I Believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life

What better day to reflect on this mysterious profession of our faith then on Pentecost, the day we liturgically celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and therefore also the birth of the Church!

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “…Jesus uses the sensory image of the wind to suggest to Nicodemus the transcendent newness of Him who is personally God’s breath, the divine Spirit.  ‘Spirit’ and ‘Holy’ are divine attributes common to the three divine persons.  By joining the two terms, Scripture, liturgy, and theological language designate the inexpressible person of the Holy Spirit.

If I exhausted all possibilities in attempting to explain what could be said of the ineffable, inscrutable, inexpressible Holy Spirit of the Lord this little reflection would turn into several books and in the end we would be left as dry as the dry bones on the plains of the Prophet Ezekiel; whereas, the Holy Spirit of the Lord is truly the giver of Life!

In the Gospel reading for the vigil of the feast of Pentecost (John 7:37-39) we read: “Jesus stood up and exclaimed, Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.  As scripture says:  Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me.  He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive.”

Other translations use even stronger terms:  Jesus stood and cried out or Jesus took a stance and shouted!  Not only that, but we know that this proclamation occurred “on the last and greatest day of the feast” when there would have been a vast gathering of people from all parts.  Jesus’ stance, his manner and the timing of the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles all indicate the intensity, the great earnestness of his plea.  How deep was and is his desire to make us understand beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no true happiness except in Him!  Come and drink, you shall have what you come for, and abundantly more, you shall have that which will not only refresh, but replenish, your soul that desires to be happy.  St. Augustine will later highlight this dimension of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity by saying, “In the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, the sweetness of the Begetter (the Father) and the Begotten (the Son), pours out upon us mere creatures His immense bounty and wealth.” (De Trinitatae VI, 10)

But the Gift of the Holy Spirit and the marvelous manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit come to us at a great price.  At the end of our Gospel reading John says, “There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”  And for John, reference to Jesus’s glorification is reference to his crucifixion.  Elsewhere, John gives another hint of the fearful cost to Jesus when we hear on his lips, “Unless I go, the Advocate will not come; but when I have been taken from you, I will send him to you.”

In saying this, I think the most important thing we can do on Pentecost Sunday is to reflect gratefully on the beauty of our lives as Christians and how it is that we have been given the Holy Spirit as our intermediary and advocate, our comforter and guide.  He is the pledge of our hope for a bright future, the light of our minds and the splendor that irradiates our understanding. The Holy Spirit prays in us with groanings that cannot be expressed in speech and best of all, the whole infinite Love of God is poured out into our heart by this Spirit who is LOVE & GIFT in the Blessed Trinity.  And let us never forget the passion of the Lord Jesus through whom all these good things come!

Sr. Denise Marie, OP
Vigil of Pentecost, May 18, 2013

We thought you might like to read the sermon Fr. Augustine Reisenauer, OP, gave at last week’s Rosary Sunday Pilgrimage.

“The rosary has a long history and deep roots as a method of contemplative prayer. As Blessed John Paul II has reminded us, when we pray the rosary, we entrust ourselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary in seeking to contemplate the face of Jesus Christ. To contemplate the face of Christ and to meditate on the mysteries of his life and death, his illumination and glorification, deepens our relationship with the Trinitarian God whose divine face our human hearts desire to contemplate forever. One of the aspects of the rosary—an aspect that in large part accounts for its widespread popularity down through the generations and across cultures—is its plasticity and adaptability. The rosary resonates with many people in many diverse ways. In particular, on this Rosary Sunday in this year of faith, perhaps we can contemplate together one of these ways: the rosary as a way of faith. How can the rosary function as an instrument of faith and how can it contribute to solving some of the crises of faith that we see in our world today? Perhaps we can consider three significant problems in particular: first, ignorance of the faith; second, apathy towards the faith; third, withholding of the faith.
First, it seems that our world continues on its path towards becoming progressively secular. More and more people are becoming more and more forgetful of God. In turning their minds to other considerations and other concerns, people tend to ignore God and fall into ignorance of God. Things consume the minds of many of our contemporaries. The trends and the excitements and the fascinations of the world captivate people’s attention. People tend to look down rather than up, to focus on the temporary present rather than the eternal future. And so, they ignore those sublime realities of truth and goodness, beauty and love, which ennoble our human existence. They direct their minds away from the God who is at once both more interior than their deepest depths and more superior than their highest heights. But without knowing in faith who God is, how can people come to realize their purpose of their lives? Without knowing God and being known by God, how can people come to perfect peace?”

To read the whole homily click HERE.

Today is the feast of St. Antoninus. We thought you might enjoy this brief homily about the life and virtues of this beloved Saint of the Order of Preachers:

Our Dominican brethren posted the following last year in their Dominican Saints 101 series:

St. Antoninus of Florence (1389-1459, feast – May 10) was an eminent pastor.  He was so well respected during his life that Pope Nicholas V, who canonized St. Bernadine of Siena, said that he thought Antoninus, even while Antoninus was still alive, was equally worthy of canonization.  His pastoral skills come out in three particular areas: counsel, generosity to the poor, and teaching.

Firstly, St. Antoninus had been especially blessed with the gift of counsel.  Because of this, he was even known as the “Angel of Counsels.”  Princes and prelates would turn to him for advice.  He was sought out to bring peace to warring groups.  He was so respected in this regard that Pope Nicholas V even forbade appeals to be made against sentences passed by Antoninus.

Secondly, Antoninus was known to be extremely generous to the poor.  Having been trained to understand the vow of poverty by Bl. John Dominici and Bl. Lawrence of Rippafratta, and making his novitiate with Bl. Peter Capucci and Bl. Fra Angelico, Antoninus maintained a life of simplicity even as a bishop.  Whatever he had was just as much the property of the poor as it was his own.

Finally, he was an eminent teacher.  He penned great works of theological importance, especially his Summa Theologica Moralis which served as an immensely helpful aid to pastors and confessors.  Moreover, he took his teaching office seriously, establishing Confraternities of Christian Doctrine in Florence to educate the youth.

May we be helped, Lord, by the merits of your holy confessor and bishop, Antoninus, that as we make known your wonders in him, we may also rejoice at your mercies to us.  Through Christ our Lord.