The Holy Spirit as Friend

This Sunday is the great Solemnity and Feast of Pentecost celebrating the holy Spirit at work in the Church. After the Ascension of Jesus to Heaven, he sends the promised Holy Spirit to his disciples. A few weeks ago in the bulletin, I wrote about the Holy Spirit as Person and as the Best Friend of Jesus (May 5, 2013: HERE).

 

 

First, the Holy Spirit is a Person. He is the Third Person of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Though the actions of the Holy Spirit are described in images of fire, wind, a dove and anointing, the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, much less a bird! Of course, we can image easier the Persons of the Father and the Son because we experience human persons who are fathers and sons. But we have a difficult time imaging the Holy Spirit as a Person and the old title "Holy Ghost" certainly doesn’t help!

 

Yet Jesus in John’s Gospel uses a very personal image as I have pointed out: Jesus calls the Holy Spirit a Parakletos, a Greek word designating a person who is called to one’s side to help. This can be translated in a variety of ways as seen in the Amplified Bible:

 

"[Jesus said:] But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things." (John 14:26a, Amplified Bible)

 

The Amplified Bible helps us see that Parakletos can be translated in various ways. But one translation of parakletos could be simply "friend." This is the personal image I use to understand the Person and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We can take those other various ways of translating how Jesus describes the Holy Spirit to further appreciate the role of this Friend:

 

As Friend, the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, for a friend comforts us in sorrow.

 

As Friend, the Holy Spirit is the Counselor, for a friend counsels us to be our best.

 

As Friend, the Holy Spirit is the Intercessor, for a friend in Christ prays and intercedes for us.

 

As Friend, the Holy Spirit is the Advocate, for a friend stands up for us and defends us.

 

As Friend the Holy Spirit is the Strengthener, for a friend helps us to be strong, especially because we then do not face difficulties alone without our friends.

 

As Friend, the Holy Spirit is the Standby, meaning "one who can be relied on," for we can rely upon a true friend to be there in any need, sorrow or joy.

 

All can sum up the Greek word "parakletos," most poignantly for me as "the Friend at our side." Of course the more we have experienced true and deep friendship in our lives, the more we will relate to this image of the Holy Spirit as Friend.

 

My mother had some very strong friendships in her life. One of her friends she had from 3^rd grade until Mom’s death at 71 years old. Some others she made at Holy Faith and they were very warm and meaningful friendships that especially comforted her after the death of my father.

 

I have been particularly blessed with good friendships in my life, so much so that I consider friendship as one of the greatest gifts of life. I’ve had some very rough times in my life, and I found that my friends indeed came and stayed at my side to help. I would do the same.

 

Jonathan and David
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The saints often had very rich friendships and not all of them were of the same gender. Some examples are David and Jonathan in the Old testament; Saints Perpetua and Felicity (they were martyred together); Saint Francis and Saint Clare, as well as Brother Leo and St. Anthony of Padua (St. Francis had a great gift of being friend to others); St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross; St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and St. Claude de la Colombiere; St Ignatius of Loyola and St Francis Xavier; St. John Henry Newman and Father Ambrose St John (Newman left in his will that he be buried in Fr. St. John’s grave). I could also mention saints who were married.

 

Two favorite saints of mine who were friends were St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen. Living in the 4^th century, they were the equivalent of College roommates. So deep was their friendship that the Church kept them together in celebrating both saints on the same day (January 2). In a funeral sermon, St. Gregory said about their friendship:

 

"Basil and I were both in Athens [to study]. We had come, like streams of a river, from the same source in our native land, had separated from each other in pursuit of learning, and were now united again as if by plan, for God so arranged it.

 



St. Basil and St. Gregory Nazianzen

"Such was the prelude to our friendship, the kindling of that flame that was to bind us together. In this way we began to feel affection for each other. When, in the course of time, we acknowledged our friendship and recognized that our ambition was a life of true wisdom, we became everything to each other: we shared the same lodging, the same table, the same desires the same goal. Our love for each other grew daily warmer and deeper.

 

"We seemed to be two bodies with a single spirit. Though we cannot believe those who claim that everything is contained in everything, yet you must believe that in our case each of us was in the other and with the other.

