“And (we believe) in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke by the Prophets.” (Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed)
This Monday after Pentecost, known in our liturgical calendar as “The Day of the Holy Spirit,” I’m thinking about the various “roles” of the Holy Spirit, both within the mysterious Being of our Triune God, and in this world.
What’s revealed to us about His Being within the Holy Trinity is, He “proceeds” (as distinct from the Son, Who “is born”) from the Father; and He is equally-divine, as One co-worshipped and co-glorified with the Father and the Son. Hence we worship and glorify the Holy Spirit as Lord and God. And in this world, He was “active,” as Giver of Life, since creation, “hovering over the waters” (Gen 1:2) as a hen warms its eggs; and throughout Old-Testament times He “spoke” to us through a select few, “the Prophets.”
And now, in the era of the Church, founded by the Son according to the will of the Father, the Holy Spirit sustains its life. He continuously and abundantly breathes His grace into all of us, not just a select few, whenever we open up to His sacramental Presence in our midst, in the midst of the “communion of the saints” that is the Church. He is given, and gives Himself, to us, as the Son was given, and gave Himself, to us, according to the abiding love that our Triune God has for His creation: “And I will pray the Father,” Christ promised us, “and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, – the Spirit of truth…” (Jn 14: 16-17a). So let me open my heart to Him this morning, as I hand all my situations and relationships over to His gentle guidance and discipline: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew the right Spirit within me.” (Ps 50/51: 10)
