Sinsinawa
Spectrum
A Congregation News Magazine
Holy Spirit:
The Love of God Shared with Us
Sr. Mary Ellen Green, OP
by Mary Ellen Green, OP
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim (Acts 2:1–4).
Fire is a wonderful symbol, a perfect symbol of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Fire has so many meanings for us: Fire is the energy of warmth and light. It heats our homes and cooks our food. Fire transforms . . . ice into water, for instance. Fire consumes . . . wood into ashes, for instance. Fire fascinates us, attracts us, comforts us, and frightens us.
Throughout salvation history, fire has been a symbol of God’s loving presence and power: “Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32).
God spoke to Moses from a burning bush in the desert: “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up” (Exodus 3:2).
- Holy Spirit, open our eyes to the burning bushes in our lives that surprise us with your truth!
God led the Israelites in their journey out of slavery and into freedom as they crossed unknown territory: “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so that they could travel by day or night” (Exodus 13:20).
- Holy Spirit, draw our attention to the pillars of fire that show us the way from our slavery to sin to the freedom you have promised us in your Son Jesus!
God gave a sacred law to the people of Israel, a law that would liberate them to serve God and one another in justice and love. That law was revealed in fire: “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently” (Exodus 19:18).
- Holy Spirit, open our minds and hearts to the light and warmth of your Word. Grant us the courage and fidelity to all that you ask of us!
God promises us a love that will never end, a love that consumes us as it brings new life: “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame” (Song of Songs 8:6).
- Holy Spirit, open our whole being to the mighty force of your love that is ready to transform our weakness into strength, our fear into courage, and our darkness into light!
God is with us as we enter into fearful times and places. God protects us from all that would harm us. God watches over us with compassionate care: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Isaiah 43:2).
- Holy Spirit, grant us confidence in the providential care of our loving God who can provide, who did provide, who will provide!
God’s Word permeates our being and burns like fire, aching to be proclaimed. Like Jeremiah, we struggle to announce the truth waiting to be born in us: “But if I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:9).
- Holy Spirit, break through the bonds that hold back your power in our weary bones. Grant us the audacity to declare the good news of your love with assurance, gentleness, and wisdom!
God became one of us in Jesus Christ who offers us the possibility of sharing in his Divine Power. Nothing could hold back the mission that blazed in the heart of Christ: “I have come to bring fire on the Earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49).
- Holy Spirit, may we, too, be ablaze with the mission given to us. May we be unafraid and utterly available for all that you ask of us!
God sent the Holy Spirit to the first disciples of Christ to transform their fearful hearts and minds into an explosion of courage and enthusiasm. They were never the same after that event: “They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them” (Acts 2:3).
- Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love!
The Holy Spirit is the love of God shared with us, the transforming power of creation working in our lives over and over again, constantly, completely, unconditionally transforming us into Christ so that his mission of proclaiming the good news of God’s love might continue in us.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, describes for us the profound importance and challenge of Pentecost: “The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, humankind will have discovered fire” (Peking, February 1934, “The Evolution of Chastity” in Toward the Future, London: Collins, 1975: 86–87).