When the disciples of the Lord Jesus gathered for the celebration of Pentecost after His resurrection, the Holy Spirit was revealed in an extraordinary way. The disciples were transformed, changed forever – a transformation manifested in signs and wonders.
But Pentecost is not simply an event from long ago. It is a reality that we participate in ourselves by participating in the Mass.
Through the Mass, the Holy Spirit desires to unleash for us signs and wonders, gifts for our mission, gifts that imbue the Church with creativity, enthusiasm and life. The marvelous signs and wonders described in the Book of Acts are meant to be gifts given to us, gifts that are imparted through the Mass.
This is what the Church’s worship in the Mass is meant to accomplish: to unleash in us heavenly gifts that have the power to change us and to change the world. This can happen if we are willing to cooperate with the Lord and accept the Eucharist He gives to us, a Eucharist that is what it is by the Holy Spirit – not just an experience of individualistic spiritualized affirmation, but a real communion with the divine person of the Lord Jesus.
Every Mass is meant to be another Pentecost.
If Pentecost can be understood as the power God unleashes in our experience of the worship of the Mass and through our adoration and reception of the Eucharistic Mystery of the Blessed Sacrament, then what is this Holy Spirit, this Spirit that unleashes heavenly gifts and imbues disciples with vigorous strength for mission?
Holy Spirit: Giver of gifts for mission
The Holy Spirit is the love that is shared between God the Father and God the Son. This is perhaps the most helpful way to think about what the Holy Spirit is.
Therefore, to receive the Holy Spirit means that you receive the same love that is shared between God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit gives you the relationship Christ has with His Heavenly Father.
This is why those who have received the Holy Spirit often do such marvelous things, because those that have received the love that Christ shares with His Heavenly Father and share the relationship that Christ has with his Heavenly Father become more and more like Christ.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are those qualities that make us like Christ.
The power of the Holy Spirit is the power to make us like Christ.
Becoming more and more like Christ is what it means to be holy.
Holiness is not simply an attitude that favors the spiritual or that means you are interested in religion. Holiness is being like and becoming like Christ.
Church’s role: promote holiness
This is what the Church is about: helping us to become holy, which means helping us to become more and more like Christ.
The Church transforms the world, not through institutional projects, political causes or faith-based curricula, but by inviting people to know Christ and helping people to become like Christ. The Church’s strategy for changing the world is to help more and more people become holy, become like Christ.
Becoming like Christ becomes possible for us because we participate in the sacraments. The sacraments are possible for us because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit draws us to Christ in the sacraments, and through the sacraments, offers us the possibility and the opportunity of becoming like Christ.
Becoming like Christ is what it means to be holy.
And when this happens, the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit are not only given to us, they are lavished on the whole world.
Father Steve Grunow, a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago, is CEO of Word on Fire. This is excerpted from a commentary originally published at www.wordonfire.org.