 

"Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements. But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted,  was to be Christians, to be called Christians."

 

All these holy friendships can give us an image also of the friendship of the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. I think of the Holy Spirit as the Best Friend of the Son of God. There are many Scriptural reasons to deduce this. When Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as the Helper called to one’s side, did he not himself experience the Holy Spirit first as this Helper or Friend in his own life?

 

Everything that Jesus did in his life was guided by and inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was his constant Companion: present at Jesus’s Conception, at his Baptism, in his ministry, teaching and miracles, at his death and resurrection. But this friendship in love between the Spirit and the Son existed before all time. They are always together in the love of the Father. For our sake the Spirit and the Son Incarnate in Christ Jesus work together for our salvation:

 

"When the Father sends his Word [the Son], he always sends his Breath [the Spirit]. In their joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him. (Catechism #698; emphasis added)

 

 

 

In Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit to live within us as in a temple. The Best Friend of Jesus lives within us and he will introduce us and bring us into friendship with Christ! He connects us to the life and friendship and love of Christ. I pray that I and you may know the Person of the Holy Spirit within us intimately: this "Gentle Guest and Friend who inspires, guides, corrects, and strengthens this life [of Christ within us]" (Catechism #1697)

 

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Why the Heavenly Jerusalem is Important

 

 

It seems to me that we live in a time when Christians think less about heaven than in any other time in the Church’s history. So often we humans are always going from one extreme to the other. There have been times in the Church’s history when heaven was so emphasized as to discount and disregard our life on earth. If Christians suffered in this life, they would be compensated in the next. This is true enough, but that doesn’t mean we have no responsibility to eliminate suffering, especially from human oppression, wherever we can.

 

However, our proper concern for the life we live on earth should not exclude our awareness of the "life of the world to come," which will include heaven and earth ( a new heaven and earth) symbolized in the New and Heavenly Jerusalem mentioned in our Sunday Second Readings from the Book of Revelation during the Easter Season.

 

Christ does not save us only for this world, but also for the world to come, which we profess in the Nicene Creed. It occurred to me at some point in my learning about the Catholic Faith that it really means something when we pray in the Our Father, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." If for no other reason, we should be interested in what goes on in heaven so as to know how to do God’s Kingdom on earth. I like very much this quote from an essay I read by Daniel Tappenier about the Second Coming of Christ and the result of his Coming:

 

"What, in fact, is presented as the final result of the great drama of creation and history? We look to a renewed heaven, a renewed earth, and a Spirit-filled creation totally under the dominion of the will of God, so that the kingdom of God manifests itself perfectly in every sphere and every aspect of existence. In the Spirit-filled creation we find a Spirit-filled people, walking, serving, loving, worshiping, and rejoicing in God. God becomes humanity's God fully and truly, and humanity becomes God's people, wholly redeemed."

　

This corresponds to the spirit of Isaiah 25:6-8:

 

           "The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain;

            A banquet of aged wine, choice juicy meats,

           And refined, aged wine.

 

          "And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples,

          Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.

 

          "He will swallow up death for all time,

           And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces,

           And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth;

           For the LORD has spoken."

　

The Heavenly Jerusalem
(Notice all are feasting together)
 

This passage is used a great deal in our funerals at Holy Faith. And as I point out, this passage refers to the End of Time, when Christ comes again, and thus the destiny of the world is to become a Feast. This destiny is already being fulfilled in heaven and awaits fulfillment here on earth.

 

What makes a feast a feast is not only the abundant food, but the people at the feast. The Feast of Heaven consists of a Community of the Blessed who totally love one another with the love Christ has for us. When he commands us to love one another as he loved us (John 13:34) this is already fulfilled in the Church in heaven.

 

So, basing how we do God’s will here on earth on how it is done in heaven, we can ask ourselves "What prevents people on earth from experiencing life now as a feast?" All we have to do is look at the newspaper and read about poverty, hunger, ignorance, domestic abuse, greed, racism, loneliness, etc. to see that these and other problems bring no joy to others. But we can help alleviate some of this suffering and make life more like a feast than a burden. Isaiah promises: "the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces."

