The gift of the Holy Spirit renews us

April 27, 2008 -- Sixth Sunday of Easter

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. How has the Holy Spirit influenced your life? 2. Does the song "Day by Day" have meaning for you? 3. How do you satisfy your hunger for truth and love?

During this Easter season, the sacrament of Confirmation is celebrated in many of our parishes. Our young people receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to help them on their journey of faith. Sponsors promise to support those confirmed by their example and presence. And parents often breathe a sigh of relief that another milestone has been reached.

The "Acts of the Apostles" records how Peter and John went down to the city of Samaria and, after praying for the people evangelized by Philip, ". . . they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:17). That same Spirit is given through the sacrament of confirmation, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence. What a tremendous grace is bestowed upon us through the liturgy of the church. When we experience this self-giving of God, great joy should fill our hearts and our community, as it did in that city of Samaria.

Years ago one of the great theologians of the church, Vyes Congar, wrote a three-volume work, "I Believe in the Holy Spirit." Congar quotes Msgr. Ignatius Hazim: "Without him (the Holy Spirit), God is distant, Christ is in the past and the Gospel is a dead letter, the church is no more than an organization, authority is domination, our mission is propaganda, worship is mere calling to mind, and Christian action is slave morality" (NY: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997, II, p. 34). We desperately need God's Spirit, the Spirit that we hear about in the first "Letter of St. Peter"when we are told that we are ". . . brought to life in the Spirit" (3:18). It is the Holy Spirit that animates and renews us.

In John's Gospel, Jesus makes a promise to those who keep the commandments. That promise is the gift of an Advocate whom the Father will send into our hearts. This gift is the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of love. It is God's self-giving! We are not left orphans; we are not forsaken or abandoned to travel alone.

Back to our confirmation students. They, like the rest of us, are searching for truth and love. The mind hungers for meaning just as the heart longs for intimacy. Left to ourselves, we will stumble in darkness and ignorance; left to ourselves, we will seek forms of intimacy that often are dead end alleys. We need God's Spirit to enlighten us to see, to enkindle us to love, and to empower to hear and to live God's word.

Back on March 1, I had the opportunity to attend Notre Dame de la Baie Academy's production of "Godspell." It was an outstanding performance. One of the songs, "Day by Day," was sung both in the first and second acts. The lyrics - "to see Thee more clearly, to love Thee more dearly, to follow Thee more nearly" (taken from a prayer by St. Richard) - gives us a summary of our Christian life. That life is one of adoration, communion, and cooperation; it is life of seeing, loving and following the Lord in discipleship. Of course, this is impossible without the gift of the Holy Spirit. Left to ourselves, we do not see that well, or love that deeply, or follow unreservedly.

Our Easter prayer: "Come, Holy Spirit, come!"

(Bishop Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)