spirit as a
Person, which means an ultimate subject of predication (e.g. the Holy Spirit does this or
that), the bishops of the ancient Church proclaimed the dogma of the Holy Trinity and
with it, taught that the Holy Spirit can be invoked and responds and has a unique role in
the salvation of the world. Since Constantinople I, a rich teaching, both theological and
spiritual, both speculative and practical, has developed around the Third Person of the
Trinity. But, as I said, very few believers are actually aware of this teaching. My
confrère and dear friend, Fr. Andrew Apostoli, has filled this need by writing a readable
and down-to-earth book on the Holy Spirit. This book, like all Fr. Andrew’s works, is

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meant for the informed and devout reader. It is both simple and profound, serious and
humorous at the same time.
When we began our reform movement, the Franciscans of the Renewal, in 1987, the
eight original friars agreed that we had only two apostolates—care of the very poor and
evangelical preaching. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, is an essential part of that
endeavor. Those familiar with Fr. Andrew’s approach and charming humor will hear him
as they read these pages. Those who are not familiar with his style and presentations, as
well as his deep faith, will admire all of these qualities for the first time. All will find a
Spirit-filled fervor, the essential human ingredient for Christian reform.
We are all encouraged in the contemporary Church to pray to the Holy Spirit and to
ponder the influence of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity in our lives with grateful
praise. We are encouraged to rely upon the Holy Spirit in times of need and special
stress. We are even told that by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we may go beyond our
ordinary strength and even beyond the practice of the virtues given us by divine grace.
The Holy Spirit can make the timid brave and the foolish wise. He can cause sinners to
repent and move the lukewarm to fervor. Thus the Holy Spirit is an important part of the
life of every devout Christian. I can’t think of any other recent book of this size and
popularity that can inform and encourage the believing reader in the practice of Christian
life with the help of the Holy Spirit. One hopes that this book will begin a series of
books by Fr. Andrew, which will make his deep and genuine piety and ability known to
a wider audience.

Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R †

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 INTRODUCTION

WHEN I FIRST WROTE this book 13 years ago, I felt a strong desire to write about
the Holy Spirit. Since then, I have written three other books on the Holy Spirit: The
Comforter: The Spirit of Joy, The Advocate: The Spirit of Truth in the Life of the
Individual Christian, and The Paraclete: The Spirit of Truth in the Life of the Church.
What moved me to write was the awareness of how important it was that everyone
who desired to follow Jesus and wished to serve Him and His Church faithfully, should
come to know the Holy Spirit personally. Our Lord Himself stressed this importance
when He promised to send the Holy Spirit as the Paraclete, guiding, strengthening, and
consoling all who would follow Him on life’s pilgrimage of faith. The early Christians,
as reflected in the pages of the Acts of the Apostles, were very conscious of the Holy
Spirit living and working among them. St. Paul, witnessing to life in the early Church,
could write to the Christians in Rome: “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are
children of God” (Romans 8:14).
Despite this undeniable importance, many Catholics still do not know the Holy
Spirit. (Some of the causes for this problem will be dealt with in the opening chapter.) I
wrote this book to share some reflections on the all-important presence and role of the
Holy Spirit in our lives.
The roots of this book actually go back many years in my life. As a youngster, I
remember hearing the Holy Spirit referred to as the “Forgotten God.” We pray often to
the Father and to the Son, but except for perhaps occasional help on an exam, the Holy
Spirit is generally forgotten. I would later hear the expression about the Forgotten God
many other times.
This lack of understanding of the Holy Spirit was brought home to me again very
vividly at the time of my priestly ordination. I was ordained on March 16, 1967, in St.
Francis de Sales Church in Geneva, New York by then Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, then
Bishop of the Diocese of Rochester, New York. As a young boy, I used to watch his TV
program, “Life is Worth Living,” along with probably thirty million other people! Little
did I think I would some day meet him, much less ever be ordained by him. He truly

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loved the Priesthood, and he inspired in me a share of that love! He spoke to me that day
about the vital link between the awareness of the Holy Spirit and the faithful, fruitful
living of the priestly life. He said that the newly ordained priest receives the special
power of the Holy Spirit, through Whom he carries out his priestly vocation. However,
he lamented the fact that during my four years of theological training, no significant
study was offered on the Holy Spirit. As he saw it, this was a major omission, resulting
in a serious lack of understanding for a newly ordained priest.
Bishop Sheen’s statement made a lasting impression on me. I also realized that if this
was my situation as a priest, how much more widespread must be the lack of
understanding about the Holy Spirit among the laity!
My desire, then, was to write about the Holy Spirit in such a way that a broad
Catholic readership would find it understandable. When I wrote the first edition of this
book, I made a deliberate effort to avoid, as far as I could, any technical theological
language or obscure dogmatic points. I also made a determined attempt to present the
writing in such a manner that readers would not be left dry and unaffected, but rather be
touched by the life and unction of the Holy Spirit!
Finally, since it was my hope that this book would be beneficial not only to lay
people in general, but that it would appeal to clergy, religious, and seminarians as well,
this new edition has been updated to include quotations from the saints, as well as
documents from the papal writings, meditations, speeches, and homilies of Pope St. John
Paul II, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, as well as our present Holy Father, Pope Francis.
Reflection questions and prayers have also been added at the end of each chapter to aid
the reader who wants to thoughtfully meditate and pray about what he or she has just
read. This can have particular value for persons in religious study groups and prayer
groups, as well as for spiritual direction and personal reading. It can also be especially
helpful as supplemental reading for “Life in the Spirit” seminars.
I give thanks to the Holy Spirit for the enlightenment and perseverance He has given
me in writing and updating this book. I assure each reader a place in my prayers, and I
ask for a prayerful remembrance in return.

Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR

St. Leopold Friary
Yonkers, New York
April 2016

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 PART I

THE HOLY SPIRIT:

THE GIFT OF GOD

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 CHAPTER 1

THE GIFT OF GOD

It is the gift of the Holy Spirit Who makes us like the Son and puts us in a filial relationship with the
Father: in the one Spirit through Christ we have access to the Father (cf. Eph 2:18).

—Pope St. John Paul II

General Audience, July 22, 1998

WHEN SOMEONE OFFERS another person a gift, the first thing the receiver should
do is acknowledge the gift, then express gratitude for it, and finally, put it to good use.
This is especially true if God is the Giver of the gift and we are the receivers. God does,
in fact, give us many gifts and blessings every day. Everything we are, everything we
have, is ultimately a gift from Him.

THE “FORGOTTEN GOD”

One of God’s greatest gifts to us is one He Himself calls “the Gift of God” (John 4:10).
It is a reference to the Holy Spirit, Whom He in His great love has bestowed so
generously upon us! One would think that because we have received such a priceless
Gift from God, we would esteem and treasure it above all His other gifts—
acknowledging it, expressing gratitude for it, and using it as God intended us to! Yet, the
sad fact is that God’s most precious Gift to us, the Holy Spirit, is often not
acknowledged; indeed, He is often unknown. He has, for this reason, so frequently been
referred to as the “Forgotten God” among the Three Divine Persons of the Blessed
Trinity!
The assumption underlying this book is that many Christians, especially many
Catholics, do not know and love the Holy Spirit as they should in their personal lives.
But this is not a new situation by any means. It is reflected right in the Sacred Scriptures,

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and it has been recognized over the Church’s long history even from its earliest
centuries. A few examples will illustrate this clearly.

Examples from the New Testament

This problem is very clearly presented at least twice in the pages of the New Testament.
Let us look briefly at these examples.

The Samaritan Woman

The first instance is Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:4-
42). In this incident, the woman has come to draw water from the common well for the
day’s cooking and cleaning. When the Lord looks at her, He knows the sinful condition
of her life, as He Himself will later point out to her:
You have had five (husbands), and the man you are living with now is not your husband! (John
4:18)

However, Jesus is the Good Shepherd seeking one of His lost sheep. He is the Divine
Physician wanting to heal one of His own from moral sickness. So He initiates a
conversation with the woman by means of a seemingly simple and obvious request:
Give me a drink. (John 4:7)

After all, Jesus has just come off a long journey, and presumably it was quite hot,
because—as the Gospel tells us—it is “about noon.”1
The Samaritan woman, in turn, not knowing Who Jesus really is, takes offense at His
request. She sees nothing in common with Him; in fact, she sees only differences and
hostility! Why speak to Him?
The Samaritan woman said to Him, “You are a Jew. How can You ask me, a Samaritan and a
woman for a drink?” (Recall that Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.) (John 4:9)

But Jesus had come precisely to be a “peacemaker.”2 So, despite the Samaritan
woman’s untrusting attitude, He replies with a remark that is obviously meant to stir her
curiosity further in regard to Who He really is:
If only you recognized God’s Gift, and Who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have
asked Him instead, and He would have given you Living Water. (John 4:10)

Here Our Lord begins to reveal His hidden identity and all that He could do for her.
Because she did not know His true identity and power, she had mistakenly felt she was
in a position to control the giving; after all, she could allow Jesus to use her bucket to get
Himself a drink of water out of the deep well. In reality, however, it was Jesus Who
could give so much more to her than she could ever possibly give to Him. The woman
could give water that would quench the thirst of the body; Jesus could give “Living
Water,” the Holy Spirit, Who could quench the thirst of the soul. The rather stagnant
well water would satisfy for a time; the “Living Water” would satisfy for all eternity.

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 It was obvious that the Samaritan woman did not know Jesus; furthermore, in her
sinfulness she could not recognize “the Gift of God,” the Holy Spirit! However, once she
resolved to turn from her sins, she began to receive the first stirrings of the Holy Spirit.
As a result, she excitedly ran off like a great missionary and shared the “good news”
about Jesus. She enthusiastically told her friends and neighbors all that Jesus had said to
her. Through her joyful witness, nearly her whole village came to believe in Him.
How many Catholics, even today, despite receiving the Holy Spirit both at their
Baptism and Confirmation, fully realize or appreciate this priceless treasure? Might not
Our Lord’s words to the Samaritan woman—“If only you recognized the Gift of God”—
also apply to us? What a difference it would make if only we appreciated the Holy Spirit
in our daily Christian lives! How much more alive our own faith in Jesus would become.
Like the Samaritan woman, we would enthusiastically share the same “good news”
about Jesus with those whose lives we touch.

The Disciples at Ephesus

A second New Testament example of not appreciating the Holy Spirit involves St. Paul
on his third missionary journey. He had just arrived at Ephesus.
There Paul found some disciples to whom he put the question: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit
when you became believers?” They answered, “We have not so much as heard that there is a Holy
Spirit.” (Acts 19:1-2)

In reality, they had received only the baptism of St. John the Baptist. This was not
the Christian Sacrament of Baptism. Rather, it was a sign of accepting the Baptist’s
message of moral conversion from a life of sin. It also indicated a readiness to accept the
promised Messiah Whose mission among the people was about to begin. Apparently,
this group of disciples had not heard St. John the Baptist say:
I am baptizing you in water, but there is One to come Who is mightier than I. I am not fit to loosen
His sandal strap. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. (Luke 3:16)

St. Paul then taught the group about Jesus and His teaching. Since they believed what
he taught them, he baptized them in Jesus’ Name. When he then laid hands on them, the
Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 19:4-6).
Perhaps the experience of these disciples reflects a similar situation in the lives of
many Catholics today who, through no fault of their own, have received little or no
teaching about the Holy Spirit. Maybe it was passed over as unimportant, or as too
difficult to present. Or perhaps it was treated so superficially, it left almost no impression
at all. As a result, many Catholics today might well echo the surprised statement of those
disciples at Ephesus long ago: “We have not so much as heard that there is a Holy
Spirit!”

An Example From Church History

Even in Church history, this problem of not appreciating the Holy Spirit’s presence and

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importance in daily Christian life existed! St. Augustine (A.D. 354-430) recognized the
lack of theological study regarding the Holy Spirit and His mission even in his own day.
Many books have been written by scholarly and spiritual men on the Father and the Son … The
Holy Spirit has, on the other hand, not yet been studied with as much care and by so many great and
learned commentators on the Scriptures that it is easy to understand His special character and know
why we cannot call Him either Son or Father, but only Holy Spirit. (De Fide et Symbolo IX, #18 &
19: PL 40, 190, and 191)

The theology of the Holy Spirit later became a central focus for St. Augustine. His
reflections on the Holy Spirit are found scattered throughout the whole of his later
works.

WHY DO WE NOT KNOW THE

HOLY SPIRIT AS WE SHOULD?
There are many reasons that account for peoples’ failure to appreciate the Holy Spirit.
Usually it is a combination of a lack of understanding of Who the Holy Spirit really is
and of forgetfulness of His crucial role in our lives as followers of Christ. This is true for
many Catholics even today in this post-Vatican Council II period with its renewed
interest in the Holy Spirit. For example, a friend told me of an incident that happened
when he was at Mass one Pentecost Sunday. When the priest rose to give the homily, he
told the congregation in effect: “Since this is Pentecost Sunday, you are probably
expecting to hear a sermon on the Holy Spirit. But I am not going to give any sermon on
the Holy Spirit because we really don’t know that much about Him!” We can only
imagine what a discouraging impression his remark must have made on the
congregation!

The Notion of Spirit is Mysterious

The first and probably key factor to why we do not know the Holy Spirit is that in our
human language and experience, we do not relate readily to a “spirit.” By contrast, we
relate easily to the idea of a “father” and a “son.” We know what a human father is,
whether through experience (e.g., of our own fathers) and/or observation of human
fatherhood.
The same is true with our knowledge of what a human son is. We are all children,
sons or daughters of our own parents. Some of us become parents of our own children.
We also observe boys who are sons of other parents. We, therefore, relate to Jesus as the
Son of God from our own human experience and observation.
But we have no experience or observation whatsoever of what a “spirit” is. The very
idea of a spirit is the notion of a being without a body, something that has no visible
appearance or material makeup. We find this obviously “mysterious.” We tend to shy
away from what we find awkward to imagine or understand. As a result, many of us feel
that we cannot think or talk about the Holy Spirit because we cannot easily relate to

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Him!

His Mission is Hidden

A second reason for our lack of appreciation of the Holy Spirit is that He is, as Pope St.
John Paul II called Him, the “hidden God.” The Second Divine Person, the Son of God,
became man by His Incarnation in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In doing so,
Jesus took on a visible human appearance by which His disciples knew Him and
interacted with Him. They saw Him, heard Him, spoke with Him, touched Him; they
were fed by Him, taught by Him, and healed by Him through His physical presence
among them.
In contrast, the Holy Spirit took no visible personal form. True, His presence was
known at times in various symbolic ways, as by a “dove” at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan
(Luke 3:22) and by the “tongues of fire” that accompanied His coming at Pentecost
(Acts 2:3). But there was no lasting outward presence. The reason for this was that
although the Spirit was sent to carry on the mission that Jesus had begun among the
disciples, He would now do it in a hidden, unseen way. Working in the minds and hearts
of those who believed in Jesus, loved Him, and followed Him, the Spirit’s presence
would remain invisible. Unseen, He carries on the work of forming Christ spiritually in
the disciples. This is why Jesus said at the Last Supper:
I tell you the sober truth: it is much better for you that I go. If I fail to go, the Paraclete will never
come to you, whereas if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, however, being the Spirit of
Truth, He will guide you to all truth. (John 16:7, 13)

If Jesus had remained among the disciples in His visible human presence after the
Resurrection, their faith would never have grown. After all, faith is the belief in what we
do not see. The faith of the Apostles and of Jesus’ other first disciples still had to grow,
despite His many appearances to them after Easter. Therefore, it was important for Our
Lord to withdraw His visible, resurrected presence so that the disciples could continue to
grow by believing through faith.3 This is why Jesus said it was much better for the
Apostles that He go away from them—precisely so that their faith could grow through
the inner working of the Holy Spirit! It would not be easy for the Apostles, after having
been with Jesus for so long a time, to be deprived of His visible presence. Jesus knew it
would cause them sorrow:
Now that I go back to Him Who sent Me, not one of you asks Me, “Where are You going?”
Because I have had all this to say to you, you are overcome with grief. (John 16:5-6)

As is often the case in life, what is best for us is not always easiest for us! But
because the Apostles’ faith would now grow through a longing desire to see Jesus again
and to be reunited with Him, their love for Him could also grow. This was extremely
important because love, as we know, is the virtue that surpasses all the others in dignity;
it is the virtue that endures forever!
Despite His going away, however, Jesus would not leave His disciples totally on

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their own:
I will not leave you orphaned … I will ask the Father and He will give you another Paraclete—to be
with you always: the Spirit of Truth … (John 14:18, 16-17)

“Paraclete” is a Greek word meaning, literally, “someone at the side of another

person.” Jesus had been visibly at the side of His disciples as a constant Teacher and
Friend, directing them. He had begun the process of their sanctification—by His
preaching and miracles, His personal direction and good example, and by the
experiences of His saving death and His post-Resurrection appearances. All of these
experiences had been quite visible! Now, the Holy Spirit was to be invisibly at their
sides, as a Defender, an Advocate, a Consoler, directing them and fulfilling in them His
great mission of making them holy. As a new “Paraclete,” the Holy Spirit would direct
their continued growth in all the virtues until their holiness was complete. He would
strengthen their faith until it became totally unwavering, their hope until it could endure
all things, their charity until it became enkindled with great zeal. He would inspire and
guide their witnessing of Christ to the very ends of the earth, even in the face of
rejection, persecution, suffering, and even death itself. The Holy Spirit would do all of
this in a manner that was quiet, unseen, hidden, but nevertheless, very real and quite
effective. His presence would be known, not by any outward human form, but by
observing the effects of His hidden presence working in and through them.

THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING

“THE GIFT OF GOD”
Because we cannot see the Holy Spirit, we can easily forget what an important role He
plays in our lives as followers of Jesus. Therefore, in spite of the difficulties in getting to
know the Holy Spirit, it is very important that we try to do so. After all, it is precisely
through the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in us that we live our Christian life.
If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ … All who are led by the
Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:9,14)

THE APOSTLES’ NEED FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT

This point becomes even clearer as we look closely at the need the Apostles themselves
had for the Holy Spirit. Jesus was sending the Paraclete, first of all, to continue their
personal growth in holiness. No doubt, the Apostles received abundant graces in
knowing Jesus in close, personal friendship on earth. They had been with Our Lord
during the three years of His public ministry. They were privileged to see the Risen Lord
on many occasions after He rose from the dead on Easter. Yet, they still needed the grace
of the Holy Spirit to complete the work of sanctification Jesus had begun in them. Our
Lord very clearly presented this need as He was ready to ascend into Heaven to His

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place of glory at the right hand of His Heavenly Father. He gave the Apostles this final
instruction:
Wait for the fulfillment of My Father’s promise of which you have heard Me speak. John baptized
with water, but within a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit … You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be My witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria, yes, even to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:4-5, 8)

In addition to their own personal growth in holiness, Our Lord gave them a
tremendous apostolic work. He commissioned them to be His “witnesses” even to the
very ends of the earth. This was an enormous undertaking. It was a worldwide preaching
mission. In order to accomplish it, they needed the power and strength of the Spirit. Our
Lord Himself refers to the Holy Spirit as “power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
Furthermore, they would need the Spirit’s constant guidance and encouragement and the
support of His gifts.
No wonder Our Lord did not want the Apostles to leave Jerusalem until they had
received the “Gift” and “Promise” of the Father. They could only leave when the
promised Holy Spirit had been poured forth upon them. Our Lord instructed them in this
way because He knew all the difficulties that awaited them as they preached the Gospel
message, calling people to conversion and eternal life.

The Example of St. Paul as an Apostle

Let us look at the experience of St. Paul. It clearly illustrates the difficulties that the
Apostles, in general, endured for the sake of the Gospel.

To brave the dangers of travel

First, there were his dangers in traveling. He enumerated many of the sufferings he
endured in his travels: three times he was shipwrecked; one time he passed a whole day
and a whole night adrift on the sea; he was always in danger from wild animals, floods,
and other hazards as he went from city to city preaching the Gospel (2 Corinthians
11:25-26). Such inconveniences and hardships were part of the life and experience of
any true apostle of the Lord: hunger and thirst, cold and heat, sleepless nights and
homelessness, from town to town.

To face opposition
Then there was constant opposition and even persecution. St. Paul, for example, had
little groups of opponents following him from town to town, and heckling him as he tried
to speak to the people. Sometimes they maliciously stirred up the crowds and turned
them against him. At other times St. Paul experienced humiliation, such as the time he
spoke to the people at Athens (Acts 17:16-34). They literally laughed him out of town
for preaching about the resurrection of the body. He left the city of Athens deeply
frustrated!

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To handle discouragement
Added to all these difficulties were situations of sadness and discouragement that St.
Paul experienced. There occurred, for example, when some of his disciples, who at one
time believed, later turned away in disbelief. His Letter to the Galatians clearly reflects
the great sorrow and distress he felt as he saw the community of disciples there
abandoning the Faith he had taught them and accepting instead what he called “another
gospel” (= heretical teachings; cf. Galatians 1:6).

To endure physical sufferings

Finally, St. Paul experienced many physical sufferings for Jesus’ sake. He spoke about
his own imprisonment, his receiving thirty-nine lashes on five occasions, his three times
being beaten with rods, and his once even being stoned and left for dead! (2 Corinthians
11:23-25).

OUR OWN NEED FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT

To face all these sufferings—and they were great—Our Lord knew that all of His
Apostles would require the constant strength and renewal coming to them through the
grace of the Holy Spirit.
We, too, need this same grace of the Holy Spirit. We may not have to face the same
trials as the Apostles, but we have our own. These we must likewise endure for the love
of Christ and His Church. We must be strengthened and refreshed by the Holy Spirit’s
consolation, guided by His enlightenment, and fortified by His courage. It is no wonder
that the Scriptures refer to the Holy Spirit as “the Gift of God,” Whom we must come to
know in our own daily lives.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. How well do you know the Gift of God, the Holy Spirit?

2. How aware are you of the Holy Spirit’s presence and action in your daily life?

3. How often do you call upon the Holy Spirit in prayer?

4. How have you grown in your love and devotion to the Holy Spirit? Can you cite
some examples?

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Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.
Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created
and You will renew the face of the earth.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

_____________
1 Although it was only natural for Him to experience a burning thirst, the request of Our Lord really had a much
deeper meaning. It actually arose not from any physical thirst on His part, but from a spiritual thirst. It was an
expression of His burning desire for this woman’s salvation! It was similar to His cry on the cross:

I thirst. (John 19:28)

Indeed, many early Christian writers known as the Fathers of the Church, saw this plea as Jesus’ “thirsting” or
yearning for the salvation of all men and women for whom He was at that very moment giving His life on the
Cross. He had said that this was precisely why He would be lifted up on a cross in crucifixion:

And I—once I am lifted up from the earth—will draw all men to Myself. (John 12:32)

2 In fact, St. Paul later described Jesus as “our Peace,” the One Who unites all of us despite our differences. He
writes of how Jesus had broken down the differences that had previously separated many of His disciples, like
Jews from Gentiles, and how He had become the bridge or link, now uniting them in a common bond of faith
and life in Himself:

He is our Peace, Who would make the two of us one by breaking down the barrier of hostility that
kept us apart. (Ephesians 2:14)

3 This was an important part of Jesus’ testing of the faith of St. Thomas the Apostle who, at first, doubted His
Resurrection. On that occasion, Jesus blessed all those who did not see but still believed!

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 CHAPTER 2

OBTAINING THE
HOLY SPIRIT
GIFT AND GIFT-GIVER

The Spirit gave us His gifts so we would be clothed with the jewels of virtue—the gold of love, the
emeralds of hope, and the brilliant diamonds of faith. Let us not be content with the scotch tape and
aluminum foil of this world.

Mother Mary Angelica, P.C.P.A.

Foundress, Eternal Word Television Network

THE HOLY SPIRIT DIRECTS US toward the fullness of redemption promised us by

Jesus by sharing with us His gifts. In a sense, the Holy Spirit Himself is the Supreme
Gift; but He is also the Giver of other gifts. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are often divided
into two kinds: the “sanctifying gifts” and the “charismatic gifts.”

HIS SEVENFOLD GIFTS FOR

OUR SANCTIFICATION
The first kind of gifts of the Holy Spirit are the sevenfold gifts mentioned by the prophet
Isaiah:
But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit
of the Lord shall rest upon Him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of
strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and His delight shall be the fear of the Lord.
(Isaiah 11: 1-3)1

These gifts come to us, along with the Holy Spirit Himself, at the time of our

25
Baptism. These seven gifts are used by the Holy Spirit to help a person grow in holiness.
They are directed at our personal sanctification. They make us more sensitive to receive
and carry out the inspirations and promptings of the Holy Spirit. Four of them—
Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding and Counsel—assist our minds to know God and
the truths of our Catholic Faith more clearly. The other three gifts—Courage, Piety and
Fear of the Lord—assist our will and strengthen us to love God more ardently.

HIS CHARISMATIC GIFTS TO BUILD

UP THE MYSTICAL BODY

The second category of gifts of the Holy Spirit are the so-called “charismatic gifts.”
These gifts are not for our personal growth in holiness. Rather, they are given to
individual persons to help build up the Church, the “Mystical Body of Christ.” St. Paul
listed some of these charismatic gifts when he wrote to the Christian community at
Corinth:
To each person, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one, the Spirit
gives wisdom in discourse, to another the power to express knowledge. Through the Spirit, one
receives faith; by the same Spirit, another is given the gift of healing, and still another, miraculous
powers. Prophecy is given to one; to another, power to distinguish one spirit from another. One
receives the gift of tongues, another that of interpreting the tongues. But it is one and the same
Spirit Who produces all these gifts, distributing them to each as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

St. Paul’s teaching here is that, because different individuals possess different
charismatic gifts, the community as a whole possesses a fullness of the Spirit’s
charismatic gifts. Therefore, whatever need may arise in the community at large, one or
another individual will probably possess a special gift to help meet that need. Let us look
at a few examples of these charismatic gifts.
A person with the gift of “wisdom in discourse” has an exceptional ability to teach
the truths of the Faith with clarity and facility to well-educated Catholics, as well as to
those who have never received proper religious instruction. A person with the gift to
“distinguish one spirit from another” is able to discern whether something is actually
coming from the Holy Spirit, from the Evil Spirit, or from an individual’s own human
spirit. In other words, someone with this gift is usually able to distinguish whether
something is coming genuinely from God, from a deceit of the Devil, or from a
conscious or unconscious level within an individual person. Another charismatic gift is
that of “miraculous powers.”2 Someone with this gift is able to edify both believers and
non-believers alike with miraculous signs and wonders, strengthening the faith of those
who already believe, and leading to faith those who do not yet believe.
In summary, we need to have the sevenfold or sanctifying gifts of the Holy Spirit for
our own personal growth in holiness. We also need those charismatic gifts which the
Holy Spirit may choose to give us so that we may share in the work of the Church and
help to realize God’s plan of salvation for the world. When all the members of the

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Church with their particular gifts work together, the unity of the Church is more deeply
expressed, and her work bears more abundant fruit.

THE HOLY SPIRIT AT OUR

BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION
We received the Holy Spirit, the Gift of God, for the first time in the new supernatural
life conferred on us through our Baptism. We received Him again in a special way when
our Christian lives reached a certain maturity at Confirmation. We may ask if we can
continue to receive a fuller measure of the Spirit and His working in our daily lives. The
answer emphatically is “Yes”!
We must realize that when we speak of receiving a “fuller measure” of the Holy
Spirit, we do not mean this in terms of an increase of “quantity,” like something
increasing in ounces or feet. Since the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, He is completely
present in us all at once. There is no “increase” of presence on His part. The “increase,”
if we may call it that, is on our part. It simply means that we become more aware of His
presence, more open to use His graces and more docile to follow out His inspirations.

The “Down-Payment” of Our Redemption

It is interesting that St. Paul in his writings refers to the Holy Spirit once as the “first
fruits” (Romans 8:23) of our redemption and twice as the “first payment” (what we call
today “the down payment”) of our redemption (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:14). As
an example, he writes to the Church at Ephesus:
In Him (Christ) you too were chosen; when you heard the glad tidings of salvation, the word of
truth, and believed in it, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit Who had been promised. He is the
pledge of our inheritance, the first payment against the full redemption of the people God has made
His own to praise His glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

What St. Paul means by these expressions is that the presence of the Holy Spirit
within us marks the beginning of our redemption. A “down payment” is the first
installment given in the purchase of something; other payments will follow. The Holy
Spirit is this “first payment of our redemption” because through His working in us, more
of His gifts will be bestowed upon us. We will finally come to the full sharing in the
redemption that Christ has won for us when we enter the Kingdom of Heaven.3
The “first fruits” marks only the beginning of the harvest; the fullness of the harvest
will follow. In a similar way, the bestowing of the Holy Spirit upon us marks only the
beginning of the effects of Christ’s Redemption. Again, we will experience the fullness
of the harvest of Redemption in Heaven. Furthermore, the “first fruits” is usually among
the choicest portions of the harvest. Along with many other gifts to us—preeminently,
the Holy Eucharist, the Sacraments, Sanctifying Grace, the Church, and Our Lady—the
Holy Spirit is God’s most precious Gift to us.

