This is All I Know

All I know is that I entered the hospital for surgery full of fears, anxieties about the future, and worries about what would happen next -- and I left full of rejoicing, hope, and thanksgiving that has not subsided for 34 years.  How can anyone explain the change in me from one moment of prayer by a 22 -year-old girl?  If that does not describe the "new birth" Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about, what does:  unless a man is born again, (or born from above), he cannot see the kingdom of God.

During our weekly Bible study, someone will occasionally wonder at the amazing spread of the early church from the Day of Pentecost.  The numbers of converts grew amazingly -- from 3000 on the Day of Pentecost, to a "daily" increase: And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

And all of the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade.  No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.  Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.  When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.  Then Peter and John placed their hands of them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 

Then the church through Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace.  It was strengthened; and [in the comfort of] the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord (Acts 9:31).

The word I have translated "in the comfort of" above is paraklesis in the Greek.  It comes from the Greek parakleo, a verb that means "to call near/ to call alongside of, to invite, to invoke, to pray."  When Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, one translation of his description is The Paraclete: One Who Called Alongside of.  We know from our English "para-professional" and "para-medic" that "para" is one who is called to stand beside, to assist, to support.  Some translations of Acts 9:31 say, "with the consolation of the Holy Spirit, the church grew in numbers...." but our English "consolation" is so weak that it can hardly communicate what is really going on here. 

The early church grew in leaps and bounds by the action of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of those who heard and saw the words and actions of the apostles.  I love that Peter and John prayed for those who had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus, and they received the Holy Spirit. 

Yes, I (and all other Catholics and those baptized in other churches) did receive the Holy Spirit at the laying on of hands and the sacramental washing of water.  But what we did not know was that there is another "baptism," which is the infilling with the Holy Spirit for the power of ministry. In the Old Testament, priests, kings, and prophets were annointed for their role as ministers to the people, but the promise in Joel was that even "young men and handmaidens" would also be annointed with the Spirit (Joel 2:28-32).

Jesus told the apostles:  John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5).   The apostles were presumably baptized by either John or Jesus, yet they were told not to leave Jerusalem after Jesus' Ascension into heaven, but to wait for "the Gift of the Father."  Without that Gift of the Holy Spirit, which arrived on the day of Pentecost, the Jewish Harvest Feast of the Ingathering, they had no "power:"  You will receive power (dunomis/ dynamite, in English) when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1: 8).

I know the Holy Spirit was with me from birth; I know the Holy Spirit drew me to church sometimes during recess and that He ministered to my spirit at those times; I know the Holy Spirit drew me to weekday Mass during the summer months, and that He taught me through dreams and desires.  He led me to read the lives of the Saints and to want to love God the way they did.  I know the Holy Spirit manifested His action to me when I was confirmed --- but I had no knowledge or community that knew how to teach and support a fledgling spirit. 

How gracious of God to lead me to someone not afraid to witness or to pray for me!  How great of God to lead me straight into the arms of a more knowledgeble woman and to a just-being birthed prayer group in my parish after my "born-again baptism of the Holy Spirit," to lead, guide, and teach me in the ways of the Spirit!  And immediately, while I was still in the hospital, the Word of God came alive to me; I could not stop reading it.  Like Paul, no one "taught it to me," but I received revelation directly from the Holy Spirit.

This was the experience of the early church -- they received the Holy Spirit, and He taught, directed, acted, led, annointed, and grew the church.  When the newly-formed prayer group began at St. Lawrence Church in Kenner, none of us knew "how" to lead a prayer group; we found that we were just holding onto the Holy Spirit's coattails as He acted each week, to our amazement. 

When Pope John Paul opened the Second Vatican Council in 1960, he prayed for a Second Pentecost in the church, that the wind and fire of the Holy Spirit would blow open the windows of a church grown stale.  I thank God that his prayer was answered, and that I was so privileged to be a part of that movement!  I, too, now pray that a New Pentecost would set aflame the whole world, and that all men and women would know the power and the "consolation" / comfort, power, dynamite of the Holy Spirit of God.