Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: Holy Spirit as the Gift of Christmas

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Holy Spirit as the Gift of Christmas

Now that the New Year has begun and the festivities of Christmas have settled down or ended, I wanted to reflect on the Holy Spirit as the Gift of Christmas.

For most of us, we associate Christmas with presents, spending time with family, nativity scenes, Midnight Mass and the infant Jesus. But for most of us the Holy Spirit is not something we associate with Christmas .

The Holy Spirit is the ultimate Gift, the one given to us by the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is also the one that empowers us, sanctifies us and gives is the grace to make our life a gift back to the Father through the Son. The Holy Spirit is the gift that enables the Church to continue the sacraments, that gives power and efficacy to them (CCC #739). The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church that continues to vivify her and all of us as members of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church. The Holy Spirit also gives us the grace to grow in charity - the divine love we are called to by virtue of our baptism.

St Bernard of Clairvaux referred to the Holy Spirit as the "kiss between the Father and the Son'. What a beautiful image! With this Augustinian understanding of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the mutual love between the Father and the Son. So we can also say that the Holy Spirit is the intimacy of the Trinity itself!

At Christmas we celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation, the Word made flesh - Emmanuel, God is with us! This new level of intimacy with God is the gift we are all offered. To be children of the Father, through union with the Son. Jesus became man, to elevate our humanity and unite it with the Trinity. This is what the Church Fathers all taught, and so if we develop this further - we can also see that the Holy Spirit is the additional gift of Christmas.

The Holy Spirit is the gift given to us to enable and empower us to live our calling as Christians. In baptism we are united to and reborn in Christ, becoming one with him. So too, we also become temples of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit enables us to call God "Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15) and to also be sons in the Son. The Holy Spirit is the one who teaches us to pray (Romans 8:26), to understand the teachings of Jesus (John 14:26), He heals us of our woundedness and sin, and is the one who comforts us and advocates for us (John 14:15, John 14:26)

The Holy Spirit is the gift of intimacy that we receive as our birthright as Christians. Marked, signed and sealed by the Spirit (Ephesians 1:13), we are led by the Spirit and given the freedom of the children of God (2 Corinthians 3:17). How can this not make us exclaim in wonder and joy? The Holy Spirit gives us freedom, joy and love! (Galatians 5:22-23)

So this Christmas, let us remember the gift that Jesus us given us - the Holy Spirit. The bond of the Trinity, the kiss between the Father and the Son, the intimacy of the Trinity itself. This is our gift we have received and can call upon everyday! The Lord the giver of Life - the Paraclete, our Comforter and Advocate is the gift of love that helps us to experience and know the love of God (Romans 5:5), the intimacy of the Holy Trinity.

This is invitation we have from the Holy Spirit himself this New Year, and every moment of our lives -

"The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life." (Revelation 22:17).

Will you accept the invitation and the gift?

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.