"SEEK THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD..."

by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R.

It is Pentecost Sunday as I write this article for GrayFriar News. It is the day we fittingly call "the birthday of the Church." On the first Pentecost, Our Lord fulfilled His promise to send the Gift of God, as the Holy Spirit is called, from His Heavenly Father to His first group of disciples, including Our Lady and the Apostles.

The Holy Spirit had come to continue and, in fact, complete the mission Our Lord had begun of saving and sanctifying all of humanity! The Church's Fourth Eucharistic Prayer sums up this mission clearly and simply: "That we might live no longer for ourselves but for Him (Jesus), He sent the Holy Spirit from You, Father, as His first Gift to those who believe, to complete His work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace."

The role of the Holy Spirit in the Church is twofold. He both sanctifies us and unifies us. He accomplishes His work of sanctification (which means He makes us holy) by filling us with His truth and love. By His gifts of wisdom, knowledge, counsel and understanding, He helps us understand clearly the truths Jesus taught us. This is why Our Lord Himself called Him the Spirit of Truth. He especially helps us to realize the profound meaning of Our Lord's Death and Resurrection.. The Holy Spirit works to unite us in Christ's Mystical Body, the Church. This was brought out beautifully on Pentecost when the Jewish people and the God-fearing Gentiles present that day, coming from many different countries and cultural backgrounds, all heard the Apostles preaching in their native languages. He further unites us as brothers and sisters in Christ by bringing forth in our lives those virtues (which St. Paul called the fruits of the Holy Spirit) which help us to live in unity and charity with one another. These include love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, mildness, and chastity. Since these virtues were evident in the lives of the earliest Christians, it is no wonder St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles describes the Faithful as being of one heart and one mind" (Acts 4:32).

The Holy Spirit, also called the Paraclete by Our Lord (a title that can be translated as Advocate or Comforter), assisted the Apostles in the mission they received from Our Lord to preach the Good News of salvation to the very ends of the earth. He would confirm the words they preached by the "signs and wonders" He worked through them. He also consoled them in the face of opposition and persecution, and comforted them by His joy and by the many converts they made. His gifts and graces were poured forth abundantly upon the newborn Church!

The Holy Spirit has continued His mission down through the centuries even to our own day, and He will continue it until the day Our Lord returns in glory at the very end of time. He is still at work sanctifying, unifying, and guiding the Church.

In recent weeks, our community and I have experienced some of these special graces of the Holy Spirit. On May 14, two of our friars, Fr. Herald Brock and Fr. Terrence Messer, were ordained as priests at St. Patrick's Cathedral by John Cardinal O'Connor, Archbishop of New York, along with nine classmates from St. Joseph's Seminary. We rejoiced that they received the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands at the ceremony of their priestly ordination.

On May 21, our community rejoiced again as the father of our Br. Fidelis, Mr. Joseph Moschinski, received the Holy Spirit as he was ordained a permanent deacon in St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral in Metuchen, N.J., by Bishop Edward Hughes. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to him, to his wife and his family!

Recently, I personally received two special graces of the Holy Spirit. For almost six years, I have been writing a book on the Holy Spirit. Finally, on March 19 (the Solemnity of St. Joseph) the book, entitled The Gift of God: the Holy Spirit, was published by the Society of St. Paul. This was a great blessing. In the long wait to see it published, someone told me: "The Holy Spirit has His time! When He is ready, your book will be published! " The Holy Spirit's time has come! With the help of the prayers of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who promised to place a copy of the book on Our Lady's attar in Calcutta, and of so many other wonderful people, the book sold many copies. In little over two months, Alba House has just done a second printing.

Another grace I have received has been the opportunity to do a television series on the Gift of God on Mother Angelica's Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). It covers much of the material in the book. It was an interesting experience to be at EWTN, making the 13-talk series. It is presently being aired on EWTN, and it will probably go through a good part of the summer. While there, Fr. Benedict and I both had an opportunity to appear with Mother Angelica on her popular "Mother Angelica Live" program. It was a blessing to be there and to spend time with Mother Angelica and her Sisters, as well as with her new Franciscan men's community.

My hope is that the book and the EWTN series will help people grow in their love and devotion for the Holy Spirit. Compared to our awareness of and prayer to God the Father and God the Son, God the Holy Spirit is often called "the Forgotten God." Yet, how aware the early Christians were of the Holy Spirit's presence and working among them.

St. Francis was very aware of the Holy Spirit, too! In fact, in my book I present St. Francis as an outstanding example of someone who had a deep love, reverence, and openness to the working of the Holy Spirit in his life. He wrote in his Rule of 1223: "The friars should realize that the only thing they should desire is to have the Spirit of the Lord at work within them, while they pray to Him unceasingly with a heart free from self-interest" (Ch.10).

St. Francis even wanted to have the Holy Spirit made the Minister General of his order. It was his desire that the friars would always remember that it is God's will they must carry out and not their own - always under the direction of the proper Church authorities, especially the Pope and the Bishops in union with him. With his burning love for Jesus as his driving force, the Holy Spirit brought forth in St. Francis' life His fruits in abundance: his love for all God's people, especially the poor; his "perfect joy" even in the midst of suffering and deprivation; his peace that has won for him the reputation of a great peacemaker, and so on for the other fruits of the Holy Spirit!

Let us pray daily for the grace of the Holy Spirit for our personal lives, and for His direction of the Church in these challenging times! Our Lord assures us: If you, with all your sins, know how to give your children good things, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11: 13)!