XX — THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Pentecost Sunday

Presence of God. — Come, Holy Spirit, fill my heart, kindling in it the fire of your charity.

Meditation

1 — Pentecost is the feast of God’s gift to men. At Christmas God gives us his Only-Begotten, Christ Jesus, the Mediator, the Bridge that joins humanity to Divinity; in Holy Week, by his Passion, Jesus gives himself entirely for us unto death on the Cross, washes us, purifies us, sanctifies us with his Blood; at Easter Christ rises, and his Resurrection, as later his Ascension into Heaven, is the pledge of ours: He goes before us into the Father’s house to prepare a place for us, since in Him and through Him we have entered the divine Family, we have become children of God, destined for eternal beatitude. But God’s gift to men does not stop here; having ascended into heaven, Jesus, together with the Father, sends us his Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Father and the Holy Spirit loved us so much as to give us the Word through the Incarnation; the Father and the Word loved us so much as to give us the Holy Spirit. It is the whole Trinity that gives itself to man, that bends down over this poor nothingness to redeem it from sin, to sanctify it, to introduce it into its intimacy. This is the excessive charity with which God has loved us, and the divine gift to our souls reaches its summit precisely in the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is the Gift par excellence: Donum Dei Altissimi. The Holy Spirit, bond and pledge of the mutual love of Father and Son, who receives, seals, and crowns their mutual self-giving, by Jesus’ infinite merits is given to our souls so that He may bring to completion the work of our sanctification. The Holy Spirit, who descends upon the Apostles under the form of tongues of fire, shows us how He, Spirit of love, is given to us precisely to transform us by his charity and, thus transformed, lead us back to God.

2 — The gift of the Holy Spirit is not a passing gift but a permanent one; in fact, for the soul that lives in charity, He is the sweet Guest who dwells in it: “If anyone loves me” — Jesus says, and we read it in the Gospel of the Mass of the day — “we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” Yet this indwelling of the Trinity, and therefore of the Holy Spirit, in the soul in grace is a gift that can and wants to grow; it is a continual self-giving. The first gift was realized in us on the day of our baptism, and was then renewed, confirmed in a most special way in chrismation — the sacrament of Confirmation, which is in some way the Pentecost of every Christian soul — and then, little by little, at every increase of charity, this gift is renewed, and the Holy Spirit, together with the Father and the Son, gives Himself to the soul in a fuller, deeper, more penetrating way. Very fittingly, today’s Gospel speaks to us of charity, which is at the same time the condition and the consequence of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling in our souls: condition, because according to Jesus’ own word the divine Persons make their dwelling only in the soul that loves; consequence, because “the love of God has been poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5). In Holy Baptism we were totally preceded by divine love, that is, without any merit of ours but solely by Jesus’ merits, the Holy Spirit was given to us and spread charity in us; afterward, every time that, corresponding to divine invitations, we make generous acts of charity, He renews his invisible visit to our soul and pours into us ever new grace and new charity. Thus our supernatural life develops under the action of the Holy Spirit, wholly caught up in the life-giving and transforming current of his love. In this way we understand how the Feast of Pentecost can and should represent a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our soul, a new visit of his by which He fills us with his gifts:

Veni, Creator Spiritus — mentes tuorum visita,

imple superna gratia — quae tu creasti pectora.

Colloquy

“O Holy Spirit, substantial Love of the Father and of the Son, uncreated Love who dwell in righteous souls, come upon me with a new Pentecost, bringing me the abundance of your gifts, your fruits, your grace, and unite yourself to me as most sweet Spouse of my soul.

“I consecrate myself to you wholly: invade me, take me, possess me entirely. Be penetrating light that illumines my intellect, gentle motion that draws and directs my will, supernatural energy that gives vigor to my body. Complete in me your work of sanctification, of love. Make me pure, transparent, simple, true, free, peaceful, gentle, calm, serene even in sorrow, burning with charity toward God and toward neighbor.

“Accendat in nobis ignem sui amoris et flammam aeternae charitatis (M.R.), kindle in me the fire of your love and the flame of eternal charity. Multiply in me those holy transports of love that lead me swiftly to transforming union.

“Subject completely to the divine Will not only my will, but all my powers and my senses, so that I may no longer be ruled in anything by self-love, but only by your divine impulse, and all may move for love, in love, so that in acting I do all things for love, and in suffering I bear all with the savor of love. Make the supernatural become the ‘natural’ atmosphere in which my soul moves.

“Make me docile, docile, ready to follow your inspirations. May I not let even one fall in vain, and may I always be for you a little faithful bride. Make me more recollected, more silent, more submissive to your divine action, more apt to receive your delicate touches. Draw me into the depths of my heart where you dwell, O sweet divine Guest, and teach me to keep vigil unceasingly in prayer.

“Come, O life-giving Spirit, upon this poor society and renew the face of the earth; preside over new ordinances; give us your peace, that peace the world cannot give. Assist your Church, give her holy priests, fervent apostles. Procure gentle invitations for good souls, sweet torment for sinful souls, consoling refreshment for suffering souls, strength and help for the tempted, light for those who are in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Sr. Carmela of the Holy Spirit, c.s.).