AT THE CROSSROADS 40-41

At the Crossroads 40


Come, Holy Spirit, Come! (3)

There was a popular song for ordination and profession ceremonies in the Philippines in the late 70s. Its title then was: Go, Tell Everyone. A version of the song was attributed to Mother Teresa of Calcutta, this time entitled: God's Spirit is Calling Me. I continue to sing and hum this song. It runs like this:

God's Spirit dwells in my heart. He has called me and set me apart. This is what I have to do, what I have to do: He sent me to give the good news to the poor, tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more. Tell blind people that they can see, and set down-trodden free. And go, Tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come.

And go, Tell everyone the news that God’s Kingdom has come.

Just as the Father sent me, so I’m sending you out to be my witnesses throughout the world. The whole of the world.

Immediately we can identify the source of this hymn to the Holy Spirit: Is 61,1-2 – the call and mission of the prophet of Yahweh. Jesus decisively fulfilled this prophetic mission (Lk 4,18-19). At first glance, this prophetic mission can be understood as an individual calling. Missionaries and priests with a passion for God and His people sing this most joyfully and with full conviction. But, because the Church, the community of God’s people, is the Mystical Body of Christ on earth, therefore, this prophetic mission is at the same time a legacy of the Church: every Christian, every Catholic is an inheritor of this divine calling: He sent us to give the good news to the poor, tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more. Tell blind people that they can see, and set down-trodden free. And go, Tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come. Indeed, this is our song. So let us sing this together!

God, in purifying the people Israel already said: (Ezek 36,26-27) A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. Jesus again fulfilled this, when He said to His disciples – and to the community of St. John (14.16-17): And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you”.

Can we now proudly proclaim: We are witnesses of the Spirit of God? – Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC


At the Crossroads 41

Come, Holy Spirit, Come! (4)


Today, we finally celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the end of the seven weeks of Easter, the fiftieth day (hence, Pentecost) after the Resurrection.

In John’s gospel, the descent of the Holy Spirit makes the Church’s mission a sacrament and a continuation of the Mission of Jesus: “the Church is sent to announce, to bear witness, to make present and spread the mystery of the communion of the Holy Trinity” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 738). The impact of the communion of the Holy Trinity on human history is this: our salvation lies in our participation in the divine life and love of the Holy Trinity through forgiveness of sins and integral total transformation of the world. The Holy Spirit will help us understand this mystery and enable us to live out this transforming holiness and this forgiving love. Should we fall short, as we do, the Holy Spirit is our Paraclete, - translated invariably as “advocate, counselor, comforter” – but literally means (“parakletos”) “one who stands by the side of the defendant”! We have nothing to fear: the Spirit of God will be our defendant before the courts of heaven!

In Luke, the descent of the Holy Spirit has opened the doors of the homes and the hearts of the disciples and of the early church to the world (Acts of the Apostles 2,1-11). As a consequence, all barriers are broken down, in the community of God’s children: each one can now understand one another in their different languages, their cultural identities and nationalities have ceased to be an obstacle to sharing, but a rich resource for communion and community life. The Lukan Pentecost marks the birth of the Church: those who accept the message of Jesus are baptized and now live in a new way, that is, according to the values of the Gospel. And they have reached out to the world, to transform the world according to the designs of the Reign of God. This is possible only because the Spirit of God has blown, opening doors, enflaming hearts and transforming and liberating peoples as, first and foremost, disciples of Jesus, and, therefore, as, above all, citizens of heaven.

The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, and opened her womb for the Son of God to dwell in. This is the same Spirit who sent Jesus to open the world and all of human history for the presence of God. This is the same Spirit whom Jesus and the Father sent to dwell in our opened hearts, so that we are able to cry out: Abba, Father, and claim God as our Father, and ourselves as His adopted children in Christ, His Son. This is the same Spirit who is guiding the Church, the People of God and Mystical Body of Christ, in this valley of tears, of sin and of death, in her pilgrim way towards the fullness of joy, of eternal life and of genuine peace which only Jesus, our Lord and Redeemer, can give.

With the Sacrament of Confirmation, let us joyfully accept the Holy Spirit, live our life in a new way according to the faith we profess and engage the world, as directed by the Breath and Wind of our living God! – Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC