"For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her." (Mt 1:20)
*****
Electricity is almost magical in its qualities. We cannot see it – but we CAN feel it. It can do the most contradictory things at the same time: It can boil water or turn it into a block of ice. It can light a lamp or make music come out of a radio.
It is surprising how many parallels there are between the works of the Holy Spirit and electricity. When religion and religious ideas slip out of our life, we are like a battery which has gone flat. It needs recharging; and that is just what the Holy Spirit can do. He can liven us up – just as he did the apostles on Pentecost.
At other times our bodily desires heat up or a need to be cooled off. This is also one of the Holy Spirit’s powers, just as electricity cools things in a refrigerator.
Electricity is best known of course, by lights and lamps which can turn midnight into daylight. The personal holy lights or ideas which pop into our minds are known as inspirations of the Holy Spirit.
Electricity is the driving power behind most industry. The Holy Spirit is also the source of energy in our life. He spurs us on to works of generosity, service and virtue.
Once electricity powers up a radio, it comes alive with dozens of voices from all over the world, just like the disciples on Pentecost Sunday when the Holy Spirit took over their lives!
If you have been touched by electricity, you know it! It gets you up and makes you move in a hurry. Perhaps the trouble is that, he is still lying hidden like electricity inside a wire. Neither electricity nor the Holy Spirit can use their power until we turn them on. [1]
Our Catechism teaches:
It is surprising how many parallels there are between the works of the Holy Spirit and electricity. When religion and religious ideas slip out of our life, we are like a battery which has gone flat. It needs recharging; and that is just what the Holy Spirit can do. He can liven us up – just as he did the apostles on Pentecost.
At other times our bodily desires heat up or a need to be cooled off. This is also one of the Holy Spirit’s powers, just as electricity cools things in a refrigerator.
Electricity is best known of course, by lights and lamps which can turn midnight into daylight. The personal holy lights or ideas which pop into our minds are known as inspirations of the Holy Spirit.
Electricity is the driving power behind most industry. The Holy Spirit is also the source of energy in our life. He spurs us on to works of generosity, service and virtue.
Once electricity powers up a radio, it comes alive with dozens of voices from all over the world, just like the disciples on Pentecost Sunday when the Holy Spirit took over their lives!
If you have been touched by electricity, you know it! It gets you up and makes you move in a hurry. Perhaps the trouble is that, he is still lying hidden like electricity inside a wire. Neither electricity nor the Holy Spirit can use their power until we turn them on. [1]
Our Catechism teaches:
"With and through the Holy Spirit, the Virgin conceives and gives birth to the Son of God." [n. 723]
"Filled with the Holy Spirit she makes the Word visible in the humility of his flesh." [n. 724]
"Through Mary, the Holy Spirit begins to bring men, the objects of God’s merciful love into communion with Christ." [n. 725]
The above quotes from the Catechism clearly tell us about the work of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity in the history of our salvation. It was The Spirit who prepared Mary for her important role as the Mother of the Messiah by allowing her to be free from the stain of original sin, from the time of her conception. In making Mary a perfect human being, the Eternal Spirit of the Father and the Son gave us someone we could all look up to as role model in our own search for holiness in this life.
The Paraclete is undoubtedly actively at work in our world today as He has always been from the beginning of time. Many of us may not be aware of it that it is The Spirit who is the principal author of Sacred Scripture (Cf n. 304, Catechism) and He it was who spoke through the Prophets in the olden times (Cf n. 702, Catechism).
Hence, when we regularly and faithfully reflect on the Holy Bible, we eventually learn to be on the same wavelength with its grand Author. Thus, we are moved toward continual renewal in our hearts, minds and souls. He also bestows upon us gifts of wisdom, understanding, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. These gifts help us live virtuous or morally upright lives in this world. As the Giver of Life, He alone has the power to make this happen in our day-to-day existence.
Though hidden like the electricity in the wire, as the above commentary explains to us, the "Holy Spirit is the first to awaken faith in us and to communicate to us the new life, which is to ‘know the Father and the one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ’" [n. 684]. It is He who inspires in us all the noble things that we desire and do for God’s Kingdom on earth.
Just as He has perfectly acted through Mary, our Mother, He can do the same in us if we freely allow Him to work through and in us. As the article above says, unless we open our hearts and minds to the power of the Holy Spirit, He will not be able to work His Will beneficially for us and through us.
Let us all have the docility of heart to willingly be used by the Holy Spirit in the work of salvation and/or in the mission of the Church in this life. Let us freely allow The Sanctifier to help us give birth to Jesus in our hearts and bring Him forth into the world in the example of Mary our Mother. Let us pray to Him for the courage and the strength to be able to do these things this Christmas Season.
End Notes for this Bible Sharing
1. "A thought for today" by frank Mihalic, SVD, "The Electricity of the Spirit," pp. 115-116, Logos Publications, Inc., Manila , 2001.
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