Holy Spirit Makes Us God's Children

This weekend we celebrate Pentecost, the feast that marks the birthday of the Church. On the first Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus’ Resurrection, The Holy Spirit came upon the small, frightened band of believers in a spectacular and powerful way. We hear about this amazing event in the first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles.

While gathered together indoors, the disciples were startled by “a noise like a strong driving wind.” Then tongues of fire appeared, “which parted and came to rest on each one of them.” The Holy Spirit then filled each of the disciples, giving them the power to speak in many different languages. They went outside and began to proclaim the message of the Gospel to a multi-ethnic crowd.

The display of power by the Holy Spirit is certainly spectacular, but we shouldn’t be surprised. Back on the night of the Last Supper, about two months earlier, Jesus promised that the Father would send the Spirit to the disciples. He said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.” A bit later Jesus explained, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything.”

Nowadays many people assume the spectacular power displayed by the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost was only for that moment in history. The thinking goes that after waiting a gazillion years to make His appearance, the Holy Spirit came and empowered the early disciples in a special way. Then when enough Christian communities were established a few decades later, He went back to Heaven for another prolonged vacation.

The fact is, the Holy Spirit is still present and active in the lives of believers. In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul made it clear that a person cannot even be a follower of Jesus unless the Holy Spirit is present in his or her life. Paul wrote, “But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (emphasis added).

To be genuine disciples of Jesus, the Holy Spirit must dwell inside our hearts. With the Holy Spirit inside of us, we become the children of God, and not in the sterile, generic sense of the word. We’re not God’s “children” in the way some people view it: “Well, yes, since God is the creator of everything, that makes us technically His offspring, His children.”

Paul said, “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God….You received a spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’”

The word Abba literally means, “Daddy!” or “Papa!” This is not some sterile, generic acknowledgment of a distant and impersonal creator. This is a close and intimate relationship. Paul’s message is absolutely stunning: God Almighty Himself has adopted us. We are no longer lowly peasants cowering in fear before the king. We are now members of the royal family!

All this is made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s why the feast of Pentecost is such an important event. We commemorate the day the Holy Spirit was first poured out onto the disciples, changing forever the nature of the relationship between God and His followers. Pentecost is not just the official end of the Easter season and a day to wear something red to church. It is a day to remember that God has adopted us into His family.

Because of Pentecost and the power of the Holy Spirit, we don’t have to kneel in fear before God waiting for His punishment. We can instead, with childlike enthusiasm, jump into His lap, give Him a big hug, and exclaim, “Abba! Daddy! I love you!”