I LOVE the feast of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit! As we are only celebrating Mass together once a month, I decided we should celebrate this awesome feast day early. By the way, the Christian Pentecost is considered the Birthday of the Church and is celebrated 50 days after Easter! My reflection today is divided into two parts. The first is a weaving together of Scriptures and experiences in my life. The second part is a prayerful pondering of some of the many titles and images of the Holy Spirit.
The Scriptures begin with: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
The Spirit of God. In Hebrew, the word for Spirit is “Ruah” – say it with me. Ruah.
Ruah also translates to breath, to air and to wind.
A prayer practice is to connect with breath – and Ruah, the Divine. Another practice is to pay attention to the wind every day for 40 days and in doing so, connect with Ruah.
God is sometimes experienced as fire.
Moses recognized YHWH in the burning bush that was aflame but not consumed. Later, when the Israelites were moving through the desert, YHWH appeared to them as a pillar of cloud during the day and as a column of fire during the night – guiding them and providing them with light. (Exodus 13:20-22) Many of Jesus’ followers were faithful Jewish people who knew the Scriptures. They were gathered at Pentecost, a Jewish festival. When the tongues of fire descended on them, they would have recognized the connection to Moses and the Israelites and YHWH as fire.
The fire from the first Christian Pentecost, transformed and transfigured the disciples. Hearts were converted and set on fire to follow Jesus. People received new spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues also known as the language of the angels. Other gifts included prophesizing, administration, teaching and discernment. “Discernment” means knowing what God’s will is, which way we should proceed to be in the flow of God’s energy, the fullness of God’s life. It’s spiritually seeing the clouds and the fire that guide us. We can pray for any of these gifts.
Another gift is apostleship – which means to be a messenger for Christ. At the first Christian Pentecost, we see Peter being moved from a coward who denied Jesus before the crucifixion to speaking so boldly that thousands of people were converted. That’s apostleship.
Speaking of apostles, on May 17, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of St. Junia, a woman apostle in the early church. St. Paul mentions her in the 16th chapter of his letter to the Romans. He says that St. Junia is a more outstanding “apostle” than he was. She is excluded from the readings we hear in the Institutional church. Worse yet, her name was changed and made masculine in many Bibles. If you want to learn more about her, check out the book: The Lost Apostle: Searching for the Truth About Junia by Rena Pederson
How did we get from Peter at Pentecost to Junia and Paul? It is through the Holy Spirit’s gifts of evangelization and holy boldness. Also, those at the first Pentecost started bearing more spiritual fruit. The traditional fruit of the Spirit are love, peace, joy, kindness, gentleness, generosity, faithfulness and self-control.
In the Scriptures, there is also the Book, or chapter, called The Wisdom of Solomon, or Wisdom for short. In this book, King Solomon speaks about his search for Woman or Lady Wisdom, her manifestation of God, and her role in history from the creation of the world onward. The book of Wisdom is a joining of Jewish, Greek and Egyptian beliefs and cultures. Lady Wisdom is written as “Sophia” in Greek. Catholics have understood this Lady Wisdom to be the Holy Spirit and the Divine Feminine. We have continued to use the name of Sophia for the Holy Spirit. We see the Holy Spirit as a woman very clearly in the contemporary book and movie, The Shack.
Some traditions within Christianity have kept a focus on the Holy Spirit. Perhaps – most aptly named, the Pentecostal Church. Within Catholicism, the Charismatic Movement has maintained a practice of praying for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and cultivating Her gifts. Through the early 2000s, the Archdiocese of Boston had an office for the Charismatic Movement. There are priests and spiritual leaders that continue to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in the Charismatic tradition, like Fr. Paco at St. Stephen’s in Framingham and myself.
My junior year of high school, my mom invited me to attend a retreat that was Charismatic. I arrived at the retreat as an isolated, struggling, angry teen and I left as a hope-filled young woman with a little seedling in my heart: God had lovingly created me and had great plans in store for me. Throughout the remainder of high school and into college, I attended Charismatic prayer groups and healing Masses – through which God peeled away the layers of pain, one at a time, and helped to transfigure me into a God-loving, Spirit-filled young woman. I began to see God working in and through me and that propelled me forward on my spiritual journey. Over the last few decades, I have both studied and practiced Life in the Spirit.
So what does life in the Spirit mean?
Living in the Spirit means cultivating a relationship with the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity
Often it starts with praying in tongues – the language of the angels
Almost always, there is a deep experience of God’s love which is healing – bringing freedom in the body, mind, heart and spirit – not just for the person being prayed over but for generations of the family
It often includes receiving visions, prophecies and discernment
Living in the Spirit also involves using these gifts to pray for others and situations around the world
It is living in God’s breath, living with Her fire, praying for and cultivating the gifts we read about in the Acts of the Apostles and the letters that the apostles wrote.
It is allowing the Spirit to change us, to transfigure our very core that we may shine with God’s love and countenance – the face of God.
After Mass today, some of us will be available to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. If you would like, when it is your turn, we will bless you and lay our hands on you. We will ask you if Come be open to the Holy Spirit. If Come be, we will begin to pray. We expect that you will experience God’s deep peace and love. You or the people praying with you may receive pictures, words or sensations that may guide in your faith journey. Of course, Come be also most welcome to go downstairs and enjoy some Cinco de Mayo munchies! And for those with us on zoom, reach out to me and I’ll be happy to pray with you at a different time!
One of the traditional ways that Catholics have prayed through the generations is through litanies, lists of titles or descriptions for God or a saint. After each title, there is a consistent response. When prayed in community, one person reads the title and the others respond. We have sung a Litany of Saints on multiple occasions. Today, we will pray a Litany of the Holy Spirit affirming Her presence with us. As we are praying with the different titles and images, you may all-of-a-sudden remember different people or situations that could benefit from the Holy Spirit in this form. Trust that Sophia-The Spirit is touching them in new ways!
Litany to the Holy Spirit
penned on April 26, 2024 by Rev. AndreaGrace
Ruah – the Wind that Moves, Come be with us
Breath of Heaven, Come be with us
Air that enlivens, Come be with us
River of Life, Come be with us
Life Force - Viriditas, Come be with us
Dove Who Guides, Come be with us
Dove Perched on Shoulders, Come be with us
Voice of Loving Truth, Come be with us
Language of the Angels, Come be with us
Magnet that Draws Us, Come be with us
Sensations in our Body, Come be with us
Spiritual Compass, Come be with us
Burning Bush that Speaks through Nature, Come be with us
Incombustible Flame that Guides, Come be with us
Tongue of Fire that Transfigures, Come be with us
Sophia – Wisdom, Come be with us
Fountain of Grace and Blessings, Come be with us
Giver of Abundant Gifts, Come be with us
Bearer of Fruit, Come be with us
Source of Courage, Come be with us
Peace that Surpasses all Understanding, Come be with us
Joy that Bubbles Even in Darkness, Come be with Us
Delight that Bubbles Up, Come be with us
Advocate who speaks for us and opens doors, Come be with us
Protector and defender, Come be with us
Dance of Divine Love, Come be with us
Creativity and Creations, Come be with us
Source of Synergy, Come be with us
Unifier of hearts and souls, mind and body, Come be with us
Connector and Connection, Come be with us
Love of our Soul, Come be with us
Love Who Was and Is and Always Will Be, Come be with us
One with The Creator and The Personified, Come be with us
Thank You for being with us always in all ways.
AMEN.