By Father Will Prospero, S.J.

 

As we celebrate Pentecost Sunday we are reminded once again to remember and to thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit which He has given to His Church. Jesus Christ is the “Anointed One,” the one who is anointed with the Holy Spirit, sent from the heart of the Father, to bring salvation to all who receive Him. From our baptism we share in this anointing.

 

One way to appreciate this gift of the Holy Spirit is to look to our celebration of Holy Mass to see how we pray through the Holy Spirit. We begin Mass with the sign of the Cross, calling on the Triune God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are brought into the Church and made children of God through the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit we received at our baptism. We have been “grafted on” to the vine of Israel and made children of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. After the Sign of the Cross, we mention the Holy Spirit several times including, but not limited to the following: Greeting (commonly); Gloria, Opening Prayer, Creed, Eucharistic Prayer, and Final Blessing.

 

Perhaps the most important Holy Spirit moment during Mass happens at the “epiclesis,” during the Eucharistic Prayer. The Epiclesis, or “calling down” of the Holy Spirit, happens before the consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Epiclesis: “is the intercession in which the priest begs the Father to send the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, so that the offerings may become the body and blood of Christ and that the faithful by receiving them, may themselves become a living offering to God” (CCC 1105).  Here, the Holy Spirit acts; we are not just expressing our belief in the Holy Spirit as we do in the Creed, but the priest calls down the action of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, what happens to the bread and wine through the action of the Holy Spirit is meant to happen to each of us: to be transformed into Jesus Christ. Through the Holy Spirit we are brought into the truth, into the communion of the love of God and one another.

 

Finally, the end of the Gospel of John shows Jesus greeting his Apostles with peace, and then breathing upon them the gift of the Holy Spirit. At every Mass, we encounter the God of Jesus Christ through sacramental signs bringing us His peace. Through the Eucharist Jesus breathes His peace upon us. Peace is a sure sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We should come in contact with this peace at every Mass. If we experience disquiet of spirit, anxieties, worries, fears, distractions, or a distaste of the moral life or of heavenly things, we can be sure that we lack the Holy Spirit. These are sure signs that we need healing and a greater love of the Cross of Jesus. The Holy Spirit helps us to love the Cross of Jesus, enabling us to accept the limitations of our humanity while encountering the love of Jesus that brings peace.