30 April 2019
Optional Memorial of St. Pius V, Pope
“The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3:8)
Those born of the Spirit, those living the life which the Spirit gives them, are meant to make the sound which the Spirit makes. What is this sound? Certainly the Spirit gives us voice in our prayers. St. Paul says as much when he writes that it is the Spirit which “intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.” (Rom 8:26) The apostle also writes that it is by the Spirit poured into our hearts that we cry out in prayer “Abba, Father!” and only by the same Spirit do we confess to Christ that He is our Lord. (Rom 8:15 and 1 Cor 12:3) Yet, this communication which the Creator Spirit inspires within us to pray to God does not exclude, but rather requires communication with those whom our God places around us. The Spirit of whom we are born impels us to proclaim to others what it is that God has done! We will see this on every page of the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of St. Paul and the other Apostles. The words ‘apostle’ in Greek means ‘one who has been sent’. The work of the Spirit is to make little apostles of each one of us, blowing us where He wills, having us announce to the world what God has done.
What sound are we to make? What should those filled with the Spirit of Christ proclaim? Probably what Christ proclaims to Nicodemus: that the Son of Man has come down from heaven, and that He was to be lifted up on the cross for us to see, to believe, to receive eternal life. (Jn 3:13-15) Let us ask for sensitive hearts, hearts that are docile to where the Holy Spirit leads us, hearts that know His works of love in our lives, hearts which want to share our material and spiritual riches in the joy of the risen Lord’s Spirit with our neighbors, coworkers, family and friends.