How does the mysterious Holy Spirit work?

ONCE an archbishop was discussing Christianity with a learned Japanese writer. The writer told the archbishop, “I think I understand God the Father and God the Son, but I can never understand the significance of the Honorable Bird.”

Many people will understand the problem of the Japanese writer for the Holy Spirit has eluded the imagination of scholars and preachers.

* * * This Sunday is the feast of the Holy Spirit or PENTECOST. Perhaps one difficulty in knowing the mysterious Holy Spirit is because He is represented in various symbols. The Holy Spirit is portrayed as a dove (“honorable bird”) that hovered over Christ when he was baptized at the river Jordan.

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At Pentecost He came down “like wind.” “Wind” (“pnoe” in Greek) is used in the Scripture to designate a person’s “breath” or “spirit” --ruah in Hebrew. (Read Genesis 2,7; Acts 17,25). The Holy Spirit “inspires” or “breathes life.”

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This is shown, for instance, when someone drowns and stops breathing. Somebody applies mouth-tomouth resuscitation and his breath revives the unconscious person— even it it’s a bad breath.

Emotionally, a person is inspired when he is invigorated. Don’t we often say, “This person inspires me?”

* * * For the apostles of Jesus, the dramatic renewal was when the Holy Spirit descended upon them in tongues of fire on Pentecost Day.

From scared, weak-kneed disciples hiding behind closed doors, the disciples went out and boldly proclaimed the teachings of Christ.

* * * With the new life infused by the Holy Spirit much like the breath that resuscitates an unconscious person, Pentecost became the feast of new life and Birthday of the Church.

* ** The Spirit also brings about conversion or spiritual renewal. I had a friend in the Ilocos who worked in the bank whose accounting expertise we consulted about our school finances.

An expert accountant, he would talk of nothing except money--and how one could make more of it.

* ** We lost track of each other for years, but recently met in Manila. I expected him to rattle off about money. But surprisingly, he was now talking about “service for the Lord” and other religious experiences. * * * “What happened?” I asked. “It’s a long story,” he said, “but after joining a Life in the Spirit Seminar (LSS), I realized that I’d been missing a lot of important things in life. Where God occupied just the fringes, now He is at the center of my life.”

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We, too, received the Holy Spirit in baptism and confirmation, but why does He not change our lives as he changed that of the apostles or that accountant?

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There’s one thing to remember. The Holy Spirit won’t change us unless we WANT to be changed or are open to change.

Did you ever experience, for instance, how deep in your heart you should give up some vice like gambling, drinking or not underpaying your workers or to do good?

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These are the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, it’s up to us to accept, reject or ignore them. When you do accept them, then that’s the beginning of a new and more meaningful life.

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