Living in the Season of the Holy Spirit #4: Intimacy

By Fr. Ron Will CPPS

Welcome back to Precious Blood Renewal Center for the fourth in our series “Living in the Season of the Holy Spirit. We’ve been reflecting on the idea that the Feast of Pentecost propels us into the season of the Holy Spirit. When we live under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the fourth key word that we experience is intimacy.

When I was pastor of St Francis Xavier Parish in St. Joseph, Missouri, I fell in love with one of the designs in the stained-glass windows of the church. It spoke very powerfully to me and I want to share it with you today.

The symbolism of that window is that God is waiting with open arms to embrace you. Are you allowing yourself to be embraced? God wants to embrace you. Don’t hold back.

The relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Holy Trinity is more than a theology or a doctrine in the church. It is an experience, a relationship into which you and I are invited.

When Mother Teresa was asked “What is prayer?”, she responded, “Prayer is Oneness with God.”

I believe that the symbolism of the stained-glass window captures that Oneness with God.

During the Last Supper, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit after he left the Disciples. He said, “I will not leave you orphans ….  on that day you will know that you are in me and I am in you.”  (John 14:20)

Again, I think, this is the symbolism that captures the idea, meaning of “Oneness.”

We tend to limit God. But God is waiting to fill us and expand our hearts. God does not ration his Spirit. He’s not saving his Holy Spirit for someone else.

Jesus said, “I have much to tell you.” The Holy Spirit will tell us what that is — if we listen.

And when we receive it, he does not want us to ration it. We’re not supposed to keep it to ourselves. We’re meant to share our intimacy with God.

Please join me here again next Tuesday, as we reflect on another keyword of what it means to live in the season of the Holy Spirit

But before we leave today, pray with me:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful,
Enkindle in us the to fire of your love.
Send forth your spirit, and we should be re-created.
And you shall renew the face of the Earth.

This article is being republished. It first appeared on July 14, 2020.