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 THE NEED TO PRAY FOR “THE GIFT OF GOD”
The chief means to obtain this “Gift of God” is through constant prayer. It is interesting
to compare an aspect of Jesus’ teaching on prayer as recorded both in St. Matthew and in
St. Luke. Both Gospel accounts express Jesus’ teaching that in prayer, we are to ask, to
seek, and to knock at the door. But now let us compare what follows:
If you, with all your sins know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your
heavenly Father give good things to anyone who asks Him! (Matthew 7:11)

If you, with all your sins, know how to give your children good things, how much more will the
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. (Luke 11:13)

Note what gifts the Father gives in each Gospel teaching. St. Matthew tells us that
the Heavenly Father gives “good things” to those who ask Him. These “good things”
obviously include both our physical goods such as food, clothing, shelter, and good
weather, as well as our spiritual goods such as His love, patience, mercy, and grace to
overcome our sins and temptations. St. Luke tells us that the Heavenly Father gives us
simply the “Holy Spirit.” Why? Because the Holy Spirit is the chief Gift that God gives
to His people. In fact, along with the Holy Spirit, the Heavenly Father gives us all other
good things. We can easily conclude from St. Luke’s account that Our Lord encourages
us to pray to the Heavenly Father for the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
As good proof of this we can ask: What did the Apostles do as they waited in
Jerusalem after Ascension Thursday for the promised Gift of the Holy Spirit? According
to the Acts of the Apostles, they gathered to pray:
After that, they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet near Jerusalem—a mere
Sabbath’s journey away. Entering the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying.
Peter and John and James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James, son
of Alphaeus, Simon, the Zealot party member, and Judas, son of James. Together they devoted
themselves to constant prayer. There were some women in their company, and Mary, the Mother of
Jesus, and His brothers. (Acts 1:12-14)

The Apostles joined Our Lady and the other first disciples (about one hundred
twenty persons in all) and they prayed together for the grace of the Holy Spirit.4 The
nine days intervening between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday became the
Church’s first novena. It was a novena to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit as Jesus
had promised.
St. Francis, a very faithful follower of Our Lord, also stressed the importance of
prayer for the Gift of the Holy Spirit. He put into his Rule for the friars an important
exhortation on this point.
Let the friars endeavor to have what is to be above all things desired, the Spirit of the Lord and His
holy operation; let them endeavor to pray always with a pure heart. (Rule of 1223, Ch. 10)

St. Francis’ words should inspire us to pray daily for the grace of the Holy Spirit. His
teaching and his own example would certainly encourage all of us to pray with

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enthusiastic longing and heartfelt desire for this most wonderful Gift of God to us.
We find in the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours an inspiring hymn that expresses this
desire for the Gift of God:5
Father, Lord of earth and heaven.
King to Whom all gifts belong,
Give Your greatest Gift, Your Spirit.
God the holy, God the strong.

Son of God, enthroned in Glory,

Send Your promised Gift of Grace,
Make Your Church, Your Holy Temple,
God the Spirit’s dwelling-place.

Spirit, come, in peace descending,

As at Jordan heavenly Dove,
Seal Your Church as God’s anointed,
Set our hearts on fire with love.

Stay among us, God the Father,

Stay among us, God the Son,

Stay among us, Holy Spirit,

Dwell within us, make us one.

(Melody by Drakes Boughton; Music by E. Elgar,

1857-1934; Text by James Quinn, S.J.,
copyright James Quinn. S.J., from New
Hymns For All Seasons, published by Geoffrey
Chapman, London and quoted in
Christian Prayer: The Liturgy of the Hours,
copyright 1976 by the Daughters of
St. Paul and used with permission.)

THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT

IS GIVEN ABUNDANTLY
The Lord is always ready to give the Gift of the Holy Spirit to us, and He is willing to
give it in abundance.
For the One Whom God has sent speaks the words of God; He does not ration His Gift of the Spirit.
(John 3:34)

This verse tells us that Jesus is the One Whom the Father has sent and Who speaks
the Father’s words or message to us. It is also Jesus Who does not ration His Gift of the
Spirit, but rather, pours that Gift into our hearts in superabundance. God is never miserly
in giving His gifts. However, sometimes we might be quite limited in our capacity to
receive them. But it is always God’s desire to be very generous with what He shares with
us.
This point is made in an interesting story found in the Old Testament Book of

29
Numbers. It involves a situation in which Moses, who has been leading the Jewish
people through the desert, has become discouraged. He has been burdened by the
constant complaints of the Israelites in the desert, one complaint after another. So he
comes to God in prayer and asks:
Why are You so displeased with me that You burden me with all these people? Was it I who
conceived all these people? Or was it I who gave them birth, that You tell me to carry them at my
bosom, like a foster father carrying an infant, to the land You have promised under oath to their
fathers? (Numbers 11:11-12)

The Lord hears Moses’ prayer and responds:

Assemble for Me seventy of the elders of Israel … I will take some of this spirit that is on you and
will bestow it on them, that they may share the burden of the people with you. You will then not
have to bear it by yourself. (Numbers 11:16-17)

Conveying God’s message to the people, Moses selects the seventy men who will
assist him in governing the people. He gathers them around the meeting tent. God then
appears in a cloud and speaks to Moses. He shares the spirit of leadership that He had
poured out upon Moses with these seventy other helpers:
Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, He bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit
came to rest on them, they prophesied. (Numbers 11:25)6

After the seventy elders receive the Spirit that had been on Moses alone, the
following incident occurs:
Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, were not in the gathering but had been left in
the camp. They too had been on the list but had not gone out to the tent; yet the spirit came to rest
on them also, and they prophesied in the camp. So when a young man quickly told Moses, “Eldad
and Medad are prophesying in the camp,” Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’
aide, said; “Moses, my lord, stop them.” But Moses answered him, “Are you jealous for my sake?
Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow His spirit
on them all!” (Numbers 11:26-30)

We see in this last episode a contrast between the young man, Joshua, and the old
man, Moses. Joshua was jealous of the authority of Moses over all the people. When he
heard that Eldad and Medad had received a share in the spirit of Moses and that they
were prophesying, he wanted Moses to command them to stop. In this way, Moses
would have shown that he had authority over them, even though they were not with him
when they received a share in his spirit. Perhaps Joshua’s outlook could be attributed to
his youth, inexperience and impulsiveness. In his youthfulness, he lacked a certain
broadening of outlook that comes with maturing in the spiritual life. His vision was too
narrow, his feelings too jealous and insecure. Without realizing it, he was putting limits
on the Spirit of God. He was “rationing” the Gift of God.
Moses, by contrast, is a symbol of one who had matured greatly in the spiritual life.
Through his intense union with God by way of fervent prayer and through the many
trials he endured during the Exodus, leading the people to the Promised Land, he had
certainly grown in great charity, both for God and his neighbor. So when young Joshua

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told him to command Eldad and Medad to cease prophesying, Moses took just the
opposite point of view. There was no narrow-heartedness caused by jealousy for his own
prestige, nor any insecurity that his authority was being challenged, nor was there any
sadness from envy of what others had come to possess. Rather, with true magnanimity in
his heart, he rejoiced that others, too, could share in a generous portion of the divine Gift
of the Spirit. He only wished that God had poured forth His Spirit on all the people!
Certainly this same Gift of the Holy Spirit is waiting for all of us too, just for the
asking! And this Gift will not be rationed to us, but poured forth abundantly into our
hearts.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. How well do you know these sanctifying gifts of the Holy Spirit—Wisdom,
Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Courage, Piety, and Fear of the Lord?

2. Do you pray often to the Holy Spirit to increase these seven sanctifying gifts in your
daily life?

3. How can you grow in your awareness of the action of the Holy Spirit in your life, for
your personal growth in holiness and effectiveness in your apostolic endeavors?

Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit

You have taught the hearts of your faithful.
In the same Spirit, help us to relish what is right
and to always rejoice in Your divine consolation.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

_____________
1 The prophet Isaiah foretold that the “Servant” Who was expected to come (a reference to Jesus as the offshoot
of Jesse) would possess the seven gifts of the Spirit of the Lord. Note that the gift of the “Fear of the Lord” is
mentioned here twice; however, we generally understand the first reference as the Spirit’s gift of Piety, and the
second reference as His gift of the Fear of the Lord.
2 A miracle is an occurrence in which an effect is produced that goes completely beyond the natural powers of
the person involved (e.g., an instantaneous healing of a terminal disease, the sudden changing of one substance
into another, such as water into wine), and it defies any natural explanation.

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3 The Church in her Liturgy expresses this thought in Eucharistic Prayer IV. This prayer gives a very brief
outline of the ministry of Christ leading up to His death and to His pouring forth of the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
We pray in this Eucharistic Prayer:

To accomplish your plan, He gave himself up to death, and, rising from the dead, He destroyed
death and restored life. And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for Him who died and
rose again for us, He sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as the first fruits for those who believe,
so that, bringing to perfection His work in the world, He might sanctify creation to the full.

4 It is important to note that Mary was there. We, too, should try daily to ask Our Blessed Lady to intercede that
we might receive a greater share of the Gift of the Holy Spirit.
5 It is found among the hymns recommended for what is called “Mid-Morning Prayer,” a prayer hour which
corresponds to 9 a.m. Interestingly, this particular hour of prayer is dedicated to the Holy Spirit because the
Holy Spirit descended on Pentecost at about 9 a.m. (Acts 2:15).
6 With the help of the Holy Spirit and His gifts, like that of prophecy, these seventy elders assisted Moses in
caring for God’s people. Interestingly, the Church refers to this same story in the prayer of ordination of new
priests. These new priests receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit through their priestly Ordination, enabling them to
assist their bishop in teaching, governing and sanctifying the members of the Church committed to their
spiritual care.

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 CHAPTER 3

FERVENT DEVOTION
TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Filled with love, the holy Apostles went into the world, preaching salvation to mankind and fearing
nothing, for the Spirit of God was their strength … For the Holy Spirit, sweet and gracious, draws
the soul to love the Lord, and in the sweetness of the Holy Spirit the soul loses her fear of suffering.

—St. Silouan the Athonite

Wisdom from Mt. Athos

IN ORDER TO GET A COMPLETE PICTURE of devotion to the Holy Spirit, we must

look at the whole of the Church’s history. It is encouraging to find that there have been
many periods of great awareness of the Holy Spirit and His guidance of the Church.
There have also been countless individuals who have had a deep personal devotion to the
Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. On the other hand, there have been both movements
and individuals who rejected the Holy Spirit or distorted devotion to Him. In this
chapter, we will look at some of these aspects of fervor in regard to devotion to the Holy
Spirit throughout the Church’s history, while in the following chapter we will examine
certain elements of decline.

THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH

Pentecost is the supreme example of both awareness and devotion to the Holy Spirit in
the Church. This was the day when that first group of disciples, approximately 120 in all,
including Our Lady, the Apostles, and various relatives of the Lord (Acts 1:13-15), were
united to form the nucleus of God’s new people by the great outpouring of the Holy
Spirit upon them. Later that day, after St. Peter and the other Apostles had finished
preaching to the vast crowd that had gathered at the Holy Spirit’s descent, three thousand

33
more people came to believe, and they were baptized! Pentecost was truly “the birthday
of the Church.”
The Acts of the Apostles bears witness to the great consciousness the first generation
of Christians had of the presence and working of the Holy Spirit in their midst. It has
sometimes been called “The Gospel of the Holy Spirit.”
Ample evidence of the Holy Spirit and the working of His gifts is reflected in the
letters written by St. Paul to the various Church communities he established. One of the
most outstanding of these is his First Letter to the Corinthians, which focuses a great
deal of attention on the Holy Spirit and His charismatic gifts. Romans 8 stresses the
Spirit’s role in our prayer life, enabling us to address God as “Abba” (Father), and
Galatians 5 emphasizes the fruits of the Spirit as opposed to those of the flesh. These are
significant for our understanding of the vital presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives as
Christians.

THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES

Throughout the Church’s history, the role of the Holy Spirit has been highlighted. St.
Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (A.D. 315-386), wrote in beautiful imagery about the many
varied effects or fruits of the Holy Spirit in the lives of each one of us. He compared the
Holy Spirit to rain, which is the same wherever it comes down. However, the rain
produces different fruits and flowers according to the kinds of plants it waters. So, too, in
the Church community, it is the same Holy Spirit Who comes to each person. But He
brings forth different effects in each person’s life, according to their different
circumstances, needs, and gifts. In one of his famous catechetical instructions, St. Cyril
of Jerusalem wrote:
“The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of living water, welling up into
eternal life” (John 4:14). This is a new kind of water, a living, leaping water, welling up for those
who are worthy. But why did Christ call the grace of the Spirit water? Because all things are
dependent on water; plants and animals have their origin in water. Water comes down from heaven
as rain, and although it is always the same in itself, it produces many different effects, one in the
palm tree, another in the vine, and so on throughout the whole of creation. It does not come down,
now as one thing, now as another, but while remaining essentially the same, it adapts itself to the
needs of every creature that receives it. In the same way, the Holy Spirit, Whose nature is always
the same, simple and indivisible, apportions grace to each man as He wills. Like a dry tree, which
puts forth shoots when watered, the soul bears the fruit of holiness when repentance has made it
worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit. Although the Spirit never changes, the effects of His action, by
the will of God and in the name of Christ, are both many and marvelous. The Spirit makes one man
a teacher of divine truth, inspires another to prophesy, gives another the power of casting out devils,
enables another to interpret holy Scripture. The Spirit strengthens one man’s self-control, shows
another how to help the poor, teaches another to fast and lead a life of asceticism, makes another
oblivious to the needs of the body, trains another for martyrdom. His action is different in different
people, but the Spirit Himself is always the same. “In each person,” Scripture says, “the Spirit
reveals His presence in a particular way for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). (From a
catechetical instruction by St. Cyril of Jerusalem, bishop, Cat. 16, De Spiritu Sancto 1, 11-12, 16:
PG 33, 931-935, 939-942)

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The Early Martyrs
The martyrs of the first centuries often faced cruel suffering and death, conscious of the
strength the Holy Spirit would give them. The list of the martyrs of the early Church
seems almost endless. Great names appear among them. There were men such as St.
Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Polycarp, St. Irenaeus, and St. Cyprian.
There were also many women who suffered martyrdom with great courage, such as St.
Felicity, St. Perpetua, St. Agatha, St. Agnes, and St. Lucy.
A good example of the heroism of the early martyrs is found in the account of the
trial of St. Justin the Martyr and several companions. When a Roman prefect, Rusticus,
had commanded them to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, they steadfastly refused.
Rusticus then interrogated St. Justin as spokesman for the group:
Rusticus said: “What system of teaching do you profess?” Justin said, “I have tried to learn about
every system, but I have accepted the true doctrines of the Christians, though these are not approved
by those who are held fast by error …” Rusticus said: “You are a Christian, then?” Justin said,
“Yes, I am a Christian …”
The prefect Rusticus said, “Do you have an idea that (if you were scourged and beheaded) you
will go up to heaven to receive some suitable reward?” Justin said: “It is not an idea that I have; it is
something I know well and hold to be most certain …”
The prefect Rusticus said: “Now let us come to the point at issue … offer sacrifice to the gods
… If you do not do as you are commanded, you will be tortured without mercy.” Justin said: “We
hope to suffer torment for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ and so be saved. For this will bring us
salvation and confidence as we stand before the more terrible and universal judgment seat of our
Lord and Savior.”
In the same way, the other martyrs also said: “Do what you will. We are Christians: we do not
offer sacrifice to idols.”

(From the Acts of the Martyrdom of

St. Justin and his Companion Saints,
Cap. 1-5; cf. PG 6, 1366-1371)

St. Justin and his companions were then sentenced to be scourged and they died as
martyrs by being beheaded! The courage to remain steadfast in the face of such threats
and ultimately to experience the sufferings of martyrdom certainly had to have been the
effects of the Holy Spirit within them.

The Fathers of the Church

In addition to the martyrs, there was also a courageous group known as the Fathers of the
Church. For approximately the first seven centuries of Christianity, they sought the
Spirit’s wisdom and knowledge to combat various heresies that had arisen within the
Church communities as well as to establish peace and order where there had been
internal strife. They were generally known for their great learning and sanctity in the
early Church, and include some of the greatest spiritual giants of the Catholic Faith.
Among their number were St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Basil the Great, St. John
Chrysostom, St. Athanasius, St. Gregory the Great, and probably the greatest of them all,
St. Augustine. Their writings often reflect such depth of understanding, such useful

35
guidance for Christian living, and such spiritual beauty and delight, that they definitely
could not have been written without the enlightenment and assistance of the Holy Spirit.
One example, perhaps less known than many of the others, is St. Ephraem the
Deacon (c. 306-c. 379). Born in ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), he lived for a
while also in Syria, and he died at Edessa. He possessed gifts of natural eloquence and
poetry. He was an outstanding defender of the Catholic Faith, courageously opposing
various heresies. Many of his writings were in the form of hymns for the liturgy and
poems to instruct the people in the Catholic Faith. This won for him the popular
nickname, “the harp of the Holy Spirit.” St. Jerome once read a work by St. Ephraem on
the Holy Spirit and declared:
St. Ephraem, deacon of the Church of Edessa, wrote many works in Syriac, and became so famous
that his writings are publicly read in some churches after the Sacred Scriptures. I have read in Greek
a volume of his on the Holy Spirit; though it was only a translation. I recognized therein the sublime
genius of the man. (De Viris Illustribus, c. 115)

Founders of Various Religious Communities

The Holy Spirit was also at work inspiring different forms of religious life. In the
beginning, there was the emergence of monasticism, from its humble origins in the
deserts of Egypt and Palestine to the great monastic tradition of the Basilian and
Benedictine monks that has lasted over 1500 years. Later, in what has been called the
“Golden Age” of the Middle Ages, the 13th Century, there came the emergence of new
forms of religious life with the mendicant friars, such as the Dominican, Carmelite, and
Franciscan Orders. Still later came other forms of religious life, such as the Jesuits, the
Redemptorists, and the Salesians. Even in our day, we have witnessed the worldwide
emergence of the Missionaries of Charity.
Such founders as St. Basil, St. Benedict, St. Francis, St. Dominic, St. Simon Stock,
St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Alphonsus Liguori, and St. John Bosco, among the men, and St.
Scholastica, St. Clare, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Jane Frances de Chantal, and St. Teresa of
Calcutta, among the women, have truly been persons open to the guidance and
inspiration of the Holy Spirit as they worked either to establish or to reform their
respective communities. As an example of these religious founders, we shall later focus
on the Holy Spirit in the life of St. Francis of Assisi.

Great Mystics and Spiritual Writers

The Holy Spirit also guided the writings of great mystics and spiritual authors, such as
St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of
Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Their
writings possess a remarkable insight into the spiritual life. Furthermore, they seem to be
able to write with ease and clarity about some of the deepest and most obscure mystical
realities. No doubt they could do this only because they had already personally
experienced them by the working of the Holy Spirit. Their clarity, conviction and

36
attractiveness have moved many to pursue a life of holiness.
One clear example of the influence of the Holy Spirit on these mystical writers
occurred in the life of St. Teresa of Avila. It happened while she was writing her
masterpiece, The Interior Castle, a book about progress in prayer and growth through
various stages of holiness. In her book, she shared her need to pray to the Holy Spirit for
enlightenment as she prepared to explain the deep concept of mystical prayer:
In order to begin to speak of the fourth dwelling places, I really need to entrust myself, as I’ve
already done, to the Holy Spirit, and beg Him to speak for me from here on that I may say
something about the remaining rooms in a way that you will understand. For supernatural
experiences begin here. These are something most difficult to explain, if His Majesty doesn’t do so
… Although I think I now have a little more light about these favors the Lord grants to some souls,
knowing how to explain them is a different matter. May His Majesty help me to do so if it will be of
some benefit … (Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle, IV Chap. 1, p. 67; Classics of Western
Spirituality, Paulist Press, NY: 1979)

In another place, she restated her need for the help of the Holy Spirit to write:
May He be pleased that I manage to explain something about these very difficult things. I know
well that this will be impossible if His Majesty and the Holy Spirit do not move my pen. (Ibid., V,
Chap. 4, no. 11, pp. 106-107)

Finally, we have the witness of some of those who knew St. Teresa as she was
writing the Interior Castle. There is testimony that she seemed to be inspired, no doubt
by the Holy Spirit, as she did her actual writing of the book. Here is the testimony of a
woman named Maria del Nacimiento:
When the said Mother Teresa of Jesus wrote the book called The Dwelling Places (Interior Castle),
she was in Toledo, and this witness saw that it was after Communion that she wrote this book, and
when she wrote, she did so very rapidly and with such great beauty in her countenance that this
witness was in admiration, and she was so absorbed in what she was writing that even if some noise
was made there, it did not hinder her; wherefore this witness understood that in all that which she
wrote and during the time she was writing, she was in prayer. (see Silverio de Santa Teresa,
Biblioteca Mistica Carmelitana. Vol. 18 [Burgos: El Monte Carmelo. 1934], p. 315 as quoted in
Ibid., Introduction, p. 19)

In Times of Reform and Renewal in the Church

The Holy Spirit was also at work in times of reform and renewal. An outstanding
example of this is the Catholic Reformation at the time of the Council of Trent. It was a
time when the whole Church needed renewal. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the bishops at
Trent enacted much needed legislation calling for reform, especially through the
elimination of abuses. They passed laws to guide the bishops in the running of their
dioceses, thereby eliminating the widespread abuse of absentee bishops. They called for
the establishment of seminaries for the proper education and formation of future priests.
This was so necessary because ignorance and laxity on the part of many clergy had been
the source of much neglect and even scandal. The Council also issued legislation for the
reform of similar abuses in religious communities. While condemning different heresies
that had been proposed by the Protestant leaders, the Council provided for the proper

37
instruction of the laity by issuing a catechism on the teachings of the Catholic Church.
In this same period of time, the Holy Spirit inspired the emergence of new Religious
Orders. The most outstanding were the Jesuits whose work in education and the missions
proved to be a great source of renewal in the Church. The Holy Spirit also guided the
reforms of various existing communities. Among the Franciscans, the Capuchin reform
began, and it was to have an enormous effect on Church renewal through the popular
preaching of the friars. St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross initiated the reform
of the Carmelite nuns and friars. The Holy Spirit had truly breathed new life and fervor
into the Church.

VATICAN COUNCIL II
In our own day, we have become very aware of a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit
upon the Church through the Second Vatican Council. When Pope John XXIII (now
Pope St. John XXIII) convoked the Vatican Council, he certainly startled the world.
Perhaps this was in keeping with his own personality since he himself was a kind of
delightful surprise. He did things people did not expect. For example, he was known to
leave the confines of Vatican City, donning the simple black cassock and round hat that
were characteristic of the priests of Rome. He would walk unrecognized through the
streets in Rome. It was said that many times even the Swiss guards at the Vatican did not
know the whereabouts of the Pope. A delightful story is told of how Pope John once
stopped at a Catholic hospital called the “Hospital of the Holy Spirit” located not too far
from the Vatican. The Mother Superior of the hospital, its administrator, was also the
anesthetist for the hospital. She was on duty during an operation when she was informed
that the Holy Father had made a surprise visit to the hospital. Unable to leave the
operating room, she gave word to the person next in charge to take the Holy Father
around and show him every courtesy. She indicated that she would join them as soon as
she could. When the operation was over, the Mother Superior dashed out of the
operating room, came into the presence of the Holy Father and greeted him quite
excitedly, “Your Holiness, I am the Mother Superior of the Holy Spirit!” The Pope
looked at her and said, “Mother, you are doing better than I am; I am only the Vicar of
Christ!”
It is significant to remember that Pope John XXIII was a Church historian. He had
even taught Church History for a while in the seminary. He realized that the life of the
Church and the life of the people in our society were moving further and further apart.
He was afraid that the Church was losing her ability to speak meaningfully to the world
of today. He stated that his purpose in invoking a new Ecumenical Council was to
“update” the Church. He wanted to stir up the revitalizing power of the Holy Spirit.1
Pope John also prayed that the Second Vatican Council would become a “Second
Pentecost” in the Church. His prayer was answered; the Second Vatican Council has
providentially led to a greater awareness of the Holy Spirit in the Church today. There

38
have been many expressions of this. Perhaps the most outstanding example has been the
“Catholic Charismatic Movement” through which people have become more aware of
the Holy Spirit and His gifts working in their lives. This has generally been a very
positive force also for the renewal of prayer in the Church today.
We do not, however, have to be members of the Charismatic Renewal or even of a
prayer group to experience the Holy Spirit’s power at work in our lives. Through the
Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, we have already received the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Through His inspiration and grace, we can all bear the
fruits that are the signs of His presence and power in our Christian lives.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness
and chastity. (Galatians 5:22-23)

DEVOTION OF INDIVIDUALS
TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Besides these periods and events in the Church’s history that express a deep awareness
of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power, there have also been individuals whose lives
have been marked by great devotion and openness to the Holy Spirit. Although there are
countless examples of this among the lives of our saints, the life of St. Francis of Assisi
expresses a special openness to the presence and working of the Holy Spirit within him.

The Example of St. Francis

St. Francis’ biography was written by one of his outstanding followers, St.
Bonaventure.2 He shares many instances of St. Francis’ experiences of the Holy Spirit.
The first reference occurs at the very beginning of St. Francis’ conversion, while he
was still caught up with the things of the world. St. Bonaventure tells us that adversity is
one of the chief tools God uses to sharpen the spiritual awareness of people.
Accordingly, God permitted suffering to afflict St. Francis in order to prepare him to
receive a generous outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The fire of divine love was never extinguished in Francis’ heart, but as a young man he was taken
up with the cares of this world and could not grasp the hidden message contained in God’s words.
Then the hand of God came upon him; he suffered a prolonged and distressing illness, while his
heart was enlightened by the infusion of the Holy Spirit. (The Minor Life, Chapter 1, Lesson 2)

St. Francis had a second experience of the Holy Spirit while praying before an image
of Christ crucified in a little chapel called “San Damiano” (St. Damian’s). Our Lord
spoke to Francis from the cross, giving him the mission to rebuild His Church.
St. Francis left the town of Assisi one day to meditate out of doors and, as he was passing by the
church of San Damiano, which was threatening to collapse with age, he was inspired by the Holy
Spirit to go in and pray. He knelt there before an image of Our Lord on His Cross and he felt great
pleasure and consolation in his prayers so that his eyes were full of tears as he gazed at the Cross.
Then, with his own ears, he heard a miraculous voice coming to him from the Cross, saying three

39
 times, “Francis, go and repair my house. You see, it is all falling down.” At first he was terrified at
the divine command expressed in these extraordinary words; but then he was filled with joy and
wonder, and he stood up immediately prepared to put his whole heart into obeying the command
and repairing the material building. However, the message really referred to the Universal Church
which Christ bought with the price of His Precious Blood, as the Holy Spirit afterwards made him
realize, and he himself explained to his close companions. (The Minor Life, Chapter 1, Lesson 5)

St. Bonaventure describes that the Holy Spirit directed St. Francis into the little
chapel of St. Damian’s for this encounter in prayer with Christ Crucified. Later on, the
Holy Spirit gradually enlightened St. Francis as to the true spiritual nature of the mission
Jesus gave him to repair the Church. His efforts were to be directed, not so much at
rebuilding chapels of mortar and stone, like the dilapidated San Damiano, but at
“rebuilding” the Church or dwelling place of God in the hearts of His people. The
people’s faith had grown weak and their love for God had grown cold. Our Lord
commissioned St. Francis to stir up these virtues once again by the good example of his
life, the power of his preaching, and the influence of his spiritual sons and daughters in
the Franciscan family.
On another occasion, St. Francis heard the Gospel story in which Christ sent the
Apostles out, commanding them to take neither money nor provisions for their journey.
He also commanded them to preach the Good News of salvation to the people. Francis
felt that this is precisely what Jesus wanted him to do as well. He began to go about
preaching to the people. Through the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, his
preaching was greatly effective:
Like a second Elias, Francis now began to take up the defense of truth, all inflamed as he was with
the fiery ardor of the Spirit of Christ. He invited others to join him in the pursuit of perfect holiness
urging them to lead a life of penance. His words were full of the power of the Holy Spirit, never
empty or ridiculous, and they went straight to the depths of the heart, so that his hearers were
astonished beyond measure and hardened sinners were moved by their penetrating power. (The
Minor Life, Chapter 2, Lesson 2)

St. Bonaventure further wrote that Francis enjoyed the consolation of the Holy Spirit
when he received the first of his followers, a young man from Assisi named Bernard of
Quintavalle.
As the force of Francis’ teaching and the sincerity of his life became known, others were moved by
his example to live a life of penance. They renounced everything they had and came to share his life
and dress. First among them was Bernard, a worthy man who was called by God and became
Francis’ first son, both in time and holiness. When he had discovered Francis’ holiness for himself,
he decided to renounce the world completely after his example, and he asked his advice about the
best way to do it. Francis was filled with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit when he realized he
was being joined by his first follower. (The Major Life, Chapter 3, Paragraph 3)

A final example of St. Francis’ experience of the Holy Spirit occurred shortly after
he had received his first seven followers. Francis had gone to a hermitage to pray,
especially to express sorrow to God over the sins of his youth. There he received a
further consolation of the Holy Spirit that his sins had been forgiven.
One day when he was in a lonely place by himself, weeping for his misspent years in the bitterness

40
 of his heart, the joy of the Holy Spirit was infused into him and he was assured that all his sins had
been forgiven. (The Major Life, Chapter 3, Paragraph 6)

These examples serve to illustrate two important points. First, they show how aware
St. Francis was of the presence of the Holy Spirit in his personal life. Secondly, they
show us how open he was to following the lead of the Spirit, treasuring this precious Gift
of God. These examples from the life of St. Francis should encourage us to pray for a
greater awareness and openness to the Holy Spirit, in order to experience His working in
our own daily lives.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. After reflecting on the Holy Spirit working in the Church throughout the centuries,
can you recognize times when He has been working in the Church today? (e.g., In
the Second Vatican Council, in the teachings of the Popes, in the lives of the saints in
our time, etc.)

