(Stock Photo – Canva)
By Marrick Kowalski
Pentecost is soon approaching, where we will celebrate and remember the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. In both the first reading (Acts 2.1-11) and the Gospel (John 20.19-23) for Pentecost Sunday this year, the disciples were gathered together in one place, received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and were then sent out. This is not a coincidence! As Christians, we are called to do the work that Jesus did. We are filled when we gather, and then we are sent out. At the end of each Mass, we are commissioned to go and proclaim the Gospel with our lives, but how does the Holy Spirit play into how we accomplish such a mission?
Through our Baptism and Confirmation in the one Spirit, “each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12.7). We have received the gifts He offers to build the Kingdom of Heaven. They are not gifts we are to use for only ourselves or to put up on a high shelf as a decorative medal of accomplishment. They are not like our grandmother’s fine dinnerware that is used only at Christmas dinner and then stored until the next year. Rather, they should be like your favourite mug; the one that is reached for first with joy and excitement when the cupboard is opened, and it is waiting to be filled with your favourite beverage. Unwrapping such a large gift can seem like a daunting task, but these are a few things that I have learned along the way while cultivating my relationship with the third person of the Trinity.
If the gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, fortitude, knowledge, counsel, piety, and wonder and awe) are to be used to help others (for the common good) and to build the Kingdom of God, a good place to start would be making yourself available to help others! Ask the Holy Spirit to send you someone in need and help them the best that you can without judgment. This can be big tasks or little tasks (allowing someone to use your phone because theirs died, giving a few dollars to the person on the corner, helping someone change a tire, etc.).
The Holy Spirit will work when He is given permission. Take a few seconds to intentionally invite the Holy Spirit to work in your life and to use you as His vessel. Ask Him to speak clearly in your life. Invite Him into difficult situations and conversations with a simple “Come, Holy Spirit.”
While attending a youth conference, I prayed a prayer of trust and surrender to the Holy Spirit and to the will of the Father. Eight months and a lot of trust later, I found myself on a plane, flying to Haiti to meet a group of people I had never met before. I promise that that is not God’s plan for everyone! But, if you ask and invite Him in, He will move, and change, and keep His promises.
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes[q] with sighs too deep for words” (Romans 8.26). Invite the Holy Spirit into your prayer time. “Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray.” Anyone who has learned a new language knows that there’s only so much one can learn through reading. If one wants to learn to speak a language, he or she has to practice speaking and listening to that language. The same goes for the Holy Spirit! If you want to be in tune with His promptings, you have to speak the same language and intentionally listen to what He has to say.
Sometimes the promptings of the Holy Spirit are thoughts in our heads that we know are not our own. Sometimes His promptings come from another person’s words that touch our hearts in an unexpected way. Sometimes the promptings of the Holy Spirit are a strong desire to fill a need, and sometimes the promptings of the Holy Spirit are peace and joy after making a big and/or difficult decision.
The Holy Spirit desires to work in and through each and every one of us! As we celebrate this Pentecost, I invite you to let this be a reminder to leave room for God the Holy Spirit to move and work in your life and to watch all the ways it can transform for your good and the good of the Holy Kingdom. My relationship with the Holy Spirit has changed my life. Will you let Him change yours?
Marrick currently works as the Youth Ministry Coordinator at Christ the King Parish in Regina. She spent two years serving with NET Ministries (one year in PEI, Canada and one year in Cork, Ireland), and misses being close to the ocean. When she’s not planning youth group, in the schools doing classroom visits, or running retreats, you can probably find her at a local coffee shop or at home working on her calligraphy technique.
