“And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you…’” (Exodus 3:12).
I have been reflecting on the Holy Spirit over the last few months. For such a long long time – perhaps my whole life prior to my conversion, which occurred through Grace and no merit of my own – I really did not have any strong feelings about the Holy Spirit.
After all, I could understand – to some extent – a Perfect Father, and also a Perfect Son, but the PERFECT LOVE between Them, well, that was something very foreign to my tiny human intellect…
And then – through GRACE – I somehow suddenly found the Holy Spirit, or more correctly, He found me. And suddenly I could feel such a great connection to the Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, because He is the person who is INSIDE me, and being inside me – through the Sacraments – it is the HOLY SPIRIT who brings the entirety of God to me. After all, where one person of the Holy Trinity is, the others are also…
And as I have been reflecting on the Holy Spirit, I have considered how He is represented in Sacred Scripture – in the Old Testament and the New… For it is through this that we can come to understand that the Holy Spirit CREATES, TRANSFORMS and EMPOWERS…
In the Old Testament, we are told that the Spirit of God is a Wind or a Breath. In the Garden of Eden, God – the Spirit – BREATHED life into Adam when He created humans… “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7).
And yet, there is more to what the Holy Spirit can do than that… After all, in the New Testament, we are told that the Holy Spirit OVERSHADOWED our Heavenly Mother so that She would conceive… “"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35). And through that OVERSHADOWING, the Virgin was TRANSFORMED into the Queen of Heaven.
And she was not the only one transformed – though the Blessed Virgin was undoubtedly the most worthy! During Pentecost, the Holy Spirit overshadowed the apostles, and in this way, they too were transformed… “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4).
And I have been thinking of that too… After all, how could a mere fisherman – Saint Simon Peter – who had only just days before denied Christ and run away in fear, stand publicly and (facing the threat of imminent execution) convert thousands of people to Christ? How could he do that following that WIND and FIRE if not for the POWER of the Holy Spirit?
For the apostles are like Moses, who went out to deal with Pharaoh under the power of the Holy Spirit… “And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.’” (Exodus 3:12).
And I have been reflecting on that today as I adore my Beloved…
For the Holy Spirit Creates, Transforms and Empowers. And today, and every day, I submit to His Holy Will so that He can do these things for me – if He so chooses…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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