One of the great
minds of early Christian history, our Holy Father St. Augustine, wanted to
write a book explaining the Holy Trinity, the fundamental Christian belief that
God is one God in three Divine Persons. There's a legend that one day St. Augustine
was walking along the beach at Hippo, his diocese in North Africa. He was
trying to figure out the mystery of the Trinity. And as he moved along, he saw
a boy running back and forth from the surf, carrying water in a bucket and
pouring it into a small hole in the sand.
Augustine was curious. He asked the child what he was doing. The boy
responded: "I'm pouring all that water" — meaning the ocean —
"into this hole." St. Augustine said: "That's impossible. The
ocean is huge, and your hole in the sand is tiny." The boy responded:
"Then how can you expect to put the mystery of the Holy Trinity into that
little head of yours?" And then the boy disappeared.
I believe that what we know of the Triune God is actually just a picture
frame of the reality of the totality of the Trinity. Our knowledge of his divinity may remain a
theory not unless we experience him and have come in contact with him in our
lives. This is true with the Holy
Spirit! What we know of Him as the third
person of the Holy Trinity is just an abstract copy of the picture of his true
Being. Describing the Holy Spirit isn't easy. A clear understanding of the Spirit almost
seems beyond our reach .
The Church teaches us that the
Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and the one most active in the world
today. The Holy Spirit is a person, and
like God the Father. The Holy Spirit is
not floating around somewhere out there.
The Holy Spirit is a PERSON. We
receive Him into our lives at our Baptism and our Confirmation. Beginning with those sacramental moments, He
has always been dwelling within us. You
might be tempted to ask: where is He in my life? I don’t feel Him! It’s probably because
you’re not letting Him act in your life.
Take note, He will respect your freedom.
Remembering my college years when I was an
active member of the Christ’ Youth in Action in the University where I belong,
part of the formation program was the so called “Outpouring of the Holy Spirit”. At first, having a young mind, I was a bit doubtful
if the Holy Spirit exists, until the day that I experienced Him working in my
life. When the leaders and the rest of
the group prayed over me on that day, I felt something heavy and cold object
descended upon me from above that shaken my whole being and enabled me to speak
in tongues and praise God with songs of joy. It’s an awesome experience which I
can never find a word to describe. From
that moment, all I did was to be sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit and
let Him do miracles which I never expected and imagined. That’s the turning
point of my life. I personally
experienced the loving hands of God telling me that I am one of His “chosen
one”. Then, I began to commit myself in the service team of the CYA
community until I finished college.
After which, I offer my life by becoming a consecrated religious sister.
With praise and thanksgiving to God, I
believe that the Holy Spirit works and keeps on working in my life. He is like a fire that transform me to become
a woman for God and a woman of God. As
we recall in the Scripture, the Holy Spirit came as tongues of fire in the
story about the first Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles. He brings us the
holy fire of God to transform us, to turn us into what He is, to make us
God-like. Peter received the Holy Spirit
when he was baptized, and again when Jesus gave him the power to forgive sins,
and again at Pentecost. He knew Jesus,
received His Body and Blood at the Last Supper, believed in Jesus, and tried to
follow Jesus. But he still denied Jesus later on, in a fit of weakness.
However, when he received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he changed into a
powerful evangelist, who did many great things. That same power awaits us
all in the person of the Holy Spirit, and all we have to do is ask for it !
The Church
teaches us that the Holy Spirit brings us seven gifts: Wisdom, Understanding,
Counsel, Courage — which we also call Fortitude — Knowledge, Piety and Fear of
the Lord. Furthermore, St. Paul talks about these gifts of the Holy Spirit in 1
Corinthians 12: ecstatic utterances, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy,
discernment of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues. The laying on of
hands like what my leaders in Christ’ Youth in Action did on to me to receive
the Holy Spirit is very biblical. In
fact, Acts 9:17 says “So Ananias departed
and entered the house. And laying his
hand on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the
road by which you came, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be
filled with the Holy Spirit.” In
saying these, I would say that in our everyday challenges and struggles in
life, we too can be an instruments to lay our hands to our brothers and sisters
who are in need, ask the Holy Spirit to
empower us and make us his living witnesses of unity, communion and love.
Quoting Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, he said “ God is with us in the reality of
life, not the fantasy. It is embrace,
not escape, that we seek! So the Holy
Spirit gently steers us back to what is real, what is lasting, what is
true. It is the Spirit who leads us back
into the communion of the Blessed Trinity.”
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