Reflection
Tornadoes have caused great damage and many deaths here in the United Sates this year. It is very tragic and my prayers are with those who were affected. We’ve even had a couple here in Northern California—nothing on the scale of those back East, but quite disconcerting anyway. We obviously equate tornadoes with negative outcomes. However, there is one tornado-like event that changed the history of the world forever in about 33 A.D. In wind, thunder and fire, in the city of Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit of God entered into the twelve Apostles - and the Catholic Church was born! (Acts 2: 1-11).
From that day forward, the same Holy Spirit has entered the hearts of millions more. On the day of Pentecost, the apostles baptized about three thousand Jews in water and the Spirit. Three thousand! In one day! At one place! I can’t even imagine that—it boggles the mind! After the Spirit had entered the house of Cornelius, they baptized Jew and Gentile. The power of the Spirit was with these totally changed men, and neither threats nor imprisonments, nor beatings nor stoning, could prevent them from preaching with great persuasion and power. They went to whatever country or city the Spirit led them - even to Rome and beyond! And now, 2000 years later, it is estimated that there are 2 billion “Christians”—Catholics number about 1.3 billion!
It is no wonder that the unstoppable Holy Spirit soon brought the news that Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary, both divine and human, had really entered the world at the command of God the Father. This same Jesus had not only risen from the dead, but had also ascended back to the Father. This same Jesus now lives in all who would believe, and in all who have been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit to continue the building up of the Church on earth.
Why hasn't the Spirit of God, working through us, brought the whole world to belief? It’s because of human weakness. It’s because of complacency, sometimes in the face of human success. We know all about that in today's world, where the sins of leaders, both bishops and priests, have slowed the work of evangelizing. The lessening of moral discipline in society has poisoned and confused the young who are often cynical about the importance of faith. Fewer and fewer listen to and heed the authoritative teaching of the Church. I think in many ways, we have become “Babel-onian” in our hubris. We have so many ways to communicate with each other—in other words, we “speak one language”—that we’ve either forgotten how to or don’t feel we need to communicate with God to thank Him for giving us the very life we feel WE’VE made “easier”! We just continue to “build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves.” (Gen 11:4)
On this Pentecost, we are urgently called to refocus our belief in the presence and daily inspirations of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit alone can give us that hope in His Power to repair what is broken, to enflame hearts that turn to Him in prayer and listening.
Centuries have passed since this one "good tornado" in Palestine, but the wind and flame are as strong as ever.
“But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.”
Each of the gifts perfect certain basic virtues. Four of them perfect the intellectual virtues. Understanding gives an intuitive penetration into truth. Wisdom perfects charity, in order to judge divine things. Knowledge perfects the virtue of hope. The gift of counsel perfects prudence.
The other three gifts perfect virtues of the will and appetites. The gift of piety perfects justice in giving to others that which is their due. This is especially true of giving God what is His due. Fortitude perfects the virtue of fortitude, in facing dangers. Fear of the Lord perfects temperance in controlling disordered appetites.
WISDOM
Wisdom is a sense that everything is a gift. It becomes a growing sense of what things are and what they are not. Wisdom is a way of holding things in tension. We might want something to be more than it is and it would be so good if it only could be, but we allow it to be just what it is, with God’s fingerprints on everything.
UNDERSTANDING
This gift follows upon the first. To understand means that the Holy Spirit is enlightening our minds about the consequences of our use of all the other gifts God has given us. Misuse and abuse of something shows no respect for God’s design for the goodness of His creation. The proper use of something is a great praise of the Creator, but we need this gift of Understanding to see better.
KNOWLEDGE
This is the gift that assists us to know who we are and what we are to do. It is practical, that is it moves us to a gratitude for action. It is more than “self-knowledge”, but a grace that assists us in the awareness of our being in Christ and in our incarnating Him, or bringing Him into more visibility. It is the gift that helps us know who we are in God’s eye.
COUNCIL
This final gift assisting the intellect or our ability to ponder and decide strengthens the mind to be able to look fearlessly at all sides, all the darker areas, all the slavery to sin and self-centeredness in our human struggle for truth. It assists us to be honest and aware of the various gravitational pulls of our weak flesh, prejudices, selfish inclinations and fears. This is the gift we are not so sure we really want, because we love our ways, our patterns of self-indulgence.
The last three gifts are about doing the truth.
FORTITUDE
This gift moves us to a steady hand as well as a desire to keep on keeping on when we do slip and fall. While its root meaning is “strong” it is more about resolve, perseverance, and patience with our not being strong in our living the other gifts. This gift is the encouragement the parent gives to the child beginning to walk, “Come on, get up, whoops, and try again!”
PIETY
Piety encourages a loyalty or fidelity to God and the relationship that God initiates and sustains. This gift encourages us to prayerfully listen and reverently live what we hear. There are so many voices trying to convince us about our identity. Piety results from hearing who God says we are and living accordingly.
FEAR of the LORD
It would be a funny gift from God that would render us scared and frightened of the giver. This gift of the Spirit is similar to how we might walk through a store whose shelves are filled with crystal and delicate china dishes. Respect for the beauty, yet fragility would move us, not to fear the owner, but a love for the creator of these artworks. So this gift works against recklessness and disrespect for the Giver and Creator of all. If we have a view of the beauty and goodness of creation, and stand respectfully in front of them, then we stand in a similar fashion before the Creator of all this delicate handiwork around and within us.
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