2. Can you think of a time when the Holy Spirit was unmistakably present in your own
life?

3. Have you ever experienced the Holy Spirit enlightening your mind and directing
events in your life for the good?

Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler,

I adore you as my true God,
with God the Father and God the Son.
I adore You and unite myself
to the adoration You receive
from the angels and the saints.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.

—ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

_____________
1 This reminds me of the admonition of St. Paul to young Timothy:

41
 For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the Gift of God bestowed when my hands were laid
on you. The Spirit God has given us is no cowardly Spirit but rather one that makes us strong,
loving, and wise. (2 Timothy 1:6-7)

2 St. Bonaventure actually wrote two accounts of his life. The first, entitled The Minor Life, was written for the
friars to use for meditating on the life of their saintly founder; the second, entitled The Major Life, was written
for the general public. In his two accounts, St. Bonaventure frequently told of the working of the Holy Spirit in
the life of Francis; in fact, there are over sixty references to the Holy Spirit in The Major Life alone.

42
 CHAPTER 4

DECLINE IN DEVOTION
TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Those who have the Holy Spirit produce nothing bad; all the fruits of the Holy Spirit are good.
Without the Holy Spirit all is cold; therefore, when we feel we are losing our fervour, we must
instantly make a novena to the Holy Spirit to ask for faith and love.

—St. John Marie Vianney

On the Holy Spirit

ANYONE FAMILIAR WITH CHURCH history knows that if there have been good
days, then there have also been bad days in the life of the Church. There have been, as
we have just seen, individuals as well as times and movements when devotion to the
Holy Spirit flourished; but there have also been times of decline. Some of this decline
resulted from the denial of the true identity of the Holy Spirit, while other aspects of
decline have been due to exaggerations or distortions of devotion to Him.

DENIAL OF THE DIVINITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Without doubt, the worst days in Church history regarding the understanding of the Holy
Spirit and devotion to Him were the days of the so-called Macedonian heresy.

Macedonian Heresy
This heresy, in the latter half of the fourth century, denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit.
It held that He was neither God nor the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. It is useful
for us to examine the background to this heresy briefly. This will also help us to better
appreciate the authentic teaching of the Church on the Holy Spirit.

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 Actually, another heresy called Arianism prepared the way for the Macedonian
heresy. At the beginning of the fourth century, a priest by the name of Arius, from
Alexandria in Egypt, denied the divinity of Jesus, saying that He was neither the Son of
God nor the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Arius claimed that Jesus had a
beginning (and therefore He could not be God because God is from all eternity). Instead,
Arius said that Jesus Christ was simply an intermediary creature between God and the
world. In 325 A.D., the Council of Nicea, the First Ecumenical Council of the Church,
forcefully condemned Arius’ teaching as heresy.
Sometime later, after the middle of the fourth century, the then Bishop of
Constantinople, Macedonius, was accused of teaching the heresy, which, to this day,
bears his name. Just as Arius had denied the divinity of Jesus, the Son of God,
Macedonius denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Those who followed the Macedonian
heresy believed that the Holy Spirit was only a creature, not God, not divine, not the
Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. Those who held this heresy became known
popularly by the Greek word Pneumatomachoi (literally, the “enemies” or “opponents”
of the Spirit). In 381 A.D. at Constantinople, the Second Ecumenical Council in the
Church officially condemned Macedonianism as a heresy.
In 382 A.D., Pope (St.) Damasus ratified the decisions of this Ecumenical Council.
Its teaching was then added to the Creed that had earlier been formulated at the Council
of Nicea in 325 A.D. It expressed a strong emphasis on the divinity of the Holy Spirit.1
What the First Council of Constantinople defended and taught about the Holy Spirit is
summarized in these words from the “Nicene Creed”:
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father and the
Son. With the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the
prophets.

This brief statement on the Holy Spirit very clearly and emphatically expresses our
belief in His divinity. The Holy Spirit is called “Lord”; this is a divine title. Furthermore,
He is referred to as the “Giver of life,” and all life, as we know, ultimately comes from
God. It is said that He “proceeds from the Father and the Son” because He is the bond of
Their mutual love in the life of the Blessed Trinity. The Creed also stresses that with the
Father and the Son He is “worshipped and glorified.” This was the Council’s way of
saying that He is equal to the Father and to the Son Who are both acknowledged to be
Divine Persons. Therefore, He is equal with Them to the point of being worshipped and
praised as They are. This is again another way of saying that He is a Divine Person.
Finally, there is a reference to the fact that He has “spoken through the prophets,”
because we see the working of the Spirit even in Old Testament times accomplishing
God’s work among His people.

DISTORTION OF DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

In addition to a denial of the divinity of the Holy Spirit, decline in true devotion to the

44
Spirit has also come about either as a result of theological errors or of abuses in the form
of exaggerated claims to possessing the Holy Spirit. In the history of religious
experience, these exaggerated claims often fall under the general catch-word,
“enthusiasm,” which will be discussed later in this chapter.

Joachimism
An example of a theological error regarding devotion to the Holy Spirit in Church
history is “Joachimism,” named after an Italian mystic, Joachim of Fiore (c. 1130-1202).
While on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he was converted from a worldly life. As a
result, he entered a Cistercian abbey, was ordained a priest, and later was elected abbot.
In time, he resigned his office to devote himself to writing. Afterward, he founded a
reform abbey of strict observance at Fiore in Calabria. His contemporaries regarded him
as a holy man and an eloquent preacher.
What is of interest to us is Joachim’s idea of history. Writing books based on a
mystical interpretation of the Book of Revelation, he introduced a kind of “theology of
history” in which he saw salvation history as divided into three ages or periods, each one
corresponding to One of the Three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity.
The first period was “the Age of the Father,” in which God the Father ruled with
power. It was an age characterized by fear and servile obedience. It corresponded to the
Old Testament period in which the Father ruled by the harsh dispensation of the Old
Testament Law. This first age eventually moved into the second.
The second period was “the Age of the Son,” in which God the Son ruled through
wisdom. It was an age characterized by faith, grace and filial obedience. During this age,
the “Petrine” (from St. Peter) or visible or hierarchical Catholic Church was established.
This age corresponded to the New Testament period. Joachim, however, taught that this
age would pass into a third age.
The third period was “the Age of the Holy Spirit.” Joachim announced that this age
would begin relatively soon, sometime around 1260. According to Joachim, the reign of
the Spirit would be characterized by universal love and liberty. This universal love
would proceed from the Gospel of Jesus, not from its letter, but from its spiritual
interpretation. Accordingly, the “Petrine” or visible Catholic Church would be absorbed
into an invisible spiritual Church, the “Johannine” Church (from St. John the Beloved,
author of the Book of Revelation). During this age, the “Eternal Gospel”2 would be
announced. It would be a time of great signs and idyllic conditions. For example, there
would be a great conversion of the Jews; the Orthodox Churches and the Catholic
Church would be reunited; all wars would cease.
In 1215, the Fourth Lateran (Ecumenical) Council condemned Joachim’s teachings
as heresy. Although Joachim had emphasized the Holy Spirit, he had done so at the cost
of ignoring the Father and the Son. He became guilty of a heretical Trinitarian teaching
called “Tritheism” (literally, “three Gods”). Tritheism holds that there are not only Three
Divine Persons in God, but Three Divine Natures as well. This is the equivalent of

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saying that there are three Gods, not one God. Joachim did not distinguish between
nature and person in God. He concluded that because there are Three Persons in God,
there must be Three Natures. Joachim’s teaching, therefore, destroyed the unity of God’s
nature as one God.
In regard to his “theology of history,” Joachim’s teachings contained three other
errors. First, he separated the Three Divine Persons as working alone in each of the three
periods of history he recognized. This separation further destroyed the unity of the
Blessed Trinity because all Three Divine Persons act together in regard to Their
creatures. They act through Their nature, and Their nature is one. Second, because all
Three Divine Persons possess the one and the same Divine Nature, They all possess the
same divine qualities, namely, power, wisdom, and love. Joachim, however,
distinguished them separately in each of the Three Divine Persons. He exclusively gave
power to the Father, wisdom to the Son, and love to the Holy Spirit. Third, Joachim
erred seriously in teaching that there were two distinct Churches, the “Petrine” (visible)
and the “Johannine” (invisible). There is, always will be, and can only be one Church
founded by Jesus and united by the Holy Spirit.3
Two other factors exacerbated Joachim’s plight. First, some of his followers, who
called themselves “Joachimists,” further discredited Joachim’s reputation by falsely
publishing some of their own writings in his name. Second, despite the condemnation by
the Fourth Lateran Council, Joachim’s ideas were kept alive among a group of
Franciscans known as the “Spirituals.” These Spirituals tended to be extremely strict
observers of the Rule and Testament of St. Francis, unfortunately even to the point of
fanaticism. The Spirituals promoted Joachim’s ideas because he had predicted that “the
Age of the Holy Spirit” would be inaugurated by the coming of a great new “barefooted”
order of contemplative men in the Church. The Spirituals saw themselves as this new
order that Joachim had foretold. In 1256, Pope Alexander IV condemned some of their
teachings, including a work entitled The Introduction to the Eternal Gospel. This book
was an edition of Joachim’ s works, which was regarded as the “Bible” of the coming
Age of the Holy Spirit.
One important lesson we can learn from the mistakes of Joachimism is that devotion
to the Holy Spirit must never exclude our love and devotion to both the Father and the
Son. They must be united together. As we say in the Nicene Creed: “With the Father and
the Son He (the Holy Spirit) is worshipped and glorified.” In fact, when we pray to the
Holy Spirit, He directs us to Jesus, and then in, with, and through Jesus, He leads us to
the Father.

The Dangers of “Enthusiasm”4

Among the characteristics of this “enthusiasm”5 is a desire to possess a more directly felt
guidance of the Holy Spirit. This could easily lead a group or movement to see itself as
“elitist,” or “perfect,” while at the same time having a disregard, if not a disdain, for
those who are only “marginal Christians,” weaker brothers and sisters who plod and

46
stumble on the religious path of life.
A good example of this phenomenon is the attitude of a group in the early centuries
of Christianity who were referred to as “Gnostics” (from the Greek word gnosis,
meaning knowledge). They claimed to possess a very special or superior or
“enlightened” knowledge of religious mysteries that other “ordinary” or “unenlightened”
believers did not possess.

EXAGGERATED TENDENCIES TO AVOID

IN DEVOTION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

The exaggerations and distortions of “enthusiasm” can produce, and often have produced
bizarre and unwelcomed consequences in regard to devotion to the Holy Spirit. Let us
now look more closely at some of the dangerous tendencies of “enthusiasm,” so as to
avoid their negative effects in our own spiritual lives.

Danger of Emotionalism
Emotionalism is the first dangerous tendency to be avoided. Certain people seek a
devotion to the Holy Spirit that is almost entirely “emotional.” They seem to have a
driven need to “feel” the presence of the Holy Spirit. In truth, however, we cannot “feel”
God Himself because God has no material makeup. Furthermore, because God is purely
spiritual, our senses cannot have direct knowledge of Him. He does not touch our senses
directly. What we “feel” is a certain “consolation” that God may allow us to experience
so that by its unique “sweetness” and “joy,” He may draw us closer to Himself.
Consolation, for example, can help us to pray especially when we are beginning to
develop a prayer life. Beginners often need the joyful feeling of consolation to help them
to pray more fervently until they learn how to pray more faithfully. In other words,
beginners in the spiritual life tend to pray more from feelings than from faith. That can
be helpful. But danger comes if people seek this “consoling feeling” or “sweetness” as
the main goal of their spiritual efforts rather than learning to focus on their relationship
with the Lord. St. John of the Cross summed up this tendency in a famous quote: “We
must seek the God of consolations and not simply the consolations of God.”
In summary, we realize that sometimes the working of the Holy Spirit is
accompanied by strong feelings of fervor or consolation. On the other hand, it may be
accompanied by no feelings at all; in fact, a person may experience dryness and even
spiritual darkness. In either case, the authentic working of the Holy Spirit can only be
known through the results or “fruits” that His graces produce in our lives. It would
certainly hinder our spiritual growth and it might even do serious harm to our spiritual
life if we were to insist on enjoying emotional consolations or “feelings” of the presence
of the Holy Spirit, rather than on being open to His presence and His Will for us, even if
it means dryness or emptiness of feelings.

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Danger of Pride
A second dangerous tendency to avoid in our devotion to the Holy Spirit is the feeling of
pride. This can easily overcome a person who has received various gifts of the Holy
Spirit. This was a situation that plagued St. Paul in his relationship with the Church
community in Corinth. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul made frequent
mention of the Holy Spirit and His gifts. Because they seemed to possess these gifts in
abundance, many of the Corinthians became rather proud; they began to look down on
those who did not possess the same gifts. St. Paul wrote to challenge them on this very
point:
Who confers any distinction on you? What do you possess that you have not received? But if you
have received it, why are you boasting as if you did not receive it? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

The danger of pride is always present in the spiritual life. A humble person is clearly
aware that every gift he or she possesses has been given by God. Accordingly, we must
use them not for our own vainglory, but rather for the good of others, as well as for our
own growth in holiness. The Spirit’s gifts are essential for carrying out God’s will in our
daily lives.
A feeling of pride, however, often puffs up a person with an exaggerated sense of his
or her own self-importance and can easily lead to self-righteous attitudes of being better-
than-thou: “I received the gifts of the Spirit and you did not!” or “I’m a ‘first-class’
Christian, while you are definitely ‘second class’!”6
St. Paul told the Corinthians that the way which matters most is not the way of the
gifts, but rather the way of charity. We read further on in that same letter:
Set your hearts on the greater gifts. Now I will show you the way which surpasses all the others. If I
speak with human tongues and angelic as well, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, a clanging
cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and with full knowledge comprehend all mysteries, if I have
faith great enough to move mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give everything I have to
feed the poor and hand over my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians
12:31, 13:1-3)

Ultimately, we will all be judged by God not on how many gifts we have received
but on how much we have loved Him and on how faithfully we have striven to carry out
His Will. Our Lord Himself taught this point very clearly in the Sermon on the Mount.
You can tell a tree by its fruit. None of those who cry out “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of
God, but only the one who does the Will of My Father in heaven. When that day comes, many will
plead with Me, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? Have we not exorcised demons
by its power? Did we not do many miracles in Your name as well?” Then I will declare to them
solemnly, “I never knew you. Out of My sight, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:20-23)

God’s gifts, both physical and spiritual, are given to us so that we might use them to
promote God’s glory, to grow in holiness, to help us spread the Kingdom of God, and to
assist our brothers and sisters in their physical and spiritual needs. We must never let the
gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us or the deeds He has accomplished in and through

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us ever become opportunities for our own pride, vanity, or boasting. Rather, we must
grow in the virtue of humility and learn to give over to God the glory that is His from the
Spirit’s working in us.

Danger of Rejecting the Church

A third dangerous tendency of exaggerated devotion to the Holy Spirit is the tendency to
feel so “free” in the Spirit that one rejects all need for the Church. This is the attitude of
those persons who reject the Church’s teaching and doctrine, feeling that they are
internally “enlightened” or “led” by the Holy Spirit Himself. This same tendency is also
seen in the rejection of the leadership and guidance of the Catholic Church that Christ
has established.
There have been in the course of history many enthusiastic movements that have
appealed to what is called an “inner light” Church. Adherents of these movements often
claim some direct illumination and guidance from the Holy Spirit, thereby eliminating
any need for Church authority. For example, as we have seen in Joachimism, the
“visible” or hierarchical Church in “the Age of the Son” became an “invisible” or inner
spiritual Church in “the Age of the Holy Spirit.” Yet Christ said clearly of His disciples:
He who hears you, hears Me. He who rejects you, rejects Me. And he who rejects Me, rejects Him
Who sent Me. (Luke 10:16)

These disciples spoke with the authority of Christ. Today, the pope and bishops,
having the responsibility to teach and guide the people of God in the Church, speak with
a similar authority from Christ.
This third tendency further shows itself in the rejection of the various Sacraments.
Sometimes a person may mistakenly feel, “I have the Holy Spirit, I don’t need any other
means of grace such as the Sacraments.” Yet, the Lord would never contradict His own
revealed teaching. He would neither deny nor contradict the very authority He set up to
guide His Church and to teach His people in His own Name, and to sanctify them by the
administration of the Sacraments He instituted.
The Holy Spirit’s interior working in our soul does not eliminate the place of the
Scriptures, nor the teaching authority, nor the Sacraments that Christ gave to His Church.
In fact, the Spirit’s hidden, unseen mission within us uses and builds upon what we have
already gained through these external gifts with which Christ has richly endowed His
Church. It would certainly be an exaggeration and distortion of our devotion to the Holy
Spirit to assume that His presence within us renders all other aspects of our Catholic
Faith unnecessary. This would be a contradiction of Christ’s own intention for His
Church, and we can be sure that the Holy Spirit would not be a part of such a
contradiction.

In this chapter and the previous one, we have looked in a very general way at various

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aspects of fervor and decline in regard to devotion to the Holy Spirit. From the examples
of those individuals who have been fervent, may we be encouraged to know, love and
listen more faithfully to the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. On the other hand, we must
also learn to avoid the mistakes and exaggerations of those movements, individuals and
tendencies that have brought about the decline. We must always remember that sound
devotion requires a sound theological basis. Authentic holiness can and must spring only
from a solid foundation rooted in the truth of our Catholic Faith.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. How well are you using the gifts God has given you? Are you using them for the
good of others?

2. What kinds of fruits has the Holy Spirit produced in your life?

3. When you pray, do you pray to be with “the God of consolations” or simply to have
the “consolations of God”?

4. Have you encountered any of the exaggerated devotions to the Holy Spirit in your
own life or among people you know? If so, how have you handled being faithful to
the teaching authority of the Church, and being open to the Spirit at the same time?

Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler,

I give you my heart and I offer my ardent thanksgiving
for all the grace which You never cease
to bestow on me.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.

—ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

_____________
1 Catholics make a special profession of their Faith in the Three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity every
Sunday and on Solemnities when they profess at Mass the Creed that has come down to them, combining the
teachings of the first two Ecumenical Councils of the Church, Nicea and Constantinople. In fact, this is why
the full proper name of the Creed is the “Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed”; however, it is popularly known

50
 simply as the “Nicene Creed.”
2 “Eternal Gospel” is a reference to Revelation 14:6, where we read:

Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, the herald of everlasting good news (Eternal
Gospel) to the whole world, to every nation, race, language and people.

3 Joachim had actually submitted his writings to the judgment of the Church, but he died before any judgment
could be given. In fact, his writings were not condemned as heretical until years after his death.
4 Our English word comes from a Greek word meaning literally “God within us.” The ancient Greeks felt that if
a person was “enthusiastic,” it was a spark of God’s life within them that caused this joyful excitement. In this
sense, we should be enthusiastic about the Holy Spirit living and working within us by His divine indwelling
and through His gifts and inspirations. We should all want to be on fire with the love and truth that the Holy
Spirit gives us.
5 The word “enthusiasm” as used here has a more technical meaning. According to Fr. Ronald Knox (who wrote
a book entitled Enthusiasm, dealing with this particular phenomenon), it refers not so much to a special
movement as to a tendency in many movements. According to him, it is a recurring phenomenon in Church
history. He describes this tendency as “ultra supernaturalism.”
6 This reminds me of the saying on a little humorous identification card for Catholics which reads, “I am an
outstanding Catholic; in case of an accident, call a Bishop or at least a Monsignor.”

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 PART II

THE HOLY SPIRIT:

THE SPIRIT OF LIFE

52
 CHAPTER 5

THE SPIRIT OF LIFE

The Spirit worked through the apostles, but at the same time He was also at work in those who
heard them: “Through His action, the Good News takes shape in human minds and hearts and
extends through history. In all of this, it is the Holy Spirit who gives life.”

—Pope St. John Paul II

Encyclical Letter, Redemptoris Missio

SOME OF THE GREATEST art masterpieces in the world are painted on the ceiling
and walls of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. They are the fruits of the artistic genius
of Michelangelo. Among the paintings is the famous portrayal of the creation of man.
Through means of striking contrasts, the painting portrays God the Father as Creator and
Adam as creature. God the Father, in divine majesty, reaches out His all-powerful
creative hand and gives life to Adam. Adam, reaching with a dignity reflecting someone
made in the image and likeness of God, displays a certain weakness and frailty. The
finger of the Father’s right hand touches the finger of Adam’s left hand. The Father’s
finger is firm and strong; Adam’s is drooping and weak. The Father’s finger is life-
giving; Adam’s is life-receiving.
The life-giving finger of the Father’s right hand is really a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
It represents the Spirit’s presence and power in the work of creation. The traditional
Latin hymn in honor of the Holy Spirit, Veni, Creator, Spiritus (Come, Creator, Spirit),
dating from the 9th century, clearly expresses this symbol of the Holy Spirit as the
Digitus Paternae Dextrae (literally, “The Finger of the Father’s Right Hand”). To quote
the first three stanzas of this inspiring hymn:
Come, Creator, Spirit
visit the souls of Your own;
fill with heavenly grace
the breasts that You have created.

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 You Who are called Paraclete,
Gift of the Most High God,
living water, flame, charity
and spiritual anointing.

You Who are sevenfold in Your gift,

Finger of God’s right hand,
You Who were rightly promised by the Father,
enrich our throats with speech.

Every Sunday and Solemnity, we proclaim in the Nicene Creed at Mass: “We believe
in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life.” It is therefore fitting that we focus on life
as the first manifestation of God Himself. He alone is the Source of all life. He possesses
it as His own in an absolute way. He does not so much HAVE life, rather, He IS life! All
other living things draw their life from His. Life is the first and most basic reality upon
which all other realities rest; it is the gift that contains all other gifts!

THE LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT

It is theologically important to state that all Three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity
together give us life. The reason for this is because They always act together in unison
when dealing with the people and things They have created. This chapter, however,
focuses specifically on the special life-giving mission and power of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is life-giving in four instances. Two deal with creation: the FIRST
creation and the NEW creation; the other two deal with death and life: JESUS’ and
OURS. In this chapter, we shall look at the life-giving Spirit in creation and in Jesus’
death and life; in the following chapter, we shall examine His role in our own death and
life.

The First Creation

The FIRST creation took place at the beginning of time. It was the creation of all things
that God called forth into existence, none of which had yet existed. Only God Himself
previously existed. It was God’s almighty power alone that created something out of
nothing. The Spirit of Life was at work in this FIRST creation. The opening lines of
Genesis contain the first mention of the Spirit.1
In the beginning, when God created the heavens and earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and
darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

A footnote to the New American Bible translation indicates that “mighty wind”
literally can be read in the original Hebrew as either “a wind of God” or “a spirit of
God.” The reason for this is because the same Hebrew word ruah, can be translated as
either “spirit” or “wind” or even “breath.”
Thus, in the beginning, God created the earth devoid of any form, beauty, or life.
Likewise, there existed the “abyss,” a kind of primitive watery deep covered with

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“darkness.” Over this emptiness and dark abyss, the Holy Spirit—like a mighty wind—
moved. His “sweeping” over them eventually brought forth form, beauty, and, above all,
life!
In the following days of the creation account in Genesis, all creation comes alive!
The seas are filled with fish and living creatures of all kinds, the land abounds in
vegetation, and animals of all species inhabit the land. Finally, there is the creation of the
first man and woman, the highest expression of God’s creative power and love. God
Himself looks at all that He has created and finds it “very good” (Genesis 1:31).
It was the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit at the first moment of the Old Testament
that empowered the FIRST creation to break forth into life. Wonderful as this First
Creation was, however, the Spirit of Life brought about an even greater New Creation.

The New Creation

This NEW creation took place in the fullness of time. It was the moment of the
Incarnation when God joined Himself to His own creation: the Son of God became
incarnate and became the Son of the Virgin Mary.2 St. Paul described the impact of the
New Creation:
When the designated time had come, God sent forth His Son born of a woman, born under the Law,
to deliver from the Law those who were subjected to it, so that we might receive our status as
adopted sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

In the Prologue of his Gospel, St. John also proclaimed this greatest moment in
human history in the context of a NEW creation. He used words reminiscent of the
introduction in Genesis to the account of the FIRST creation: “In the beginning …”
In the beginning was the Word; the Word was in God’s presence, and the Word was God. (John
1:1)

Then he proclaimed another and even greater “creative” act of God’s mercy and love
for us:
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory of
an only Son coming from the Father, filled with enduring love. (John 1:14)

It was the Holy Spirit Who was present again to bring about this great Mystery of
Life and Love. In contrast to the Spirit’s “sweeping over” the formless earth and dark
abyss at the FIRST creation to bring forth life, the Holy Spirit “overshadowed” the
Virgin Mary of Nazareth at the Annunciation. In response to the Archangel Gabriel’s
announcement that she had been chosen by God and that she would bear a Son, Mary
asked:
“How can this be since I do not know man?” The angel answered her: “The Holy Spirit will come
upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence the holy offspring to be born
will be called Son of God.” (Luke 1:34-35)

Precisely at that moment, the Incarnation, the highest point of all God’s creative

55
work in the universe, occurred:
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. (John 1:14)

Jesus, Who proclaimed that He had come precisely to give us life in all its fullness
(John 10:10), was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary through the power of the
Holy Spirit. We solemnly proclaim this fact as a truth of our Catholic Faith in the Nicene
Creed: “By the power of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became
Man …”
St. Joseph was one of the first persons to whom this mystery of the Incarnation as the
life-giving work of the Holy Spirit was revealed:
Joseph, Son of David, have no fear about taking Mary as your wife. It is by the Holy Spirit that she
has conceived this Child. She is to have a Son and you are to name Him Jesus because He will save
His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:20-21)

In imitation of the faith, love, and trusting obedience of St. Joseph, we too must be
ready to receive Jesus as the Word Incarnate, the Son of God and the Son of Mary, into
our own midst.

Jesus’ Death and Life

The third manifestation of the Spirit of Life took place when Jesus experienced His
“Paschal Mystery,” namely, at His Death, His Resurrection and His Glorification.3 We
can actually distinguish three bestowals of the Holy Spirit, which occurred, respectively,
on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday. These bestowals initiated the new
life of the Church. The Holy Spirit became the “Soul” or inner source of life in the
Mystical Body of Christ, the Church.
In his Gospel, St. John tells us that the Holy Spirit would only be given when Jesus
was glorified (John 7:39). Our Lord confirmed this at the Last Supper when He told His
Apostles:
I tell you the sober truth: It is much better for you that I go. If I fail to go, the Paraclete will never
come to you; whereas if I go, I will send Him to you. (John 16:7)

The reason for the Lord’s statement was clear: The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, would
continue—albeit in a hidden, interior way—the spiritual formation of the Apostles,
which Our Lord had visibly commenced. Jesus’ departure constituted His “Paschal
Mystery,” His glorious return to the Father. It consisted of His saving Death, His
triumphant Resurrection, and His Ascension to His place of glory at the right hand of the
Father, united with His sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as He had promised. In
each instance there was a pouring forth of the Spirit of Life.

