An Introduction To The Holy Spirit

As we journey through the sixth week in Easter and pay attention to the readings presented by holy Mother Church, we can sense that she (Holy Mother Church) is preparing us for something big. She is preparing us for the Holy Spirit.

When I was a child, I was very much afraid of the Holy Spirit (used to be called the Holy Ghost) because I associated it with what I saw on television. In particular, there was a television series that some of you may remember called Dark Shadows. It was a very popular television series at the time with Barnabas Collins a vampire and Angelique the witch. As a child, I thought that anything that dealt with the spirit or ghost, even though it had ‘holy’ in front of it, was something to be afraid of. Thank God I grew up and know better.

So now I know what the Holy Spirit is not. What exactly or rather who exactly is the Holy Spirit? For starters, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Blessed Trinity. I sometimes think of them as the absolutely unbeatable and un-comparable Trinitarian Tag Team. The Father sent the Son Jesus Christ, then the Son sent the Holy Spirit.

Even though many of us cannot go anywhere because of this pandemic, imagine for a moment that you want to go on a journey to your favorite place. Everything is prepared. There’s only one problem. There is no gas in your car. So without gasoline in your car, you may as well call off the trip. In a very real sense, the Holy Spirit is the gasoline that fuels us to do the things of God. The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us the desire and the strength to do all that God desires us to do. It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to stay clear of our number one enemy, sin. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts us of sin and brings us to repentance. It is the Holy Spirit that brings us into right living with God.

In the gospel reading for Tuesday, Jesus himself gives us a very clear idea of how important the Holy Spirit is. Here he says, “but I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. But if I do not go, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.“

Jesus told his disciples that it is better for them that he goes because if he does not go, he cannot send the Holy Spirit. In other words, it is better for them that the Holy Spirit comes.

The Acts of the Apostles has also been called the gospel of the Holy Spirit. When we read the Acts of the Apostles, we read about the impact of the Holy Spirit on the lives of the early church. Tuesday’s first reading tells the amazing story of Paul and Silas being beaten and thrown into prison for preaching the Gospel. They were so consumed and fired up by the Holy Spirit, that nothing seemed to deter them. Even though they were thrown in prison, they continued to praise God and sing hymns onto him. Suddenly there was a powerful earthquake that shook the foundation of the prison, causing all the chains to fall off from the prisoners, and the prison doors to be flung open.

Because of this Covid pandemic, many of us are in prison. Many of us are in prison by fear of what is to come. Many are held prisoner to loneliness. Many are in the prison of hopelessness. Whatever prison you are in, it is through faith in Christ Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit that you can cause the chains that bind you to full powerless before you. It may not cause the pandemic to go away but it will certainly set you free and the word of God tells us that he who the son sets free is free indeed. 

So as we close off on this podcast for this week, I pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit that whatever chains may be binding you, that they be broken in the name of Jesus. I pray that through the power of that same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, that the chains of fear, of doubt, of loneliness, of despair, will all shatter and fall powerless before you, setting you free.