Although the indwelling
in the soul belongs to the three Persons of the Trinity - the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit - it is attributed in a singular way to the
Third Person, whom the liturgy invites us to deal with more intimately
at this time when we are moving towards the feast of Pentecost.
The Paraclete, the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything
and remind you of all that I have told you, says the Lord in today's
Gospel. It is a promise that the Lord made on various occasions, as if
to point out the enormous transcendence that it would have for the whole
Church, for the world, for each one of us who would follow him. It is
not a passing gift limited to the time when the sacraments are received
or to another specific moment, but a stable, permanent gift: "in the
hearts (of the faithful) the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple "
He is the sweet Guest of
the soul, and the more the Christian grows in good works, the more he
purifies himself, the more the Holy Spirit is pleased to dwell in him
and give him new graces for his sanctification and for the apostolate.
The Holy Spirit is in
the soul of the Christian in grace, to configure him with Christ, so
that he may be ever more like him, to move him to the fulfillment of
God's will and to help him in that task. The Holy Spirit comes as a
remedy for our weakness,17 and making our cause his own he pleads for us
with unspeakable moans18 before the Father. He now fulfills his office
of guiding, protecting and vivifying the Church, because," Paul VI said,
"there are two elements that Christ has promised and given, although in
different ways, to continue his work: 'the apostolate and the Spirit.
The apostolate acts externally and objectively; it forms the body, so to
speak, material of the Church, and gives it its visible and social
structures; while the Holy Spirit acts internally, within each person,
as well as on the entire community, animating, vivifying,
sanctifying".19
Let us ask Our Lady to
teach us how to understand this very happy reality, for our life would
then be very different. Why feel alone, if the Holy Spirit accompanies
us? Why live insecure or anguished, even for a single day of our
existence, if the Paraclete is attentive to us and to our things? Why go
madly after apparent happiness, if there is no greater joy than dealing
with this sweet Guest who dwells in us? How different would our
behavior be in some circumstances, the conversation, if we were aware
that we are temples of God, temples of the Holy Spirit!
At the end of our prayer, let us go to our Lady: "Hail Mary, temple and tabernacle of the Holy Trinity, help us.