By Carol Powell
LAST WEEK’S FEAST of Pentecost is a wonderful time to meditate on when we are feeling depressed.
Why do I say that? Think about “eh” state of the Apostles before the coming of the Spirit. They had a lofty work to accomplish but were totally incapable of carrying it out. Jesus had said: “Go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.”
Sure, Lord. Is that all you want us to do? No problem, it’s a piece of cake. There are only a few problems: We’re ignorant and uneducated. We have no clout. We’re scared to death of our own shadows. Why else would we have been hiding in the upper room while the women went to anoint your Body?
Here’s something else, Lord. We’re not multilingual. We’re steeped in our own culture and we’ve never ventured out of our backyard.
What is that you say, Lord? You are going to send us your Spirit? Well, let’s hope the Spirit can perform miracles.
What’s that? Wait and see? Well, that’s good, because we’re certainly going to need miracles.
It is impossible to read the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost without being energized and encouraged to believe that God can work wonder in anyone’s life. The power, strength and radiance of that story inflames the heart to believe that all things are possible. Do we realize that we have received the same Spirit who changed the weal, cowardly people into towers of strength and witness? Have we tapped into the enormous capacity of the Holy Spirit to mold, to vivify, to enlighten?
Recently, I met someone who changed his life after one conversation with a church worker. Granted the change was brewing for some time, but he went from being bent on evil to a life of pure grace. That doesn’t happen by accident. But it can and does happen, and it happens through the power of the Spirit. Do we really believe that? Too often we meet people who lament the evil of the world. They feel dark and pessimistic.
But followers of Christ need to be hopeful and optimistic because our surety is not based on our own power, but on the power of the Spirit to transform and change.
Over 2,000 years ago the world was even darker than it is now. A light came into the world. It was the light of God, Jesus Christ, who pointed to and lived a radical way of life that no one dreamed was possible. Love of enemies, love for everyone, returning good for evil – how could that be? No one had ever tried it before. Maybe this fellow could do it, but surely no one else could. Then He surprised us by dying, rising and sending His Spirit into the world – a Spirit of pure love and hope who could change everything. This Spirit could transform the face of the Earth.
Suddenly there were people dying for love and truth and goodness. They gave up everything and were willing to be fools for Christ. They said they wanted eternal life. Anything less was paltry idolatry. Such was the power of the Spirit of Christ.
Sometimes we forget that we have received the same Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation. Even though there were no mighty winds or burning flames of fire for us, the power of the very same Spirit is at work in and through us. Every day can be Pentecost if we look upon it as another opportunity for change and transformation.
The gifts of the Spirit will remain dormant unless we believe in them and use them. Every time we have a decision to make we can cry out, “Come, Holy Spirit!” Every time we need courage, we can call out to the Spirit who vanquishes all negative energy. Everything that is life giving and positive is from the Spirit of God.
Carol Powell is a parishioner at Sacred Heart parish, Glendale.
