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The Holy Spirit - Up Close and Personal
A "FIRESTARTER" Spiritual Essay by Rev.
Dr. Benjamin
Berinti, C.Pp.S.
Several years
ago, I had the opportunity to make a return visit to one of the true wonders of
North America—Niagara Falls. My very first trek to the Falls came near the end of my 8th
grade year in elementary school. While most 8th grade classes prior
to mine made their annual class trips to places like
Washington, DC, Philadelphia, or some other
“educational” locale, my class decided that these places were far too boring!
Rather than waste our hard-earned class treasury, garnered over the course of
the year from our Bingo nights and Christmas tree sales, on seeing yet another
historical battle field or museum, my classmates and I got adventurous and set
our sights on Niagara Falls (Canadian side, of course)!
As we were
thinking about “exotic” destinations to which we could travel as our final act
as the Class of 1972 (of course, these “exotic” sights had to been within a
one-day round trip drive from Pittsburgh), many of us discovered that our
parents had celebrated their honeymoons at the Falls. However, we did not end
up choosing the trip for romantically nostalgic purposes—but we figured with
those wonderful memories still planted in our parents’ minds and hearts, they’d
surely give us permission to make such a journey—and they did! Thinking back on
it now, I can’t imagine how we ever convinced Sister Bernadette, our Dominican
principal, to allow for this expedition. Perhaps she was a great fan of natural
beauty and justified our trip as a “geographic” adventure. Whatever the
justifications, we just played along. Most of us boys were only interested in
the fact that, upon crossing the Canadian border, we’d be able to get access to
one of the most coveted (and totally illegal in Pennsylvania) possessions any 8th
grade male could get his grimy hands on—FIREWORKS!
I had not
returned to Niagara Falls since those heady days of fireworks and puppy love
cuddling on the bus ride home from Canada. This latest trip, although devoid of
contraband fireworks (now the contraband of interest was Cuban cigars), was
exhilarating. The Falls of Niagara are stunning—the sheer power and glory of that never-ending, cascading
water—is mesmerizing. I could park myself on a bench and stare at this awesome
wonder for days on end. The famed “Maid of the Mist” boats still cruise below
the Falls, filled with plastic-garbage-bag-clad tourists who, despite the
cover-ups, still get a good dousing with water.
There’s only one
problem with this powerful wonder of the world—you can’t really get close
enough to it to truly experience its awe! Somehow, simply looking at,
observing, or taking pictures of these mighty waters leave me wanting more.
Somehow, I fantasize about being a part of them—harnessing their powers, riding
their billows and cascades, pounding the rocks below, having that sense of being
driven over the edge with conviction and force!
Somehow…simply
“looking” at this grand force of energy and beauty from an observation platform
doesn’t quite cut it for me.
However, I do
know that some folks are quite content to “observe” this wonder from some point
of safety and security. My aunt Becky is one of them! Once while on a trip to
Niagara with my parents, she insisted that she could fully see and enjoy the
Falls from the comfy confines of my parents’ car parked along the side of the
road! While we all knew that she simply didn’t want the wind and water to mess
up her hair-do, it seemed ridiculous to contend, as she stubbornly declared,
that watching from a distance (behind the closed doors and windows of an
automobile) was just as satisfying as riding the Maid of the Mist, or standing
in the hollow cave openings behind the massive wall of cascading water!
I am moved to
recall this contrast between myself and people like my aunt Becky, not to make a
case for a summer trip to Niagara Falls, but rather because I see a parallel
between this experience and the way some people approach the great wonder and
mystery of the awesome gift of Christ to the Church, the “promise of the Father”
which Jesus released upon his apostles and disciples—THE HOLY SPIRIT!
For some, the
presence of the Holy Spirit, the beauty and power and grace that cascades from
the heart of God, and is now the living presence of the Christ in our midst, is
best left at a distance—to be looked upon, or observed, or timidly recited as
the words in a half-spent prayer or hymn. For some, life in the Church is best
left at a distance—to be admired as “a nice comfort to have in life,” or perhaps
to be an “ace in the hole” in case of disaster, or simply to be salve for an
occasionally guilty conscience. For some, like my aunt Becky, it’s better so
stay behind protective covering when it comes to witnessing the works of the
Spirit.
And yet, the Holy
Spirit is given to all God’s creation as the power by which the world is
gradually transformed into the fullness of God’s reign. The Holy Spirit is
given not for show, or for looks, or for decoration—but rather to be USED,
to be ENCOUNTERED, and to be both grabbed hold of and to be grabbed by!
God desires us to be “up close and personal” with the Holy Spirit! The Spirit
is meant to penetrate us, breaking through the obstacles we erect, knocking down
the “observation platforms” we construct for safe viewing of the Spirit’s work.
Nikos Kazantzakis
in The Saviours of God, wrote: The soul of man is a flame, a bird
of fire that leaps from bough to bough, from head to head, and that shouts: ‘I
cannot stand still, I cannot be consumed, no one can quench me!’ It is
the Holy Spirit of God, residing in our souls, who is this flame, this bird of
fire leaping and bounding about! Such a Spirit cannot be quenched, or tamed, or
merely “observed” from afar.
May this
Pentecost find us drawing closer to the awesome power and grace of the Holy
Spirit—getting up close and personal—rather than keeping our distance.
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