The Spirit Is Given Initially at Calvary

Prior to His death, Our Lord taught the Apostles by way of different images which

56
linked suffering and death with new life. He had told them how a grain of wheat must
fall into the ground and die; but once it dies, it will give abundant new life (John 12:24).4
He also used the image of a woman about to give birth. When she is in labor, she is in
pain and sorrow; but once she gives birth, she no longer remembers the suffering
because of the joy she has in the child born to her (John 16:21).5 Note that in both these
images, suffering or death precede joy or life.
In a similar way, Jesus’ death on Calvary resulted in a new life. This new life was the
life of the Church beginning to emerge mysteriously. Jesus is dying; the Church is
coming to life. This can be seen symbolized in the blood and water which flowed from
the side of Our Lord when He was pierced on the cross by the centurion’s spear:
One of the soldiers thrust a lance into His side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (This
testimony has been given by an eyewitness. and his testimony is true. He tells what he knows is
true, so that you may believe.) (John 19:34-35)

The blood and water symbolically represent the Church. They stand for the
Sacraments of the Eucharist and Baptism, respectively.6
Indeed, the formation of the Church at Calvary was a favorite theme of the early
Church Fathers. For example, St. John Chrysostom, a bishop in the fourth century, wrote
in one of his catecheses:
“There flowed from His side water and blood.” Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without
thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood
symbolized Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. From these two sacraments, the Church is born: from
Baptism, the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit, and from the
Holy Eucharist. Since the symbols of Baptism and the Eucharist flowed from His side, it was from
His side that Christ fashioned the Church, as He had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam …
Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone
from my bones and flesh from my flesh.” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a
woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from His side to fashion the Church. God took the
rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way, Christ gave us the blood and the water
after His own death. (The Catecheses of St. John Chrysostom, Cat. 3, 13-19; SC 50, 174-77 in the
The Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. II, pp. 472-73)

Jesus’ death, then, is like a “new birth” giving life to the Church. It is precisely at
this very moment that the Spirit of Life is referred to as being present. St. John indicated
this in the account of Our Lord’s death:
Jesus, realizing that everything was now finished, said to fulfill the Scripture: “I am thirsty.” There
was a jar there, full of common wine. They stuck a sponge soaked in this wine on some hyssop and
raised it to His lips. When Jesus took the wine, He said, “Now it is finished.” Then He bowed His
head and delivered over His spirit. (John 19:28-30)

This reference to Jesus “delivering over His spirit” has a double meaning in the
original Greek. On the one hand, it refers to Jesus Who, in the act of dying, surrendered
His very last breath as a sign of His complete submission to His Heavenly Father’s
Will.7 In this sense, St. Luke preserved one of the seven last words of Our Lord on the
Cross:

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 Father, into Your Hands I commend My spirit.
(Luke 23:46)

On the other hand, Jesus’ “delivering over His spirit” also seems to refer to His
conferring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. As set forth above, the Church is
symbolically seen as being “born” from Jesus’ side when the blood and water flow from
His pierced Heart. Because the Church was beginning to come alive, the Spirit of Life
had to be present. At the very moment of His death, Jesus began to pour forth His
promised Spirit of Life. This was the first time Jesus conferred the Life-Giving Spirit on
His people. Had He not told those who thirsted for eternal life to come to Him, and He
would create in them rivers of living water? As St. John comments:
Here He was referring to the Spirit, Whom those that came to believe in Him were to receive. There
was, of course, no Spirit as yet, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:39)

Jesus’ death on the Cross on Good Friday was the very beginning of His glorification
—He was now returning to His place of glory in Heaven at the right hand of His Father.
It was also the beginning of His conferring of the Spirit of Life on His disciples because
He was now being glorified.

The Spirit Is Given Uniquely to

the Apostles on Easter Sunday
Our Lord won for us the Gift of God, the Holy Spirit, by His saving death. Now, by His
Easter Resurrection, He further bestowed on His Church the Holy Spirit with His life-
giving mission.
St. John tells us that Our Risen Lord appeared to His Apostles on Easter night. He
greeted them with His peace and showed them His pierced hands and side to reassure
them He had truly risen. Then, ready to send them forth as His Apostles (“apostle” is
from the Greek word meaning “one who is sent”), the Holy Spirit was given to them:
“Peace be with you,” He said again. “As the Father has sent Me, so I send You.” Then He breathed
on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them; if
you hold them bound, they are held bound.” (John 20:21-23)

Again, the Holy Spirit is here referred to in His life-giving mission. He is given to
the Apostles so that they themselves may have eternal life. The Apostles received the
Holy Spirit, Who was breathed on them in much the same way that God had breathed the
breath of life into Adam (Genesis 2:7).
But the Spirit of Life is also given so that the Apostles can share His life-giving
mission with others among God’s people. The Holy Spirit has the mission of
“sanctifying us.” This means, first of all, that He frees us from our sins that keep us from
God. He then makes us “just” and pleasing to God, filling us with the Sanctifying Grace
of Eternal Life (changing us from sinners to saints, from God’s enemies to His friends).
When the Apostles received the Holy Spirit, they were cleansed of all their personal
sins. At the same time, they were given the power of the Holy Spirit to take away the

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sins of the People of God in Jesus’ Name: first, through Baptism, and second, through
the great Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Approximately fifteen centuries later, the Council of Trent defined that the power
Jesus conferred on Easter night to His Apostles to forgive sins is the same power priests
exercise in Confession. Over the centuries, this power to forgive sins has been and still is
a source of constant renewal and consolation for countless multitudes who continue to
seek pardon and peace in this Sacrament of Peace.
I once heard it said, “A saint is nothing but a sinner who keeps trying.” How
renewing, refreshing, uplifting, and peaceful the Sacrament of Penance can prove to be.
Despite the sins we repeatedly commit because of our weaknesses, it can make saints of
us if we repent and keep trying again and again to live holy lives. It is as if the Holy
Spirit is actually breathing fresh life into us! The Sacrament of Reconciliation is, in its
own way, also a conferral of the Spirit of Life.

The Spirit Is Given Universally on Pentecost

The third time the Spirit of Life came in Jesus’ Paschal Mystery was on Pentecost
Sunday. After His Death and Resurrection, Our Lord ascended to Heaven to take up His
place of glory at the right hand of His Heavenly Father. He had told the Apostles at the
Last Supper that He was going away to prepare a place for His faithful servants in His
Heavenly Kingdom. Furthermore, He would also await the moment for His return again
in glory at the Parousia, at the time of the final judgment at the end of the world.
In the meantime, however, He promised to send us the Holy Spirit to carry on His
mission among His followers throughout the centuries. He fulfilled this promise when
He sent the Holy Spirit from the Father on Pentecost. At that moment, the Church, as
God’s New People, came to birth.
There were one hundred twenty followers of Jesus gathered in the Upper Room on
Pentecost (Acts 1:15). Jewish law required that number as a minimum for any new
movement to be legally recognized. Furthermore, one tenth of that number also had to be
in leadership roles: this legal requirement was met because there were twelve Apostles as
leaders. In addition to the initial band of disciples, many others entered the Church that
day. Pentecost would truly be the official “birthday” of the Church:
Those who accepted his (St. Peter’s) message were baptized; some three thousand were added that
day. (Acts 2:41)

Just as the human body needs the presence of the soul in it to be the source of life for
all its activities, so too, the Church, which St. Paul called “the Body of Christ” (1
Corinthians 12:27), needs the presence of the Spirit of Life within it. He acts as the
“Soul” of the Mystical Body of Christ, being the source of vitality for its growth and all
its good works. The Spirit of Life will do this throughout the centuries, even to the very
end of time.

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 REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. What image of the Holy Spirit would best express how you see Him working in your
life? (A mighty wind, a gentle breeze, or a whisper?)

2. A saint is nothing more than a sinner who keeps trying. Do you appreciate and take
advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation that our Lord left us as the ordinary
means to receive the forgiveness of our sins?

3. Do you recognize that the Sacrament of Confirmation is really like a personal

Pentecost for you, leading you to a greater maturity as a disciple (or soldier) of
Christ?

Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler,

O Giver of all supernatural gifts,
who filled the soul
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God,
with such immense favors,
I beg You to visit me with Your grace and Your love
and to grant me the gift of holy fear,
so that it may act on me as a check
to prevent me from falling back into my past sins,
for which I beg pardon.
This I ask, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

—ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

_____________
1 As we read Genesis, we must keep one very important point in mind. In the Old Testament, the Mystery of the
Blessed Trinity—our belief that in One God there are Three Divine Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit—had not yet been revealed. That revelation would take place later in the New Testament, with Jesus
revealing His Heavenly Father as the First Divine Person; revealing Himself as the Son of God, the Second
Divine Person; and promising to send us the Holy Spirit, the Third Divine Person.
So when the Old Testament mentions the “spirit” of God, the Jewish people would not have understood
this to mean a Divine Person. For them it would have meant a quality or “attribute” of God. They would have
understood “spirit” to be the power of God by which He carried out all His works, whether creating the

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 universe or forming a people in the desert at Mt. Sinai, whether moving some of the Israelites as prophets to
preach God’s message or inspiring others in the writing of the Old Testament Scriptures. In short, the “spirit”
of God was the “power” of God guiding all the events in Israel’s history that helped to prepare the way for the
coming of Christ in the fullness of time. It is from our New Testament vantage point, with its fuller view of
Revelation, that we can “look back” and understand the “spirit” or “power” of God in a fuller sense as a
reference to the Third Divine Person, the Holy Spirit. We proclaim this also in the Nicene Creed: We believe
in the Holy Spirit … Who has spoken through the prophets. These prophets had lived in the time of the Old
Testament. In retrospect, it is clearly understood that it was the Holy Spirit already at work among them!
2 This moment of the Incarnation divides all human history into two eras: B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno
Domini—In the year of the Lord).
3 The Glorification of Jesus actually consisted of both His Ascension and His sending of the Holy Spirit.
Because He ascended into His glory, He would send the Holy Spirit as the first Gift of His glorious victory
over sin and death.
4 In reality, Our Lord Himself would be the first and greatest grain of the wheat to die, so that the abundant
harvest of the world’s salvation would soon follow!
5 This is a consistent point of contrast or paradox between life on the natural level and life on the supernatural
level. In the natural life of our body, life precedes death and life leads to death; in the supernatural life of our
soul, death (to sin and selfishness) precedes life in Christ.
6 In connection with this, it is helpful to recall that the Church is also symbolically presented as the mystical
Spouse of Christ, “beautiful as a bride prepared to meet her husband” (Revelation 21:2). To understand and
appreciate this symbolism, we must recall that St. Paul referred to Jesus as the “New Adam” (1 Corinthians
15:45). It logically would follow, then, that the Church, His mystical Spouse, can properly be called the “New
Eve.” Now, the first Eve was described in the creation account in Genesis as being formed from the side of the
first Adam:

So the Lord God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, He took out one of his ribs
and closed up its place with flesh. The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that He had
taken from the man. (Genesis 2:21-22)

7 I remember hearing a very inspiring example of this final total surrender to God. It involved a very holy
Capuchin-Franciscan priest (now up for canonization) who died in 1959. His name was Fr. Solanus Casey. He
had always prayed to die while conscious. For about the last three days of his life, he was in a coma. Just
moments before his death, he came out of the coma, sat up in bed and prayed aloud, “I give my soul to Jesus
Christ.” With that, his head fell back onto the pillow and he died. It was the final act of giving in a life that had
been totally lived for God. Our Lord’s words of self-surrender would have had this same sense.

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 CHAPTER 6

THE SPIRIT IN OUR DEATH

AND LIFE IN CHRIST

One must clean the royal house from every impurity and adorn it with every beauty, then the king
may enter into it. In a similar way, one must first cleanse the earth of the heart and uproot the
weeds of sin and the passionate deeds, and soften it with sorrows and the narrow way of life, sow in
it the seed of virtue, water it with lamentation and tears, and only then does the fruit of dispassion
and eternal life grow. For the Holy Spirit does not dwell in a man until he has been cleansed from
passions of the soul and body.

—St. Paisius Velichkovsky

Field Flowers

IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER, we looked at three manifestations of the Spirit of Life

in connection with Jesus’ own death and life. Here we will reflect on the fourth
manifestation of the Spirit of Life, which is connected with our own personal sharing in
Jesus’ Paschal Mystery. This is seen primarily in our own Baptism and the new life it
conferred on us; it can also be seen in the daily experience of living our Christian lives.

OUR DYING AND RISING IN BAPTISM

In the natural order of human life on earth, life precedes death. In contrast, in the
supernatural order of the life we share with God through Sanctifying Grace, death
precedes life, and death leads to life. How true this is of our Baptism, which is the very
beginning of Christian life. It is a sharing, first in death, then in life. St. Paul emphasized
this point to the first Christians of the Church in Rome:
Are you not aware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Through baptism into His death, we were buried with Him so that just as Christ was raised from the

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 dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life. If we have been united with Him
through likeness to His death, so shall we be through a like resurrection. This we know: our old self
was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be destroyed and we might be slaves to sin no
longer. A man who is dead has been freed from sin. If we have died with Christ, we believe that we
are also to live with Him. We know that Christ, once raised from the dead, will never die again;
death has no more power over Him. His death was death to sin, once for all; His life is life for God.
In the same way, you must consider yourselves dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.
(Romans 6:3-11)

Baptism as Death with Jesus

In this passage, St. Paul clearly teaches that our Baptism is a dying experience. He does
not mean that we die to our natural life in the body; after all, we can still breathe, talk,
walk, eat, drink, and so on. Rather, we die mysteriously or “supernaturally” to sin; our
old sinful self is crucified and put to death, so to speak. Now, through the merits and
power flowing from Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, we can resist sin and its allurements.
The dominant power that sin and our passions had over our lives—we were “slaves of
sin”—is broken, as we are joined with Jesus in His death on the Cross and His rising to
new life. This new life is a life of Christian virtue in which we:
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh. (Romans 13:14)

The early Christians experienced this “new life” through the ordinary adult form of
Baptism by immersion. It consisted of immersing a person three times into a body of
water (e.g., a lake, a river, or a pool). The body of water represented the tomb and death.
When the person was baptized, he was immersed or submerged into the water three
times as the formula was said, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father (first
immersion), and of the Son (second immersion), and of the Holy Spirit (third
immersion).” Each time the person was submerged momentarily in the water, it
symbolized his or her dying with Christ, being buried in the tomb with Him. This is why
St. Paul asked the Christians in Rome whether they were aware that those who had been
baptized into Christ Jesus were “baptized into His death” (Romans 6:3). In a mystical
way, they had gone into the tomb with Jesus!

Baptism as Resurrection with Jesus

As the early Christians emerged from the water, they symbolically rose from death and
from the tomb with Jesus. St. Paul wrote:
If we have been united with Him through likeness to His death, so shall we be through a like
resurrection. (Romans 6:5)

Our bodily resurrection has not yet occurred; that will take place on the last day
when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead. But we already now “live with Him”
(Romans 6:8) through “Sanctifying Grace”; this constitutes the awesome presence of
God in our souls that we call the “Divine Indwelling.” We have become living
tabernacles of God’s presence in us.

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 The Scriptures teach very clearly that the Three Divine Persons dwell in us. Our
Lord Himself at the Last Supper spoke of how He and His Heavenly Father dwell in the
souls of those persons who love Him and live by His Commandments:
Anyone who loves Me will be true to My word, and My Father will love him; We will come to him
and make Our dwelling place with him. (John 14:23)

St. Paul wrote that the Holy Spirit also dwells in us because our bodies are His
“temples”:
You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is within—the Spirit you have
received from God. You are not your own; you have been purchased, and at a price. So glorify God
in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

In a special way, it is the mission of the Holy Spirit to guide us in our new life in
Christ. He does so by the work of His gifts, the stirrings of His inspirations, and the
growth of His love in our hearts. Scripture abounds in evidence of the Holy Spirit’s
mission to be with us and assist us in the work of our sanctification. St. Paul frequently
reminded the early Christians (and us, too) of this sublime mystery:
The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to
us. (Romans 5:5)

God (the Father) is the One Who firmly establishes us along with you in Christ; it is He Who
anointed us and has sealed us, thereby depositing the first payment, the Spirit, in our hearts. (2
Corinthians 1:21-22)

OUR DAILY DYING TO SIN AND

RISING TO MORE GENEROUS LOVE
Our dying and rising with Jesus began on the day of our Baptism, but it did not end
there. It continues every day of our lives. St. John the Baptist summed up the Christian
life when he said:
He (Jesus) must increase, while I must decrease. (John 3:30)

What must decrease in us is the selfish, distorted love that resulted from the wound
of Original Sin deep within us and which is further intensified by our daily personal sins.
These sins pressure us to choose again and again our own self-centered concerns and
desires to the exclusion of the just rights and expectations of God and the legitimate
needs of our neighbor.
What must increase in us, however, is self-giving, Christ-like love. Our Lord
described this perfect love in the two greatest of all the commandments: namely, to love
God with our whole heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves
(Matthew 22:37-39). In other words, there must be less self-centered love in our daily
lives and more self-giving love. This is what the daily experience of dying and rising
with Jesus is all about. This is an ongoing, daily process. St. Paul knew it well:

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 Continually, we carry about in our bodies the dying of Jesus, so that in our bodies the life of Jesus
may also be revealed. While we live, we are constantly being delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, so
that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:10-11)

THE HOLY SPIRIT DIRECTS OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE

It is the Spirit of Life Who, as the Director of the interior life within our souls, is
continuously at work in us, bringing to completion the dying to our sinfulness and self-
centeredness, which began on the day of our Baptism. He will continue His work in us
until we reach the fullness of the new life we have in Christ! This is the spiritual life, and
the Holy Spirit has been given to us to bring it to completion for our sanctification. St.
Paul summed this up well:
If the Spirit of Him (the Father) Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised
Christ from the dead will bring your mortal bodies to life also through His Spirit dwelling in you.
We are debtors, then, my brothers—but not to the flesh, so that we should live according to the
flesh. If you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the evil
deeds of the body, you will live. All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. You did not
receive a spirit of slavery leading you back into fear, but a spirit of adoption through which we cry
out. “Abba” (that is “Father”). The Spirit Himself gives witness with our spirit that we are children
of God. (Romans 8:11-16)

This Holy Spirit described by St. Paul is now the Giver of life for us, the source of
our own personal spiritual life. As He made the universe life-giving at the time of
creation, and as He made the womb of the Virgin Mary bring forth the incarnate life of
the God-man, Jesus Christ, at the time of the Annunciation; so, too, the Holy Spirit
brings forth in our own souls a mysterious sharing in the divine life of the Blessed
Trinity. This new life we call “Sanctifying Grace.” Accordingly, we say in the Nicene
Creed: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life …”

JESUS’ TEACHING ON BAPTISM

AND THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

Our Lord Himself stressed the need for a new spiritual life when He spoke to Nicodemus
(John 3:1ff). Nicodemus was a Pharisee as well as a member of the ruling Jewish
Council, the Sanhedrin. When he came to speak with Jesus, he already had the beginning
of some faith in Him, for he tells Our Lord:
We know you are a teacher come from God, for no man can perform signs and wonders such as
You perform unless God is with him. (John 3:2)

New Birth and New Life

Sincerely seeking the truth, Nicodemus came to Jesus. However, he came under the
cover of night because he did not want to be seen speaking to Jesus in public. Our Lord
had probably already come under the suspicions of many of the Pharisees and

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Sadducees, and so Nicodemus did not want to risk being seen openly speaking with Him.
Jesus responds to Nicodemus by saying:
I solemnly assure you, no one can see the reign of God unless he is begotten from above. (John 3:3)

In this statement, Jesus speaks of a new birth, and with it, new life. “To beget”
someone is the role of a father in the act of conception, in the conceiving of new life.
Our Lord here indicates that the way we enter the reign of God—the Kingdom of God—
is through a new birth.
Our Lord tells us that we must be begotten “from above.” This phrase, “from above,”
is extremely important. The Greek word for this phrase is anothen. Actually, in Greek,
anothen has two meanings. First, it can mean “again.” If Jesus meant to be “begotten
again,” it would mean simply a second natural birth. Second, it could also mean “from
above.” This would indicate, not a second natural birth, but a different kind of birth, a
spiritual birth from above, from Heaven. Nicodemus misunderstands the phrase to mean
being born “again” by a second natural birth because he asks our Lord:
How can a man be born again once he is old? Can he return to his mother’s womb and be born over
again? (John 3:4)

“Water” and “Spirit”

Nicodemus’ question shows that he had misinterpreted Jesus’ words. So Our Lord
clarifies this point by saying:
I solemnly assure you, no one can enter into God’s Kingdom without being begotten of water and
Spirit. (John 3:5)

Here our Lord describes what this new birth will be. It will be a birth that involves
two things, one visible and the other invisible. Water is the visible part of this new birth
through the Sacrament of Baptism, whether it is water poured on a person’s forehead or
water in which a person is totally immersed. This is the visible or outward sign of the
Sacrament. But there is also an invisible part of this new birth by Baptism. This consists
of being begotten of the Spirit. The pouring forth of the Holy Spirit invisibly into the
heart of the person is what brings about the restoration of God’s new life within, the life
lost through Original Sin.

“Flesh” versus “Spirit”

Our Lord contrasts for Nicodemus two different kinds of life—a life that is rooted in the
“flesh” and a life that is rooted in the Spirit. Our Lord tells Nicodemus:
Flesh begets flesh. Spirit begets spirit. (John 3:6)

Our Lord compares two levels of life. The life indicated by the flesh means our
fragile human life here on earth, that life which we received when we were born from
our own mother’s womb. This is a life which is weak, mortal and passing away. Jesus

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does not say that this is the kind of life He wants to give us.
There is also the life of our spirit (soul). In contrast to the flesh, this interior life in
the soul is strong, enduring and immortal; it will not pass away because it is truly eternal
life. Our Lord indicates to Nicodemus that through Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit,
Who creates by His presence in our souls a new spiritual life, a life that will endure
forever and will bring us ultimately to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Reflections of St. Paul

This teaching of new life through the Holy Spirit is found elsewhere in the Scriptures. It
was stressed frequently in the letters of St. Paul—as when, for example, he wrote to
Titus, his young fellow-worker:
He saved us through the baptism of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit He
lavished on us through Jesus Christ Our Savior, that we might be justified by His grace and become
heirs, in hope, of eternal life. You can depend on this to be true. (Titus 3:5-8)

THE SOUL’S MOST WELCOME GUEST

As set forth above, the Holy Spirit is clearly the “Giver of Life” because He comes to
live in us as a result of our Baptism. We become His temples.1 Although all Three
Divine Persons dwell in us when we are in the state of Sanctifying Grace, the Fathers of
the Church emphasized that this “Divine Indwelling” is the special characteristic of the
Holy Spirit. This is why He has been given the beautiful title: “the soul’s most welcome
Guest”!
It is because of His dwelling within us that the Holy Spirit becomes the Source of
continuous spiritual life in us. The Holy Spirit is the “Sanctifier”; He is in charge of the
process of our growth in holiness. As part of His special work of sanctification—the
process of making someone holy—He defends us from evil and inspires us to do good.
He prepares us for the introduction to and the foretaste of the life of glory that all the
saints in Heaven enjoy to the fullest.
Pope Leo XIII, in his famous encyclical letter on the Holy Spirit entitled Divine Illud
Munus (1897), wrote:
Through Baptism, the unclean spirit having been driven forth from the soul for the first time, the
Holy Spirit enters into the soul and renders it like Himself.

Pope Leo XIII, by stating that the Holy Spirit “renders (the soul) like Himself,” is
telling us that the soul is transformed by the Divine Indwelling into the likeness of God
Himself. Let us take the example of a piece of wood thrown into a fire. It can burn so
intensely that at some point we can hardly distinguish the wood from the fire. The wood
is so thoroughly saturated with the fire that it takes on the appearance of the fire. In a
similar way, a soul possessing the Blessed Trinity within it takes on the beauty and the
life of the Blessed Trinity. We do not become God Himself, in a pantheistic sense, like

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becoming a “Fourth Divine Person.” Rather, we are transformed into the likeness of God
so thoroughly that His divine image is impressed on the soul. Since this is the special
work of the Holy Spirit, we speak of being “sealed” with the Holy Spirit. This means
that the divine image of the Holy Spirit is impressed onto the soul, like a royal seal on
wax. St. Paul mentions this “sealing” with the Holy Spirit:
In Him (Jesus) you too were chosen: when you heard the glad tidings of salvation, the word of truth,
and believed in it, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit Who had been promised. (Ephesians 1:13)

Sealed with the Holy Spirit

Some of the Fathers of the Church offered this explanation of the “sealing” by the Holy
Spirit. They compared the soul of the person to liquid wax. The One Who impresses the
“Seal” is the Holy Spirit, and the “Seal” itself is also the Holy Spirit because the Holy
Spirit is impressing Himself like a seal onto the soul. The soul, like wax, will receive His
divine image. The Holy Spirit can give this likeness of Himself to the soul because He
actually gives Himself. He is the Supreme Gift! He is the new Life of the soul, along
with the Father and the Son.
There is an important detail in this explanation of the Fathers of the Church that we
must keep in mind. They said that the soul is and always remains like liquid wax, at least
during the whole lifetime of a person while he or she is on earth. In their explanation,
since the liquid wax does not harden, the imprint in the wax will never be permanent by
itself. It will always require the constant application of the “seal” to the wax for the
image to remain. In a similar way, the “Seal” (the Holy Spirit) must be continuously
applied to the soul or else His image or imprint on the soul will be lost.
This reminds us of a very important fact in the spiritual life. The Holy Spirit is the
soul’s most welcome Guest. However, a guest can remain only as long as he or she is
invited and made to feel welcome. The Holy Spirit will never leave the soul on His own
initiative. However, a person may indicate that the Holy Spirit is no longer welcome
within his or her soul. This happens when the person commits a mortal sin. At that
moment, the Holy Spirit, along with the Father and the Son, leave the soul. If the Spirit
leaves the soul, His living divine image is lost from the soul.
The detail of the liquid wax reminds us then, that the permanent presence of the Holy
Spirit in the soul can never be taken for granted; we can lose it through mortal sin.
Remember that Our Lord said at the Last Supper that He and the Father (and we must
also include the Holy Spirit) would come to those who love Him and keep His word or
His commandments (John 14:23). When we commit mortal sin, we are no longer loving
God or keeping His word because mortal sin is a serious offense against God, His love,
and His commandments. Such sin drives God’s love from our hearts. It results in
breaking the bond of love and friendship between the Blessed Trinity and the soul. Their
divine presence in the soul ceases. So, too, the “Seal” of the Holy Spirit, imprinting His
divine image onto the soul, withdraws. As the liquid wax becomes formless when the
seal is withdrawn, the soul loses its share in the divine beauty and life. It becomes

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spiritually disfigured and spiritually dead.
“Mortal” means deadly, and mortal sin brings spiritual death to the soul. This helps
us to understand why mortal sin is the worst of all possible evils. It alone can separate us
from the Divine Indwelling in our souls, and it alone can deprive us of sharing in the
divine life. It causes the life of God’s grace within us to die. This is why the saints were
resolved to renounce any possessions or pleasures, and to endure any sufferings or
sacrifices, even to lose earthly life itself, rather than to commit a mortal sin. Their
resolve was: “Death rather than (mortal) sin!”
We must safeguard the presence of the Spirit of Life in us by living our daily
Christian life; this will allow us to remain in God’s love by keeping His commandments.
Then our soul will continuously draw life from the Divine Guest within us. We do well
to pray for the Holy Spirit with the same prayer that the Church recites as a special
sequence during the beautiful Mass for Pentecost. It is generally known by its Latin title,
the Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Come, Holy Spirit). However, it is also called The Golden
Sequence because of its great beauty, simplicity, and sweetness.
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from Thy celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!

Come, Father of the poor!

Come, Source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine!

You, of Comforters the best;

You, the soul’s most welcome Guest;
Sweet Refreshment here below;

In our labor, rest most sweet:

Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine,

Shine within these hearts of Thine,
And our inmost being fill!

Where Thou art not, man has naught.

Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;

On our dryness pour Thy dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away.

Bend the stubborn heart and will;

Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore

And confess Thee evermore
In Thy sevenfold gift descend.

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 Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them Thy salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.

Amen. Alleluia.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. How have you experienced the dying and rising with Christ begun in your Baptism,
but experienced in some measure every day of your life? (by resisting sin and being
open to the Spirit of life …)

2. Are you aware that your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit? How do you care for
this Temple? Do you glorify God in your body?

3. The Holy Spirit is the soul’s most welcome Guest. Do you take care to make sure
that He always has a fitting dwelling place in your soul?

Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler, Grant me the gift of piety,

so that I may serve You for the future with increased fervor,
follow with more promptness Your holy inspirations,
and observe your divine precepts with greater fidelity.
This I ask, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

—ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

_____________
1 Actually, as was pointed out, all Three Divine Persons of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
come to live in us. We referred to this divine presence in the soul as the Divine Indwelling through the gift we
call Sanctifying Grace.

