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Month of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit and the Holy Eucharist are both at the heart of what being Catholic is all about. We believe in the Holy Spirit and the transformation of bread into the Body of Christ.
There are many symbols used to represent the Holy Spirit, but the two most notable are fire and the dove. Fire is cleansing. Where there is fire, something imperfect is destroyed and something new arises. It indicates an intense and powerful energy capable of transforming the soul. The dove on the other hand, is used repeatedly to signal the touch of the invisible omnipresent God to the visible and limited world. Both fire and dove are powerful symbols. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He bestows upon us sanctifying graces such as wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord. And the Holy Spirit bestows charismatic gifts, both ordinary and extraordinary, to individuals as well—most notably when the Holy Spirit descended on Pentecost and the Disciples of Christ began speaking in tongues.
The other dedication this month is to the Holy Eucharist. Through the transformation of bread and wine, we receive the body and blood of Christ. What a marvel to receive Jesus in this way! The Holy Eucharist is the powerful gift of Jesus before His death, made of unleavened wheat to grant us Jesus in our body, and a reminder of His sacrifice, as well as His presence to worship. No other gift compares!
To believe in the Holy Spirit is to profess that the Holy Spirit is one of the persons of the Holy Trinity, con-substantial with the Father and the Son: “with the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church) The Holy Spirit is the Person of Love in the life of God. He is also like a breath, an aspiration of infinite Love, from which we draw the breath of life.
On the day of Pentecost the Divine Spirit communicated such an abundance of life to the whole Church that to symbolize it “there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they (the Apostles) were sitting.”
But it is also for us that the Holy Spirit has come, for the group in the Cenacle represented the whole Church. The Holy Spirit came to remain with the Church forever. This is the promise of Jesus Himself. He dwells in the Church permanently and unfailingly, performing in it without ceasing His action of life-giving and sanctification. He establishes the Church infallibly in the truth. It is He Who makes the Church blossom forth with a marvellous supernatural fruitfulness, for He brings to life and full fruition in Virgins, Martyrs, and Confessors those heroic virtues which are one of the marks of true sanctity.
