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Cantalamessa on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
(photo: that's FARMStrong and friends-- brothers from the Holy Mother-- Father Raniero Cantalamessa and Matt Maher. Here's an inspiring comment from Fr. Cantalamessa on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit-- an oft misunderstood and misappropriated notion concerning the Holy Spirit. In my estimation, nothing is more needful of being normed in the life of a Christian than this reality. I will be interested in your thoughts out there, farmers.
Through what aptly has come to be called the baptism in the Spirit, we experience the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit's anointing in our prayer,
power in our apostolic service,
consolation in our trials,
light upon the choices we make.
More basic than any manifestation of the Spirit in the charisms, this is the first way we perceive the Holy spirit,
as transforming us from within,
giving us a desire to praise God
and a taste for praise,
leading us to discover a new joy in life,
opening our mind to understand the Scripture,
and above all teaching us to proclaim Jesus our "Lord."
Or perhaps giving us courage to take on new and difficult tasks in the service of God and neighbor.
What do we individually need to make it possible for each one of us to experience Pentecost in this way? First we need to ask the Father, consistently and persistently, to send us the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus, and actually expect the Father to answer! We need expectant faith, a faith full of expectancy! Saint Bonaventure asks, to whom does the Holy Spirit come? And he answers, with his usual preciseness, "He comes to the ones who love him, who invite him, who eagerly await him."
COME HOLY SPIRIT. still praying it????
Labels: Come Holy Spirit
posted by John David Walt | at 6/21/2007 07:50:00 AM
Today...
5 Comments:
jd, this is so huge. it is the missing (i was going to say element, but in reality it is...) person in evangelical christianity today. we have bought whole-heartedly into the idea that God's plan for humanity is avoidance of hell (ticket to heaven at death) rather than intimate relationship with the triune God. a relationship that results in radical power to worship/serve him in this world and beyond it. i'm forwarding these words to several people.
much love to you, fr. raneiro, and matt. :) Fr. does have a way of putting things that just resonate with my heart and click in my brain. I love what he says about the ways the Holy Spirit baptizes us: in reading scripture, in prayer, in proclaiming Jesus as Lord, that's beautiful.
Also, your kids get cuter every time you post pictures!
Since Joel Green's class on Acts and since I read the little book, "Missiological emphasis in Lucan Pneumatology" (or something like that) by John Michael Penney, I saw that throughout Acts, the primary way that the Spirit was evidenced was mission. Over and over, the disciples went out and proclaimed the word and served the world immediately after being filled with the Spirit.
I also love the poetic way HS baptism was described here. The emphasis on the personal transformation, desiring to praise and being filled with joy is true! And of course that must lead to mission or we ignore the calling that comes with the blessing. I love it and have a renewed vision. Come Holy Spirit!
I just preached on this last Sunday, speaking to the need for people to "receive" the Spirit, not just leave Him at the entry hallway of their life, like the pizza delivery guy. This is great stuff. Given Fr. Raneiro's description of what the Holy Spirit does, how does that stand in relation to what Eugene Peterson calls "the consuming of packaged spiritualities"?
I reference this in my recent post at www.godthoughts.net. Sorry for pimping my site on yours, but it seemed to coincide with your post.
amen amen
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