Peace be with you!

How is Christian spirituality different from other kinds? Join Fr. Freeh and parishioners Vicki Phillips and Pat Henry in a discussion the role of the Holy Spirit.

“We are holy only to the extent that we wait daily for the gift of the Holy Spirit.” — Fr. Freeh

If you just read that sentence about 15 times, slowly, and let it sink in, my work just might be done here this week. I’m still processing it myself…a concrete example of “mystagogy”–the reflection that leads us into a deeper understanding of our faith, the better to live it.

It’s easy to imagine the Apostles and the Blessed Mother in that upper room. Missing the daily presence of the Lord. Fearful of the authorities. Praying as Jesus taught them. Hoping in their seeming abandonment for the promised Holy Spirit…even though they weren’t quite sure what to expect. And in their midst, calm and trustful and comforting, the Virgin Mary.

The only difference between us and the Apostles is that we don’t recognize we’re in that upper room with them. We think it’s something that happened to them, a long time ago and far away. But we carry our upper rooms with us, in our hearts and minds. Filled, like theirs, with anxiety, fear, disappointment, grief, anger, weakness, sins of our own choosing. Too often, we neglect even to ask the Blessed Mother to keep us company.

Against all this darkness, we have Jesus’s promise of His Holy Spirit, if only we should ask.

But what are we asking for? We can easily reel off “Faith, Hope, and Charity.”

If we paid attention in our Confirmation classes, we can add the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit: “Wisdom; Understanding; Counsel; Fortitude; Knowledge; Piety; Fear of the Lord.” (That last is now more commonly known as Holy Awe, or Reverence. Frankly, I think our world needs a little more fear of God….)

The advanced class can name the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit. These, I had to look up: Charity; Joy; Peace; Patience; Benignity (Kindness); Goodness; Long-sufferering; Mildness; Faith; Modesty; Continence; Chastity.

But these lists of words don’t really tell us what–or Who–the Holy Spirit is. They do, however, give us a place to start.

Wisdom, it turns out, is the grace to move beyond a simple knowledge of the articles of faith, to penetrate the divine truths in which they are rooted. (Paraphrased from here, which I found by clicking through from this website, which has a basic definition of the Seven Gifts.) As Fr. Freeh might say, mystagogical reflection opens the door to Wisdom. We need to go deeper than mere words on a list. We need to unpack their meaning, so that we have a better understanding of Who we wait for, and why we want Him to come.

Our world is as secular and pagan as it was 2,000 years ago. Rather than decry the world’s lack of faith, we must first look to our own. To change ourselves, we need the Holy Spirit’s transformational grace, the gifts that turned twelve scared men into bold confessors of the faith.

These gifts are not “once and done,” nor “long ago.” They are eternal…which means they are gifts for right now. The truth is, we will live our lives trapped in that upper room, unless we pray with Mary for the gift of the Holy Spirit, today and every day. Daily, we are called to leave the dark upper room to enter the world, filled with the Spirit, to accomplish the Father’s will. To share the gifts of the Holy Spirit with all those we encounter.

As we approach the season of Lent, let us wait for Him in prayer and worship, with the Blessed Mother as our examplar and guide.

Here’s a resource to help us start: Novena to the Holy Spirit.

Readings for Sunday, February 8, 2015.