AMDG
By Dr. Alan Schreck
Professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville
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The Papal Altar in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome under the huge bronze Baroque Baldachin (canopy) sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini with an image of the Holy Spirit symbolized by a dove in the background above. The Church owes so much to the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit over two millenniums and despite persecution, heresy, corruption, etc. the gates of hell has not and will not prevail against it.
Editor’s Note: The following is a summary of the morning and afternoon talks of the main speaker at the 2024 Diocese of Steubenville Men’s Day of Renewal in Dr. Schreck'a own words.
Are you thirsty?
John 4:7-15; 7:37-39
St. Augustine comments: “
‘If you knew the gift of God.’ The gift of God is the Holy Spirit. But he is
using veiled language as he speaks to the woman and gradually enters into her
heart…What could be gentler and kinder than the encouragement he gives?... He
was promising the Holy Spirit in satisfying abundance. She did not yet
understand.”
My testimony-
I was thirsty…and in darkness. Until I came to know what St. Paul taught: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the
Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3) and “…because
you are sons [of God] God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying ‘Abba, Father!’” (Gal 4:6; also Rom 8:15,16) I discovered that God is
real, and what it means to know Him! I also
discovered the call and grace of the Holy Spirit to live in unity/fellowship with
others.
Who is the Holy Spirit? At the Last Supper, Jesus said: “Because I
have said these things to you [about leaving them] sorrow has filled your
hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go
away, for if I do not go away the Counselor [Gk: parakletos] will not come to
you, but if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:6,7)
‘Paraclete’,
literally “called to one’s side”, is translated “Counselor,” “Consoler” or
“Advocate” (legal: defense attorney). Jesus promises: “I will ask the Father and he will give you
another advocate to help you and be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him; but
you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you” (Jn 14:16,17). What a
great promise!
John the Baptist says
that Jesus will baptize with “the Holy Spirit (Mk 1:8) and fire (Mt 3:11; Lk
3:16)!” When does this happen? For Jesus’s first disciples: at Pentecost. For
us: at baptism. We become “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19) and
receive “the Spirit of adoption as sons” (Rom 8:15). We can live, not
“according to the flesh” [our unredeemed human nature] but “according to the
Spirit” (see Rom 8:9-17). The Holy Spirit conforms us into the image of
Christ—holiness! What a great Gift—God comes to dwell in us through the Holy
Spirit, the “Sanctifier.” He is “the love of God… poured into our
hearts” (Rom 5:5). In sum: “Life in the
Holy Spirit fulfills the vocation of man.” (CCC 1699)
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
taught “…the Spirit comes with the tenderness of a true friend and protector to
save, to heal, to teach, to counsel, to strengthen, to console.” The
Catechism describes the Holy Spirit as “the interior Master of Life
according to Christ, a gentle guest and friend who inspires, guides, corrects,
and strengthens that life” (CCC 1697). The Acts of the Apostles provides
countless examples of the Holy Spirit guiding the early Church. (Acts 6:2,3;8:29,39;10:47;13:2,4;15:28;16:6;20:22,23)
How does the Holy Spirit
counsel and guide us? Especially through prayer!
He is “the interior Master of Christian prayer” (CCC 2672). All Christian
prayer is prayer “in the Spirit.” We pray for the Spirit
(Lk 11:13; “Come, Holy Spirit”); we pray in the Spirit (Jn
4:23,24; Lk 10:21); we pray to the Holy Spirit (“with the Father
and the Son he is worshipped and glorified” Nicene Creed).
We also pray to the
Holy Spirit: to reveal our sins (Jn 16:8), to strengthen us against temptation;
for the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit (Is 11:1,2), for guidance and discernment.
The Holy Spirit calls
us to act, but without listening to the ‘voice’, the gentle
promptings, of the Holy Spirit in prayer, we won’t know what God wants. Eli
taught young Samuel to say “Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.” Do we only
pray, “Listen, Lord. Your servant is speaking”?
When asked, “How does the
pope pray?” Pope St. John Paul II responded: “You would have to ask the Holy
Spirit! The pope prays as the Holy Spirit permits him to pray…The
apostle [Paul] comes to the heart of the matter when he writes: “The Spirit
too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we
ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings” (cf. Rom
8:26). (John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, pp,16,19.)
Every time we begin to
pray to Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who draws us on the way of prayer by his prevenient
grace (that precedes conversion). Since he teaches us to pray by recalling Christ, how could we not pray
to the Spirit too? That is why the Church invites us to call upon the Holy
Spirit every day, especially at the beginning and end of every important
action. (CCC, 2670)
The Holy Spirit in Action!
An image of Mary and the
apostles during the Descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and tongues
of fire. The apostles emerged from the
Upper Room on fire to teach the Gospel to all nations.
Names and Images of the
Holy Spirit in the Bible are action words: wind/breath, consuming fire, flowing water--even
doves & clouds move! The Holy
Spirit is the ‘action’ person of God- the person of God who moves us.
