A Greater Love and Zeal for God

Do you burn to evangelize? 

Before returning to the Father, Jesus instructed the apostles “to wait for the promise of the Father” – the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4).  He told them, “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). 

On the morning of Pentecost, the promise of the Holy Spirit is fulfilled.  The presence of the Holy Spirit is manifested as tongues of fire, which alight upon each of the apostles.  Their hearts begin to burn with zeal for the kingdom, which they proclaim in holy boldness.  No more are they bridled by human respect.  No more can the threat of death hinder them.  No longer prisoners of sin, the flesh, and even natural fear, the apostles go forth as free men – men ablaze with the fire of divine love, which sustains them even to the point of martyrdom.  They were commissioned from above to announce the Gospel, and from above comes the power to accomplish their heavenly mission.  The Saviour had said, “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49).  At last that fire has been kindled, and the flames leap up as the apostles fearlessly preach the Good News.   

After Pentecost, the Gospel spreads rapidly through the blood of the martyrs and the missionary witness of the first Christians, eventually forming a Christian civilization.  Tragically, the contemporary West has rejected the Church that built her; we belong to a post-Christian society.  In response to this crisis of secularism and unbelief, Pope St. John Paul II launched the “New Evangelization” – a call to re-propose the Faith in lands where it is nearly lost.  A New Evangelization demands a new Pentecost and new apostles: you and me.  We need the Holy Spirit to alight upon us and ignite in us the fire of His love, so we can go forth, like the first apostles, and announce the Gospel with conviction and courage.  We have received the same commission to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19), and the Holy Spirit that fell upon the apostles is the same Spirit we receive in baptism and confirmation.  He is the same Spirit that absolves our sins in the sacrament of penance, the same Spirit that is unleashed in the Holy Eucharist, the same Spirit that breathes in our personal prayer.  God desires to equip us with the Holy Spirit for ministry by activating the gifts we received in confirmation.   The question is, do we allow ourselves to be consumed by the fire of His love?

What it is that consumes you?  What is your passion?  What energizes and moves you to action?  What absorbs your time?  Commands your thoughts?  Inspires your words?  Expends your efforts?  

The fruit of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is a greater love and zeal for God – the God for Whom we were made.  If we examine ourselves truly, so often we discover that we are being consumed by the things of this world instead.  My dear brothers and sisters, we have only one heart with which to love, and we will be consumed according to our loves.  When Jesus promises the apostles the Holy Spirit, He says to them, “And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him” (Jn 14:16-17).  The Spirit of truth is directly opposed to the spirit of this world.  Love for this world and the fire of the Holy Spirit cannot coexist.  If we want to be consumed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, we need to seek first the kingdom and its righteousness (Matt 6:33).  Only then are our hearts prepared to be enkindled. 

While a “consuming fire” (Heb 12:29) is an apt image for the Holy Spirit, His fire is unlike any natural fire: The Holy Spirit consumes our hearts without destroying them.  Yes, He destroys the old man – the sinful tendencies, the idols that once consumed our lives.  However, the new man is consumed supernaturally, by a flame that energizes and vivifies us, expanding our hearts and making us more truly alive. 

The human heart finds its fulfillment only when it is being consumed by the Holy Spirit, when the Love that burns within the Blessed Trinity is burning within us.  Those who have tasted God know that He is all there is, and long for every one else to burn with the same fire.  As the Holy Spirit sets us ablaze, we will burn for the name of Jesus, burn for the salvation of our brothers and sisters, and therefore burn to evangelize. 

In the confidence that God wants us to burn, let us pray anew this Pentecost: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love!”