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 CHAPTER 7

WIND AND BREATH:

SYMBOLS OF THE
SPIRIT OF LIFE

Everything that breathes, breathes by air and cannot live without air; similarly, all reasonable free
creatures live by the Holy Spirit, as though by air, and cannot live without Him. “Every soul is
quickened by the Holy Spirit.” Recognise that the Holy Spirit stands in the same relation to your
soul as air stands in relation to your body.

—St. John of Kronstadt

My Life in Christ

THE BASIS OF OUR Catholic Faith is the belief that God has spoken to His people by
a special revelation. In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the Old and New Testaments, we
believe that God has revealed Himself and His message of love and salvation for the
world. When God tells us about Himself, we must keep in mind some important facts.
God, Who does the revealing, is eternal, almighty, all-knowing, and infinitely perfect in
every way. If He were not, He would not be God. As a result, only God can totally and
perfectly know Himself. We cannot know Him perfectly because we are not Divine
Persons, but only human persons.
We who receive God’s revelation are, in comparison to God Himself, quite limited
and incomplete in our knowledge. So God must speak to us in human words and not in
divine “language” or else we would not understand Him. Yet no human words and ideas
can totally communicate to us Who God is, because human words are finite or limited
and God is not. Therefore, when God speaks to us in human words, He must use
symbols,1 which still cannot tell us everything about Him, because nothing in our whole
created world can ever be perfectly compared to God. However, a symbol can tell us

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something about Him, limited as it may be.
Let us look at four things which were closely connected with life in the Sacred
Scriptures and which are also in some way symbols of the Holy Spirit. As we reflect on
each symbol, we will learn more about the Spirit of Life. In this chapter, we will focus
on the symbols of (1) Wind and (2) Breath. In the following chapter, we will focus on
the symbols of (3) Water and (4) Fire.

WIND
The first two symbols, “wind” and “breath,” are closely linked to the Spirit of Life by the
biblical Hebrew word ruah. The ancient Jewish people used this same word to mean
“wind” or “breath” or “spirit.” This was because in biblical times, these three realities
were thought to be connected. The basic root of the word ruah means “air in motion,”
and this is the WIND. But it can also mean air inhaled and exhaled in respiration, and
this is BREATH. Finally, the ancient Hebrews observed that when breathing stops, life
also departs from inside the person. This led them to assume that there is also an inner
source of life in each person, a kind of “inner breath,” and this is the human spirit or
soul.
For ancient peoples, “wind” had a certain mystery about it. They could not explain
wind in terms of its origin or its movements. The wind was sometimes even spoken of as
Yahweh’s breath, as in the description of the parting of the waters of the Red Sea:
At a breath of Your anger the waters piled up, the flowing waters stood like a mound, the flood
waters congealed in the midst of the sea. (Exodus 15:8)

Three qualities of the wind can help us in better understanding the Holy Spirit: it is
unpredictable; it is known by its effects; and it can be very forceful.

Free as the Wind

Lacking any scientific understanding, ancient peoples saw the wind as an unpredictable
phenomenon. This gave the wind the characteristic of freedom of movement. (Even
today we use the expression “as free as the wind.”) Our Lord made this very point to
Nicodemus:
The wind blows where it will. You hear the sound it makes but you do not know where it comes
from, or where it goes. So it is with everyone begotten of the Spirit. (John 3:8)

We learn from this symbol that the Holy Spirit’s ways will often be mysterious and
unpredictable. For example, who of us can be sure what God’s providence will arrange
in our lives for even just a day from now? Who of us can demand specific gifts of the
Holy Spirit or even a certain number of them when He simply distributes them as He
wills (1 Corinthians 12:11)? We must respect the freedom of the Spirit in directing our
lives. Our concern should be to be ready and willing to listen to His inspirations rather

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than be ready to dictate our own prearranged agenda to Him.

Known By Its Effects

Yet, despite being unpredictable, the wind can be known in a certain way by its effects.
The wind cannot be seen, but we can hear the noise it makes as it swirls around us, or we
can observe its rustling of leaves or swaying of trees, or we can feel it blowing against
us. In the same way, we cannot see the Holy Spirit, but we can know Him by His effects
in us. To possess the Holy Spirit is to sense the beginning of a deep change in our lives.
A real conversion emerges. The Spirit’s presence is neither adequately nor accurately
judged by our feelings and emotions. It can only be genuinely discerned by the fruits of
His working in us.
Our Lord says that we can only judge a tree by its fruit. He tells us that a good tree
can only bear good fruit, and a bad tree can only bear bad fruit, despite what may appear
on the surface to be to the contrary. The proof is in the fruit, not in the appearances
(Matthew 7:16-23). If the Spirit of God is motivating us, we will bring forth His fruits in
our lives; if the spirit of the world, or of the flesh, or of the devil is motivating us, we
will produce quite different fruits in our lives.
We can only judge the Holy Spirit’s presence and working in us if we ask ourselves
honestly: are we growing in love, joy, peace, patient endurance, generosity, faith,
mildness, chastity, continence, and modesty (Galatians 5:22-23)? Just as the wind can
only be known by its effects, so too, the Holy Spirit can only be genuinely known by the
effects of His fruits in our spiritual lives.

Gentle as a Breeze, Powerful as a Hurricane

As for the force of the wind, that varies quite a bit. Sometimes it is a gentle breeze which
can be very refreshing on a hot summer day. Sometimes the wind can be fierce and
powerful as in a gale or hurricane. Sometimes the wind can speed us up when it is to our
backs, or slow us down if we are moving against it.2
Like the wind, the force of the Spirit varies in our lives. Most often, the Spirit’s lead
is gentle, almost imperceptible. He inspires us in a low-key way, and nudges us along,
slowly but surely. (After all, there are many more gentle breezes in life than there are
hurricanes!) But there are also times when the Spirit is unmistakably directing us in a
certain way. We get the message “loud and clear”; there is no mistaking what He wants
of us. These are the times when the Spirit’s promptings are forceful and undeniable. We
may even want to avoid them or run from them. Do we not often resist, for example, His
inspirations to greater generosity in service and sacrifice? How many people try to run
from the thought of serving God in the Priesthood or Religious life? Like Jeremiah, we
invent all kinds of excuses to God’s call:
Ah, Lord God! I know not how to speak; I am too young! (Jeremiah 1:6)

If the Holy Spirit wants us, there is ultimately no way to escape His prompting,

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nowhere to run from Him. It is like a situation involving a secondhand car that someone
once donated to our Renewal Community in the South Bronx. It had two big dents in the
roof. I was told that they were caused by a hurricane. Prior to the storm, the owner had
moved the car to a “safe place.” As it happened, the only tree in the whole area that was
knocked over by the wind fell and hit this particular car. There are times when there is
absolutely no “safe place” to run to and hide from the Spirit!

BREATH
The second life symbol that relates to the Holy Spirit is breath. For ancient peoples,
breath, like wind, had a mysterious quality. For the Hebrews, a person’s breath was the
source of his life. The account of the creation of Adam is an example of this:
The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life,
and so man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

The Breath of Life for All Creation

Human breath was seen as the breath of God in us. His breath was thought to give life to
us as well as to all creation; furthermore, it kept all things in existence. The Psalmist
expresses this thought about all God’s creatures in a striking way:
All (living creatures) look to You to give them food in due time. When You give it to them, they
gather it; when You open Your hand, they are filled with good things. If you hide Your face, they
are dismayed; if You take away their breath, they perish and return to their dust. When You send
forth Your spirit, they are created and You renew the face of the earth. (Psalm 104:27-30)

The Breath of Our Spiritual Life

In our spiritual life, it is the Holy Spirit, as the Breath of God, Who breathes into us the
spark of divine life. His presence in the soul is the origin of our supernatural life. His
continued guidance is the means of sustaining the divine life of Sanctifying Grace in us
and allowing us to continue to grow. This is the literal meaning of the word
“inspiration”; it comes from the Latin inspirare— “to breathe into.” The Holy Spirit is
then the breath of God blowing in us. One of the hymns suggested for use in the Liturgy
of the Hours captures this sentiment:
Breathe on me, Breath of God,
fill me with life anew,
That I may love the things You love,
and do what You would do.

Breathe on me, Breath of God,

until my heart is pure,
Until with You I have one will,
to live and to endure.

Breathe on me, Breath of God,

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 my soul with grace refine,
Until this earthly part of me,
glows with Your fire divine.

Breathe on me, Breath of God,

so I shall never die,
But live with You the perfect life
in Your eternity.

(Music by H.E. Wooldridge, 1845-1917; Text by

Edwin Hatch, 1835-1889; and adapted
by Anthony G. Petti. as quoted in The Liturgy
of the Hours, Vol. 4, Catholic Book Publishing
Co., New York, 1975, p. 623-624.)

As we have already seen, this new life of the Holy Spirit was given to us at the time
of our Baptism. Jesus referred to Baptism as a new life “from above.” Now just as the
natural life of our body must grow, so too, the new supernatural life in our soul must
grow. In our natural human life, the process of growth and development flows from an
internal source of life (our soul), and it matures according to laws and norms God has
preordained for human growth. In our supernatural life, the internal source of life is the
Holy Spirit Himself. Dwelling within our souls, He guides the unfolding and maturing of
the life of grace according to the laws He has preordained; at the same time, He still
maintains His freedom to move in us as He wills. He leads no two people exactly alike.
We all receive different gifts of nature and grace. We all are entrusted with different
works and ministries from the Lord.

Our “second wind”

St. Augustine tells us that once we have begun the journey of our spiritual life, the road
becomes long and monotonous. Our Lord Himself tells us that the Divine Bridegroom
delays His coming (Matthew 25:5). Our lifetime here on earth is a period of continuous
effort to live faithful Catholic Christian lives. At times, it can appear like a seemingly
endless waiting for the Lord’s return. This takes its toll on many. Some grow weary and
barely manage to trudge along; others lose their way for a while; still others abandon the
struggle altogether. It is at this point of weariness or discouragement that the Spirit of
Life sustains and renews us throughout our long journey. Like a runner in a marathon
race, we need a new breath of fresh air, our “second wind,” in order to have the energy to
endure to the end. The Holy Spirit breathes that spiritual “second wind” into our lives
just when we need it.

Renewal within
Today there is a lot of talk about people who experience such countless demands and
constant pressures in their lives that they end up with the symptom known as “burnout.”
These people have given so much that there seems to be nothing left to give. They feel
spent physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. They are exhausted with life. The
opposite of those suffering from “burnout” are those suffering from “rust-out.” They too,

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are exhausted and bored with life, simply because they have not given of themselves in
any way. Both groups of people need to be renewed.
Jesus invites us to come to Him in just such circumstances:
Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke
upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. Your souls will find
rest, for My yoke is easy and My burden light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

And how does Jesus refresh us? Precisely by sending us His Holy Spirit who
constantly revives and renews us along the journey of life. The Fathers of the Church
used to love to compare the Holy Spirit to a precious ointment whose fragrance
constantly renews the vessel that contains it. We are those vessels! In our spiritual lives
—when we begin to lose our fervor and are in danger of falling into a state or an attitude
of mediocrity, lukewarmness, and indifference—the Holy Spirit breathes back into us
renewed life. We pray for this renewal in the sentiments of the Golden Sequence from
the Mass of Pentecost:
Bend the stubborn heart and will,
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;

On our dryness, pour Thy dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away.

The Spirit Keeps Us from Despair

Sometimes we may even feel we have reached the point of despair. We may believe that
we are at the end of our rope and we just do not seem to be able to hang on any longer.
This can happen in experiences which St. John of the Cross called the “dark night.” God
may seem very far away, quite unconcerned. Like the frightening experience the apostles
once had on the Sea of Galilee, we may well feel that the Lord is apparently fast asleep
while we are battling the storms of life that appear to be overwhelming us:
It happened that a bad squall blew up. The waves were breaking over the boat and it began to ship
water badly. Jesus was in the stern through it all, sound asleep on a cushion. They finally woke Him
and said to Him: “Teacher, does it not matter to You that we are going to drown?” (Mark 4:37-38)

Our human situation may seem to be without any possible solution. All seems lost! If
our spiritual lives are genuine, we will inevitably experience such circumstances. All
apparent reason to hope or to continue on the journey will seem gone! This is precisely
when the Spirit of Life comes to renew us.

The Prophet Ezekiel’s Message of Hope through the Spirit

One of those in Scripture who experienced this so strikingly was the prophet Ezekiel. He
was called to be a prophet during the exile of the Jewish people in Babylon. If there was
a time in their history when things were bleak, it was in Babylon. We catch a glimpse of

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this in the powerful sentiments of the Psalmist:
By the streams of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. On the aspens of that land
we hung up our harps though there our captors asked us the lyrics of our songs, and our despoilers
urged us to be joyous, “Sing for us the songs of Zion!” How could we sing a song of the Lord in a
foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand be forgotten! May my tongue cleave to
my palate if I remember you not, if I place not Jerusalem ahead of my joy! (Psalm 137:1-6)

The Jewish exiles feel a sense of despair

There was a reason to feel as they did. Prior to the exile, the people had been unfaithful
to God and to their covenant with Him. They had offended God by their sins of idolatry,
immorality, and apostasy. Divine punishment came with the fall of Jerusalem, the
destruction of the Temple, and the exile of the people into slavery by the Babylonians.
They were in exile for approximately fifty years. They were beginning to feel abandoned
by God forever! Did He love His people any longer?
Isaiah, another prophet of this painful era, reflected their cry of despair. At the same
time, he also reminded them of God’s enduring love for them throughout this period of
their trial in exile:
Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, break forth into song, you mountains. For the Lord
comforts His people and shows mercy to His afflicted. But Zion said: “The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.” Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child in
her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of My hands I have
written your name. (Isaiah 49:13-16)

God promises a restoration

The Lord would deliver His people. Ezekiel was to be the chief prophet of this message
of love and hope. He proclaimed a restoration that would involve “clean water,” a “new
heart,” and a “new spirit.”
The Lord God said, “I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the foreign
lands, and bring you back to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you
from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and
place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts. I will put my spirit within
you and make you live by My statutes, careful to observe My decrees. You shall live in the land I
gave your fathers, you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel: 36:24-28)

For a Jewish person in exile in Babylon, far away from his native Israel, this was
indeed a comforting message. With the “clean water,” God would wash away the filth of
the sins of His people. With a “new heart,” God would give His people a new attitude
and outlook to replace the hardness of heart they had shown in resisting His call of love.
With a “new spirit,” God would breathe into His people a new life and give them a moral
strength that would enable them to observe faithfully His commandments.3

The Spirit as the breath of God renews His people

One final and very important part of Ezekiel’s message of hope and restoration links the
breath of the spirit with the renewing of the life of God’s people. It is described in the

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prophet’s famous vision of the dry bones.4 In this vision, Ezekiel found himself in the
middle of a broad plain filled with lifeless bones:
How dry they were! (Ezekiel 37:2)

These dry bones represented the people in their brokenness, helplessness and
hopelessness! The Lord then commanded Ezekiel to prophesy over the dry bones so that
they would come together in unity again, and so that sinews, flesh, and skin would cover
them.
I prophesied as I had been told, and even as I was prophesying, I heard a noise; it was a rattling as
the bones came together, bone joining bone. I saw the sinews and the flesh come upon them, and
the skin cover them, but there was no spirit in them. (Ezekiel 37:7-8)

Then the Lord commanded him to prophesy that “spirit” would come into the bones
now covered with flesh, so that they might come to life again. Ezekiel shared his
experience as follows:
Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit, thus says
the Lord God: From the four winds come O spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come
to life.” I prophesied as He told me, and the spirit came into them; they came alive and stood
upright, a vast army. Then He said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
They have been saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off.’ Therefore,
prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord God, I will open your graves and have you rise from
them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open
your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may
live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the Lord. I have promised,
and I will do it, says the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:9-14)

Just as it was not until “spirit” entered into the dry bones covered with sinews and
flesh that they finally revived, so without the Spirit of Life in us, we cannot be
continually revived and renewed in our spiritual lives. We would be in danger of
languishing under the burdens and pressures of each day. It might even reach the point
where it seems that any hope or trust within us is dying. We are ready to abandon the
struggle. “Why continue?” we ask ourselves. But in reality, all is not lost; we have not
yet “given up the ghost,” so to speak. Someone once put up a humorous sign in a friary
where I was stationed some years ago: “For those of you that don’t believe the dead can
come back to life, you ought to be here at quitting time.” If it can happen in our natural
lives that we can “come back to life,” how much more so will it happen in our Christian
lives!
When an emergency rescue team worker goes to the aid of various people, he or she
often has to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation techniques. The breath of the
person who is healthy can supply and restore the breath of the person in need. When this
occurs in our spiritual lives, it is a sign that the Spirit of Life as the breath of God is
reviving our drooping spirits and restoring us, once again, to a fuller share in Christ’s
life.

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 REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. Do you respect the freedom of the Holy Spirit in your life? Are you in charge, or is
He in charge?

2. The Holy Spirit can be genuinely known by the effects of His fruits in your spiritual
life. Are you growing in love, peace, joy, generosity, patient endurance, chastity, and
modesty?

3. Are you ever tempted to hide from the promptings of the Holy Spirit?

Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler,

Grant me the gift of knowledge,
so that I may know the things of God
and, enlightened by Your holy teaching,
may walk without deviation
in the path of eternal salvation.
This I ask, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

—ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

_____________
1 A symbol is defined as: “something concrete that represents or suggests another thing that cannot in itself be
represented or visualized.” (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Pocket Books, New York, 1974, p. 693.)
2 I remember a round trip between the United States and Europe that I was on some years ago. On the way to
Europe, the jumbo jet experienced a strong tailwind and cruised at about 580 miles per hour; one week later,
on the return flight, there was a headwind of 70 to 100 miles per hour, and the same jumbo jet averaged only
about 460 miles per hour. Needless to say, it was a much longer flight back to the United States!
3 From our New Testament viewpoint, we can see an even “fuller sense” in this Old Testament prophecy. It
refers to the “new covenant” established by our Lord through His death and resurrection—the new “cleansing
water” and the “new spirit” refer to the Sacrament of Baptism which would be a new birth by water and the
Holy Spirit as our Lord later told Nicodemus.
4 This is the vision that was made popular by the old spiritual hymn, Them Bones, Them Bones!

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 CHAPTER 8

ADDITIONAL SYMBOLS
OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE
WATER AND FIRE

Speaking quite literally, and also in harmony with the words of water and the Spirit, John the
Baptist says of Christ: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Since we are only
vessels of clay, we must first be cleansed in water and then hardened by spiritual fire—for God is a
consuming fire. We need the Holy Spirit to perfect and renew us, for spiritual fire can cleanse us,
and spiritual water can recast us as in a furnace and make us into new men and women.

—Didymus of Alexandria
The Holy Spirit Perfects and Renews Us

THE SYMBOLS DEALT WITH in the previous chapter, wind and breath, are of a
more mysterious quality than the symbols of water and fire that we will focus on in this
chapter. These latter symbols are more obvious to our senses. They are also rich in
imagery that can help us better understand the Spirit of Life and His role in our Christian
lives.

WATER
A third life-symbol that relates to the Holy Spirit is water. Water’s natural symbolism
lends itself easily to themes of life, since all living creatures depend on water to some
degree for survival.

Old Testament Symbolism of Water

Therefore, it is not surprising that throughout the Scriptures, water has a rich life-

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symbolism. This is reflected in the fact that the Church, particularly during the blessing
of the water to be used at her Baptismal liturgy, makes reference to several Old
Testament passages where water symbolizes life and salvation. For example, the
floodwaters in the story of Noah are used as a sign of the destruction of sin and the
preservation of those who are just. In the story of the Israelites’ crossing of the Red Sea,
the parting of the waters is a symbol of the waters of Baptism. By passing through those
waters, the Israelites became free, while their enemies, the Egyptians, were destroyed. In
Baptism, we are likewise set free to become children of God through the new life of the
Trinity we possess. Through the waters of Baptism, we are freed of Original Sin and, in
the case of adults, also of personal sins. Further, the abundant water that flowed from the
rock Moses struck in the desert to give drink to the Israelite people is also a symbol of
the Holy Spirit.1 It represents the Living Water that flows into our souls through
Baptism, and refreshes us to continue our journey through life.

Examples in the Gospel of St. John

In the New Testament, the symbol of water frequently refers to the Spirit as Life-Giver.
This is especially true in the Gospel of St. John. His Gospel is filled with symbolism that
refers to the various sacraments Christ instituted as means of grace, particularly Baptism
and the Holy Eucharist.

Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well

One such reference is found in Our Lord’s conversation with the Samaritan woman at
the well (John 4:4-42). As we have already looked at this incident, let us now simply
review it very briefly. Our Lord, tired and thirsty from a long journey, stops at a well in
the rather hostile territory of Samaria. He asks for a drink from a woman who has come
to draw water. Indignant that He, a Jewish man, would publicly speak to her, a
Samaritan woman, she opposes Him at first. However, His kindness eventually wins her
confidence. He then goes on to reveal to her all He can give her.
If you only recognized God’s Gift, and Who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have
asked Him instead, and He would have given you living water. (John 4:10)

The Spirit as “Living Water”

Actually, we have two references in this passage to the Holy Spirit. The first reference is
to the Holy Spirit as the “Gift of God,” which we have already examined at some length.
But the second reference is to the Holy Spirit as “Living Water.” He will be poured forth
into our souls to give us spiritual life, much as water poured on plants sustains them, and
when needed, even revives them. In his Gospel, St. John refers to water as a symbol of
the life-giving Spirit. Jesus explains to the Samaritan woman the effect of this Living
Water.
Everyone who drinks this water (in the well) will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I
give him will never be thirsty; no, the water I give shall become a fountain within him, leaping up to

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 provide eternal life. (John 4:13-14)

Our Lord here contrasts the “stagnant water” in the well, which can only satisfy our
natural bodily thirst for a little while, with the “Living Water” He wants to give us, the
Holy Spirit Who would satisfy the thirst of our soul. Jesus goes on to say that when we
receive this Living Water, it becomes like a fountain within us, springing up to provide
eternal life. This is precisely the Spirit’s role—to be the constant source of Eternal Life
within our souls!

Jesus solemnly promises the Spirit at the Feast of Booths

In another incident of his Gospel, St. John again refers to water as a symbol of the life-
giving Spirit. It takes place on the last day of the great Jewish Festival of Booths,
sometimes called the “Feast of Tabernacles” or, in Hebrew, the “Feast of Succoth.” It
was the most joyful of the Jewish feasts. It occurred at the time of the grape harvest,
which coincided with the end of the wheat harvest. It was also the time for the Jewish
people to pray to God to send abundant rain upon their fields. This was necessary to
ensure that the crops in the following year would be plentiful.
During this festival, there was a very solemn ceremony involving water. Each
morning of the weeklong festival, a group of priests and people walked in procession
through the gate in the city wall known as the “Watergate.” They proceeded down to the
fountain of Gihon on the side of the hill of the Temple. This fountain supplied the water
for the pool of Siloam.2 One of the priests then filled a golden pitcher with water from
the fountain. While this was done, the choir chanted a verse from the prophet Isaiah:
“With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). Then, singing
various psalms, they returned in procession to the Temple. When the procession reached
the altar of holocausts, the people in procession marched around the altar and sang: “O
Lord, grant salvation! O Lord, grant prosperity!” (Psalm 118:25).
On each of the first six days of the festival, the procession marched only once around
the altar; on the last and greatest day of the festival, the procession marched seven times
around the altar. Then the priest approached the ramp to the altar to pour the water into a
silver funnel from where it flowed out onto the ground. This was a sign of their awaiting
the abundant rains God would send upon their fields. It was at this dramatic moment in
the festival ceremony that St. John tells us:
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out: “If anyone thirsts, let him
come to Me; let him drink who believes in Me. Scripture has it: From within Him rivers of living
water shall flow.” (John 7:37-38)

The Spirit as a fountain within us

This “Living Water” becomes as a spring or fountain within the soul of everyone who
comes to believe in Jesus. St. John observes:
Here Jesus was referring to the Spirit, Whom those that came to believe in Him were to receive.
There was, of course, no Spirit as yet, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:39)

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 What Our Blessed Lord promised then is that those who come to Him thirsting for
the Living Water of the Spirit will receive it in abundance. The Spirit will flow as living
water from the Heart of Christ into the heart of the individual, and there the Spirit will
become like a Fountain. Just as a spring of water in a desert land can produce a life of
rich vegetation, so too, the Spirit in us will bring our soul to life and will allow us to
bring forth the fruits of Christian holiness. This is reflected in Psalm 1 where we find a
description of a faithful God-loving person who is really deeply rooted in the Holy
Spirit. Such a person is described as being:
Like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never
fade. Whatever he does, prospers. (Psalm 1:3)

Thus, a good person—one deeply rooted in the Holy Spirit—is like “a tree planted
near running water.” Even in a desert, the roots of a tree planted near flowing water often
reach to the bed of the stream itself to get its needed water. In such a case, the tree will
always have a vital water supply. This accounts for the effects produced. Its leaves never
fade but retain their vital texture all year round. Furthermore, such a tree “yields its fruit
in due season.” Being alive and thriving, despite the hot sun, the tree will produce its
own fruit once or twice during the year at the appropriate seasons.
All this beautiful imagery describes the soul of someone rooted in the “Living
Water,” the Holy Spirit. It will never be in danger of withering for lack of moisture
because the Spirit will be a constant fountain of spiritual refreshment, vitality and
strength within it. The Spirit’s working in us will produce an abundant harvest of the
appropriate virtues of the Christian life. This Fountain of Living Water will bring forth
various fruits in our daily lives if only we remain firmly rooted in grace and generously
follow the inspirations we receive. The Second Vatican Council teaches this clearly in its
most important document, The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church:
The Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that He might continually sanctify the
Church, and that, consequently, those who believe might have access through Christ in one Spirit to
the Father. He is the Spirit of Life, the fountain of water springing up to eternal life. To men, dead
in sin, the Father gives life through Him, until the day when, in Christ, He raises to life their mortal
bodies. The Spirit dwells in the Church and in the hearts of the faithful, as in a temple … He
bestows upon (the Church) various hierarchic and charismatic gifts, and in this way directs her; and
He adorns her with His fruits. By the power of the Gospel He permits the Church to keep the
freshness of youth. Constantly He renews her and leads her to perfect union with her Spouse
(Jesus). (Lumen Gentium, par. 4)

Symbol of Thirst and Cleansing

We can draw one further comparison between water as a life symbol and the Holy Spirit
when we look at the very nature of water itself, and its usefulness. Two of its most basic
uses are for drinking and for bathing. We must drink water because we need it to sustain
our bodily functions. Perhaps we get an idea of why Jesus said that if anyone gives a cup
of cold water in His Name, they would not lose their reward (Matthew 10:42). In a
similar way, the Spirit gives us supernatural life as the Living Water of our souls. A

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second natural use of water is for bathing. In this symbolism, we find reflected the sense
of the Spirit cleansing us of our sins, thereby freeing us from the guilt we have incurred
because of them.

Thirsting for the Spirit

On our part, there must be a corresponding desire or thirst for the Living Water of the
Holy Spirit in our hearts. We can actually distinguish two kinds of thirst, each caused by
a different factor. One kind is caused by deprivation. An example of this is the thirst
people suffer during a time of drought. This is quite a “negative” thirst because it is due
to a lack of something essential. Drought often brings a scorching of the earth and leads
to a lack of crops and then of food in general, thereby threatening people with death by
starvation. Similarly, a drought of the Spirit means we do not possess Him Who is the
Source of all life within us. Our life in Christ is then in danger of dying for lack of the
“Living Water” that we all need. Such a thirst would be totally negative and undesirable.
On the other hand, there is a thirst or desire that is quite “positive” because it is
created by a definite longing. On a very hot day, a person can long to drink his or her
favorite cold beverage such as iced tea, soda, beer, or lemonade. This is delightful and
refreshing. Likewise, our thirst for the Spirit makes us seek Him more ardently and
constantly. When we drink of the “Living Water,” our soul experiences joy and
refreshment. In this thirst, the soul yearns for God as the satisfaction of all its desires.
This thirst or longing is very positive and quite desirable. This is often used as an image
of prayer in the Scriptures, especially in the Psalms:
As the hind longs for the running waters, so my soul longs for You, O God. Athirst is my soul for
God, the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God? (Psalm 42:1-2) O God, You are
my God Whom I seek; for You my flesh pines and my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless
and without water. Thus have I gazed toward You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your
glory. For Your kindness is a greater good than life; my lips shall glorify You. (Psalm 63:1-3)

This thirst for the Living Water of the Holy Spirit is no doubt part of that thirst Jesus
blessed when He called those blessed who hungered and thirsted for holiness! He said
they would be satisfied (Matthew 5:6).

