The Gift of the Holy Spirit
By Father Brendan Williams
The feast of Pentecost calls us to meditate on the extraordinary mystery of salvation as the Holy Spirit unfolds it in the Church's ongoing celebration of the Paschal Mystery. We become aware that it is the Holy Spirit who unveils this mystery for us and opens us to the overflowing life of the Holy Trinity that brings about a radical transformation in our lives.
This radical transformation is reflected in St. John's Gospel at the wedding feast at Cana. This first of the "signs" (Jn. 2:11) demonstrates the abundance of life in the messianic age and the transforming power of grace that makes us a new creation. St. John asserts in the following words of Jesus that it is the Holy Spirit who gives us the experience of this abundant life: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, let him drink who believes in me. Scripture has it: `From within him rivers of living water shall flow.'" (Here he was referring to the Spirit, whom those who came to believe in him were to receive.) Jn. 7:37-39 This radical change bringing overflowing life was the experience of Pentecost and the ongoing experience of the early Church. The story of St. Paul`''s conversion experience is another wonderful example of how radical and awesome is this transformation when we are renewed in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul saw himself as a new creation, completely refashioned in the person of Christ and fired up by the Spirit.
One of the first gifts of the Holy Spirit is the experience of intimacy with the Holy Trinity. St. Paul proclaims this reality in his famous words: "I have been crucified with Christ and the life I live now is not my own; Christ is living in me" (Gal. 2:19-20). St. Paul also tells us (Gal. 4:6) that it is the Holy Spirit who reveals our Father in heaven as a loving "Abba", which is the Aramaic equivalent of "Daddy". The intimacy that Jesus shared with his Father, he now shares with his Church through the Holy Spirit. "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Live on in my love." (Jn. 15:9)
Today a similar spiritual elation grips those who experience Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Listen to Father Michael Scanlon, T.O.R., President of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, describe his experience. "I immediately knelt down in the middle of the discussion group and said, `I want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit....The Spirit fell. It was primarily an experience of prayer, but prayer unlike any other I had experienced or studied. I was lost in God, one with the fullness of life. I wanted nothing more than to know God the way I knew him at that moment, intimately united to him. I let myself go in praise and prayer. God was all I had. He was all I wanted. He was all I needed. I knelt there for many minutes until I was asked to move so that the discussion could proceed. I sat in the corner and God immersed me in fire" ("Let The Fire Fall" by Michael Scanlon p. 81).
Meet Sr. Briege McKenna, O.S.C. Crippling rheumatoid arthritis threatened to leave her a wheelchair victim for the remainder of her life. While at a retreat in 1970, she relates, "..The only prayer I said was, "Jesus, please help me." At that moment I felt a hand touch my head and thought it was the priest who had come over to me. I opened my eyes and no one was there, but there was a power going through my body. It's difficult to describe the feeling, but I often describe it this way: it's like a banana being peeled. I looked down. My fingers had been stiff but not deformed like my feet. There had been sores on my elbows. I looked at myself. My fingers were limber, the sores were gone, and I could see that my feet, in sandals were no longer deformed....That was a miraculous healing, but my inner life saw the greatest change.Through the charismatic renewal, I experienced the release of the Holy Spirit. I have a new vision of the Church, as though I was seeing the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation through new glasses. I was seeing more clearly God's great love for us and what he has given us" ("Miracles Do Happen": McKenna/Libersat).
My personal experience was in Atlantic City at a Charismatic Conference in the mid-seventies. We gathered for a priests' day on Monday after the weekend experience. The hall was full of priests and the presentations were very inspiring. However, as we prepared for Mass the entire gathering entered into the prayer of praise with a power and force that I had never experienced before. I was overwhelmed by the love of God. Though I am not an emotional person and pride myself in keeping my feelings under control, I was overcome with a feeling of love. Tears began to flow so profusely that my shirt was wet as if by perspiration. Perhaps for the first time I knew that God, my Father, loved me unconditionally and totally. These were tears of joy, tears of release, tears of healing. In the years that followed I would become very familiar with these tears in the lives of the many who would come to me for healing prayer.
This experience opened up for me a whole new intimacy in prayer. Sentiments of praise, and glory, thanksgiving and adoration began to flow spontaneously from my heart. Now I could relate to St. Paul's experiences and became attracted to his letters for the first time. His words and the entire Scripture had new meaning and force. In the months that followed I read everything I could lay my hands on to satisfy this hunger I had for the word of God. The reality of Jesus, risen and triumphant, began to fill my being. Now I understood what St. Paul meant when he described the indwelling of Christ as "the glory beyond price". He writes to the Colossians: "God has willed to make known to them the glory beyond price which this mystery brings to the Gentiles - the mystery of Christ in you, your hope and glory." (Col. 1:27) To the Philippians Paul would declare: "For, to me, `life' means Christ; hence dying is so much gain." (Phil. 1:21) These powerful proclamations of the transforming presence of Christ are for Paul the work of the Holy Spirit as he indicates in 1Cor. 12:3: ..."And no one can say: `Jesus is Lord,' except in the Holy Spirit." The verb "say" here obviously means far more that speaking words. It means to proclaim from the conviction of experience what his encounter with the Risen Christ wrought in his personal life and in his ministry. Together with our personal transformation and renewal in Christ, the Holy Spirit pours out gifts on us for the enrichment of the Body. St. Paul mentions these in 1Cor. 12:4ff "To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one the Spirit gives wisdom in discourse, to another the power to express knowledge. Through the Spirit one receives faith; by the same Spirit another is given the gift of healing, and still another miraculous powers. Prophecy is given to one; to another power to distinguish one spirit from another. One receives the gift of tongues, another the gift of interpreting the tongues. But it is one and the same Spirit who produces all these gifts, distributing them to each as he wills."
