Man has this insatiable quest to know more. When rockets were launched into space, it was supposedly the final frontier but that was not the only frontier we have been trying to master. The inner thoughts and processes formed the other frontier that we have been trying to map out. The process of “conquest” continues. Just like St Thomas Aquinas in his days who speculated on the number of angels dancing on top of a pin head, in our days, we try to cram as many bytes as we can onto our ever-miniaturised data storages from the first floppy discs to the latest solid state drives. Right now we are familiar with terabytes. Soon we will be introduced to petabytes and the beyond.
Man has been trying to breach every boundary imposed by nature in this endeavour to control his destiny, to be autonomous, to be like God. Even if we have gone beyond the limits of outer space, we will still want to know what lies behind the beyond. Wise St Augustine recognised this desire to be nothing more than our hunger for the Creator, who had at the inception of creation, moulded into man’s heart a longing which can only be satisfied by the Maker.
This so-called drive or hunger can be unruly. In a way, the desire or drive mirrors a particular perception of how the Holy Spirit behaves. The scene at the descent of the Holy Spirit seems to confirm that. It was almost chaotic when we consider the rushing winds and the loud noises. This unpredictability at the appearance of the Holy Spirit lends itself to an association of freedom with spontaneity. This idea of freedom here is more of an unfettered autonomy. The arbitrariness or the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit may support or justify a perception of human freedom in the area of thought and behaviour. All of us like to do what we want and none of us likes to be told what to do or what not to do. We value individual autonomy.
What might escape our notice is that the descent of the Holy Spirit is also synonymous with the birth of the Church. Nothing is more permanent or steadfast or “boring” than the creation of the Church, for in this newly established entity, the Spirit animates the Body of Christ. The members of the Church are inspired, led and empowered to fulfil the mission that Christ commanded before His ascension—go make disciples of all the nations. In the work of transforming the world, the Holy Spirit is powerfully at work in the Sacraments that Christ bequeathed to His Body. He is reflected in the teachings of the Church. He assists the members of the Church through His gifts so that every Christian may bear fruits.
In a world where individual autonomy is sacrosanct, all the more we must be reminded that the Holy Spirit is tied to the Church. In the last 60 years, greater emphasis has been placed on discerning how the Holy Spirit works “extra ecclesiam”, that is, outside the Church. We must be open to discover where God’s Spirit is working. However, correspondingly, there arose a tendency to “liberalise” the Holy Spirit, that is, to set the Holy Spirit free, partly because we have failed to convince others that the Church, founded by Christ, is His instrument of salvation. In fact we are bogged down by our inability to convince others that we are reduced to searching for commonality in terms of the good we can do. It is as simple as “Since I cannot convert you, let me see how we can cooperate to bring about good”.
In no way is this a demeaning of the other religions. The stress on respect for experiences outside Christianity has given rise to certain theological strands that supports the speculation that Jesus Christ is not necessary for salvation “extra ecclesiam”. This is our conundrum. If every religion leads to God, what role does Jesus play in salvation and how relevant is the Great Commission in our present climate of religious plurality? The unspoken reality is that many Catholics believe that all religions are the same.
The Holy Spirit works “intra” and “extra ecclesiam”. The failure of evangelisation is not the failure of the message but the failure of the messengers. The Holy Spirit can work outside the Church but He cannot work without the Church. In fact the Holy Spirit’s task is to draw all people to God and the chief instrument that He does so is through the Church, the Body of Christ.
Thus, the Holy Spirit did not come to confirm our “inspiration”, that is, the way we want to organise or structure reality. Instead, the Holy Spirit confirms the desire of Christ for His Church through the gifts we receive. From these gifts, we bear fruits to offer to God our Father. The point is not to tie the Holy Spirit down. There is a trend these days which is captured by a concept bandied around. We hear of “paradigm shift” as a process of renewal and transformation.Latent within this concept is the idea that old is to be discarded because the new has arrived. Coupled with novelty is spontaneity—freedom, carefreeness or even “disobedience”. My novice-master once said to a fellow novice—do not use the Holy Spirit to sanctify your disobedience. If I do not want to obey what the Church teaches, I can easily use the Spirit to rationalise or justify what I want to do. While novelty is inherently exciting, the Holy Spirit is also boring or predictable because He has His work cut out—in the Sacramental economy of the Church. In the work of redemption, we need the Holy Spirit to ensure that we have full access to the Sacraments of Jesus Christ. If we celebrate the Spirit’s work “extra ecclesiam”, all the more we must give thanks to Him for the work “intra ecclesiam”. Come, Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.