 

Once again, heaven models for us the superabundant love of God by which all our actions will be judged. It is a communion of love in the life of Christ:

 

"This mystery of blessed communion with God and all who are in Christ is beyond all understanding and description. Scripture speaks of it in images: life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the kingdom, the Father's house, the heavenly Jerusalem, paradise: ‘no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.’" (Catechism#1027)

 

The Catechism also says that in the Final Age: "Then all those he has redeemed and made ‘holy and blameless before him in love,’ will be gathered together as the one People of God, the ‘Bride of the Lamb,’ ‘the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.’ (#865)

 

This "gathering" is the nature of God’s salvation and the reality of the Church. It is why we must gather together on Sunday: we must witness visibly by our gathering for the Mass on Sunday what the Church is all about and the Kingdom of God. Someone may claim to be closer to God in solitude on a mountaintop or by the ocean. This may be very true. But it is the duty of the members of the Church to gather on Sunday to be the Body of Christ visible to the world. No one can do this alone.

 

Dance of the Blessed outside the Heavenly Jerusalem
 

Moreover, the Liturgy of the Church (the Church’s public worship) is a foretaste and image of the Heavenly Liturgy. While we are reminded at the Sunday Mass about how we should live in this life, we are also reminded of "the life of the world to come":

 

"[T]he Church on earth shows that she is united with the liturgy of heaven. She gives glory to Christ for having accomplished his salvation in his glorified members [in heaven]; their example encourages her on her way to the Father." (#1195)

 

So these are some of the reasons I am inspired by the Heavenly Jerusalem and why it makes a difference in how we live on earth. (For more go HERE to: "What Difference Does Heaven Make?" by Dr. Peter Kreeft.)

 

When Christ comes again and "the kingdom of this world will become the Kingdom of our God and of his Christ," surely this song or something equally "heavenly" will be sung:

 

Handel’s "Hallelujah Chorus" HERE

 

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For All the Saints

Growing up a Protestant, like my refection last week when I shared that I knew nothing in my youth about Purgatory, indeed the teaching was refuted, so it was the same with the Intercession of the Saints. In the United Methodist Church  we did profess in the Apostle’s Creed "I believe in...the Communion of Saints," and we sang "For All the Saints," which was actually written by an Anglican Bishop in the late 19^th century. (Listen HERE You can tell that they are probably Protestant as they are all singing with gusto!)

But although the saints are in heaven, for me as a Protestant youth they weren’t doing anything in particular. When I read the Book of Revelation, I would have read about saints. For example, Revelation 5:8 mentions certain figures in heaven: "Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

But Methodists don’t have saints! It was explained to me that the word "saint" was the translation of a Greek word meaning "holy one." Yet it is undeniable that in heaven the prayers of these "holy ones" are present. Are these the prayers only of Christians on earth or does it include the prayers of holy ones who had also died and are in heaven?

I’ve mentioned that when I was in College here at UF, I became interested in understanding why Catholics believe what they do. I met some very religious Catholic College students and others, some with whom I came to live with, who believed in Christ (surprise!) and read the Bible (another surprise) and seemed to differ from my faith only on certain (strange to me at the time) doctrines–like the Intercession of the Saints. Only later would I realize that there is a basic difference of approach to religious matters between Catholics and Protestant. (Episcopalians and Lutherans still had some of the Catholic view on certain things–a kind of Catholic-Protestant hybrid at times). That difference I’ve written about: the Sacramental Approach (Here and Here).

After thinking as thoroughly as I knew how in those College days about this matter of the Saints praying for us and asking for their prayers , I realized that if a Christian dies and goes to heaven, that Christian would be a better Christian than he or she was on earth, because there would be no more temptation to sin or the distractions of this earthly life. And what is it that a Christian is to do? Pray and worship and love God and one’s neighbor.

And it occurred to me that if on earth the Christian prays for others, why not in heaven as well? It would seem strange that a Christian would intercede on earth but not in heaven. And if we would ask a holy Christian on earth to pray for us, why not ask a holy Christian in heaven? And just as on earth we are attracted to certain personalities, why wouldn’t the same hold true about the saints in heaven? I believe that in heaven all love one another perfectly, but we on earth will be drawn more to some saints than to others; thus, our Patron saints or special saints of whom we ask for intercession.