FIRE
A fourth and final symbol relating to the Spirit of Life is fire. Like water, it is a very rich
symbol.

Fire Is Linked to the Spirit in Scripture

In the Old Testament, fire was often a mysterious sign of God’s presence. For example,
God first spoke to Moses from a bush that was burning but not consumed by the fire
(Exodus 3:2). When God went ahead of His people to lead them on their journey through
the desert, His presence was signified by a column of cloud by day and a column of fire

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by night (Exodus 13:21). In the great “theophany” or manifestation by God of Himself to
Moses and all the people at Mt. Sinai, we read that the mountain was:
all wrapped in smoke, for the Lord came down upon it in fire. (Exodus 19:18)

In the New Testament, St. John the Baptist links fire in a special way to the Holy
Spirit. In contrasting the baptism he administered with the Baptism Jesus would give, he
says:
I baptize you in water for the sake of reform, but the One Who will follow me is more powerful
than I. I am not even fit to carry His sandals. He it is Who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and
fire. (Luke 3:16)

Our Lord Himself later said of His purpose in coming among us:
I have come to light a fire on the earth. How I wish the blaze were ignited. (Luke 12:49)

We have received that fire in the Holy Spirit. When He came on Pentecost, there was
a kind of fire as the sign of His presence:
Tongues as of fire appeared, which parted and came to rest on each of them. All were filled with the
Holy Spirit. They began to express themselves in foreign tongues and make bold proclamation as
the Spirit prompted them. (Acts 2:3-4)

The Effects of the Fire of the Spirit in Us

We can learn something about the Holy Spirit’s working in us from the very nature of
fire. Fire gives us light and warmth; the Holy Spirit gives us these in a spiritual sense. By
His light, the Holy Spirit assists our minds to better know the Lord and the truths He has
revealed to us. By His warmth, the Holy Spirit moves our wills. This enables us to
follow with eagerness and determination a course of action which will work to God’s
greater glory, to our salvation and sanctification, and to the building up of the Church,
the Mystical Body of Christ.
Fire also has the capability of purifying, as when gold or steel are placed in intense
fire and all foreign elements are burned away. The Holy Spirit’s fire cleanses us of our
sins and sinful attachments, freeing our hearts so that we may belong entirely to the
Lord.

Fire: a mystical symbol

In addition to its natural symbolism, fire also relates to life with a somewhat mystical
meaning. When a person seems very happy or excited about something or anxious to do
something, we sometimes say “they are all fired up.” We have already seen how the
ancient Greeks viewed this “fire” as a spark of divine life in a person. That is why they
coined the word “enthusiasm” which means literally “in God” or “God within the
person.”
I remember an example of such enthusiasm from the years when I taught Religion in
Catholic high school. Before all the big football games, there was always a lot of

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excitement in the school among both the faculty and the students. Many times the
students decorated bulletin boards in preparation for the game. Signs adorned the
hallways. Inevitably there was the message: “Catch the fire!” And the high point of
preparation for the homecoming football game was the rally the night before when
everyone stood around the traditional bonfire. All this was to “fire up the spirit to win.”

The Fire of Zeal Is Stirred Up Within Us

The symbolism of this aspect of fire relates to the virtue of zeal for the cause of Christ.
Christian zeal is the enthusiasm and determination to do all we can to spread the Good
News of Jesus. It is motivated by love. It can express itself in many different ways for
the building up of the Kingdom of God.
The “tongues as of fire” which appeared over the heads of the disciples on Pentecost
signified not only their reception of the Holy Spirit, but also prefigured the zeal that
would characterize their preaching of the Gospel message. In fact, they immediately
began to make “bold proclamation as the Spirit prompted them” (Acts 2:4). The disciples
had been fearful up to this time. Now they were bold, because their zeal enabled them to
set their doubts aside and overcome their fears. This same zeal characterized the
Apostles in the carrying out of their mission to spread the Kingdom of God. Similarly,
this ardent zeal characterized the saints of all ages in the Church’s history. It enabled
them to make great sacrifices, persevere in the face of difficult struggles, and overcome
almost insurmountable opposition to spread the Kingdom of Christ. As Our Lord said:
From John the Baptizer’s time until now the Kingdom of God has suffered violence, and the violent
take it by force. (Matthew 11:12)

“Violence” is used here by Our Lord, not in any negative or morally bad sense of
doing harm to others, but in a positive sense of determination to do good no matter what
it costs. The violent then, are those who are moved by zeal for the sake of Christ and of
His Kingdom. The zealous Apostle, St. Paul, wrote to his young assistant, Timothy, of
the need to continually renew the apostolic zeal he received through the Gift of the Holy
Spirit:
I remind you to stir into flame the Gift of God bestowed when my hands were laid on you. The
Spirit God has given us is no cowardly spirit, but rather one that makes us strong, loving and wise.
(2 Timothy 1:6-7)

It is in this same sense that we pray in the traditional prayer to the Holy Spirit:
“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your
Divine Love.”
A final story might illustrate this point. Vince Lombardi, the great football coach,
was once asked by a reporter, “What is the secret of a great coach?” Lombardi answered:
The great coaches are not those who can draw diagrams of plays on a chalkboard; these coaches are
a dime a dozen. But the really great coach is the one who can get his own spirit to win and
communicate it to his players so that when they go out on that playing field they are playing with

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 his spirit to win!

When I read that story I thought to myself, “Isn’t that what Our Lord has done for
us? Hasn’t He given us His Spirit so that when we go forth we will be moved by the
same Spirit that was within Him?” What a blessing Jesus has given us, that He shares the
fire of the Holy Spirit with us!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. Do you thirst for the living water of the Holy Spirit in your heart? If so, how do you
experience that?

2. If you do thirst, is your thirst due to a lack of the Holy Spirit in your life? Or is it
caused by a genuine longing for the life-giving water that He brings (His call to
holiness)?

3. Do you have the fire of the Holy Spirit within you? Do you allow the embers of your
soul to be fanned into a flame for love of God, His Gospel, and His Church? Do you
experience this even in the midst of your ordinary duties?

Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler,

Grant me the gift of fortitude,
so that I may overcome courageously
all the assaults of the devil,
and all the dangers of this world
which threaten the salvation of my soul.
This I ask, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

—ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

_____________
1 St. Paul saw the “rock” as a reference to Jesus, Who gives us the Living water, the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians
10:4)
2 This was the same pool to which Our Lord in St. John’s Gospel had sent the blind man to wash his eyes, and
after washing, the blind man received his sight (John 9).

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 PART III.

THE HOLY SPIRIT:

THE SPIRIT OF COURAGE

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 CHAPTER 9

THE HOLY SPIRIT

STRENGTHENS US IN
THE STRUGGLES OF LIFE

Whatever the soul may think fit to do itself, whatever care and pains it may take, relying only upon
its own power, and thinking to be able to effect a perfect success by itself, without the co-operation
of the Spirit, it is greatly mistaken.

—St. Macarius the Great

Spiritual Homilies (Homily 24)

ALL FOUR OF THE GOSPEL WRITERS begin their accounts of Our Lord’s public
ministry with His baptism in the Jordan River by St. John the Baptist. Each presents the
baptism as a “theophany” or visible manifestation of the Blessed Trinity: God the Father
speaks; Jesus is proclaimed as the Father’s beloved Son; the Holy Spirit is revealed in
the form of a dove. St. Luke, for example, describes Jesus’ baptism in this way:
When all the people were baptized and Jesus was at prayer after likewise being baptized, the skies
opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in visible form like a dove. A voice from Heaven
was heard to say, “You are My beloved Son. On You My favor rests.” (Luke 3:21-22)

WHY WAS JESUS BAPTIZED?

It is important for us to understand why Jesus was baptized. There were a number of
reasons.

To Identify With Our Sinfulness

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One reason was so that Our Lord could identify with our sinfulness. We must bear in
mind that people who accepted the baptism which St. John preached were
acknowledging their sins and awaiting the promised Messiah.
Jesus Himself was absolutely sinless. He personally had no need to be baptized. As
the Fathers of the Church liked to point out, the waters of the Jordan could not sanctify
Jesus, but He could sanctify the waters of the Jordan! By undergoing the baptism St.
John was administering for “sinners” to repent, Jesus was identifying Himself with our
sinfulness.
Interestingly, even John the Baptist at first hesitated when Our Lord approached him
to be baptized (Matthew 3:13-15). St. John recognized His surpassing holiness and
acknowledged his own unworthiness to baptize Him.

To Prefigure the Sacrament of Baptism

A second reason Jesus was baptized was that by His own baptism, He was prefiguring
the Sacrament of Baptism that He would later institute for His Church. Unlike the
baptism of water that John administered, Jesus would give us a Baptism of water and the
Holy Spirit. By our own Christian Baptism, we would come to share in the redemption
Jesus won for us by His saving Death!

Anointed With the Spirit to Begin His Mission

Finally, Jesus was baptized in order to experience a visible “anointing” with the Holy
Spirit to prepare Him for His mission as the Messiah. Messiah is a Hebrew word that
means “The Anointed One.” The Greek word for “Anointed One” is the title Christos
(Christ). The Jewish people in the Old Testament were accustomed to anointing their
kings, their prophets, and their priests. Accordingly, they gave the title “Messiah” to the
One Whom they were awaiting, the One Whom God had promised to send to them. They
used this title because the One to come would be greater than any of their kings, or
prophets, or priests! He would truly be “The Anointed One”!
The prophet Isaiah had said of the Suffering Servant, the promised Messiah, that He
would be anointed with the Spirit.
Here is My Servant whom I uphold. My Chosen One with Whom I am pleased, upon Whom I have
put My spirit; He shall bring forth justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1)1

The Holy Spirit’s descent upon Jesus at His baptism was the precise sign by which
St. John himself would know that Jesus was the One Whom the Father had sent. In fact,
he testified to this:
John gave this testimony also: “I saw the Spirit descend like a dove from the sky, and it came to rest
on Him. But I did not recognize Him. The One Who sent me to baptize with water told me: ‘When
you see the Spirit descend and rest on someone, it is He Who is to baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
Now I have seen for myself and have testified: ‘This is God’s Chosen One.’ ” (John 1:32-34)

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 This witness of St. John the Baptist is important because it tells us not only that the
Spirit came upon Jesus, but that the Spirit “rested” upon Him; the Spirit remained with
Jesus. In this way, Jesus possessed a fullness of the Holy Spirit. From this fullness then,
Jesus, as Messiah, could give the Spirit to others.2

“SPIRITUAL WARFARE”
Once Jesus had been baptized in the Jordan, His public ministry was ready to begin.
Now what is the very first thing that happens? St. Luke describes it for us:
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, then returned from the Jordan and was conducted by the Spirit into the
desert for forty days, where He was tempted by the devil. (Luke 4:1-2)

As soon as Our Lord is ready to begin His public ministry, the first thing He
encounters is trial and temptation. St. Luke’s words emphasize the fact that the Holy
Spirit “drove” Jesus into the desert! There is a sense of compulsion, a driving force as if
Jesus had to go out of some necessity.
And where does the Holy Spirit lead our Lord? Into the desert! Why? Physically, the
desert was a wilderness; it was a barren, rugged, stark reality inhabited only by a few
wild animals. There was nothing there to distract a person! As a result, the desert was a
place where a person could not hide from confrontation.
This confrontation could take many possible forms. Maybe it could be a
confrontation with God. With no place to hide, the desert could easily bring a person
face-to-face with God. For many people, this would not be very pleasant. The individual
might end up “wrestling” with God in honest heart-to-heart prayer, like Jacob wrestling
with God’s messenger in the wilderness (cf. Genesis 32:22-32). Jesus would one day
literally agonize over the Will of His Heavenly Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, but
there was no confrontation with His Heavenly Father in prayer in the desert.
At other times, there is a confrontation with one’s self in the desert. With no
distractions to divert one’s attention, a person in the desert might be faced with his or her
most hidden thoughts or perhaps some deep, secret recesses of the heart. Many who went
out to the desert hoping, like Moses, to see a “burning bush,” found only “shades of
darkness” within themselves instead! Because Jesus did not have a “shadow side,” He
did not have this kind of confrontation with Himself in the desert.
Finally, there is the possibility of a confrontation with evil spirits. In biblical times,
the desert was especially thought of as the dwelling place of demons. The devils, with all
their cunning temptations, might try to lead the unsuspecting and the careless to fall into
sin. This was Our Lord’s confrontation in the desert—with Satan himself. He had led our
first parents into Original Sin, and their descendants into so many personal sins
thereafter.
St. Mark describes Jesus’ experience after His baptism:
At that point the Spirit sent Him out toward the desert. He stayed in the wasteland forty days, put to

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 the test there by Satan. (Mark 1:12-13)

Thus, the desert was a veritable battleground, the setting for “spiritual warfare.” The
Israelites, after passing through the waters of the Red Sea, were led by God on a journey
into the desert; the desert proved to be a place of testing and trials for them. So too,
Jesus, after His baptism, was driven by the Holy Spirit into the desert that He might
begin, through testing and temptations, to fight the devil on his own “territory.”

We Confront the Powers of Evil in Our Own Lives

Anyone who begins to live the spiritual life in earnest likewise experiences a “spiritual
warfare.” St. Paul and St. Barnabas encouraged the converts they made on their very first
missionary journey with the instruction:
We must undergo many trials if we are to enter into the reign of God. (Acts 14:22)

Whenever we receive the power of the Holy Spirit, we will inevitably come into
conflict with the cunning deceit of the Evil Spirit as well as with the “shadows” of our
own human spirit. This is why it is said that there are three “spirits” involved in our
spiritual struggle. First, there is the human spirit, our soul; this is the place where the
spiritual conflict, in a sense, is being waged. Second, there is the Evil Spirit, who tries by
his temptations and his deceit to lead us away from God. Third, there is the Holy Spirit,
Who possesses our souls by His indwelling. By His inspirations, He defends us from evil
and moves us to do good.
Each person then, who begins living the Christian life and seriously grows in that
life, will inevitably come to trials. It is like riding a bicycle. If you ride it downhill, it is
enjoyable. There is almost no effort to pedal the bike. Gravity is in the rider’s favor.
However, once you try to ride that same bicycle uphill, you immediately experience
gravity’s adverse effects. The rider realizes there is a force pulling in the opposite
direction.
We experience something similar in the spiritual life. If we were leading sinful and
selfish lives, it would all seem easy because we would be going spiritually downhill!
Going along with one’s passions and sinful inclinations is easy. We are gratifying what
gives us pleasure. If however, we tried to do good, we would encounter resistance
because we would then be moving morally uphill! We would find that the self-denial
required to control our sinful passions goes against the grain, while the energy and
determination needed to practice virtue costs a great deal of effort.

“Soldiers of Christ”
The early Christians were very conscious that the spiritual life was often a kind of
spiritual warfare. In fact, in the early centuries of the Church, Christian men and women
by the thousands, some as solitary hermits and others in early religious communities,
took to the deserts of Egypt, Syria, and Palestine in search of greater holiness through

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lives of prayer and detachment. They knew that, like Jesus, they would confront the
devils in these deserts with their cunning and frightening temptations. But they went out
fearlessly as “soldiers of Christ,” (in Latin, miles Christi), “warriors of God,” to do battle
against their spiritual enemies.
Their battle was also partly against themselves, for it included struggling against and
subduing their own passions and disordered inclinations. They understood well the
teaching of St. Paul that the only way to obtain the “fruits of the Spirit” was to eradicate
the “fruits of the flesh” from their lives. This would involve a long and often bitter
struggle, a veritable crucifixion of self-centeredness. It would be a fight to the finish
between a true and proper self-love that leads to love of God and love of neighbor, and a
false self-love that leads only to love of our own ego! St. Paul put it in unmistakably
clear language:
My point is that you should live in accord with the Spirit and you will not yield to the cravings of
the flesh. The flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; the two are directly
opposed … Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and
desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s lead. (Galatians 5:16-17, 24-25)

These early Christians knew that if they persevered in the struggle, they would, by
God’s grace, achieve a certain success in conquering their unruly passions and their
blindly driven desires. This would result in a state of inner peace, a tranquility in the soul
where the violent demands of passion are subdued. They referred to this resultant state of
peace by the Greek word apatheia. It meant literally a state without passion, a quiet in
the soul.
They understood that to foster the growth of the Holy Spirit’s gift of Fortitude and
achieve this state of peace and calm in the soul, they had to do their part. They
developed what they called the practice of “asceticism.” This concept comes from
another Greek word, askesis. It means discipline, especially the discipline of a soldier
training in preparation for a battle or the discipline of an athlete in training for
competition in sports events. As part of their asceticism, both soldiers before battle and
athletes before their sports competitions traditionally rubbed or “anointed” themselves
with oil for greater agility.
The Christian soldier and athlete are, in a spiritual sense, likewise “anointed” by the
Holy Spirit to prepare them to win the crown of victory from Christ. Indeed, St. Paul
used these images of the soldier and the athlete extensively in his own writings. He
understood military life because the famed Roman legions were everywhere in his day.
As a native of Tarsus in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and as a result of his
missionary journeys to so many ancient Greek cities, he was also familiar with the Greek
Olympic games. In his Second Letter to Timothy, St. Paul used the imagery of military
and athletic discipline to describe both his own personal asceticism and that of young
Timothy. He sums up his own present situation in these words:
I for my part am already being poured out like a libation. The time of my dissolution is near. I have
fought the good fight. I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on a merited crown
awaits me; on that Day the Lord, just judge that He is, will award it to me. (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

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 Just as St. Paul gained many good insights into the spiritual life from the world of
sports, we too can do the same. The great coach mentioned in the last chapter, Vince
Lombardi, is perhaps most famous for the quote: “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only
thing!” Perhaps he was in some respects echoing a teaching of St. Paul. In his first letter
to his Greek converts at Corinth, who would certainly have known and loved the ancient
Olympic games, St. Paul wrote on this very theme:
You know that while all the runners in the stadium take part in the race, the award goes to one man.
In that case, run so as to win! Athletes deny themselves all sorts of things. They do this to win a
crown of leaves that withers, but we a crown that is imperishable … I do not run like a man who
loses sight of the finish line. I do not fight as if I were shadow boxing. What I do is discipline my
own body and master it, for fear that after having preached to others, I myself should be rejected. (1
Corinthians 9:24-27)

The competitiveness inherent in the athlete is a good symbol of the Christian striving
to win the crown of life. Two brief reflections from the sports world illustrate this point.
First, athletes know instinctively that anything worth achieving, any medal or
competition worth winning, takes the sacrifice and hard work of discipline, training and
workouts. These wear and tear on the athlete, even to the point of suffering. As a popular
saying among athletes reminds us: “No pain, no gain!”
The Holy Spirit convinces us of the same value in our striving for our spiritual goals.
Without sacrifice, self-denial and effort, we will never advance very far in the
development of our Christian lives. At the same time, the Holy Spirit reminds us by His
inspirations that no sacrifice or effort is possible without Fortitude, a gift He alone gives
us.

WE NEED THE SPIRIT’S COURAGE TO ANSWER

THE CALL TO “TOTAL CONVERSION”

For anyone who wants to take the spiritual life seriously, there is only one true Christian
response found in the Gospel. It is the readiness to give up everything to attain Christ.
We have discovered the treasure hidden in the field, we have found the pearl of great
price. Now we must go and sell all that we have to make that field and that pearl our
own. (Matthew 13:44-46)

The Example of St. Francis

We have an example of this generous response in the life of St. Francis. Even though he
was only at the beginning of his own conversion process, he was convinced of the need
to sacrifice anything it would take to follow Jesus faithfully. This conviction came to
him after the Lord, in a dream, had called him to discipleship. This happened near the
little town of Spoleto, Italy. St. Bonaventure described Francis’ immediate reaction:
In the morning, Francis went back to Assisi without delay. He was overjoyed and had no care for
the future; he was already a model of obedience and he waited patiently on God’s Will. He

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 withdrew from the busy life of his trade and begged God in His goodness to show him what he
should do. He prayed constantly until he was consumed with a passionate longing for God and was
ready to give up the whole world in his desire for his heavenly home and think nothing of it. He
realized that he had discovered the treasure hidden in the field and like the wise trader in the Gospel
he could think of nothing but how he might sell all he had and buy the pearl he had found. He still
did not know how to go about it, but at the same time he was forced to conclude that a spiritual
venture could only begin by rejecting the world and that victory over himself would mark the
beginning of his service of Christ. (Major Life, Chapter I, Par. 4)

St. Francis truly possessed great generosity for making sacrifices, inspired in him by
the promptings and encouragement of the Holy Spirit!
A second thought again comes from a saying of Vince Lombardi. As a great football
coach, he had the ability to motivate his football players to play their hearts out. This
was especially true when the competition was the toughest. He would inspire his players
with a saying he made famous: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” In His
own unseen way, the Holy Spirit motivates us and moves our hearts to accomplish great
things or endure against extreme odds for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. When the
going gets tough, the Spirit of Courage gets us going!

Confirmation Gives Us the

Strength of the Holy Spirit
This courage and discipline forms our personal asceticism. This idea made its way even
into the ancient rite of the Sacrament of Confirmation. Our traditional understanding has
always been that in Confirmation, we receive a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit
that makes us soldiers of Christ. As set forth earlier, soldiers in ancient times anointed
themselves for greater agility in battle since they fought in hand-to-hand combat. The
Christians likewise viewed their anointing in the Sacrament of Confirmation as an
anointing to carry on their spiritual warfare.
It is helpful to recall the fact that the conferring of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation is
signified by a two-fold sign. First, there is the imposition of hands by the Bishop. This
signifies that he is communicating the Spirit from himself to the one being confirmed.
Second, there is an anointing of the person with the oil of chrism. This signifies that the
new soldier of Christ is being readied for battle; the new athlete of Christ is being
readied to compete to win the imperishable crown of life.
Related to the Confirmation rite was a traditional symbolic ceremony. It expressed
the courage and strength one needed to defend his or her faith now as an adult Christian
and soldier of Christ. After confirming the person, the Bishop gave them a gentle slap on
the cheek. It was a reminder of the readiness he or she would need in order to endure the
suffering for his or her Faith in times of persecution.
This ceremony reminds me of a humorous incident that was told to me some years
ago by a former prison chaplain. He had once prepared a number of prisoners to receive
the Sacrament of Confirmation. When the Bishop arrived, he was going to question the
prisoners to see how well they understood their Faith. The chaplain said to him, “Bishop,

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don’t bother. I only taught the prisoners two things.” The Bishop, somewhat startled,
said, “Oh, what did you teach them?” The chaplain answered. “The first thing I taught
them was how to make the Sign of the Cross. And the second thing I taught them was
that when you slap them, not to slap you back.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF “SPIRITUAL WARFARE”

In contemporary spirituality, we have probably moved too far away from the notion of
“spiritual combat” or struggle. As a result, many Catholics today have the rather
common but mistaken notion that holiness is easy. I once had thought of writing a book
entitled Getting To Heaven On a Credit Card. When a person has a credit card, he or she
can easily feel like spending in a carefree manner. But this feeling will probably
disappear when the first financial statement arrives. Only then does one realize what he
or she must pay!
It is the same in the spiritual life! As Sirach soberly reminds us:
When you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials. Be sincere of heart and steadfast,
undisturbed in time of adversity. Cling to Him, forsake Him not; thus will your future be great.
Accept whatever befalls you, in crushing misfortune be patient; for in fire gold is tested, and worthy
men in the crucible of humiliation. (Sirach 2:1-5)

Our Lord Himself illustrated this notion of spiritual warfare in His parable of the
sower and the seed (Matthew 13:4-23). He tells us that part of the seed fell on rocky
ground where it had little soil. It sprouted at once because the soil had no depth. But then
the sun rose and scorched it; the sprout began to wither for lack of roots. A few verses
later, Jesus explains what this symbolizes:
The seed that fell on patches of rock is the man who hears the message and at first receives it with
joy. But he has no roots, so he lasts only for a time. When some setback or persecution involving
the message occurs, he soon falters. (Matthew 13:20-21)

The point Our Lord is making here is that if we want to follow Him with
perseverance to the end of our spiritual journey, we have to be willing and ready to
endure struggles and make sacrifices, and not simply expect to enjoy His blessings and
consolations. Many who begin to follow Jesus give up at the first indication of sacrifice
and self-denial. They mistakenly thought it would all be one big beautiful rose garden!
But they never saw the thorns! Realistically, we must be ready to do whatever it takes to
serve the Lord faithfully. After all, along with the sunshine in life, there is always a little
rain from time to time!

Christian Courage in Fighting the Good Fight

In the Liturgy of the Hours, we find an inspiring responsory for the feast of St. Charles
Lwanga and his companions. They were the martyrs of Uganda, canonized by Blessed
Pope Paul VI. This responsory sums up the deep meaning of Christian courage in

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fighting the good fight:
We are warriors now, fighting on the battlefield of faith, and God sees all we do; the angels watch
and so does Christ. What honor and glory and joy to do battle in the presence of God, and to have
Christ approve our victory. Let us arm ourselves in full strength and prepare ourselves for the
ultimate struggle with blameless hearts, true faith and unyielding courage.

May the Holy Spirit inspire and motivate us also with a similar courage!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. Spiritual retreats are a great way to go to the “desert” to pray. When was the last time
you went on a retreat? What was your experience like?

2. Do you understand and appreciate the importance of such an extended time spent
intimately with God?

3. Are you convinced of the value of striving for your spiritual goals?

4. How much effort do you put into disciplining your senses and living a holy life as
part of your training as a soldier of Christ?

O Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler,

Grant me the gift of counsel,
so that I may choose what is more conducive
to my spiritual advancement
and may discover the wiles and snares
of the tempter.
This I ask, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

—ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

_____________
1 Interestingly, when Our Lord begins His preaching in His own hometown at Nazareth, He Himself refers to a
passage in Isaiah (61:1-2) about His being “anointed” by the Spirit. He did this in order to explain His true
identity and the purpose of His mission.

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 He came to Nazareth where He had been reared, and entering the synagogue on the Sabbath as He
was in the habit of doing, He stood up to do the reading. When the book of the prophet Isaiah was
handed to Him, He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: “The spirit of the
Lord is upon Me; therefore He has anointed Me. He has sent Me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to
proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and release to prisoners, to announce a
year of favor from the Lord.” Rolling up the scroll He gave it back to the assistant and sat down. All
in the synagogue had their eyes fixed on Him. Then He began by saying to them: “Today this
Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:16-21)

2 As the Second Divine Person, Our Lord already possessed a fullness of unity with the Holy Spirit, the Third
Divine Person. The visible descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove upon Jesus in His humanity was
meant to be a visible anointing for others to see. It would serve as a sign that Jesus truly possessed a fullness of
the Holy Spirit Whom He would later be able to give to others.

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 CHAPTER 10

THE HOLY SPIRIT’S

GIFT OF FORTITUDE

Jesus tells us that His holy Disciples will be more courageous and more understanding when they
would be, as the Scripture says, “Endowed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49), and that when
their minds would be illuminated by the torch of the Spirit they would be able to see into all things,
even though no longer able to question Him bodily present among them.

—St. Cyril of Alexandria

ST. PAUL TEACHES US THAT the Holy Spirit helps us in all our weaknesses
(Romans 8:26). How does the Holy Spirit do this? He gives us strength through the Gift
of Fortitude or Courage.

FORTITUDE
St. Paul mentions the secret of this courage in a reminder he sent to his young co-worker,
St. Timothy:
For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the Gift of God bestowed when my hands were laid
on you. The Spirit God has given us is no cowardly spirit but rather one that makes us strong,
loving and wise. Therefore, never be ashamed of your testimony to Our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner
for His sake; but with the strength which comes from God, bear your share of the hardship which
the Gospel entails. (2 Timothy 1:6-8)

St. Bonaventure wrote that Fortitude is a special inpouring of divine love that is
communicated to our will, and it gives our will the impulse and energy to do great things
joyfully and fearlessly. Fortitude strengthens us and enables us to overcome difficulties
and obstacles of all kinds. Some are the difficulties we experience in our own personal
growth in holiness. These arise from our attempts to come closer to God. Other

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difficulties are those we encounter in trying to carry out our ministry in the Church.
Fortitude helps us to persevere in the service of God in spite of every obstacle. The
gift of Fortitude brings with it determination, assurance, joy, and a hope of some success.
It also assists us with courage, a courage to do three things. First, Fortitude helps us to
resist temptations steadfastly and unwaveringly. Despite the attraction temptations have
to our human weakness, we can learn to resist them with firm determination. Second,
Fortitude gives us the courage to renounce the world’s empty promises and its
allurement of riches, honors, and popularity. We come to see the vanity of the world, the
fleeting brevity of the pleasures of the flesh, and the shallowness of the pride of our own
ego. By Fortitude we are empowered to reject these evils for the sake of Christ and His
love. Third, Fortitude gives us the courage to bear hardships and persecutions with
patience as well as with a sense of hope, and even with joy!

