The Holy Spirit

                                                     The Holy Spirit

Eileen Renders

   As young Catholics, we have learned about the three persons in One God; The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We also learned that the Father (God) sent His only Son Jesus Christ down to earth to be sacrificed and to save us from our sins. The Holy Ghost, however, we have not learned too much about, but we know the Holy Spirit is within us all at the time of our Baptism. The Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, inspires us, and leads us on our spiritual journey,

   Although we accept our faith as it is written and foretold by Jesus’ disciples in our Catholic Bible, there are still questions we all have regarding the mysteries of our faith such as; Our chemistry mixture encompassing body, mind, heart, and soul.

   Is our soul tangible? How does the Holy Ghost interact with our souls? How do we keep our soul on track, and without the blemishes caused by sin? With some reflection and inner guidance, I have made some human bodily chemistry associations. 

Body; Composed of flesh, blood, bones, and many organs, my focus is drawn to the heart. Several times, I have read a short story regarding how a young person nearing death has received a new heart transplant from a donor. One young man met with the young donor’s mom a few months after surgery. She wanted to listen to her son’s heart beating in the chest of another young man, the receiver of the heart. In conversation, the mother mentioned how her son enjoyed pizza and a few beers every Saturday night. This revelation rocked the receiver of the heart transplant as he never liked the taste of beer at all, and never drank of it. That is not until after his new heart was implanted. There have been a few other stories as well that are quite similar. This information leads us to question whether the heart has a memory. Songs such as; “Heart and Soul, I fell in love with you.” Is the soul housed within the heart?

Heart; The heart is housed within the body, and is dependent upon oxygen to regulate the heart, energy, and so forth. As far as I know, the last organ to function within the body is the heart. When the heart stops beating, we are declared dead.

Mind; Our mind stores much information such as old, new, good or bad, and many learned educational subjects. Our minds review choices and circumstances. and responsible for deciding on our course, making decisions. One might even say the body is the symbol of the Father in that it has many branches. Branches such as the heart, the mind, and many connected organs. The Son, Jesus Christ might be associated with our heart and soul and part of the body just as Jesus is in God the Father, and God the Father is in Jesus.

The Soul; Just where is our soul? If it is in our body, where is it exactly? And how does the Holy Spirit interact with our soul? And if the Holy Spirit is not interacting within us, or with our soul, what is preventing that from happening?

A spiritual theory resulting from my reflection. To make sense of some of the above types of self-questioning, and be able to “tie things together”. I share what could be a possibility.

Tying it all together; The body, mind, and heart are connected as one entity, similar to the Father, Son, and The Holy Ghost. Where then might our soul, our spirit be housed? Could it be that the soul is housed within the heart, and is the very root of the tree?

   What might interfere with how the Holy Ghost’s ability to live within our soul? Could that be because our heart (where our soul is housed) is divided? Dependent and loyal to its earthly body?  The body has the mind where it can make choices and decisions, and our heart is very accustomed to allowing the body and mind to make choices and decisions that often separate us from the Holy Spirit. The heart fears death and remains loyal to life, and that can dampen the spirit that lives within us in our very hearts.

   How can we succeed in uniting our soul (our spirit) with that of the Holy Spirit? Perhaps if we could override the mind that can make good or bad choices that affect our overall being, we might consider offering our spirit in submission to The Holy Ghost. Paradoxically, for the first time, we could become truly free! Free to trust in the Holy Spirit, trust in Jesus Christ, and trust in God. Be willing on that final day when the heart stops beating, to flee into the arms of the Holy Spirit and feel the freedom and joy of ascending into heaven to meet our Creator, God Himself.