January 23
The gift of the Holy Spirit
hen the Creator
of the universe conceived the magnificent plan of gathering up all things
in Christ and restoring human nature to its original condition, he promised
that along with all his other gifts he would once more give us the Holy
Spirit. This was the only way for us to regain secure possession of God's
blessings. By God's decree the time for this descent of the Spirit upon
us was to concur with the coming of Christ. God gave his word that in those
days—by which he meant the days of our Savior—he would pour out his Spirit
upon the whole human race.
So it was that when the time for this great act of generosity arrived
and brought God's only Son into our midst in human flesh, a man born of
a woman as holy scripture says, God the Father began at once again to give
the Spirit. The first to receive the Spirit was Christ, since he was the
firstfruits of our renewed nature. John bore witness to this when he said:
I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven, and it rested on him.
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from
Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
HTML text prepared by David P. Steelman
