Holy Spirit's precious gifts:
Knowing Jesus is Lord

		Living the Scriptures  with St. Paul University  Catholic Center  Tim Kruse

In today's second reading, St. Paul reminds us:

Brothers and sisters:
No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.

On this feast of Pentecost the readings awaken within all believers a great desire for these mysterious, yet wonderful gifts of the Holy Spirit. To speak with tongues, to prophecy, to have a word of wisdom, to proclaim the Gospel under the Spirit's power, these and many more gifts are the wonderful works of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost Sunday (May 15, 2005) Acts 2:1-11 Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 Jn 20:19-23

When reading about the gifts of Holy Spirit, either in the New Testament or in the lives of the saints, I often feel like I am being transported to a strange, almost unreal world. The feelings are quite similar to those I have when reading to my children from C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. Mr. Lewis' allegories have a wonderful way of transporting the reader (parent and child) into the magical world of Narnia.

The difference, of course, is that St. Paul and the saints of Christian history speak of a real world, of real gifts given to specific individuals to make present among men, the kingdom of God.

In reading St. Paul and the Acts of the Apostles, I certainly experience a personal hunger to be closer to this person, the Holy Spirit. I want to experience the Holy Spirit's personal friendship and very real fellowship, and to have my natural human gifts imbued and transcended by the Holy Spirit's supernatural graces.

Yes and Amen. Yet before and in the end, none of these gifts mean anything relative to the first and greatest work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer: to say, that is to really know in your heart that, Jesus is Lord.

The famous Protestant preacher, Charles Spurgeon, once testified that it wasn't the clever apologetical arguments of great Christian philosophers that set his heart free to believe in Jesus. Rather it was the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit set him free, to truly and deeply believe in Jesus Christ. To say, not just by repeating the creed with words alone, but to have a deep interior witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ - this is first, and in the end, the only really important gift of the Holy Spirit.

	Reflection questions • Do I regularly talk to the Holy Spirit as a person, as a friend? • Who needs my prayers that they might have the gift of faith?

Prayer for today:

Holy Spirit of God move in my heart, in the hearts of all those I love and give the whole human family, the great gift of saying, of really knowing, Jesus is Lord! Amen.

Tim Kruse is director of development at St. Paul University Catholic Center and a community member of the parish. He and his wife Sandy, both alumni of the UW, have nine children and live in the countryside a few miles south of Madison.

St. Paul's Web site is www.stpaulscc.org

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