The Quiet, Tender Spirit

Happy Pentecost! This is the day on which we celebrate the life-changing power of God. The apostles preach to the ends of the earth through the strength of the Spirit and the church is born. Big, powerful, great stuff!

As I reflect on the grand event of Pentecost, I am holding my four-day-old granddaughter in the rocking chair. Her soft hair brushes my cheek. Her breath is irregular and a little squeaky. Her tiny body sinks onto my chest, asleep. Softness toward this new life swells into my throat. That tenderness brings to mind who the Holy Spirit is in my life.

I have had a few grand sweeping moments when the Spirit has filled me with fire to go out and change the world. But more often, the Comforter has come in the quiet of the night, bringing peace in a moment of grief, courage in a time of desolation, strength when I felt that I had no strength left. Like the touch of baby hair on my cheek, I have felt nudges so gentle. Like her soft breathing, I have felt a breath so tender. Like her body nestled into my chest, I have felt a Presence so warm. So . . . what? So held. As I am holding this tiny child.

I could be mistaken. I could be the most deluded of women. This might be all in my mind. I only tell you what I have seen and heard. My life has been touched by the Spirit, the Holy One who is with us. Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel that he must go. But we are never left alone. We are not abandoned; we are held. The most powerful of Advocates enfolds us as the most tender, the gentlest, and the warmest of Comforters. This Pentecost day. And all ordinary and everyday days.

Consider/Discuss

• Describe a tender moment in your life. How has that experience of tenderness led you to God and love?
• At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit spoke through the apostles in many tongues and in many different ways. The Holy Spirit continues to speak through us: many spiritual gifts but the same Spirit, many forms of service but the same Lord. You may not be rocking a newborn baby at the moment. But what unique experiences do you have through which the Spirit would like to speak to this world?

Living and Praying with the Word

Holy Spirit, we offer you this Pentecost day. Help us not to be too proud to surrender to you. You want to be at work through us. But we are as powerless as a newborn child. We cannot hold our heads up by ourselves. We struggle to breathe the air of this world. We get cold. We get startled. We need you. Divine Comforter, surround us and enfold us this day. Be our warmth. Be our breath. Be our strength. In this surrender, you are our happiness. Come, Holy Spirit, and renew the face of the earth!