Introductory Prayer
Come, O Holy Spirit! Enlighten my understanding in order that I may know your commands; strengthen my heart against the snares of the enemy; enkindle my will. I have heard your voice, and I do not want to harden my heart and resist, saying, "Later . . . tomorrow." Nunc coepi! Right now! Lest there be no tomorrow for me. O Spirit of truth and of wisdom, Spirit of understanding and of counsel, Spirit of joy and of peace! I want what you want, because you want it, as you want it, when you want it.
Consideration
The Holy Spirit: present among us
We Christians carry the great treasures of grace in vessels of clay.16 God has entrusted his gifts to the weakness and fragility of human freedom. We can be certain of the help of God's power, but our lust, our love of comfort, and our pride sometimes cause us to reject his grace and to fall into sin. For more than twenty-five years, when I have recited the Creed and asserted my faith in the divine origin of the Church as "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic," I have frequently added, "in spite of everything." When I mention this custom of mine and someone asks me what I mean, I answer, "I mean your sins and mine."
All this is true, but it does not authorize us in any way to judge the Church in a human manner, without theological faith. We cannot consider only the greater or lesser merits of certain churchmen or other Christians. To do this would be to limit ourselves to the surface of things. What is most important in the Church is not how we humans react, but how God acts. This is what the Church is: Christ present in our midst, God coming toward us in order to save us, calling us with his revelation, sanctifying us with his grace, maintaining us with his constant help, in the great and small battles of our daily life.
We might come to mistrust other people, and we should each mistrust ourselves (and end each day with a mea culpa, an act of contrition that is profound and sincere). But we have no right to doubt God. And to doubt the Church, its divine origin and its effectiveness for our salvation through its doctrine and its sacraments, would be the same as doubting God himself, the same as not fully believing in the reality of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
"Before Christ was crucified," writes St. John Chrysostom, "there was no reconciliation. And while there was no reconciliation, the Holy Spirit was not sent. . . . The absence of the Holy Spirit was a sign of the anger of God. Now that you see him sent in fullness, do not doubt the reconciliation. But what if people should ask, ‘Where is the Holy Spirit now? We can talk of his presence when the miracles took place, when the dead were raised and the lepers were healed. But how are we to know that he is truly present now?' Do not be concerned. I will show you that the Holy Spirit is present among us now as well.
"If the Holy Spirit were not present, we would not be able to say, ‘Jesus is the Lord,' for no one can invoke Jesus as the Lord unless it is in the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3). If the Holy Spirit were not present, we would not be able to pray with confidence. For when we pray, we say, ‘Our Father, who art in heaven' (Mt 6:9). If the Holy Spirit were not present, we could not call God our Father. How do we know this? Because the apostle teaches us: ‘And, because you are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"' (Gal 4:6).
"When you call on God the Father, remember that it is the Spirit who, with his motion in your soul, has given you this prayer. If the Holy Spirit were not present, there would be no word of wisdom or knowledge in the Church; for it is written, ‘The word of wisdom is given through the Spirit' (1 Cor 12:8). . . . If the Holy Spirit were not present, the Church would not exist. But if the Church exists, there is no doubt of the presence of the Holy Spirit."17
Beyond all human deficiencies and limitations, the Church is the sign and, in a certain sense, though not in the strict sense in which the Church has defined the nature of the seven sacraments of the new law, the universal sacrament of the presence of God in the world. To be a Christian is to be reborn of God and sent to announce the news of salvation. If we had a strong faith, a living faith, if we were bold in making Christ known to others, we would see with our own eyes miracles such as those that took place in the time of the apostles.
Today, too, the blind who have lost the ability to look up to heaven and contemplate the wonderful works of God recover their sight. The lame and the crippled who have been bound by their passions, and whose hearts have forgotten love recover their freedom. The deaf who did not want to know God are given back their hearing. The dumb whose tongues were bound because they did not want to acknowledge their defeats begin to talk. And the dead in whom sin had destroyed life come to life again. We see once more that "the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword."18 And, just as the first Christians did, we rejoice when we contemplate the power of the Holy Spirit and see the results of his action on the minds and wills of his creatures.
Concluding Prayer
Holy and divine Spirit! Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, your spouse, bring the fullness of your gifts into our hearts. Comforted and strengthened by you, may we live according to your will and may we die praising your infinite mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
