3rd Glorious Mystery: The Coming of the Holy Spirit

By Ivonne Hernandez

​St Peter Julian Eymard's Words:


"...God is all love. This gentle Savior pleads with us from the Host: "Love Me as I have loved you; abide in My love! I came to cast the fire of love on the earth, and My most ardent desire is that it should set your hearts on fire." Oh! What shall we think of the Eucharist at the moment of death or after death, when we shall see and know all the goodness and love and riches of it! " [1]


MEDITATION:

The mystery of the coming of the Holy Spirit speaks to us of the love of God. The Holy Spirit, loud as a mighty wind, descended upon the Apostles and upon Our Lady in the form of tongues of fire. He doesn’t always make so much noise when He comes. This is the same Holy Spirit who during Mass quietly transforms the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Our Lord, and comes gently into our hearts to set them on fire with the love of God.

The action of the Holy Spirit during Mass is quiet and gentle, like the dewfall. That moment when, through the ministry of the priest, the Holy Spirit changes the gifts human hands have made into the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, is almost too elusive for our senses. Just like the precise moment the sun rises gives way to the fullness of light, the coming of the Holy Spirit gives way to His full power and action. This quiet and gentle Presence brings the fire of God’s love with Him, because He IS God’s love Himself.

In one of the Eucharistic Prayers we hear the priest say the words, “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall…” Once Jesus is present on the altar we can almost hear Him speaking to our hearts: “Open to me, my sister, my friend, my dove, my perfect one! For my head is wet with dew.” (Song 5:2) He brings the dew of the Holy Spirit with Him in the Eucharist and knocks at the door of our hearts. He wants to fill us with His love.

How can we welcome such a guest? We can unite our prayers to the priest’s and ask the Father to send His Holy Spirit upon us to transform us and make us holy; to make us a fitting dwelling for His Son. Thus when we receive Jesus in the Eucharist we can let His Love fulfill his most ardent desire, to penetrate deeply into every recess of our beings and set our hearts on fire.


SEND:

When you meditate on the Coming of the Holy Spirit think of Him acting gently and quietly in your heart. Let go and trust in Him.


[1] Eymard, The Real Presence, p.167