Confirmation. We are in the season of Confirmation. However, something seems to be missing, especially when so many disappear from the Church after receiving the Sacrament.
What appears to be missing is the experience and the miracles of the Holy Spirit working within us. The Spirit really does work within us, doing wonderful things. We can’t see them with the eyes of the world. Only with the eyes of Faith can we see the miracles of the Holy Spirit. But that can’t happen until we actively, consciously invite the Spirit to live in us. It must be a conscious, frequent invitation, when we say with truth and sincerity, “Come Holy Spirit!”
Too often it appears that Confirmation is something that the Bishop does to us, as if he were somehow casting a spell over us. Then, we become disillusioned because we don’t see anything. God doesn’t love us by sending his Holy Spirit to “invade” our souls.
God gave each of us free will to love Him. Even the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation invited the Holy Spirit. Mary wasn’t raped. Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
We should be like Mary. When we open the door to our heart we can live in the Spirit, and miracles can happen for us. Come Holy Spirit, come into my heart!
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. We believe in One God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We experience God in three Persons.
We experience God as our Father and creator, because He made us and He made all of creation. We experience or perceive “eternity” through God. Eternity is attributed to the Father. We can only live eternally with Him.
We experience God in His Word whenever we read or listen to Sacred Scripture. St. John tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, born of a woman, taking his human flesh from his mother, Mary. The prophets foretold Jesus as “Emmanuel”, or “God with us. Jesus is the image of the Father for us. The Father and the Holy Spirit are not visible to our worldly eyes, but Jesus is the visible image of God. At the Last Supper,
Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father,* and that will be enough for us.
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, …. Jn 14:8-11
We experience God in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus told us,
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Jn 6:51
We experience God in the Holy Spirit when we say deeply, honestly, openly and hopefully, “Come Holy Spirit, come into my heart!” We love, and our love is fed by the Holy Spirit. We experience Faith and Hope, and these come to us in the Holy Spirit. We ask God to help us with patience, perseverance and humility, and these come to us through the Holy Spirit. We experience the Holy Spirit in whatever is beautiful. We are enlightened in the Holy Spirit. We experience forgiveness in the Confessional. This forgiveness comes to us in the Holy Spirit.
But, we have to ask for these. God will not force them upon us. We must have the humility to ask for God’s Spirit, and to live in the Holy Trinity.
The complete Trinity dwells in us when we invite God. When we worship the Trinity we realize the full truth of ourselves.
When we were baptized, our parents were following Jesus’ commandment,
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
He will be with us. But only if we say, like Mary,
“Come Holy Spirit, come into my heart!”