Jesus’s Great Commission:
“Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Mt 28:19). But after Jesus rose from the dead, before he
ascended to the Father, he said “Wait.” Wait for what? “…wait for
the promise of my Father, which ‘you heard from me, for John baptized with
water but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts
1:4,5). Why wait? “…you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you & you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria
and to the end of the earth” (Acts1:8).
They were “clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24:49). When?
Pentecost! Pentecost, the sending of the Holy Spirit, put Jesus’s commission
into action!
For us, the sacrament of Confirmation
“perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the Church” (CCC 1258). “It gives us a
special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and
action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, &
never to be ashamed of the Cross” (1303) How is the Church doing? Are confirmed
Catholics boldly proclaiming Christ? Are most Catholics “active Catholics”?
(Some reflections: cf. Matthew Kelly’s Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic).
What can we do? Pray for God to release, activate, renew the grace & power
of the Holy Spirit given at confirmation!
Take a moment to think
about what or how you are doing to be a witness to God and your faith, both in
word and action. Our lives have a “ripple effect”!
(Don’t know what to say?
Jesus says: “Ask the Holy Spirit!” Lk 12:11,12)
2) The Second Vatican Council and subsequent papal teaching give clear teaching about how lay people are called to ‘build up’ the Church and carry out the mission of the Church in the world- the ‘apostolate’ of the laity. How are we equipped to do this? The Holy Spirit sanctifies us “through the ministry [of the ordained] and the sacraments. However for the exercise of the apostolate he [the Holy Spirit] gives…special gifts [i.e. charisms] besides…From the reception of these charisms, even the most ordinary ones, there arises for each of the faithful the right and duty of exercising them in the Church and in the world for the good of men and the development of the Church, of exercising them in the freedom of the Holy Spirit who “blows where he wills (Jn 3:8)…” (D. on Apostolate of the Laity).
The Church’s teaching on
the charisms, also found in the CCC 799-801,2003, 2004, is based on the
teaching of St. Paul- each Christian (1 Cor 12:7) is given a particular gift
(or gifts) to ‘build up’ the Body of Christ. They must be used for that
purpose- in charity- to be effective, and beneficial for the one using them.
The Church, being a spiritual as well as human reality, needs these gifts of
the Holy Spirit to be strengthened and to carry out her mission. (See 1 Cor 12
& 13; Rom 12: 4-8; Eph 4:11,12). St. Paul lists 17 distinct gifts, but these
are not all. Dr. Mary Healy divides them into gifts of revelation
(discernment, words of wisdom and knowledge), speech (prophesy,
prayer gifts, music) and power (extraordinary faith, healing,
miracles). There are also service gifts: administration, giving
aid or money, works of mercy and ‘everyday’ services.
Some of these are human
talents ‘anointed’ by the Spirit; others are purely spiritual.
“As each has received a gift, employ it
(use it!) for one another” (1 Pt 4:10). Jesus’s parable of the
talents applies here. A gift of the Spirit, like any gift, unused or
“unopened”, is useless. (“… a member [of the Church] who does not work at the
growth of the body [of Christ] to the extent of his possibilities must be
considered useless both to the Church and to himself.”) D. on the Apostolate of
the Laity, 2) No “couch potato” Catholics! Reflect for a few moments on what
charisms you have- natural talents that the Holy Spirit can ‘anoint’, or
spiritual gifts. How have you used them
in the service of others, of Christ, of the Church? Ask the Holy Spirit to show
you the charisms you already have, and ask for whatever gifts He would give
you, with His help to use those gifts as He wills.
3) Living in the grace
and power of the Holy Spirit should be visible to others, and to ourselves, in
the way we live. If we “abide” in Jesus Christ, like branches of a vine, we
will bear “fruit” (Jn 15: 4, 5,8). St. Paul calls these the “fruit of the
Holy Spirit”: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22,23; CCC 736, 1832). These
are visible signs of union with Jesus and the grace of the Holy Spirit dwelling
in us.
A final reflection: What do you see as the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life, evident to others? What “fruit” of the Holy Spirit do you need, or need to grow in? Ask the Holy Spirit, specifically, for this! Twice in Jesus’s teaching on ‘the vine and the branches’ he says that if you abide in me, ask the Father for whatever you need in my name and He will give it to you (Jn 15:7,16). “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find…how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Lk 11: 9-13).
Appendix
Essentials of Prayer
from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2625-49)
Praise.
“Praise the Lord,
O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live!” Ps 146:1
Thanksgiving.
Jesus rejoiced in
the Holy Spirit and said: “I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that
you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them
to infants…”Luke 10:21
Blessing
and Adoration. Adoration
is homage of the spirit to the King of Glory (Ps 24: 9,10), respectful silence in the
presence of…God.” (2628) (This will also include meditation, such as on God’s
Word in Sacred Scripture.)
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