Fortitude and Courage

Though we use the words “fortitude” and “courage” interchangeably, they actually have
slightly different meanings. Fortitude comes from the Latin word fortis (strong). It
means the moral strength or patient endurance to bear with afflictions, privations, or
temptations. It is the passive strength to resist an attack, as defending a fort under siege.
It is the strength needed to endure a long and painful illness or persecution, and even
martyrdom. Fortitude may be needed simply to remain faithful to one’s own moral
principles or to fulfill one’s responsibilities and vocational commitments in life.
Courage, on the other hand, comes from the Latin word cor (the heart). Courage is a
quality of mind and heart that enables us to encounter difficulties and dangers with
firmness or without fear. It implies a sense of bravery. Its opposite, discouragement,
means to lose heart, to be overwhelmed by fear, or dread of impending difficulty.
Courage is a more active strength, moving a person to undertake difficult or dangerous
tasks. Unlike fortitude, which is more on the “defense,” resisting assault, courage goes
more on the “offense,” correcting injustice or attacking other evils. In the language of the
sports world, fortitude is the virtue of a strong defense, and courage is the virtue of a
strong offense!
It is very helpful to keep these two aspects of fortitude in mind. As a result, we can
distinguish two kinds of actions that the Gift of Fortitude helps us to accomplish. The
first is “doing” (to do). This is courage. Without hesitation or fear, it moves us to
undertake arduous tasks, such as accomplishing tireless activity, overcoming dangers
and weariness, carrying out great undertakings, and ignoring human respect. The second
kind of action is “enduring” (to endure). This is fortitude. It gives us the strength to hold
firm in difficulties of all sorts, not to surrender or give up in the face of hardship or
opposition.

THE NEED FOR THE SPIRIT OF COURAGE

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The spiritual life is certainly not for the faint-hearted. It demands courage, and that
courage must come from the Holy Spirit. Following the spiritual life is like running an
obstacle course; there are difficulties to overcome all along the way.
Some of these difficulties come from within us, such as our own fears, our own
inadequacies and limitations, even our own passions. Some of them come from outside
of us, such as any opposition or persecution that we may encounter, any
misunderstanding or rejection from others that we might experience, or any
discouragement in the face of overwhelming tasks with seemingly inadequate resources.

The Apostles’ Need for the Spirit of Courage

These were the same difficulties the Apostles faced as Jesus left them at the time of His
Ascension. As we have already seen, He had made them His witnesses. They were to
give witness to Him not only in Jerusalem, in Judea, and in Samaria, but yes, even to the
very ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Our Lord knew the opposition that would come from
those who refused to believe, as well as the persecutions that awaited the Apostles. He
knew, for example, the hardships they would encounter—inadequate food, rest, or
clothing. He also foresaw the dangers from wild animals, floods, and famine. He
understood the fatigue of traveling—there were certainly no modern conveniences of
travel in those days. He likewise knew the discouragement that would come from the
lack of results and from the rejection on the part of so many. No wonder Our Lord told
the Apostles to wait in Jerusalem to receive the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5, 8).
The coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost transformed the Apostles profoundly,
from fearful men to fearless disciples. They no longer felt the need to stay behind the
locked doors of the Upper Room. Instead, they went out to the crowd and began to
proclaim the Gospel message boldly (Acts 2:4).
The Apostles were not even intimidated by threats. For example, the Apostles Peter
and John, when put on trial, stood confidently before the Sanhedrin (Acts 3-4). Many of
these Jewish leaders were trying to forbid them to preach in the Name of Jesus again. St.
Peter’s display of confidence is even more remarkable in light of the fact that when he
had been questioned on Holy Thursday night by a young servant girl about his being a
disciple of Jesus, he ended up denying Him three times! (Matthew 26:69-70).

Our Need for the Spirit’s Courage

It can be very difficult at times to speak the truth when we feel a person will dislike us as
a result of it. Someone may scorn and ridicule us for what we have to say, or become
angry with us when we take an unpopular stand, especially on a moral issue. We feel the
pressure to “conform” and simply go along with the crowd.
As a result, we may be gravely tempted to water down our convictions or to
compromise our beliefs. We may even be tempted to mask our true feelings and keep
quiet altogether. This can lead to an old sin called “human respect.” It has nothing to do
with Christian respect and reverence for the God-given dignity of each person. That

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would be a virtue, an expression of charity toward our neighbor. Rather, “human
respect” proceeds from our timidity or fear of what others may think or say about us.
This could easily lead us to compromise our basic moral principles or even to deny or
distort the truth.

The Pressure of “Human Respect”

In his Gospel, St. John cites a striking example of this “human respect.” At one point he
presents a summary of the reactions of many of the Jewish leaders in the Sanhedrin as
well as of others to Our Lord and His message:
There were many, even among the Sanhedrin, who believed in Him; but they refused to admit it
because of the Pharisees, for fear they might be ejected from the synagogue. They preferred the
praise of men to the glory of God. (John 12:42-43)

Was not Pontius Pilate also guilty of the sin of human respect? Throughout the trial
of Jesus, Pilate repeatedly asserted that he personally found our Lord innocent of all
charges. He likewise knew that it was only out of jealousy that the chief priests had
handed Jesus over to him (Mark 15:10). Yet, he gave in to the loud shouts and demands
of the crowd to win their favor. He perpetrated such an injustice that he released a known
murderer and crucified the Lord of Life:
So Pilate, who wished to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and after he had had Jesus
scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified. (Mark 15:15)

As in Pilate’s case, this temptation to “human respect” can be especially difficult for
Catholics in public life (for example, in politics, show business, or professional sports).
Catholics often feel the pressure to compromise their religious beliefs and moral values
for the sake of seeming to preserve their popularity. After all, society views it as
essential today to be “politically correct.” If Catholics lack the courage to meet the
challenge of the moment (and it can certainly be a difficult trial for any one of us!) to say
what they believe and believe what they say—it may seem easier to accept a
compromised position. In such a case, a Catholic may claim to be “personally opposed”
to some morally wrong course of action (for example, abortion or sexual perversion), but
at the same time claim that he or she cannot do anything to correct the moral wrong. The
individual may attempt to justify his or her action by arguing: “I can’t impose my
morality on others.”
This temptation to “human respect” runs the risk of denying Our Lord. Dire
consequences, such as the weakening of our faith, or the continuance of injustice and
immorality or the like, would certainly follow. In contrast, it could be a tremendous
occasion to acknowledge the Lord publicly and win His blessing:
Whoever acknowledges Me before men I will acknowledge before My Father in Heaven. Whoever
disowns Me before men I will disown before My Father in Heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33)

We should often pray for people in public life whose example and values influence

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and inspire many others. After all, we can never really be sure how we might act if put to
the same test. For ourselves, the admonition of Our Lord certainly applies:
Be on guard, and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but nature is weak.
(Matthew 26:41)

The Apostles Display Great Courage

In the example cited above involving the Apostles Peter and John (Acts 4:5-22), both of
them were strengthened with courage from the Holy Spirit.
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke up … (Acts 4:8).

They defended their faith in Jesus with a remarkable degree of calm and confidence.
They rejected all “human respect.” They were determined to be faithful to Jesus, their
Lord and God, and to His command to them to go forth and preach the Gospel to every
person at any cost:
Observing the self-assurance of Peter and John, and realizing that the speakers were uneducated
men of no standing, the questioners were amazed. Then they recognized these men as having been
with Jesus … They made it clear (to Peter and John) that under no circumstances were they to speak
the name of Jesus or teach about Him. Peter and John answered: “Judge for yourselves whether it is
right in God’s sight for us to obey you rather than God. Surely we cannot help speaking of what we
have heard and seen.” At that point they were dismissed with further warnings … They were filled
with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God’s word with confidence. (Acts 4:13, 18-21, 31)

Furthermore, the Apostles became even willing to suffer joyfully for the Lord. In
fact, they were scourged for continuing to preach about Jesus:
The Sanhedrin called in the Apostles and had them whipped. They ordered them not to speak again
about the name of Jesus, and afterward dismissed them. The Apostles for their part left the
Sanhedrin full of joy that they had been judged worthy of ill-treatment for the sake of the Name.
Day after day, both in the Temple and at home, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the
Good News of Jesus the Messiah. (Acts 5:40-42)

We can see from these experiences of the Apostles, which occurred shortly after
Pentecost, that the Holy Spirit had brought about a profound change in them. All their
fear had been driven out; ardent love now motivated them. With the Holy Spirit’s help,
they possessed the courage to conquer all obstacles. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we too,
can overcome all obstacles. As a retreat director once said, “No matter what difficulties
you face, if God is with you, you are always in the majority!” The Holy Spirit is our
majority!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. How do you practice the virtues of fortitude and courage in your Christian life?

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2. Was there ever a particular time in your life when you wish that you had practiced
courage and fortitude? How would it have affected your situation at that time?

3. Who is the most courageous person you know? Where do you think their courage
comes from?

4. How do you deal with temptations to human respect?

5. Have you ever given in to human respect and if so, how did it make you feel?

Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler

Grant me the gift of understanding,
so that I may apprehend the divine mysteries,
and by contemplation of heavenly things
detach my thoughts and affections
from the vain things of this miserable world.
This I ask, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

—ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

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 CHAPTER 11

PATIENCE: A VIRTUE
FLOWING FROM FORTITUDE

In proportion to your humility, you are given patience in your woes; and in proportion to your
patience, the burden of your afflictions is made lighter and you will find consolation; in proportion
to your consolation, your love of God increases; and in proportion to your love, your joy in the
Holy Spirit is magnified. Once men have truly become His sons, our tenderly compassionate Father
does not take away their temptations from them when it is His pleasure to “make for them a way to
escape” (1 Corinthians 10:13), but instead He gives His sons patience in their trials. All these good
things are given into the hand of their patience for the perfecting of their souls.

—St. Isaac the Syrian

Ascetical Homilies (Homily Forty-Two)

WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT is present in us, His actions produce good effects in our
lives. One such good effect is the practice of the virtue of Patience. The Holy Spirit’s
Gift of Fortitude helps patience to grow.

PATIENCE
Patience is certainly one of the most pervasive of Christian virtues simply because we
need it in so many areas of our daily lives. Three such areas we shall consider are
patience with ourselves, with others, and with the events of everyday living.

Patience with One’s Self

We need a great deal of patience, first with ourselves. For many people, this is the most
difficult of all areas of patience. Certainly, many reasons account for this. I would like to
focus basically on one of them. Many people today have what is called a “poor self-

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image.” This results in low self-esteem. They often fail to see the good within
themselves. They tend to view themselves in negative terms. They put down their own
potential for good, or they judge themselves to be quite inadequate and incompetent.
A low self-esteem often traces back to a person’s early childhood. If the child did not
receive sufficient affirmation or positive encouragement, his or her sense of confidence
and security may have failed to develop adequately. Furthermore, if unrealistically high
expectations were placed on the child by parents or others, the child would have
inevitably fallen short of them. If the child was then criticized for not achieving
demanding goals or for “making mistakes,” this would only have further eroded his or
her self-esteem and self-image. All the child’s efforts, even the best, would come to
mean nothing. This could easily result in the child becoming shy and lacking in self-
confidence because of the feeling of being “incapable” of doing anything right.
This attitude, in turn, often leads the child to the feeling of being “unlovable.” Such
children instinctively feel that nobody would want to love them or be their friend,
especially if that person might come to know how they could not even do certain simple
things correctly. They become hesitant to try again in the future for fear of making the
same mistakes for which they would again be corrected or criticized. Such children often
experience, and usually continue to experience through adulthood, a difficult time
accepting themselves for who they truly are. The final result adds up to what we call a
“poor self-image.”

Dealing patiently with a poor self-image

I believe most people experience something of this difficulty in their lives. Now if this
negative attitude toward one’s self is very strong, a person may well have feelings of
rejecting himself or herself (at least, insofar as their self-image is seen to be “negative”
or inadequate). At times, however, this may actually produce a reaction in the opposite
direction, resulting in what we call a “perfectionist.” Certain people who reject a
negative self-image of being incompetent or inadequate end up trying to prove their self-
worth by what they do. They feel that if they could only accomplish certain tasks
(usually very “significant” tasks!) or achieve certain goals (and they must be
“outstanding” goals!) they would thereby “prove” their own self-worth.
Actually, this is really frustrating and self-defeating. The reason is simple: one’s self-
worth is not something one can “prove”; it is rather something one must “accept.” One’s
human dignity or self-worth is a “given” in life, not something that must be proven.
One’s real worth as a human person lies in what one is—ultimately, in his or her
dignity as a child of God, created in His image and likeness. One’s worth does not
depend on what one achieves or on one’s ability to be a productive contributor. At the
same time, one’s God-given human dignity is not lost by disabilities or sufferings of any
kind. Terence Cardinal Cooke suffered for over ten years with painful cancer before he
died. No one knew of his sufferings because he kept them hidden from others while he
carried on his important task of directing the Archdiocese of New York, one of the
largest and most demanding in the world. Shortly before his death he wrote:

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 Life is no less beautiful when it is accompanied by illness or weakness, hunger or poverty, physical
or mental disease, loneliness or old age.

Perfectionists instinctively assume that they will win the esteem and approval of
others by always doing everything perfectly. This would then become the basis for their
own self-esteem. At the same time, they would create for themselves a “good” self-
image. It is no wonder, however, that such persons often grow up very sensitive about
making any mistakes. The reason is simple. If perfectionists made any mistakes, then
they would no longer be “perfect.” They would feel that others would no longer accept
them, and they would have a hard time accepting themselves. These mistakes would
shatter the fragile basis of their own self-worth and “good” self-image. Carried over into
the spiritual life, this could even mean that if they sinned or made other mistakes in their
lives, God Himself would not love them any more because He would no longer see them
as “perfect.”
We all need a good deal of patience to accept the fact that we are not perfect, that we
can and do make mistakes. In the spiritual life this also means that we can and do sin.
This opens the way to humility, which is simply the truth about ourselves. This in turn
becomes the basis for both the freedom and the ability necessary to become more fully
who we really are. We need patience with ourselves to do this. All real growth, whether
physical, emotional, or spiritual, takes time. Some people cannot wait. They want to rush
the whole process, like the person who prayed, “God, give me patience, but give it to me
right away!” It takes a long time to overcome our sins and break our sinful attachments.
We can only acquire patience by learning to be a little more realistic about ourselves
every day.
It reminds me of a situation of a young lady I met when I drove through a tollbooth
at a parking lot. She seemed to be new at her job as a parking attendant. Probably
figuring she was going to make a lot of mistakes, she wanted people to know that fact
ahead of time. So she had hung a poster outside her toll booth window that read, “Don’t
be upset with me, God isn’t finished with me yet.” As long as the Holy Spirit is at work
in us with His gifts and fruits, we are not yet finished either!

There is a humorous story dealing with the “perfectionist” attitude that involves St.
Francis de Sales. He was a very kind bishop known for his gentleness and common
sense. One time he was sent to a cloistered convent to make a visitation of the
community there. In the course of speaking privately with one of the elderly nuns, she
burst out into tears in front of him. With solicitude the saint asked the nun what was
wrong. She answered. “I have been a nun now for over fifty years, and I’m not perfect
yet!” Calmly reassuring her, the saint answered, “Sister, if you become perfect five
minutes before you die, that will be soon enough!”
What a relief such an attitude is in the face of any driven anxiety to be “perfect” all at
once. How much more relieved we will all feel when we can accept this fact for
ourselves. At the same time I am sure many “Alleluias” will be sung to God in
thanksgiving by those who have had to live with us until we finally realized this!

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Patience With Others
The second kind of patience we need is patience with others. The faults and
shortcomings of others can hit us right between the eyes. Many times our neighbor’s
faults are very real and objective. Sometimes, however, we can exaggerate them and in
fact, in a few instances—especially with people with whom we may have had long-
standing difficulties—we can even perceive faults which actually do not exist.
(Remember, not only can beauty be in the eyes of the beholder, but even the lack of it as
well!) When we become upset with others, we can easily become judgmental of them in
our thoughts, critical of them in our words, annoyed at them in our attitudes, and angry
at them in our actions.
Impatience, anger, and annoyance can wreak havoc in our spiritual lives. Each can
prove to be a big obstacle that hinders our growth in our relationship with God and with
our neighbor. The Holy Spirit will reproach our conscience for these attitudes. St. Paul
warns:
Never let evil talk pass your lips; say only the good things men need to hear, things that will really
help them. Do nothing to sadden the Holy Spirit with Whom you were sealed against the day of
redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, all passion and anger, harsh words, slander, and malice of
every kind. In place of these, be kind to one another, compassionate and mutually forgiving, just as
God has forgiven you in Christ. (Ephesians 4:29-32)

St. Francis taught his friars this same point in his Rule of 1223. In Chapter 7, he
wrote about the type of penance that was to be imposed by the friars in authority on any
friar who sinned. He stated that those in authority “must be careful not to be angry or
upset if a friar has fallen into sin, because anger or annoyance in themselves or in others
makes it difficult to be charitable.” If the person in authority were to remain angry and
annoyed, it certainly would make it difficult—at times almost impossible—for the erring
person to come forward and seek forgiveness and reconciliation.

Patience and the control of anger

As we experience anger and annoyance, we need courage and self-discipline to bring
these feelings under control. If we do not control them, they will end up controlling us.
This is part of the self-discipline or “asceticism” needed in our spiritual life. It leads to
the calming and conquering of our passions.
As stated previously, the early Christians referred to this calming of the passions by
the Greek word apatheia (literally, without passion). Apatheia is a state of tranquillity
that arises within our soul after we have basically subdued the unruly movements of our
passions. This should not be confused with a temporary feeling of tranquility that could
result simply from having no difficulties or disturbances for a period of time. This can
happen if things are going well or if we are dealing with pleasant people. In such cases,
we might be tempted to think that we have acquired a high degree of the virtue of
patience and that we have gotten rid of all our impatience. But such circumstances are
not the true norm by which to judge our patience. As St. Francis wrote in one of his

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admonitions:
We can never tell how patient or humble a servant of God is when everything is going well with
him. But when those who should cooperate with him do the exact opposite, then we can tell. A man
has as much patience and humility as he has then and no more. (Admonition 13)

Patience is an aspect of charity. St. Paul lists patience as the first quality of true
charity: “Love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Through prayer and effort, we can
acquire this important fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Patience is absolutely necessary in our lives as Christians. It is the basis of unity in
our families, religious communities, parishes, and areas of work or recreation. Patience
operates like the rubbing of two diamonds together. Because it is a very hard stone, one
diamond must rub up against another diamond in order to wear away the rough edges
and to bring out the beauty in each diamond. A similar thing happens with us. The rough
edges of our characters—our self-centeredness, impulsiveness, obstinacy, and the like—
rub against one another and eventually get worn away by the work of the Holy Spirit. St.
Francis de Sales said it well: “It is a great part of our perfection to learn to bear with one
another in our imperfection.” Our bearing with one another is the very goal of our
patience.

Patience and growth in holiness

How does patience help us grow in holiness? The faults and shortcomings of our
neighbors provoke in us feelings of discomfort, inconvenience, annoyance, and at times,
even intense anger. These feelings rise up inside us because of our reactions to the
irritating words or actions or attitudes of others. This aspect can be seen very clearly in
regard to the most difficult of all forms of patience, namely, the patience connected with
loving our “enemies.” Our Lord taught the necessity of this kind of love in His Sermon
on the Mount:
You have heard the commandment: “You shall love your countryman but hate your enemy.” My
command to you is: love your enemies, pray for your persecutors. This will prove that you are sons
of your heavenly Father, for His sun rises on the bad and the good, He rains on the just and the
unjust. If you love those who love you, what merit is there in that? Do not tax collectors do as
much? And if you greet your brothers only, what is so praiseworthy about that? Do not pagans do as
much? In a word, you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)

Remember, by an “enemy” Jesus does not necessarily mean someone with a gun out
to get us. We may actually never have that kind of an enemy during our whole lifetime.
Rather, He means someone we find very difficult to love, or accept, or tolerate. Maybe
the person has hurt us in some way. But whatever the reason may be—whether real,
exaggerated or imaginary—that person has become very negative, maybe even hostile,
to us. To deal with him or her will require a great deal of self-control on our part! He or
she will really test our patience, pushing us to our limit!
The root meaning of the word “patience” is from the Latin word patire, meaning “to
endure, put up with, bear with.”1 Patience enables us to endure what is either painful or

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inconvenient. As our emotions flare up in reaction to what we have to tolerate, our virtue
consists in struggling by the light and strength of the Holy Spirit, to check our raw
emotional reaction and gradually gain the self-control necessary to deal with the person
and the situation in an appropriately Christ-like manner.
By patience, we learn to “respond” and not simply “react” to the persons or
situations that annoy us. “Response” is reflective and proportionate; “reaction” is
impulsive and often exaggerated. When we find it difficult to deal with a person,
frequent prayer to the Holy Spirit for the grace of patience in our lives is the first step we
should take.
Once we have prayed for the patience we need, then we must find the best ways to
hold back a curt remark, or harsh annoyance, or an impulsive outburst. Many people say
“count to ten;” that gives one time to gain some measure of self-control and composure.
I once heard a humorous story about a saint (I believe it was St. Vincent Ferrer) who
had to deal with a woman who told him she was constantly arguing with her husband.
The saint said he had just the remedy for her. He told her that in the garden of the
monastery there was a well filled with holy water. He gave her a jug full of it. He told
her that whenever she felt she was going to have an argument with her husband, she
should drink a full glass of the holy water and keep it in her mouth until she and her
husband calmed down. Needless to say, the arguing soon stopped! After all, an argument
takes two impatient people, not just one!

Patience With Daily Events of Life

A final area of patience is patience with the events and happenings of day-to-day life.
Most people, I believe, would like to be able to control all their daily occurrences. We
generally like to be in the driver’s seat, to feel in control. But life is not like that. We do
not have the control panel—God does! As an old popular song says: “He’s got the whole
world in His hands … He’s got you and me, brother (sister), in His hands!”
How often we plan things one way and they end up quite another! We expect certain
outcomes to happen, but they turn out much differently. How often we experience the
truth of the saying, “Man proposes, but God disposes.” And what God disposes may not
always be to our liking.
This is where we need patience—in the face of disappointment or hardship or
deprivation. Accepting God’s Will in its dispositions for our lives may be a real test of
the depth of our patience, of our ability to endure what may not be to our liking. Putting
up with what we do not like can cause a great deal of frustration.
How we deal with that frustration is important. If we do not deal with it effectively,
we may well end up with one of two undesirable possibilities. Sometimes it can build up
until we “explode” (blow up outwardly) in an angry outburst. Now such an explosion
has the potential of releasing a lot of pent up anger and frustration all at once. In certain
instances, this can actually lead people to a mutual resolution of problems or differences
because the explosion makes one person aware of how deeply distressed the other person
has been! In this situation, the anger can lead to a beneficial effect. However, this is

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frequently not the case. Such an explosion of anger usually leads to a further cleavage or
separation between persons. In such situations, not only are the problems unresolved, but
now they may have become even more difficult to resolve because of the added tension
the anger creates.
At other times, frustration can pile up until we “implode” (collapse inwardly) into a
deep depression. Frustration in the face of unresolved difficulties often produces anger
within. Such frustration can get us down so badly that it deflates our feelings, frequently
causing a mood of depression to come over us!

“Accepting” or “changing” the situation?

What attitude should we take toward frustrating situations? The popular Serenity Prayer
offers one of the best approaches to start: “Lord, grant me the patience to accept the
things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know
the difference!”
When, despite our best efforts, we seem to be unable to do anything to change a
situation or resolve it in any way, the best approach to find some serenity is to change
our attitude toward it, at least for the time being.
A humorous story illustrates this point well. A homeowner had crabgrass in his lawn.
He tried all kinds of ways to get rid of it—uprooting it, spraying it, burning it, even
changing the soil—but nothing worked. In his desperation, he wrote to the state
agricultural department. He told of the numerous unsuccessful methods he had used to
get rid of the weeds. Then he asked: “What would you suggest I do?” He got a letter
back and it said: “We suggest you get to like crabgrass!”
To “accept a situation” does not mean we have to agree with it or like it. It also does
not mean we will not have other opportunities to try again to change things. St. Monica,
despite her prayers and best efforts, for a long time could not get her son, Augustine, to
give up his sinful ways. She had to accept that fact for the present, but she did not have
to agree with it. She had the courage to keep on praying for many more long years—
sixteen in all—that things would change. Eventually they did, and we in the Church have
all been the better for it for the past fifteen hundred years.
To “accept the situation” means to let go of anxious and useless worry over it. It is
not to allow ourselves to lose all our peace of mind and heart over situations we cannot
change anyway. Sometimes, especially with those people who tend to be
“perfectionists,” a situation that involves annoyance or even injustice becomes an
“obsession,” a driven thought that is never out of their mind day or night. Perfectionists
can become so obsessed because the difficulty their mind focuses on has destroyed their
“perfect” world.
An important part of learning to be patient is to begin by accepting the reality in
which we live. When we cannot do anything about a situation, we have to learn to bear
with it patiently. We have to learn to acknowledge the real situation that confronts us
rather than waste time and energy in all sorts of wishful thinking or needless worry.

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Trusting in Divine Providence
In order to accept the reality we live in, we should learn to cultivate a deep trust in what
we call “Divine Providence.” This is the unceasing care God has for all of His creatures,
especially for us human beings made in His image and likeness. By His Providence, God
provides for all our needs. Our Lord sums this up in one of His most beautiful teachings
from the Sermon on the Mount:
I warn you then, do not worry about your livelihood; what you are to eat or drink or use for
clothing. Is not life more than food? Is not the body more valuable than clothes? Look at the birds in
the sky. They do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds
them. Are not you more important than they? Which of you by worrying can add a moment to his
life span? As for clothes, why be concerned? Learn a lesson from the way the wildflowers grow.
They do not work, they do not spin, yet I assure you not even Solomon in all his splendor was
arrayed like one of these. If God can clothe in such splendor the grass of the field which blooms
today and is thrown on the fire tomorrow, will He not provide much more for you, O weak in faith!
Stop worrying, then, over questions like. ‘What are we to eat, or what are we to drink, or what are
we to wear?’ The unbelievers are always running after these things. Your Heavenly Father knows
all that you need. Seek first His kingship over you, His way of holiness, and all these things will be
given you besides. Enough then, of worrying about tomorrow. Let tomorrow take care of itself.
Today has troubles enough of its own. (Matthew 6:25-34)

By this same Providence, God also directs all happenings both in nature and in
human history to some greater good or benefit for us. This includes the events of our
personal lives. We must share the conviction of St. Paul because it can greatly foster our
sense of trust:
We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who have been called
according to His decree. (Romans 8:28)

This conviction is rooted in the fact that, despite appearances, the world’s situation is
still in God’s hands. I remember while giving a retreat for college students, a young lady
from Korea shared an incident that happened to her when she was a teenager living in
her native country. She was on a crowded bus that was traveling down a rather steep,
curving, mountainous road. The bus driver was driving quite fast. Everyone began to
panic because they felt he was driving recklessly. She noticed a young boy fast asleep in
the seat ahead of her. In her concern for him she woke him saying, “Aren’t you afraid of
how fast the driver is driving the bus?” “No,” the little boy said, “I’m not afraid. The bus
driver is my father.” The little boy had complete confidence in his father.
God is our Father! We too, must learn to trust Him even in our difficulties, for all
things are in His loving and merciful hands. St. Francis de Sales gives us this inspiring
reminder of the providential care of our Heavenly Father:
Do not look forward to what might happen tomorrow … The same everlasting Father Who cares for
you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering,
or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace then and put aside all anxious thoughts
and imaginations.

To worry needlessly would mean we do not take this truth seriously in all its
implications. It certainly pleases our Heavenly Father when we approach Him with

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confidence.

Learning Even From Our Sins

We need to develop the conviction that God will draw good out of every situation if only
we love and trust Him through it all. St. Augustine was convinced of this. To the words
of St. Paul that God makes all things work together for good, he added the words: “Yes,
even our sins!” We might ask, “What good can sin lead to?” Not that we want to commit
sins deliberately, for sin is, of course, the greatest offense against God and, in itself, it
causes the greatest harm to our spiritual lives. But if we have had the misfortune to sin,
we must not give way to despair. Rather, we must remember that God can even then lead
us to many spiritual insights that will aid our growth in the future. What are some of
these insights?

