The Touchdown of the Holy Spirit

The other day a tornado touched down about 250 kilometres south of Edmonton. Awesome and terrifying. Witnesses spoke of its power, which, as we know, can bring great destruction in seconds.

On the Solemnity of Pentecost, celebrated on Sunday, we recall another experience of a powerful wind. “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” (Acts 2:1-2) This was the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church as Jesus had promised. As the gift of God, the Spirit is infinitely more powerful than any earthly phenomenon. Yet, the effects of the bestowal of this gift are not destructive but transformative. Hearts are changed, understanding is granted, and hope becomes the motor force of human lives.

Why the transformation when the Holy Spirit “touches down” on the soil of earthly existence? Because the mission of the Holy Spirit is to draw us into a living union with Jesus Christ. By this gift of the Spirit, bestowed now in the sacraments of the Church, the very life of Jesus becomes the principle of our own. As St. Paul once put it, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

An immediate consequence of this is the banishment of fear. One of the most beautiful phrases from the mouth of Jesus is this: “I will not leave you orphans.” (John 14:18) Remember that he is the only Son of God. Through our union with him by the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are adopted by God (!!!) and thus become, truly, children of our Heavenly Father. It was precisely as orphans that Jesus found us when he came from heaven. We had been “orphaned” from God by the lies and deceptions of the devil, and thus made vulnerable to all the many ways the evil one seeks to lead us astray. No wonder a world that does not know God or has eclipsed Him from consideration experiences deep anxiety! It is the angst of orphans!!! The reason Christ came and was revealed to us was to destroy the works of the devil (1John 3:8) and make manifest the love of God. By overcoming in us all that “orphans” us from God, Christ has drawn us to himself and given us the gift of adoption. His Father has become Our Father, the One who knows us, cares for us, understands our every need and will never abandon us. We are orphans no longer!!! Be not afraid!!



While the tornado’s touchdown has immediate effects, that of the Holy Spirit usually brings about change only gradually. That is because the gift of the Spirit interacts with our human freedom. We need to choose to open our hearts to receive the gift and surrender to the Spirit’s power. Yet even such a choice is ours only by the Spirit’s gift, so let us not fail to call daily upon the Holy Spirit, asking Him to unite us ever more deeply to Christ, that we may live in true freedom as the children of God.