The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete

Since December, I have had the joy to be involved with our local Lifeteen Youth Group-- and I LOVE it. It is a blessing to share my love of the Faith, and I am blown away by the amount of times that my Faith is strengthened and enkindled by the joy, trust and happiness of the teens. Best thing that has happened in the last several years. SO thankful that our youth minister thought to invite me to participate. God is very good! A few Sundays ago, I told our group a bit about the Holy Spirit as part of our "Windy With A Chance of Fire" (ha ha) Life Night. Here's the gist of what I said: 

The Sanctifier

“When the work that the Father gave the Son to do on earth was accomplished, the Holy Spirit was sent on the day of Pentecost in order that He might continually sanctify the Church.” The Catechism tells us that Christ sent the Holy Spirit (the 3^rd Person of the Blessed Trinity) upon the Apostles and the whole Church in order that the Church would be holy and always remain so through the centuries even in our present time. Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. Up until this point, even though they had witnessed the Resurrection and Ascension, the Apostles had been cowering in fear- afraid of the Romans, afraid of their fellow Jews and the synagogue leaders and unsure where to even begin spreading the Gospel. Maybe they even forgot that Jesus promised “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” We have all received the sacrament of Confirmation and the graces of the Holy Spirit, but it’s easy for us to forget about those graces and to forget to ask the Holy Spirit for help.

The Transformer

But that’s OK- because the Holy Spirit is always close, ready to completely transform us with a renewed heart and mind- just like He did for the first disciples of Jesus. On the day of Pentecost the Apostles and our Mother Mary were gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem (very likely the same room where the Last Supper took place) when the whole room was filled with a violent wind. Fire rested above each of their heads to show the immense grace poured out by God through the Holy Spirit of purifying and preparing each of them for their mission to spread the Gospel. This same thing happened to each of us at our Confirmation- there was a very real outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and a strengthening of His fruits in our souls.

The Counselor

The Holy Spirit fulfilled Jesus’ promise to be with the Church always and from then on the Holy Spirit has worked through the Church- from the time the Bible was assembled, as we know it today, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the inspired writing of Pope John Paul II and our current pope, Benedict. We can directly place ourselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit when we make decisions, when we pray and especially as students. There are some beautiful prayers to the Holy Spirit for guidance during studies.

In fact, the Holy Spirit is the master of prayer. He intercedes for us to God and makes His dwelling among the Church in a very real way. The Catechism says that “the Spirit prepares men and goes out to them with His grace, in order to draw them to Christ. He makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in the Eucharist, in order to reconcile them, to bring them into communion with God, that they may bear much fruit”. The first work of the Holy Spirit in the Apostles after Pentecost was to bring unity and order to people of many nations. Peter took his place as leader of the Church by preaching to a huge crowd of Jews from other nations; strangely, each person heard Peter speak in his or her own language. Only months ago Peter was denying Christ and now with the power of the Holy Spirit, he converted 3000 people through one speech! The other Apostles took up their roles as the bishops of the early Church and in the book of Acts we learn of the Apostles conferring the Holy Spirit upon new converts: “When Peter and John arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” In a similar way our bishops confer the sacrament of Confirmation on us, and Holy Orders on those men called to be priests.

 

The Defender

The early Christians took their role as witnesses to Christ to a whole new level and they were almost immediately called upon to defend their Faith even to death. Jews and Gentiles who now shared a common Faith in Christ were strengthened by the sufferings they endured at the hands of others. The Catechism says “All, however, must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow Him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks. Service of and witness to the Faith are necessary for salvation.” The Holy Spirit gives us the courage and fortitude we need to speak up for our beliefs and to lead others to Christ through our sacrifice. Each of us has to be prepared to stand up for our Faith and to defend it in the face of possible persecution with the help of the Holy Spirit, who will give us the words to say and our persecutors the grace to accept the truth. One of the greatest Apostles and Evangelizers who ever lived, St. Paul, was first a persecutor of the Church.

The Enlightener

The Holy Spirit has drawn great sinners, great thinkers, great leaders to the light of truth over the centuries and He continues to give the grace of conversion to those willing to respond. St. Paul was literally blinded with the truth that in persecuting the body of Christ- the Church- He was persecuting the person of Christ. God sent a man named Ananias to Paul that Paul should see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit- healed in mind and body. We can rejoice in the great conversions that still take place through the Holy Spirit- so many of our greatest defenders of the Faith now are converts to Catholicism- like Scott Hahn and Peter Kreeft. Our churches across the country are filled with those who have experienced profound conversions. Daily conversion is what has to keep us moving towards our heavenly goal, with the light of the Holy Spirit to lead us. 

Christ's promise that the Holy Spirit would always be there as our guide is a very personal gift to me. Almost three years ago exactly, I went through a tremendously difficult break up. I felt completely broken, confused about who I was anymore, and lost. The day that it happened, I went to the chapel to pray and to speak with a priest friend about it. After baring my soul, I expected him to (and hoped he would) give me some great words of wisdom that would solve everything. He very simply told me that the Holy Spirit, the Divine Consoler (or Healer), would help me and he handed me a song sheet with the words to a hymn about the Holy Spirit printed on it, along with a prayer of trust to the Holy Spirit. It seemed such a simple thing, and not quite what I had in mind, but I prayed the words every morning, like he said, and soon throughout the day. I can honestly say that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that I was transformed and healed. It took a lot of time, and I still continue to heal, but the good work begun in my soul that day is all due to the movement of the Holy Spirit. By resting in Him, I know very personally that  the Holy Spirit's power is not just limited to that day of Pentecost with the Apostles and that He's not just for the very smart or the very holy. He dwells in each of us and He is closer to us than we will ever realize.