St. Francis

It was in those days of investigation also that I read The Little Flowers of St. Francis. It’s a book of early stories about St. Francis and I was totally charmed by the personality of Francis and his early companions. As you may know, he’s very special to me.

Later I would also come to cherish St. Benedict (My first year at a seminary was St. Meinrad’s with Benedictine monks).

Even though my middle initial "M" stands for a family name, Morris, in the program at my ordination it had Michael as my middle name. I decided St. Michael was being given to me as a special Guardian angel.

St. John the Beloved

And of course, there is my name John. My first Patron Saint is St. John, the Beloved Disciple and Apostle of divine love.

I’ll share a personal detail about my morning prayers. Every morning I pray the Liturgy of the Hours required of priests and religious (recommended to the laity also). I also pray as I put on my medal of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and my Crucifix:

"Father, may I live this day

by the Cross and Resurrection of my Lord Jesus Christ,

and by his Ascension into Heaven,

your sending of the Holy Spirit

and Christ’s  return in Glory.

May I and the parish be consecrated this day

to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

May we have the Intercession of Mary,

the Most Holy Mother of God. (Then a "Hail Mary")

May we have the Intercession of St. Michael, Strong in battle.

May I have the Intercession of St. John, Beloved Disciple:

may I, too, become a beloved disciple of the Lord.

May we have the Intercession of St. Francis and St. Benedict.

O Holy Guardians, pray for us.

O holy men and women of God pray for us."

So you can see I've become quite a Catholic boy when it comes to the saints! I conclude this personal sharing with a quote from our Holy Father Pope Benedict about the saints which sums up some of what I’ve been sharing:

"There are very dear people in the life of each one of us to whom we feel particularly close, some of whom are already in God's embrace while others still share with us the journey through life: they are our parents, relatives and teachers; they are the people to whom we have done good or from whom we have received good; they are people on whom we know we can count.

"Yet it is important also to have "traveling companions" on the journey of our Christian life....I am also thinking of the Virgin Mary and the Saints. Everyone must have some Saint with whom he or she is on familiar terms, to feel close to with prayer and intercession but also to emulate.

"I would therefore like to ask you to become better acquainted with the Saints, starting with those you are called [named] after, by reading their life and their writings. You may rest assured that they will become good guides in order to love the Lord even more and will contribute effective help for your human and Christian development.@ (Pope Benedict, General Audience 8/25/10)

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The Saints: Our Traveling Companions

This upcoming Sunday’s Gospel is about the Kingdom of God (11^th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Mark 4:26-34). I have often said that the Kingdom of God is the Rule of God and "God is love." (1 John 4:8); thus, the Kingdom of God is about the rule of God’s love.

We also pray in the "Our Father": "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." If we were suddenly given a vision of heaven, we would see the Risen and Ascended Jesus, the Son Of God, with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, surrounded by the angels and saints, with Mary the Mother of Christ. As the Catechism teaches us:

"This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity - this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed - is called ‘heaven.’ Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness."  (Catechism#1024)

The saints in heaven enjoy the fullness of God’s love and each loves one another with the fullness of divine love. This is that love, that rule of God’s love, that we pray will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Growing up as a Protestant, the subject of the saints was almost entirely absent from my mind. Of course I was taught about the men and women of God in the Bible who are also saints, but that title of "Saint" was not used in my childhood religious education.

Perhaps the first Catholic saint that I came to know about was St. Francis of Assisi. I was a student at UF. Somehow I came across a small book called The Little Flowers of St. Francis, written in the late 14^th century.

I was totally charmed by these stories about St. Francis and his companions. Little would I know at the time that I would become a Catholic, be ordained a priest, and one day visit Assisi and many other haunts of St. Francis in Italy. I would also become the Pastor of a parish, our parish of Holy Faith, whose name comes from a Franciscan mission in Spanish Florida near present-day Gainesville. (See Parish History)

On my Catholic journey begun so many years ago, I took as my Patron Saint, St. John the Evangelist also associated with the Beloved Disciple in John’s Gospel (See John 13:23). Everyday I ask for St. John’s prayers and that I might become a beloved disciple of the Lord.

