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| Stain Glass of the Holy Spirit in St. Peter's Basilica |
There is a priest friend of mine—one of my classmates actually—who does a lot of work with the Legion of Mary going from door to door, speaking to people about faith. He was a quantity surveyor before he became a priest and he is the most amazing organizer. He often said to me that the hardest places he found to work in, were usually the wealthier areas. When people felt they had all they needed they were generally not as open to hearing about God. In the poorer areas people were usually more open to what he had to say.
From all the upheaval in our world at this time, one of the good things that is coming from it, is that it is making people ask a lot of questions and to search for God in a new way. Economic crisis and wars help us to realise how vulnerable we are. Religious crisis and terrorism—such as we are seeing at the moment—help us to remember that while religion is really important, it can be deadly if it is misused. Any religion is simply a way to help us live out what we believe in, but unless it is completely focused on God and unless God is at the centre, it can become an end in itself and a very dangerous one at that.
There is one crucial thing that is needed for faith to be alive and that is the gift of God’s Spirit. For me the best way of explaining it is to compare the Spirit to electricity. In any building like this one, we have all kinds of useful equipment, such as microphones, lights, projectors, but none of these things would be of any use to us if we didn’t have electricity. The power that goes into them is what transforms them into something wonderful. You could say that the Holy Spirit is the electricity that makes us alive.
Without God’s Spirit we are dead, the Scriptures are just words in a book; the mass is just an empty ritual; marriage is just a legal way of being together, but with the Holy Spirit our faith comes alive, the Scriptures become the living word of God, which speaks to our hearts and challenges us to grow; the mass becomes the living presence of Jesus among us in the Eucharist, where we can have the most intimate encounter possible with Jesus. With the Holy Spirit marriage involves a third person, present to support, strengthen and encourage every couple, as they try and live out their married life together.
We are nothing without the gift of God’s Spirit. We would not be able to believe, or pray, or even know God. I could stand at the altar and pray all day long, but nothing would happen if the Holy Spirit didn’t transform the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. The same is true with confession. It is the Spirit who forgives people. The priest is just an instrument, an important instrument, but only an instrument. It is an extraordinary thought that the Holy Spirit acts on the words of a human being! When a priest says the words of consecration at the mass, ‘This is my Body which will be given up for you,’ the Holy Spirit immediately and humbly transforms the bread into the body of Christ. And when the priest says the words, ‘I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,’ the Spirit blots out the sins of that person. Such is the amazing generosity and humility of God.
When we see scandals coming to light in the Church, that is also the work of the Holy Spirit, purifying and renewing his people. That is happening because the Lord loves us and won’t allow his people to be overcome with disease. All the poison is being taken away and this is painful, but essential. We are always better off because of the purifying work which God is bringing about. God is forcing us to rely much more on the power of his Word and of his Spirit, something which we should have been doing all along. And perhaps one of the most important things to remember is that God’s work is always beautiful and God will make things beautiful again, because God is the master craftsman.
The Lord doesn’t wait until we are ready either. God acts when the time is right. He doesn’t just wait for the hierarchy of his Church to decide what to do. God sends his Spirit, who inspires people and moves people to act. That’s not to say that God doesn’t work through his bishops and priests, but God knows how best to act and so He sends his Spirit to inspire and move people to step out in faith and live the Gospel, and they in turn move others, until soon the people are alive with faith again.
Despite
our best efforts we continually need to be helped back on the right
track, no matter what we are doing. This is why Jesus told us before
he ascended into heaven, that the Father would send us this ‘Helper,’
who would be with us forever, and who would teach us everything. The
Lord knew that we would need help and so He sent us the best help
that we could have, his own Spirit, to guide us and teach us and God
teaches us through the example of people He inspires, through the
Word of God, through prayer, and in many other ways we will never
even be aware of. The Spirit is very gentle and that is why we don’t
notice him sometimes.