Learning not to trust in our own strength

For example, from our falls into sin, we must realize that we cannot trust in our own
virtue or strength. Rather, we should recognize our own personal moral weakness and
our constant need for God’s grace to do any good or overcome any evil. Our Lord very
emphatically taught the need for the assistance of His grace to the Apostles at the Last
Supper:
Live on in Me, as I do in you. No more than a branch can bear fruit of itself apart from the vine, can
you bear fruit apart from Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who lives in Me and I in him,
will produce abundantly, for apart from Me you can do nothing. A man who does not live in Me is
like a withered, rejected branch, picked up to be thrown in the fire and burnt. (John 15:4-6)

Did not St. Peter personally have to learn this lesson? At the same Last Supper, when
Jesus foretold to all of the Apostles that they would leave Him, St. Peter protested that he
would not leave, saying he was ready to die for Jesus! Unfortunately, he was unaware
that he was trusting in his own strength which would not be sufficient in time of trial. He
had not yet realized both his own weakness and his need for God’s grace. What
happened? As is well known, he denied three times that he even knew Jesus! Afterward,
however, he wept bitterly over his sin! He learned a very important lesson, but in a most
painful way.

Learning not to condemn others

A second lesson we can learn from our own sins is not to condemn others when they sin.
It would be hypocritical to condemn another person for their sins, while we ourselves are
not free of our own sins. The Pharisees, who were so ready to stone the woman caught in
adultery, had to learn this lesson painfully (John 8:1-11). These men were quick to
condemn the woman for her sin because they were no longer mindful of their own sins.
Perhaps they had been repented of, or maybe they were simply denied by all kinds of
excuses or by rationalizing them away. For whatever reason, their sins were forgotten.
When they asked Our Lord if the woman should be stoned to death for her sin of

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adultery, He challenged anyone among them who was without sin to condemn the
woman by casting the first stone. Then our Lord began to write in the sand with His
finger. Whatever He wrote, it apparently indicated something to each of them that made
them remember their own sins. This destroyed their self-righteous and condemning
attitude. Leaving the woman uncondemned, they all dropped their stones and walked
away.
This is a very important lesson for all of us. If we remember our need for forgiveness
for our own sins, past and present and even future, we will be less ready to condemn
anyone else. We can then receive the glorious promise of Our Lord:
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Pardon, and you shall be pardoned. Give, and it shall be given to you … For the measure you
measure with will be measured back to you. (Luke 6:37-38)

Learning to be more grateful and loving

Finally, we can learn through our sins to be more grateful and loving to God for His
infinite mercy without which we would have been lost because of our sins. It makes us
realize the truth of our Lord’s words that one of whom more is forgiven loves more
(Luke 7:36-50). Deep gratitude for our sins being forgiven can be one of the strongest
motives to love God intensely!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. How do you practice patience with yourself in the face of your weaknesses, failings,
and even your sins?

2. Is there anyone in your life right now (e.g., a family member, friend, co-worker, etc.)
who tries your patience? Do you pray to the Holy Spirit for the grace to know how to
deal with that person? What practical things might you start doing to help you deal
with that person more charitably?

3. What attitude do you have towards frustrating situations in your life? Do you
practice patience when you cannot change them, trusting in God’s providence? Or do
you tend to worry needlessly and give in to despair?

4. Do you really believe that God can draw good out of every situation, even your sins?
Have you ever experienced this before? What were the circumstances?

5. Was there ever a time when you trusted in your own strength and failed? Conversely,
was there ever a time when, despite your inadequacies and limitations, you
succeeded because you trusted the Lord?

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6. Have you ever been judged wrongly by others? How did that make you feel? In the
same way, have you ever judged others harshly and later discover that you were
wrong about them? How did that make you feel?

Holy Spirit, Divine Consoler,

Grant me the gift of wisdom
so that I may rightly direct all my actions,
referring them to God as my last end;
so that having loved Him and served Him in this life,
I may have the happiness of possessing Him
eternally in the next.
This I ask, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

—ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

_____________
1 From a form of this same Latin verb also comes our English word, “passion”—literally, a suffering, a bearing
with, an undergoing.

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 CHAPTER 12

TWO FRUITS OF THE

SPIRIT OF COURAGE
FAITHFULNESS AND PERSEVERANCE

There are some people who find religion wearisome, and it is because they have not the Holy Spirit.

—St. John Marie Vianney

On the Holy Spirit

THE HOLY SPIRIT PRODUCES MANY of His fruits in us through His gift of
Fortitude. Two fruits which especially depend on Courage are Faithfulness and
Perseverance. Let us look closely at both of them.

FAITHFULNESS
St. Paul says that faithfulness or trustworthiness is the first quality we should have as
servants of Christ:
Men should regard us as servants of Christ and administrators of the mysteries of God. The first
requirement of an administrator is that he prove trustworthy. (1 Corinthians 4:1-2)

The Qualities of Faithfulness

A sense of responsibility
Faithfulness includes a number of characteristics. It is, first of all, responsible. To be
responsible means to feel an obligation for a certain task or office. Responsibility
involves a sense of duty or commitment to a certain goal or undertaking, to see that it is

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accomplished as well as possible. Those who are responsible can be relied upon to give
their best service to their appointed task.
If we are called, for example, to a ministry in the Church, such as being a Eucharistic
minister or a lector or a CCD teacher, do we fulfill the responsibilities of our particular
ministry? Do we show up for the times we are appointed for ministry? If we must be
absent, have we provided for a replacement to substitute for us so that the ministry does
not suffer? If we are a Eucharistic minister, do we see to it, as far as we are charged to do
so, that the hosts and wine to be used at the Mass are properly prepared? When we
administer the Eucharistic Body and Blood of the Lord to others, do we do so with
proper respect and reverence? When the Mass is over, do we see to it that everything is
left in proper order for use in the next liturgy? If we are lectors at Mass, do we review
our liturgical readings beforehand? Or does neglect to do so lead to a less reverent and
less effective proclamation of the Word of God? If we teach CCD, have we prepared our
lessons adequately so that the young might be well instructed in the truths of our
Catholic Faith? Our sense of responsibility must not only be toward God, toward His
greater honor and glory, but also toward our neighbors, who, as brothers and sisters in
Christ, depend on our ministry to help them grow in their Faith.

A sense of loyalty
Another characteristic of faithfulness is loyalty. Loyalty is a pledge of undying
faithfulness, whether to our family or our Church or our country. To be loyal is to have a
special honor and regard for those we hold in high esteem. To be loyal is to stand by
those we are committed to in good times and in bad, in blessings and in difficulties.
Perhaps at no time is loyalty more clearly exhibited than in times of struggle, opposition,
and especially war. The proverbial friend in need is truly a loyal friend indeed!
At the time of the Revolutionary War for independence from Great Britain, an
American patriot named Thomas Paine wrote an essay called The Crisis. He wrote it to
arouse the colonists to take action and to fight for their freedom at any price. In the
opening lines, Paine captures the meaning of loyalty in the young country’s time of
greatest need:
These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in the
crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and
thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation
with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we
esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.

These words can apply equally to the struggles of our spiritual warfare as they did to
the American Revolution. By His grace, the Holy Spirit will sustain us so that we do not
shrink back in times of crisis. It is easy to be a “summer soldier” and a “sunshine
patriot,” whether the cause is temporal or eternal. Just as warfare separates these surface
patriots from the loyal ones, so the Cross distinguishes the summer and sunshine
disciples from those who endure in wintry and overcast conditions. Loyalty perseveres
and pays the dear price!

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 The greatest offense against loyalty is betrayal. Perhaps no one is held in greater
shame than a traitor. A traitor is disloyal to his own, betraying the very confidence and
trust others have put in him.
I was stationed for about ten years at a friary in Beacon, New York. This is a city
located on the eastern shore of the Hudson River, about ten miles north of and across the
river from the famous military academy at West Point. Alongside the Hudson River, a
historical sign marked a certain spot almost opposite the military academy. The sign
commemorated a sad event in American history. It involved Benedict Arnold, the
American officer who attempted to betray West Point into the hands of the British forces
during the Revolutionary War. When his unsuccessful plot was uncovered, Arnold fled
by this spot to a British frigate named the Vulture, which lay at anchor on the Hudson
River almost across from West Point. Arnold, banished from his own land as a traitor
and equally despised even by the British for his act of treachery, died in England, a man
without a country.
In our Faith, the name of Judas Iscariot is that of a traitor. He betrayed his Lord and
Master for a price. He likewise betrayed the trust and confidence put in him by his call to
be one of the twelve Apostles. He lacked the loyalty that marks every true follower of
Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit Who will give us the grace to remain loyal until death, to
choose the Lord above all things.

A sense of consistency
A third characteristic of faithfulness is consistency. Consistency is a very important
quality in the spiritual life, as it is also in our daily life, whether in our families or
rectories or religious communities. For example, take consistency at prayer. If I pray
only when I feel like praying, I will not get very far in my spiritual growth, any more
than a parent who goes to work only when he or she feels like it will pay many of the
family’s bills. But if I learn to pray or at least try to, whether I feel like praying or not,
then in spite of dryness or distractions or tiredness or listlessness, I would still make the
effort to pray. Feeble as the effort may seem, I will have grown in faithfulness because I
am learning to become more consistent in my spiritual life. And sooner or later, such
consistency will pay off with good results!
There are a lot of things we do each day, not because we want to or feel like doing
them, but because we know we must do them. A sense of duty, love, or compassion
moves us to forget our own moods and preferences, and to make the effort required. I am
sure many a parent with an infant child who is sick during the night does not “feel” like
getting up to care for the tiny child, but love and a sense of responsibility motivate that
parent.
Actually, our moods and feelings are least dependable for gauging spiritual growth;
what we really need is a firm will and determination. St. Paul summed this point up
when he wrote to his young disciple Timothy about the need to preach faithfully, no
matter what his circumstances:

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 I charge you to preach the word, to stay with this task whether convenient or inconvenient—
correcting, reproving, appealing, constantly teaching, and never losing patience. For the time will
come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but following their own desires will surround
themselves with teachers who tickle their ears. They will stop listening to the truth and will wander
off to fables. As for you, be steady and self possessed; put up with hardship, perform your work as
an evangelist; fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:2-5)

What St. Paul writes about consistency in preaching, is a good norm for us, no matter
what our responsibilities.

PERSEVERANCE
A second fruit of the Holy Spirit we shall consider here is perseverance. Perseverance is
connected with patience and, in a real sense, builds upon it as a foundation. Perseverance
deepens the level of endurance in our patience by allowing us to endure probably the
hardest of all tests, the test of time. It is possible to bear with great pressures and
tensions if we know they will soon end. But to know we have to endure them over a very
long period of time, or even for the rest of our lives, usually proves to be the acid test!
Striving to pray or spending time helping a homeless person for one year, for example,
can be a treat. But to persevere at it for twenty-five or fifty years is no joke. It is bound at
times to become almost an intolerable burden. Where will we get the strength to put up
with it for so long? The Holy Spirit will give us His fruit of perseverance (sometimes
also called “long-suffering”).

The Importance of Perseverance

Our Lord knew the importance of perseverance. He tells us clearly in the Gospel:
The man who holds out to the end is the one who will see salvation. (Matthew 24:13)

Perseverance produces many good effects in our spiritual life. It can serve to
strengthen our love for God. In order to persevere, our will has to remain fixed on God.
It is with our willpower, constantly supported by God’s grace, that we choose to love
God. For the will to persevere, it must choose God again and again, in spite of all the
changes of our circumstances, our mood swings, our “good days” and our “bad days.” In
the spiritual life, to quote an old airline commercial, we must “earn our wings” every
day!
Perseverance also deepens our virtues. We acquire our virtues in the spiritual life by
constant repetition. As the old saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.” If we persevere
daily in the practice of the virtues, they will soon become strong habits. Eventually, they
will even become second nature to us!
On the other hand, if we do not persevere, our virtues will grow weak and
ineffective. As a person who was once proficient in speaking a foreign language
becomes quite “rusty” from lack of practice, so without perseverance we lose the ease
and effectiveness of our virtues. This, in turn, will have negative consequences on our

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spiritual growth. As St. Augustine said many centuries ago: “If you are not going
forward in the spiritual life, you are going backward. Not to advance is to decline.”
The spiritual life might be compared to a marathon race. Many people begin in the
contest, but not all end up crossing the finish line. Due to the long time and distance as
well as the continuous and often grueling effort required, many drop out along the way.
The same is true of the Christian life. To quote St. Augustine again: “Once the journey
begins, the road becomes long.” Perseverance is required to complete it. St. Paul shares
his own experience in the imagery of a runner in a race:
It is not that I have reached it yet, or have already finished my course, but I am racing to grasp the
prize if possible, since I have been grasped by Christ (Jesus). Brothers, I do not think of myself as
having reached the finish line. I give no thought to what lies behind but push on to what is ahead.
My entire attention is on the finish line as I run toward the prize to which God calls me—life on
high in Christ Jesus. All of us who are spiritually mature must have this attitude. If you see it
another way, God will clarify the difficulty for you. It is important that we continue on our course,
no matter what stage we have reached. (Philippians 3:12-16)

St. Paul stresses here the importance of the need to persevere, to continue on the
journey no matter what happens. Perseverance means growth and maturity. The
traditional children’s story of the tortoise and the hare reminds us of how much we can
lose when we become complacent about whatever progress we feel we have already
made. That is why St. Paul says he did not look back to the ground he had already
covered; he only kept his eyes on the goal line, only on what distance still lay ahead of
him to reach Christ Himself!
This is the imagery of the athlete straining forward to win. It reminds me of a remark
once made by a professional football player. He was a wide receiver.1 A sports reporter
was interviewing him. He told the reporter: “I have never been caught directly from
behind by a player on the opposite team.” The reporter was surprised, and he asked,
“How do you account for that, since you are not that fast and most of the defensive
players on the other teams are quite fast?” The player answered: “After I catch that
football, I don’t break my stride. I keep my eyes fixed on the goal line, and I just keep
saying to myself, ‘I’m going to get there! I’m not going to let anyone stop me!’ ” I could
just imagine St. Paul having the same determination.
The word “perseverance” is from the Latin per (through), and severus (a difficult or
severe thing). To persevere is to go through difficult times and trials. The trial of
perseverance is ultimately the test of time. With the passage of time, burdens begin to
feel heavier, our resolve begins to fade, boredom sets in, and all kinds of unforeseen
opposition and stumbling blocks begin to show themselves. This is a test indeed! It is no
wonder that in society today we often hear the expression: “Never say forever!” People
today are frightened by the making of permanent commitments. They prefer a loose
situation, flexible, nothing hard and fast, no binding obligations.
Yet, Christian life demands commitments that require perseverance. It is rooted in
the very nature of love because true love tends to endure forever. The vocations of
Marriage or the Priesthood or the Religious life are of themselves life-long. They

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demand perseverance, especially through the trials that inevitably will arise with regard
to the pledge of commitment a person has made.
When Pope St. John Paul II visited the United States of America in 1979, I had the
opportunity to attend his Mass for priests in Philadelphia. He said something in his
homily that I believe I will never forget. “The God who heard you say ‘Yes’ does not
now want to hear you say ‘No.’ ” To remain faithful to our committed love, we need the
Holy Spirit’s fruit of perseverance. When the responsibilities and strains become
burdensome, the Holy Spirit helps us to carry them; when our negative moods distress
us, the Holy Spirit consoles us. Through Him, we find the strength to keep on going and
not give up. The Spirit of Life revives us, the Spirit of Truth enlightens us, and the Spirit
of Courage sustains us!

Perseverance Fosters Spiritual Maturity

Another point about perseverance is that it plays a major role in the process of our
maturing. If we give up on something at a stage when the going gets rough, we may
never mature to the next stage of growth.
Take the stages of marriage for example. It is often said that a good marriage goes
through three stages: (1) the Honeymoon, (2) the Disillusionment, (3) the Choice to
Love. In the “Honeymoon” stage, everything is “super”; there’s not a cloud in the sky.
The newlyweds see each other through rose-colored glasses. He’s my “Prince
Charming,” she’s my “Beautiful Princess.”
Then “crash”—reality hits! As a venerable old friar I used to be stationed with would
say. “Love is blind, but marriage is the eye-opener!” Difficulties and tensions of all
kinds arise. The strain between the couple may even seem to become overwhelming. “Is
this the person I married?” This is the “Disillusionment” stage! Now they are looking at
each other through very dark-colored glasses. This is when couples are tempted to give
up, and many of them do.
Yet, they may actually be on the brink of a tremendous step toward maturing in their
marital relationship. They can come to the third stage, the “Choice to Love.” No longer
do they see each other as the “perfect” person, being everything their partner expects
them to be, as in the “Honeymoon” stage; nor are they totally “negative,” without any
redeeming qualities, as they might see each other in the “Disillusionment” stage. Now,
they can look at each other without rose-colored or dark-colored glasses, but simply with
clear glasses. They can see and accept each other as they really are—with their good
qualities and bad, with their strengths and weaknesses. They can finally and honestly
view each other as the persons they really are, not the persons they expected each other
to be. Now each can freely choose the other as he or she really is. This is the maturing of
the commitment of marriage. Perseverance has allowed them the time and opportunity
for their own growth to take place so that they could finally make this genuine loving
choice.

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Perseverance Overcomes the Noonday Devil
One of the hardest aspects of the “test of time” is to deal with the sense of “listlessness”
and “boredom” that frequently goes along with persevering at something. Doing the
same task for years, caring for the same responsibilities, especially toward other people,
can easily become routine, monotonous, and boring.
We get restless and want to break away from the situation. We look for something
new and exciting, figuring that “variety is the spice of life.” This certainly is a factor in
the breaking of long-range commitments in today’s society, whether it be marriage,
Priesthood, Religious life, or even just living our Catholic Faith.
This is by no means a new problem. Even the desert “fathers” and “mothers”2 of the
fourth century recognized the problem clearly. In ancient times, as we have seen, the
desert was thought to be inhabited by demons. Through careful analysis of the ways they
were tempted, these desert monks and nuns discerned various kinds of demons. They
eventually came to identify eight different demons, each producing a different kind of
temptation or “evil thought.” The ultimate goal of these demons was, through these
various evil thoughts or temptations, to seduce these holy men and women into sin, or at
least into discouragement, so that they would abandon their lives of prayer and penance
in the desert.
An early spiritual writer, Evagrius Ponticus (346-399), familiar with the spiritual
teachings of the desert ascetics, seems to have been the first author to list the eight
demons or evil thoughts: (1) gluttony, (2) lust, (3) avarice, (4) dejection, (5) anger, (6)
listlessness, (7) vainglory, and (8) pride. Later, St. Gregory the Great (540-604) altered
the list. He removed pride saying it belonged in a class all on its own because it was the
source and mother of all other vices. He then removed listlessness and in its place added
envy. This revised list enumerated the famous seven capital or deadly sins: (1) vainglory,
(2) envy, (3) anger, (4) dejection or (spiritual) sloth, (5) avarice, (6) gluttony, and (7)
lust.
The demon or thought we are interested in is “dejection” or “listlessness.” The desert
dwellers called it acedia (or accidie) from a Greek word meaning “not caring.” It was a
state of listlessness, a feeling of weariness and discontent resulting from a lack of
interest. It was a general feeling of boredom. We can imagine how difficult this must
have been in the desert. These holy men and women—worn down by fasting and prayer
—lived lives of routine, in lonely cells in the desolate wilderness. No wonder the thought
to get up and leave it all would enter their minds. This thought became one of the most
feared of all the demons, and it was nicknamed the infamous “noonday devil” from a
verse in one of the Psalms which referred to the “devastating plague at noon” (Psalm
91:6).
It was a fact that most of the desert dwellers who quit their life of solitude, prayer,
and penance, did so at the noon of the day. This was when the heat was devastating,
probably making many of them delirious and restless. Some abandoned their hermit
form of religious life altogether, while many others, wandering restlessly from one

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hermitage or monastery to another, simply became vagabonds. They would stay for a
while, and when they felt the restlessness again, they moved on.3
To persevere is to oppose the dreaded “noonday devil.” To do this, we need the
constant support of the Holy Spirit. He must help us find our consolation in His power to
renew us. The Holy Spirit will lead us to Jesus, Who will teach us how to find joy and
fulfillment even in the ordinary things we do day after day, month after month, and year
after year.
When I taught in a preparatory seminary, one of the seminarians had a clever poster.
It read: “Jesus is the hum in the hum-drum!” When done out of love and for Jesus, even
the most ordinary, prosaic tasks can be noble and fulfilling. No wonder St. Thérèse of
Lisieux remarked: “To the thrill of ecstasy, I prefer the monotony of sacrifice!”

St. Conrad of Parzham

One inspiring example of someone who persevered at simple things and turned them into
stepping stones to great holiness is a Capuchin Franciscan, St. Conrad of Parzham
(1818-1894). As a brother, he was appointed to serve as porter at the shrine-friary of Our
Lady of Altötting in Bavaria, Germany. He did this humble task for forty-three years
during which he distinguished himself for very great charity, zeal, and patience. He
always showed a special regard for the poor and destitute.
After his death, the Capuchin Order tried to present his case for canonization as a
saint. However, the so-called “Devil’s Advocate”4 objected to Brother Conrad’s
canonization on the grounds that he had not done anything significant for the life of the
Church. When feelings became intense between the Capuchin superiors and the Devil’s
Advocate, Pope Pius XI agreed to hear personally the arguments of both sides.
First, the Capuchins presented evidence of Brother Conrad’s genuine holiness of life
and zealous dedication as a religious. When it came his turn, the Devil’s Advocate
pleaded: “Your Holiness, how could you canonize this man? What good did he do of any
significance for the life of the Church?” Pope Pius XI answered, “Father, if you took
care of the door of a shrine for forty years and did not complain about it, I would
canonize you!”

The Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne

Not only does the Holy Spirit make us persevere through the test of monotony and
routine, but He strengthens us to persevere in the face of great trials and persecution.
Let us look at a striking example of the Holy Spirit transforming a group of fearful
people into a group of courageous martyrs. They are known as the Martyrs of
Compiègne. They were a group of sixteen Carmelite nuns who were guillotined during
the French Revolution on July 17, 1794.
In August 1790, an anti-clerical revolutionary government then in power in France
made all the nuns in the convent take an oath (called the oath of Liberte-Egalite) which
strongly limited the Church’s power. Afterwards, the nuns were forced to leave the

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convent at Compiègne and were dispersed into small groups throughout the town so that
they could no longer live as a religious community. Dressing in secular garb, they
nonetheless continued—albeit secretly—to live their religious lifestyle. A few years
later, some local revolutionary followers accused the nuns of violating the law by living
as religious, and then imprisoned sixteen of the original twenty-one nuns on June 22,
1794.
While in prison, the nuns retracted their oaths of loyalty to the government and
began to practice once again all their usual religious exercises. This continued until July
12, when they were sent under police escort to Paris. While awaiting trial, they
continued to recite the Divine Office. Finally, on July 17, after a brief trial which was
held without witnesses, the Carmelite nuns were sentenced to death. They were
condemned as counter-revolutionaries and religious fanatics because they lived as
religious under obedience to a superior, the prioress Mother Teresa of St. Augustine.
Immediately after their trial, they went to the guillotine, chanting the Miserere (Psalm
51), the Salve Regina (the Hail Holy Queen), and the Te Deum, a hymn of thanksgiving.
When they finally reached the spot of execution (now called the “Place of the Nation”),
the nuns knelt and called upon the help of the Holy Spirit, chanting the Veni, Creator
Spiritus. They then all renewed their baptismal promises and religious vows. As each
nun—beginning with the youngest novice—mounted the scaffold, she obtained the
blessing of the prioress; then, chanting God’s praises and singing the Salve Regina, she
then ascended to the place of execution. It is said that during the executions, an absolute
silence prevailed.
In a play about the martyrs of Compiègne, called The Dialogue of the Carmelites,
there is a dramatic scene at the end.5 While the executions are taking place, the nuns are
singing the Salve Regina in chorus. The Salve Regina gradually diminishes in volume as
each nun is guillotined. When finally the prioress is about to be executed and the Salve
Regina ceases, a woman pushes her way through the crowd. She was a nun who had left
before the others were arrested. Her name in the play is Sister Blanche. As she arrives at
the scaffold, she is not singing the Salve Regina but the final verses of the Veni, Creator
Spiritus. Thus, the Holy Spirit not only strengthened all the nuns to face death, but also
helped Sr. Blanche to have the heroic courage to overcome her great fear and join her
companions in bearing witness to Jesus’ love. She met her death invoking the power of
the Holy Spirit.

FAITHFULNESS AND PERSEVERANCE

OPEN INTO ETERNITY
Faithfulness and perseverance are the special graces needed at the moment when Christ
calls us from this life. In the Gospel, Jesus uses the image of a Master (Himself) Who
delays in coming to call His servants (each of us). Our Lord tells us it will go well with
each servant who is found ready and waiting when the Master knocks at the door and

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who opens it immediately for Him to enter. This is especially so if the Master’s return
has been delayed. Jesus says:
Be like men awaiting their Master’s return from the wedding, so that when he arrives and knocks,
you will open for him without delay. It will go well with those servants whom the Master finds
wide awake on his return. I tell you, he will put on an apron, seat them at table, and proceed to wait
on them. Should he happen to come at midnight or before sunrise and find them prepared, it will go
well with them. (Luke 12:36-38)

Christ will serve us if we have served Him faithfully and perseveringly. He will tell
us on the last day:
Well done! You are an industrious and reliable servant. Since you were dependable in a small
matter I will put you in charge of larger affairs. Come, share your Master’s joy! (Matthew 25:21)

Let us then persevere in running the race and fighting the good fight until we achieve
the crown which God, in His love, has prepared for us. May we experience the Holy
Spirit working in our lives until His work is brought to completion. We can apply to the
Holy Spirit in a special way the inspiring words of Blessed Cardinal Newman:
May He support us all the day long,
Till the shades lengthen,
And the evening comes,
And the busy world is hushed,
And the fever of life is over,
And our work is done;
Then in His mercy may He give us:
A safe lodging,
And a holy rest,
And peace at the last.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. Are you faithful in carrying out the duties of your state in life (e.g., as a parent, a
religious, a professional, a student, etc.)? Do you live out your Christian vocation
consistently (e.g., whether it’s Sunday or not, with family or friends, at work or at
rest)?

2. How is your prayer life? What is your attitude towards prayer? Do you have a set
time each day to pray?

3. Do you only pray when you feel like it or you need some favor from God? Or do you
persevere and pray even when it’s inconvenient (e.g., you’re tired, it’s late, etc.)?

4. St. Thérèse said that she preferred the monotony of routine to the thrill of ecstasy. Do
you remember to call on the Holy Spirit in the midst of fulfilling the often mundane,
routine, and ordinary duties of your everyday life?

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Breathe into me, Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.
Attract my heart, Holy Spirit, that I may love only what is holy.
Strengthen me, Holy Spirit, that I may defend all that is holy.
Protect me, Holy Spirit, that I may always be holy.
This I ask, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

—ST. AUGUSTINE

_____________
1 These are the players who run down the field hoping to catch a long pass so as to gain many yards or even a
touchdown.
2 These desert “fathers” and “mothers” were ascetical monks and nuns called “abbas” and “ammas”
respectively.
3 Such monks became known as gyrovagii (literally, travelers moving in circles, those who make the rounds).
These wandering monks were such a problem that when St. Benedict wrote his monastic rule in the 6th
century, he established as one of his vows the vow of stability, in order to prevent monks from moving
endlessly from one monastery to the next.
4 The task of the “Devil’s Advocate” is to find any and every possible reason why someone should not be
canonized a saint.
5 From my own independent research, I could not substantiate all the details of this episode, but I presume the
writer of the play based it on fact, as he did the rest of the play.

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Index
Halftitle Page 2
Title Page 3
Copyright Page 4
Dedication 5
Table of Contents 6
Acknowledgments 7
Foreword to the Golden Jubilee Edition 8
Foreword to the First Edition 11
Introduction 13
Part I: The Holy Spirit: The Gift of God 15
Chapter 1: The Gift of God 16
Chapter 2: Obtaining the Holy Spirit: Gift and Gift-Giver 25
Chapter 3: Fervent Devotion to the Holy Spirit 33
Chapter 4: Decline in Devotion to the Holy Spirit 43
Part II: The Holy Spirit: The Spirit of Life 52
Chapter 5: The Spirit of Life 53
Chapter 6: The Spirit in Our Death and Life in Christ 62
Chapter 7: Wind and Breath: Symbols of the Spirit of Life 71
Chapter 8: Additional Symbols of the Spirit of Life: Water and Fire 80
Part III.: The Holy Spirit: The Spirit of Courage 88
Chapter 9: The Holy Spirit Strengthens Us in the Struggles of Life 89
Chapter 10: The Holy Spirit’s Gift of Fortitude 99
Chapter 11: Patience: A Virtue Flowing From Fortitude 105
Chapter 12: Two Fruits of the Spirit of Courage: Faithfulness and Perseverance 116

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