Fifty days after the Resurrection of the Lord, the Church celebrates the great feast of Pentecost—the fulfillment of Jesus’s promise to His disciples before His Ascension:
| “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) |
This moment is not simply a commemoration of an event in the past, it is a renewal of the Church's birth and mission, a stirring reminder of the Holy Spirit’s enduring presence in our lives. As we approach this sacred celebration, we are invited to pause and reflect: What place does the Holy Spirit hold in our Christian journey?
Often in Scripture, our attention is drawn to Jesus Christ, the Son, and to the Father, whom Jesus reveals. But what about the Holy Spirit—the third Person of the Trinity? His presence is not an afterthought, nor limited to the Upper Room. From Genesis to Revelation, the Spirit of God breathes through the entirety of salvation history.
In the beginning, He hovered over the waters (Gen 1:2), bringing order out of chaos. He breathed life into humanity (Gen 2:7), renewed the face of the earth (Ps 104:30), and empowered leaders—prophets, judges, kings—with wisdom and strength (Gen 41:38; 1 Sam 10:6; 16:13). He manifested Himself through the burning bush to Moses (Ex 3:2), led the Israelites by a pillar of fire and cloud (Ex 14:20), and filled the Tabernacle with divine presence (Ex 40:34).
The same Spirit overshadowed Mary at the Annunciation (Lk 1:35), descended upon Jesus at His baptism (Mt 3:16), and drove Him into the desert (Mt 4:1). Jesus, filled with the Spirit, began His public ministry, healed, taught, and performed miracles by the Spirit's power. Before His Ascension, He promised this same divine presence to His followers (Jn 14–16)—a promise fulfilled at Pentecost and renewed in every generation.
Today, the Holy Spirit dwells not in tents or temples of stone but within us (1 Cor 6:19). Through all the Sacraments of the Church we are sealed and filled with the Spirit, the Advocate who teaches, reminds, convicts, and consoles (Jn 14:26). In our prayers, the Spirit intercedes for us with “groanings too deep for words” (Rom 8:26). In the Church, He bestows diverse gifts for service (1 Cor 12), cultivates the fruits of holiness (Gal 5:22–23), and transforms us evermore into the image of Christ (2 Cor 3:18).
As Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, reflected on the Sixth Sunday of Easter:
“We should place ourselves at the Spirit’s disposal and pay attention to his promptings, which always arise deep in our hearts… Remembering God in us also goes through a deep understanding of Jesus’ life. Superficial listening is not enough. We have to learn to know and recognize the features of Christ’s face, his thinking, and the deep logic that animated him. If we understand something, we will also remember it.”
The Patriarch reminds us that the Holy Spirit does not merely guide our external choices but seeks to shape our inner being to form Christ within us (Rom 8:29), that we may not only believe in Jesus, but live as He lived.
In truth, without the Holy Spirit, we cannot live the Christian life. He alone empowers us to overcome sin (Gal 5:16), builds the Church in unity and love, and gives witness to the Risen Lord through our lives. He is the seal of salvation, the fountain of living water (Rev 21:6), and the divine voice who, together with the Bride, that is, the Church cries out: “Come” (Rev 22:17), kindling within us a deeper longing for the return of our Blessed Hope, Jesus Christ.
And so, as the living stones of the Holy Land and the Universal Church, we must ask ourselves:
- Are we making room for the Spirit to work in us? Are we yielding to His transforming grace, letting Him shape us into who we’re called to be?
- Are we attentive to His gentle promptings, or do we resist them? Can we quiet our minds and hearts enough to hear the gentle whisper of His voice?
- Do we believe that the same Spirit who descended upon the Apostles also longs to empower us today to bear witness in our own “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”?
In the Upper Room, the disciples waited in obedience, prayer, and unity. They made space for God’s promise to be fulfilled. May we, too, be found watchful and ready—hearts open; spirits yielded—so that the Spirit may come and renew us once more.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love. Amen.
