Happy Birthday Church!

Today is the Christian Church’s birthday.

“You will receive Power when the Holy Spirit falls upon you,

And you will be my witnesses to the ends of all the Earth.” Act 1:8

Fabulous, eh? Love it! I was at Confirmation last Sunday when I read this and of course I had John Michael Talbot’s song in my head as I read it because it is only by music that I can memorize Scripture easily.

The Holy Spirit is probably the most misunderstood or ignored Person in the Trinity. Yet it is only by the Holy Spirit that we participate in the Church. I explained to one Charismatic Catholic that the Mass is really the ultimate Charismatic expression (even when we don’t raise our hands and shout Alleluia). Why? Because it is “[i]n the institution narrative, the power of the words and the action of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, make sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine Christ’s body and blood, his sacrifice offered on the cross once for all.” CCC1353

What grabs my attention from the above Scripture, though, is “you will receive power.” Now, when I think of power I think of military might, political power, money. Somehow, I don’t think Jesus means any of those. I think the “power” he was speaking of is the power to turn nothing into something. Isn’t that what all scientists yearn to do?

The Power of the Holy Spirit is such that it can make something into someone as we see in the Eucharist. The power to commune with God. The power to pray for an individual. The power to love an unlovable individual. The power to forgive an evil committed against us. The power to know that someone can own our bodies but they can NEVER own our souls.

These may not seem like much until you meet a bitter or resentful person. They may have the best jobs or quite a bit of cash, but they are prisoners within their mind because they cannot break free from a deep anger.

The Holy Spirit defies the law of gravity, the law of time, the law of whatever words we have. That is power. The Holy Spirit binds the communion of saints. That is power. The Holy Spirit makes Jesus present in Body, Blood, Soul, Divinity. That is power. The Holy Spirit takes ordinary human beings and turns them into a Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, an Oscar Romero, Flannery O’Connor, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, the Desert Fathers, Edith Stein. That is power.

And as my husband reminds me, it is ultimately, ONLY by the Power of the Holy Spirit that we can declare Jesus is Lord. For many of us we take our faith for granted. But try and explain faith to an atheist or an agnostic and one realizes that Faith is a gift and to accept it takes a Power beyond human comprehension.