With the Spirit in Mission

Having been made children in the Son, we have the same vocation as Jesus. We have come from the Father, and will return to him. We are called to repeat his actions and words in the world and are accompanied by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21-22)

On Easter day, the Risen Lord appeared first to Mary Magdalen in the morning and then to his disciples that same evening. When they saw him, they reacted with great joy and were enriched by the true peace that only the Lord could give.[1] “Peace be with you” (v. 21). Joy and peace are fruits of the Spirit.[2] In fact, Jesus immediately said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22).

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit not only enabled the disciples to carry out the same mission given to Jesus by the Father but also “re-created” them and renewed their humanity. The Risen Lord breathed on them and this gesture is the same as the action of the Creator who breathed into the nostrils of the man formed from the dust of the ground.[3] Just as creation is the continuous work of the Father’s love that sustains the entire universe, so the new creation wrought by the Risen One through the Holy Spirit continually sustains humanity on its journey toward the Kingdom.

This month’s Word of Life reminds us that we have the opportunity to become like Jesus. This is true for each of us individually, but even more so as a community. Jesus spoke to his disciples in the plural. In fact, it’s only together that all the different members form the mystical body of Jesus.

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Having been made children in the Son, we have the same vocation as Jesus. We have come from the Father, and will return to him. We are called to repeat his actions and words in the world and are accompanied by the grace of the Holy Spirit. If we open ourselves to this gift, we too can affirm with Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” [4]

This Word, therefore, invites us to deepen our relationship with the Holy Spirit, both in prayer and in everyday life, “listening to that voice” and remembering that, “Without the Holy Spirit, God is far away, Christ stays in the past, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is a mere organization and its mission is propaganda. But with the Holy Spirit, the cosmos is lifted up and groans in the gestation of the Kingdom, the risen Christ is present, the Gospel is the power of life, the Church is a communion in the life of the Trinity and Pentecost is its mission.” [5]

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Andrew is a teenager in the midst of an existential crisis: doubts about the meaning of life, fear of the future, and the fragility he experiences seem like insurmountable mountains to him, and he often finds himself discouraged and unhappy. Someone suggests that he talk to Chiara Lubich. Shortly before meeting her, Andrew hears Chiara whisper the words “Holy Spirit” and realizes that she is praying.

During their conversation, he feels deeply understood, listened to, and accepted just as he is. He finds peace again, not because his problems have suddenly disappeared, but because now he has someone with whom to share them.

“From Chiara, I not only received practical help,” he confided years later, “but I also learned a way of being: to be close to those who suffer, with sensitivity and understanding, without judging, just as Jesus would do.”

Only the Holy Spirit can make this happen, if we welcome him and allow him to work in us.

Claudio Cianfaglioni and the Word of Life team

[1] Cf. John 14:27.

[2] “In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…” (Galatians 5:22)

[3] Cf. Genesis 2:7.

[4] Galatians 2:20.

[5] Ignatius, Orthodox metropolitan of Laodicea, Third Assembly of the World Council of Churches, 5 July 1968, quoted by Pope Francis in his homily on the Solemnity of Pentecost, 31 May 2020.