{"id":13868,"date":"2021-05-20T19:03:19","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T00:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=13868"},"modified":"2021-05-20T21:14:49","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T02:14:49","slug":"oh-holy-spirit-who-are-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/oh-holy-spirit-who-are-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh Holy Spirit…Who Are You?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I find it easier to imagine God as Father and Son but the Holy Spirit leaves me struggling to form a mental concept which helps me to go to Him in prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about it. We understand the image of \u201cfather\u201d and His work of creating the heavens and earth. \u201cSon\u201d is also part of our human experience and the fact that he has taken human nature in Jesus helps me speak my human concerns to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Holy Spirit? How should I approach God in this form?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start from human our experience of \u201cspirit\u201d, small \u201cs\u201d. We speak of the \u201cspirit\u201d of many things. The spirit of springtime, friendship, loving, freedom, family reunion, etc. (We experience negative \u201cspirits\u201d as well: per- sonal loss, defeat, poverty, envy, jealousy, etc).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we might say on a human level, spirit is experienced as a \u201cfeeling\u201d. But is a feeling a real thing? Does it exist as an object in some way? What happens to that feeling when it goes away? Does it die?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not exactly. It exists in our memory. Think how you felt when you held your first born or your first love relationship. The feeling comes back, right?! Recall riding your bike with no help! Spirit exists; it\u2019s real but in a different way than rocks or trees or arms and legs. Are you sure your mother loves you? Off course you are! Why? I mean you can\u2019t see it like an object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know she loves you because over the years you\u2019ve experienced moments that have given you a sense of well being, happiness, and belonging. You can\u2019t see it with your eyes, or put it into a bag, but you know it\u2019s real. Let\u2019s call it the spirit of love. So spirit is something \u201cyou know\u201d. It may not have a feeling. It\u2019s really real in your mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s \u201cspirit\u201d on the human level. What about God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What follows here is what we know about God because of Jesus. Jesus knows his Father (in the same way described above, but even more so). \u201cNo one knows the Father except the Son and no one knows the Son except the Father\u201d Matthew. 11: 27<\/a>. \u201cWhen you see me you see the Father for the Father is in me and I am in the Father.\u201d John 14: 6-11<\/a> \u201cThe Father and I are one.\u201d John 10:30<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the union of Father and Son (both Divine), Jesus then says, \u201cWhoever loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and my Father and I will come to him and live with him.\u201d <\/a>John 14: 23<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s the Holy Spirit! The love of the Father for the Son (Jesus), and the Son for the Father IS A THIRD PERSON – – who is the love forever being shared between them. \u201cGod has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God\u2019s gift to us.\u201d Romans 5:5<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Back on earth now . . . Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to remind us of all he had taught us…and…to empower us (the Church) to act in the person of Christ in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do I think about the Holy Spirit? Is He different than the others? Do I pray to Him and not to the Father or Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s where the doctrine of the Trinity comes in. There is ONE God. Within the one God there is a communion of Divine Persons. (There has to be, for God is love. How can God be love without \u201crelationship\u201d?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when we pray you don\u2019t have to have a particular person of God in mind – – praying to one is praying to all. There is ONE God. (I think most people think first of Jesus when they pray – – that\u2019s just fine. In the end there are moments when we turn to each of them for special need.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Holy Spirit is the person of God\u2019s love. \u201cCome Holy Spirit, be with me, let me know your love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Tim<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I find it easier to imagine God as Father and Son but the Holy Spirit leaves me struggling to form a mental concept which helps me to go to Him in prayer. Think about it. We understand the image of \u201cfather\u201d and His work of creating the heavens and earth. \u201cSon\u201d is also part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13868"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13883,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13868\/revisions\/13883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}