The Holy Spirit Moving Among Us

Pastor’s Column

Pentecost Sunday

June 8, 2025

The Holy Spirit can be difficult to “visualize” in the spiritual life. The traditional Scriptural images for the Spirit are a dove, fire, wind and water. Notice that at no time do we hear Christ refer to the Spirit in human terms, although the Holy Spirit truly is a distinct person with a personality within the Trinity just as are God the Father and God the Son. Jesus, of course, has taken a human form, and has a glorified human body forever in heaven. God the Father, while not human, is described often by the Lord in human imagery. But the Spirit is wholly other: the images that we have simply are not adequate.

How sensitive are you to the Holy Spirit’s action in your life? The Holy Spirit is a fire. Fire represents cleansing and purification in the Scriptures, as well as zeal and intense love. Sometimes we can recognize the Spirit’s actions in sufferings, losses and other reverses, if we allow God to purify us by them. This was what Jesus modeled for us in the Garden of Gethsemane, when he prayed that his sufferings be removed but followed this prayer with “Thy will be done!” Jesus wishes to refine us like gold in a “fire.”

The Spirit can also inflame the fires of our love for God and thus our neighbor. It is always a mistake to rely on feelings when evaluating our prayer time, zeal or relationship with God, because feelings, whether in marriage, other commitments or spirituality, can come and go. Paradoxically, our love can be most intense and pleasing to God precisely when we have the least enthusiasm for things of the Spirit but we do them anyway, the best that we can, for the love of God. At such times, again we are being purified, because then we are able to love without being “bribed” with good feelings, but are loving God more for his sake alone and not just for what we get out of it.

The Spirit is also described as wind. Wind can represent changes coming into our lives. Pope St. John XXIII, upon convening Vatican II, described it as opening the windows of the church so the Spirit could move. In Genesis, the wind of God is blowing over the waters during the act of creation (Genesis 1:2), and in today’s Gospel, the Lord breathes on the disciples in his first appearance (John 20:22), imparting the Spirit and the Sacrament of Reconciliation as his first gift. Thus, at Pentecost, the Lord re-creates humanity by once again breathing the winds of creation over his church through his resurrection.

What ways has the Holy Spirit moved in your life this week? The more we strive for purity of heart, the more we will notice how often the Holy Spirit is at work among us.

Father Gary