I, of course, came to also know and love Mary the Mother of God. At my ordination, whoever prepared the written program thought that my middle initial "M" stood for Michael. It actually stands for Morris, a family name of one of my great grandfathers. So I got named as John Michael Phillips and I decided I had been also given St. Michael the Archangel as an additional Guardian angel. I also came to love St. Benedict; I was taught in my first year of Seminary by the Benedictine monks of St. Meinrad, Indiana and did my further studies after ordination at St. John’s University and Benedictine Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.

I could mention other saints, as well, that I have read, come to admire, and think of with devotion. Pope Benedict XVI has instructed us about having the saints as intimate friends:

"There are very dear people in the life of each one of us to whom we feel particularly close, some of whom are already in God's embrace, while others still share with us the journey through life: they are our parents, relatives and teachers; they are the people to whom we have done good or from whom we have received good; they are people on whom we know we can count.

"Yet, it is important also to have ‘traveling companions’ on the journey of our Christian life....I am also thinking of the Virgin Mary and the Saints. Everyone must have some Saint with whom he or she is on familiar terms, to feel close to with prayer and intercession but also to emulate. I would therefore like to ask you to become better acquainted with the Saints, starting with those you are called [named] after, by reading their life and their writings. You may rest assured that they will become good guides in order to love the Lord even more and will contribute effective help for your human and Christian development." (Pope Benedict, General Audience 8/25/10)

[For more on "traveling companions" on the Catholic Spiritual Journey read my reflections here]

As Catholics, along with the Orthodox Church, we have a glorious gift and heritage in the many saints we honor. They will pray for us and guide us with safe passage into the Kingdom of God, into the experience of his love!

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For Mother's Day

I am thinking of my Mother as Mother's Day is this Sunday. I am thinking also of Mary, the Mother of the Church and our spiritual Mother. Fr James McTavish in an article titled “Mary, Mother of Mercy: Christ the Power of Merciful Love,” (Homeletic & pastoral Review. March 21, 2012) writes:

“Where does the title, 'Mary, Mother of Mercy,' come from? We have many popular prayers that speak of Mary as Mother of Mercy. For example, 'Hail holy Queen, Mother of mercy' … and, later: 'turn, then, your eyes of mercy towards us.'  In another prayer, the Memorare, we hear: 'To you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful, O Mother of the Word incarnate, despise not my petitions but in your mercy, hear and answer me.'  Moreover, in the lives of the saints, we hear Mary referred to as 'Mother of mercy.' Once, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska had a vision of the Blessed Mother. Mary said to Sr. Faustina: 'I am not only the Queen of Heaven, but also the Mother of Mercy, and your Mother' (Diary of St. Faustina,330). 

“Also, Pope John Paul II refers to Mary as Mother of Mercy in his 1980 encyclical, Dives in Misericordia: "Mary is also the one who obtained mercy in a particular and exceptional way … Mary, then, is the one who has the deepest knowledge of the mystery of God’s mercy. She knows its price, she knows how great it is. In this sense, we call her the 'Mother of mercy' (§9).

“Note that the Hebrew word for mercy, rahamim, comes from rehem, [meaning] 'a mother’s womb.' God’s mercy must have something of a maternal warmth about it—unconditional, intimate, and nurturing love, symbolized by a mother’s womb. God’s mercy is, therefore, tender and affectionate, life-giving and indispensable.  God chose Mary to reveal this merciful love to us. Therefore, we need Mary in our lives as Christians...

“God has given us [Jesus'] mother for a reason. At the foot of the cross, Jesus said to his beloved disciple, St. John: 'Here is your Mother,” and he said to Mary: 'Here is your son' (Jn 19:27). Mary was able to stand firm at the foot of the cross—a merciful love is a strong love! Merciful love is capable of withstanding the cross; capable of withstanding difficulties and challenges. How many times in our lives are we in need of that firm and strong love of Mother Mary?”