12 April 2021
Monday of the Second Week of Easter
“The wind blows where it wills” (John 3:8). Here is this verse in the original Greek of the New Testament: “τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ” and in Latin “Spiritus ubi vult spirat.” Once you have exhaled a breath, the breath goes wherever it wants. You no longer have any control of it. All the gas molecules that used to be in your lungs spread themselves according to their own laws, regardless of your will. Likewise, the Holy Spirit of God moves itself according to its own designs, not yours.
To be a truly spiritual person, you must admit and accept that the Spirit blows where it wills, and you must do your best to conform yourself to the motions of that Spirit. St. Ignatius Loyola calls this “seeking and finding the will of God in the disposition of our Life for the salvation of our soul” (SpEx 1). This involves ridding oneself of inordinate attachments, turning to God with various spiritual exercises, and studying the teachings of sacred scripture and of the Church.
We must not attempt to press the reset button on the Spirit of God. This Spirit has already acted in human history, so we must study church history. If we ignore or, even worse, reject the teachings of scripture or the Church, then we are trying to press the reset button on the Spirit of God, and we are not allowing it to blow where it wills. Instead, we are asking it to start over again for our own gratification. Caution: “Thou shalt not put the Lord, your God, to the test” (Matthew 4:7) .