This is the day the Lord has made that he would come with Power!

This is the day the Lord has made that he would come with Power!

On that day, the Holy Trinity is fully revealed.  Since that day, the Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to those who believe in him: in the humility of the flesh and in faith, they already share in the communion of the Holy Trinity.  By his coming, which never ceases, the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into the “last days,” the time of the Church, the Kingdom already inherited though not yet consummated.  (CCC 732).

While Jesus was with his disciples after his Resurrection he was preparing them to receive the Holy Spirit in a way that would empower them to become the apostles of Good News around the world.  “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”  (Mt 28: 18b - 20).

There may be moments when many will see this celebration as another Church opportunity to squeeze in more singing and prayers to what is written in scripture and then move on into ordinary time on the Church calendar.  But make no mistake, this is the moment of the birth of the Church and the essence of our own faith that couldn’t become real without the third person of the Holy Trinity taking root within us and being the only presence of God inside the Temple of Him.  How understandable that the last period of the Easter Season should culminate with this spectacular reality of how God would choose to surround his creatures with his unending Love by keeping guard over our souls through grace.

“What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church.”  “To this Spirit of Christ, as an invisible principle, is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the body are joined one with the other and with their exalted head; for the whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members.”  The Holy Spirit makes the Church “the temple of the living God.”  (CCC 797).

The Holy Spirit is “the principle of every vital and truly saving action in each part of the Body.”  He works in many ways to build up the whole Body in charity:  by God’s Word “which is able to build you up”; by Baptism through which he forms Christ’s Body; by the sacraments, which give growth and healing to Christ’s members; by “the grace of the apostles, which holds first place among his gifts”; by the virtues, which make us act according to what is good; finally, by the many special graces (called “charisms”), by which he makes the faithful “fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church.”  (CCC 798).

This is “Pentecost” the day we all are waiting on to change the direction if needed in our lives that we must receive from the Holy Spirit, this special grace that is his gift for our immortal soul.

Ralph B. Hathaway