Jesus said to the Apostles, ‘I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at this time. But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth.’ (John 16:12)
God keeps revealing himself to us in deeper and deeper ways. God wants to teach us everything, just as we want to teach the next generation what we have learnt. The more open we are to the Holy Spirit, the more that will happen. How do you become open to the Spirit? Just tell him your desire. ‘Holy Spirit of God, please come into my life. Teach me and reveal yourself to me and make my faith alive.’
Every time I am about to preach, I ask the Holy Spirit to anoint the words I speak, so that they will speak to your hearts and that you will hear what the Lord wants to say to you. Every time I go to visit someone sick, or in any difficult situation I always ask the Holy Spirit to guide me and give me wisdom. Wisdom is one of the gifts of the Spirit. Keep praying for wisdom and that the Lord will make himself known to you. Every time you read the Bible, ask the Lord to teach you, because He wants to teach you, but He also wants us to ask him for it.
Think of a time one of your children, or any young person, asks you to explain or teach them something. Usually we are happy to do so. There is a joy that comes with passing on knowledge, but the student has to be open. There is a Chinese proverb that says, ‘When the student is ready, the master will appear.’ It is much harder to pass on knowledge if the other person is not interested or open to it, but once they open their heart to it, then it is easy to teach. It is the same for all of us. The Lord wants to reveal so many things to us, and the more open we are to him, the more He will show us. God does this through the teachings of his Church, but also individually. Keep asking God to reveal himself to you.
When I was nineteen, I was searching for God and someone put in my path a book called Power for Living. This was a Protestant book and it gave a series of personal testimonies of people who had opened themselves up to God and how it had transformed their lives. At the end of the book it said, ‘If you want God to become part of your life, ask him now to make himself known to you’ and I did exactly that. I remember I was in my bedroom and I sat on the end of my bed and said, ‘Lord if you are there, please make yourself known to me.’ Then I put away the book and forgot about it.
Several days later I met a classmate who told me that a mutual friend of ours called Louise, had gone to Medjugorje on pilgrimage and had had an awakening of her faith. His description of her was, ‘She has become all religious and holy.’ Louise was my own age and from a very similar background to myself. So I called to her and asked her what had happened. I can’t remember exactly what she said, but I listened to her for about an hour and a half and I could see that something profound had happened to her. At the end of the conversation she asked me if I would like to go to a prayer group in another friend’s house. I wasn’t that interested, but she asked another girl who I had a crush on, to ask me. Naturally I went. Now those two ladies are married and I am a priest!
When I went to the prayer meeting I was surprised to find about fifty young people, singing hymns, praying the rosary, praising God out loud and reading Scripture. I was intrigued and I could see that their faith was alive. I knew I wanted what they had. So I began attending these meetings and it got me praying and going to mass more often.
After a few weeks they had what is called a Life in the Spirit seminar. Over the course of about six weeks there are teachings on the reality and power of the Holy Spirit. I heard different testimonies from other young people of how their lives had been transformed when they really invited the Holy Spirit to come into their hearts. On the fifth night of the seminar they always pray with people individually, that they will experience an outpouring of the Spirit. When they prayed with me, nothing really happened and I was disappointed. I felt very peaceful, but not unduly so. However, in the weeks and months that followed I suddenly found that my faith was coming alive. I had a profound desire to spend a lot of time in prayer. I found that the Bible had also come alive and was speaking to me as I had never experienced before. I also found that I began to hear the words of the mass as though I had never heard them before. I had received an outpouring of the Spirit. That was in October 1988 and it was when my faith really came alive. I continue to pray to the Holy Spirit to teach me and God continues to reveal things to me. The more open I am the more I receive.
The conviction of our faith is also a gift of the Holy Spirit. ‘I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at this time. But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth.’
The gift of God’s own Spirit is really the greatest thing God can give us after life itself, because when we have the Holy Spirit we have everything. Keep praying to the Holy Spirit asking him to set your hearts on fire. This is the Lord’s desire for us, but God never forces himself on us. The more open we are, the more God gives himself to us. If you find that your faith seems dry and uninteresting, ask God to give you the gift of his Spirit and you will be surprised what will happen.
Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of your faithful people,
Send forth your Spirit and we will be created,
And you will renew the face of the earth.
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