Friars Corner: More Holy Spirit Fire
Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR
Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 96:1-2. 7-10; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-11
Peace and all good, as St. Francis of Assisi often said. Each one of the four readings this Sunday could lead us to a commentary. They are so beautiful and inspiring.
Most preachers would concentrate on the gospel about the first miracle story at the wedding of Cana where Jesus miraculously turned the water from large jars for cleaning dishes, into the best wine. The analogy could then be made of Jesus changing our wine at Mass into his own Precious Blood.
As a Franciscan, Catholic Pentecostal priest, teacher and evangelist, I choose to expand the second reading. We should read this one on Pentecost Sunday. It does fit with the baptism of Jesus giving us the Holy Spirit Fire.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Holy Trinity, which we all first receive at our baptism. Who is the Holy Spirit? In chapters 14, 15 and 16, St. John tells us the major work of the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of God’s truth. He instructs and reminds us of all that Jesus said. The Holy Spirit comes from the Father and Jesus. He guides the church and the world, for those who listen and obey. The Holy Spirit will also lead us to our future by announcing what is to come.
The Holy Spirit is mentioned toward the end of the Nicene Creed we recite on Sunday and major feast days at Mass. “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son, he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets.”
Pentecost Sequence
The Pentecost Sequence, not included here, helps us understand more of how the Holy Spirit works in our lives as followers of Jesus helping to change our world. Archbishop Stephen Langton of Canterbury, England wrote that sequence over 800 years ago. In ten poetic verses, it is a mini-course of the great work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is usually prayed on the Solemnity of Pentecost. It is well worth praying often and even memorizing.
At baptism each one of us receive ten gifts of the Holy Spirit, the three theological virtues of faith, hope and love, and seven Isaiah 11:2 gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear or great respect for God, to help grow in our Christian life as followers of Jesus. These are personal growth gifts and not repeated in the New Testament.
St. Paul’s first list of gifts
St. Paul’s letters give us four lists of more gifts for service to others. The first list, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, tells us of nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts are God’s power in us, to help minister to others. These gifts are given by the Holy Spirit as God chooses to empower us to help others. These come with the Sacrament of Confirmation.
There are two teaching gifts. Wisdom is God’s grace to do or say something that will help others. He gives us his mind or direction. Knowledge is usually one word or fact from God, not humanly known to us, that helps others grow.
The second level of gifts
The second level of these nine gifts is: faith, healing ministries and miracles. This faith gift is the confidence that when we pray for something, God hears that prayer and if it is his will, it will be granted. With many types of sickness, God gives his help to heal people today. Twenty percent of Jesus earthly ministry was spent healing people and freeing them from evil spirits.
The gift of Miracles does not deal with physical or mental healing but God’s power raising a situation above the physical laws of nature like Jesus walking on water or feeding thousands with a few loaves and fishes.
The third category of gifts
The third category has four gifts: prophecy, discernment of spirits, praying in tongues and interpretation of tongues. Prophecy is God speaking through a person giving his direction for now. Discernment of spirit is necessary for us to know if something we hear or see is coming from God, from ourselves, what we want, or from evil spirits. We see the latter almost every day in the news. How can we avoid and defeat these evils? Usually by special prayers, like the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, asking Jesus to pour out his power for various negative situations like ending the wars in the middle-east and Africa.
The amazing gift of praying in tongues
Praying in tongues is a really amazing and necessary gift. There are nineteen New Testament texts and teaching about how this gift works, praying in different languages. In most places, this gift is still not taught or understood after almost two thousand years. It is not the babble of a baby. You don’t have to spend a few years studying the grammar of a foreign language or memorizing vocabulary. You simply give your speech mechanism over to the Holy Spirit and he prays to the Father according to the Father’s will. St. Paul instructs in Romans 8:26,
The Holy Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as you ought, but the Holy Spirit, himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Holy Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God (the Father’s) will.
St. Paul gives a lot of information on how this gift of tongues works. In 1 Corinthians 14, he writes back to the Corinthian community where he lived for a few years and tells them how to use tongues and prophecy.
When you separate the two gift texts into two columns with tongues on the left, St. Paul gives twelve definitions. He also uses different words to describe the types of praying in tongues: speaking, talking, praying, praising and thanksgiving. In other places, Paul speaks about petition (for yourself) and intercession (for others or situations).
You won’t hear this text
This text will not be read at Mass since most clergy and laypeople do not understand or use these gifts. From experience, some have found commanding tongues to cast out evil spirits. They did not teach these things when I was in the seminary 48 years ago. Being in a large group in Philadelphia for eleven years I learn a lot and much by experience. I also learned how to put these gifts into our sacramental structure. It took me one and a half years to fully open up to praying in tongues. Now I have recognized over 12 languages I pray in for many different needs. Amazing grace.
The last gift, which is very rare, yet mostly within a larger and more experienced prayer group is the interpretation of prayer tongues. It is akin to a translation of the tongues. Yet not because neither person understands the language. The Holy Spirit puts into the mind of another person what the person who spoke in tongues out loud and alone said in tongues. This is to glorify God and not us.
Three more lists of gifts
St. Paul gives three other lists of spiritual gifts, 1 Corinthians 12:28 (administrative ones) and Romans 12:6-8, other ministry gifts. We are one body with different members with graces differing according to God’s favor, like teaching the faith to others. The last list is in Ephesians 4:11, more gifts “in roles of service to build up the body of Christ (church).”
God has other gifts for us that are not on these lists, like music. Be open to how the Holy Spirit wants to use you to help make our parishes and our world a better place to live in. Many of these various ministry gifts were given to us at Confirmation when the bishop laid hands on us for new divine power. Pray more and be open to how the Holy Spirit wants to use you with new service gifts to help others. When used properly these gifts get better and we receive joy in using them.
Lumen Gentium
In the late 1960s, Vatican Council II in Lumen Gentium spoke about the Holy Spirit’s mission to continually make the church young.
The Holy Spirit not only sanctifies and guides God’s people by the sacraments and the ministries…. He also distributes special graces among the faithful of every state of life, assigning His gifts to each as he chooses.
These charisms (gifts), the simpler and more complex, should be accepted with a sense of gratitude and consolation. In the power of the Holy Spirit, blessings,
+ Fr. Bob Hilz
fbhilz@gmail.com
(© 2019 Fr. Bob Hilz, TOR)
