“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your mind whatever I have said to you.”
Today, Pentecost Sunday, the Church commemorates the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Christian Church.  Five thousand one hundred and ninety-nine years after the creation of the world (Roman Martyrology on Christmas Day), 2000 years after Abraham is chosen to be the father of many nations, 1000 years after King builds a temple at Jerusalem, 33 years after the birth of the Savior, 50 days after His resurrection from the dead, and 10 days after His ascension into heaven, the Holy Ghost descends upon the twelve apostles gathered together in the Upper Room of the Last Supper.  The Holy Spirit so inflames the hearts of these men that tongues of fire appear above their heads while they are heard to speak diverse languages.  The sight draws the attention of many devout Jews from every nation who have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast of Pentecost (a feast to thank God for the wheat harvest and to commemorate the giving of the 10 Commandments.)  Some onlookers are amazed and receive the gift of faith;  others remain unmoved and mock these first Christians as drunkards.

Such is the beginning of the Church and of the public ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Today we will speak on the presence of the Holy Spirit in the history of man’s salvation.

Although the third Person of the blessed Trinity did not publicly manifest Himself until the day of Pentecost, His presence (if only in retrospect) is evident among mankind from the dawn of time.     

The creation account of Genesis records “the Spirit of God moving over the waters” (Gn 1:2); and, before fashioning Adam from the slime of the earth, Yahweh lets it be known that the work is communal, “let Us make man into our Own image and likeness.” (Gn 1:26) “Us” being some hidden allusion to the work of the Trinity.

In another place, after God calls Abraham to be the father of many nations, three mysterious individuals meet him at Mambre whom Abraham, as the scripture reads, “adored, bowing to the ground.” (Gn 1:18)  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#697) recounts the Holy Spirit’s presence among the tribes of Israel while they were in the desert, i.e. in the cloud which surrounded Moses on Mount Sinai when he received the 10 Commandments, and in the cloud, which led the Hebrews by day and in the pillar of fire, which led them by night, during their sojourn to the Promised Land.  Also, in his Psalms, King David refers often to ‘the Spirit of God’ (50:13;103:30;138:7); and in prophet Isaiah’s vision wherein angels constantly praise God, “Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus” (Is 6:3) do many Fathers see outlines of the Trinity.

From these and other Old Testament references, St. Augustine says that although the existence of the Holy Spirit was not generally known before the coming of Christ, God did reveal His Trinitarian nature to select men, especially to the patriarch Abraham.

At the time of Christ, however, the existence of the Holy Spirit becomes clearer, especially in the figures of the dove at our Lord’s baptism in the Jordan and in the cloud which overshadows Jesus, Moses, Elijah, and Peter, James, and John during His Transfiguration on Mount Tabor.
 More explicitly, our Lord Himself reveals the existence of the Holy Spirit when He commissions His apostles to go out into all the world to teach and baptize in the Name of... (Mt 28:19); and when He mentions the Holy Spirit as the Advocate, “I will ask the Father and He will send you another Advocate and He will abide with you for ever.”  (Jn 14:16) An ‘advocate’ is a helper, someone who, to put it literally, ‘speaks for another.’  Like Christ, this advocate will speak for us but in a manner different from our Lord.  Christ speaks abiding with His disciples; the Holy Spirit speaks abiding within His disciples.  As the apostle John states, “He will abide with you, and shall be in you.” (Jn 14:17)     

Finally, the day comes when the Holy Spirit Himself descends upon mankind.  He manifests His invisible entry into man by visible signs of fire and diverse languages.

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, He will teach you all things... whatever I have said to you.”

The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, but a real Person.  He is no less a Person than God the Father or God the Son.  He shares equally in their divinity, equally in their majesty, equally in their love for fallen mankind.  He is Someone who will speak for us and to us; Someone we can talk to.

Indeed, we should speak to Him often, for His special mission is the sanctification of mankind.  From the dawn of time, the Holy Spirit has been preparing the world for the Church and for His entry into souls.  Since the day of Pentecost, and now at every baptism, His very Person takes up residence in the soul of man - without being a part of man - to stir him to think and act rightly, i.e. to hate sin, to love virtue, to pray daily, to frequent the Sacraments, to recite the Rosary.  From within our soul, the Holy Spirit enlightens our intellect and strengthens our will in order that we may save our souls and give good example to others for their salvation.

Francis of Borgia, while duke assigned to the court of Emperor Charles V, wished to obtain the favor of the fair and talented Empress Isabella.  All his endeavors had this end.  One day the young queen fell dead.  Francis was charged to accompany the funeral procession.  At one point along the way examiners, needing to verify the death, opened the coffin.  The queen, however,  was unrecognizable so quickly had decay set in.  More, the attendants were driven off by a large plume of putrid stench.  The event disturbed Francis. Seizing the moment, the Holy Spirit enlightened the duke as to the vanity of this passing world so that Francis thought within himself, “Oh, how quickly does fairness of skin, stature of frame, wealth and worldly happiness, vanish as a wind!  What have I now, who lived to serve my sovereign?  Never again will I serve a creature whom death takes from me. Henceforth, I will devote myself to the service of God alone.”  And from thence onwards the Holy Spirit strengthened Francis to devote himself to God.  He entered the Society of Jesus, became a priest, was elected to General on the order, and entered eternal life in 1572; now he is known as St. Francis Borgia.

Like Francis of Borgia, the Holy Spirit wants us to be holy too.  If we are holy already, He wants us to be more holy.  If we are sensitive to His movements in our soul we will become saints; if we are not, we will be nothing.

Finally, recall this fact frequently: The Holy Spirit has been striving to save man since the beginning of time.  Now He wants to save me.  Will I, like another St Francis, help Him save me?