“Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…” – Acts 2:3-4
Of the three Persons in the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit seems most mysterious. The Son is relatable, because He became one of us. Likewise, we can see the Father’s qualities reflected in our earthly parents. But the Holy Spirit is a bit more difficult to grasp.
According to Saint Augustine, the Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son (On the Trinity, 15:28). This love between the first and second Persons of the Trinity is so strong that it literally pours forth as a third Person. Something similar occurs when the love between a husband and wife gives rise to a child.
That’s powerful stuff. So, just imagine what it was like at Pentecost when the disciples were literally filled with Love Himself. They weren’t simply in love; Love was in them.
It’s no wonder they were transformed from cowards into courageous proclaimers of the Gospel. As it says in the first letter of St. John, “perfect love drives out fear”, and that’s exactly what happened.
The change was so dramatic that onlookers thought the apostles were drunk. It’s true they were intoxicated – not with wine, but with the Holy Spirit. They were inebriated by Love, and who among us would not also wish to share in such sublime ecstasy?
If we open our hearts to God’s Love in the Holy Spirit, we will indeed become ecstatic in the truest sense of the word. We will be compelled to go “outside ourselves” like the first apostles to bring the good news to the poor and set the world on fire.
Therefore, let us pray the ancient words of the Sequence for the Pentecost Liturgy to ask the Holy Spirit to enkindle us with the fire of God’s Love:
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.
You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of Thine,
And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend;
Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end. Amen.
Alleluia.
