Daily reflection from the CPLO and the Jesuit Institute for 2 June 2022
Published: Thu, 06/02/22
Daily Reflection
Thursday, 2 June 2022
“The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes, so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:
8)
When we think of an image of the Holy Spirit our minds tend to go to the image of the dove that hovered over the waters of creation or that descended on Jesus at his Baptism. An image of peace and comfort. And it is true that at times the Holy Spirit comes with great gentleness.
Another, less well-known image of the Holy Spirit comes from the Celtic Christians of Scotland and Ireland and is the Wild Goose. They believed that the untamed, uncontrollable nature of the wild goose was more like the movement of the Holy Spirit.
The action of the Holy Spirit is often surprising, initially bewildering and unexpected. God’s spirit which cannot be contained or domesticated. It often disrupts and moves us into new spaces. It challenges our certainties and opens our horizons. It stretches us, helping us to move and grow.
Pope Francis has said of the Holy Spirit that “we want to tame the Holy Spirit and that is wrong…. the Holy Spirit upsets us because the Spirit moves us, makes us walk, pushes us forward." Pope John XX111 said at the start of the Second Vatican Council: “Throw open the windows of the church and let the fresh air of the spirit blow through.”
Can we allow the Holy Spirit to call us as individuals and as a church to what is new and different, even to places which may feel risky or challenging? To shake us out of our apathy; to awaken us to new possibilities and to disturb us enough to cause us to embrace changes we might otherwise resist?
Photo credit: Sr Elisabeth Marie Ansart,OSU at St Lucia Retreat Centre
“Great Spirit,
Wild Goose of the Almighty.
Be my eye in dark places;
Be my flight in trapped places;
Be my host in wild places;
Be my brood in barren places;
Be my formation in the lost places.”
