I wonder if in my past understanding of the Holy Spirit’s role in the process of salvation and redemption I unwittingly limited the Spirit’s activity to the Spirit’s role in the life of Catholics. Emphasizing in my own mind the presence of the Holy Spirit as the Soul of the Church and as the sanctifier in the life of Catholics, I may have unwittingly not appreciated the role of the Holy Spirit in the world. 

In his “What Is God?: How to Think About the Divine” (Paulist Press, New York, 1986, 143 pp.) John Haught suggests that religion is adventure. I love that idea, but I wonder how many of us think of religion as adventure. 

There are so many influences that play a part in shaping and forming our experience of ourselves and others that the word “mystery” seems applicable to everything involving human persons. Writing this series using Bernard Cooke’s “Power and Spirit: Toward an Experience-Based Pneumatology” (Oxford University Press, 2004) as a springboard has been a very provocative experience for me.

This series of columns has caused me to reflect on my past understanding of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives and also on the importance of human relationships. I know that when I was a young priest I hardly ever mentioned the Holy Spirit in my Sunday homilies.

As I mentioned in last week’s column, Bernard Cooke was the best teacher I have ever had. Bishop Bryan McEntegart sent me to Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1965 after I had obtained my master’s degree in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. 

When I was reading the March 2024 edition of Commonweal magazine, I felt as though I had received a special gift. The magazine is approaching its 100th anniversary and is reprinting some outstanding essays from its past history. 

Anyone who reads this weekly column regularly knows that I am very interested in films, theater, and what I refer to as “Catholic Novels.” Recently my attention was called again to Shisaku Endo’s wonderful novel “Silence” and the cinematic masterpiece based on the novel. 

It is of course possible to freely hate, and it is possible to treat people indifferently, to reduce them to “its” rather than “thous.” I believe that there are many temptations in our society to miss the uniqueness and profound dignity of other persons. 

Memory plays tricks on us, so perhaps I am wrong when I recall that the nature of interpersonal relationships was not emphasized in classes when I was a student in college and in the seminary. Now, interpersonal relationships are on my mind as much as any other topic.