After his spiritual awakening, Father Michael Scanlon went on to revolutionize the University at Steubenville. It is now perhaps the most Catholic Christian institution of learning in the world where virtually all of the students attend daily Mass, spend time before the Blessed Sacrament daily, pray the Rosary together daily and live in a truly spiritual community environment.
Since the time of her dramatic healing at that retreat in Florida in 1970, and her Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Sr. Briege has become internationally known for her healing ministry and her special ministry to priests. She travels the world to bring the message of conversion, healing and renewal to her spell-bound audiences. As with Peter's mother-in-law, she was raised up to serve the Church and she does it with wonderful simplicity yet with amazing power.
Over the years I have seen these wonderful gifts being used to bring riches and healing to the members of our Church. While it is great to witness so many using their gifts today, it is true to say that most of our gifts are still dormant and perhaps will never be used to nurture the Body. Take the story of Father Luke from Australia who visited us a few years ago. He did not know anything about gifts until his twenty fifth anniversary of ordination. He returned to his home from New Guinea for the celebration after which he attended a Life in the Spirit seminar. The experience of Baptism in the Holy Spirit released this amazing gift of healing that lay hidden all those years. Meet Father Emiliano Tardif. He was miraculously healed by charismatic prayer in his native Canada. This experience led him to full involvement in a dynamic international ministry of healing, deliverance and evangelism.
Meet Brian Casey, a member of Good News International - a team of gifted laymen dedicated to the ministry of evangelization both in this country and abroad. Brian was a highly successful lawyer and salesman in Seattle, WA, grossing $30,000 per month. He experienced conversion and a call to use his giftedness in proclaiming the Gospel. He gave away his wealth and now depends on the free-will offerings of those to whom he ministers. His witness has been truly inspirational to me and indeed to all who hear him.
How many Father Michael, Father Luke, Father Emiliano, Sr. Briege and Brian Casey, stories are still waiting to happen in our Church? How many of our wonderful priests, religious and laity are struggling to serve the Lord while extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit lay dormant within them? What can we do to awaken these sleeping giants of giftedness in our Church? Yes, there is so much more if only we are open to the wonderful Spirit of God!
Has Baptism in the Holy Spirit effected my ministry? It certainly has. As the Spirit releases the gifts of Baptism and Confirmation, as he blesses us with a new intensity of love in the Holy Eucharist, he also unlocks the mystery of priesthood in a very profound way. I have been opened to a new focus and vitality in my preaching. I have experienced the love and mercy of Christ in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I have seen penitents who were shackled with anger, fear, guilt and shame, become transformed and set free in this gentle, tender yet powerful encounter. I have seen dramatic healings in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, but the most common thread is a deep sense of peace and a healing of tension, fear and worry, paving the way for healing, or preparing the person for the ultimate healing - death. I have come to accept as ordinary the power of Christ flowing from my hands when I pray over people for whatever need. I have accepted my powerlessness and have become comfortable surrendering every need that comes my way to the infinite power of Christ. He always works, as he wishes, in so many beautiful ways to bring his salvation and healing love to his children. I never cease to be amazed at this and pray that he may continue to use me in whatever manner he desires to build up his Body, the Church.
Charismatic Renewal is a wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church in the twentieth century. For those who are open, extraordinary happenings of early Church caliber have almost become the ordinary. Yet there is much misunderstanding, mistrust and skepticism afloat. Our call today is to be obedient to the Spirit and to faithfully bring the message of renewal to all who serve the Church. In an age when the Church is suffering so painfully from lack of vocations, stress, over-work, frustration, anger, division and scandal, it is surely time to pray for a new Pentecost and in faith expect the powerful Spirit of God to once again dramatically renew the Church and indeed the face of the earth.
In his September, '93 address to some charismatic retreatants returned from Assisi, Pope John Paul II reflected on renewal and offered it his blessing. "These great figures of holiness in the Church (St. Francis and St. Clare) made their own the words of St. Paul: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). Is this not the ideal and goal which permeates the Charismatic Renewal? Is it not the program of life which your prayer groups and communities have set for themselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit? May the example and the intercession of the saints of Assisi strengthen your resolve to grow continually in evangelical love and service "to the measure and stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13)."
This article may be reprinted for personal use.