Bishop Eugene continues to describe the awe-filled experience of the power of God at work to convert people at the conclusion of the parish mission.
Yes, a thousand men made the vaults of this church resound with hymns most touching and most appropriate to the happy location in which the overabundant grace of the Lord had placed them all. Not being able to address this immense assembly, I requested Fr. Loewenbruck to make up for the incapacity to which I was reduced by the loss of voice that was the result of my illness. Father said what was necessary, then the Veni Creatorwas sung, and more than two hundred men and one hundred women broke away in order to come to receive the sacrament of Confirmation. It was necessary to see the contemplation of all these Confirmands, all adults, of every age and of every condition. Young men shining with youth, from twenty to thirty years; men of an age mature in years, and old men in great number also presenting themselves in the most respectful attitude, majesty on their brows and fervor depicted on their faces.
What need is there for tongues of fire to see, in some way, the presence of the Holy Spirit? On these occasions, his presence is perceptible to me and I am penetrated with it to the point of not being able to contain my emotion. I need to force myself to not cry with joy, and, in spite of my efforts, very often involuntary tears betray the feeling with which I am animated and which is overabundant in every depth of the term!
I then offered the Holy Sacrifice and secluded myself after my thanksgiving, leaving to the parish priest the sweet consolation of distributing Holy Communion to this fervent assembly of Christians, my sickly condition not permitting me to obtain for myself this happiness which I appreciate so much!
Eugene de Mazenod’s Diary, 21 January 1844, EO XXI
What does the Holy Spirit look like? How do we see and recognise the presence of the Holy Spirit? I am not sure that I can respond to my own questions without saying that “the Holy Spirit is like…” I remind myself that so very often Jesus himself would speak in parables to describe the love of God, the goodness of a person, the poverty of one and the richness of another; to describe how we live out our ways of being.
Eugene’s words seem to come from his own fervor, passion, and sentiments. He was ill, and I do not want to say that he was ‘imagining’ what he saw, but with his heightened senses he was trying to describe his experience of that evening closing of a successful mission.
I recognize the Holy Spirit in a person’s actions, or their way of being, in their goodness, love and care of others. And sitting here this morning I find myself starting my thoughts with the phrase “the Holy Spirit is like…” So strong is my belief and way of being connected with the Holy Spirit that my actions, thoughts, and ways of being are an expression of God, of the Holy Spirit being within me, and me within God.
How will I recognize the Spirit of God within those that I meet today? I know only that I must meet and be with them without measures, comparisons or judgements. If I meet them with the openness of love and acceptance, then I might be able to recognize and see the Holy Spirit in their way of being and living. There will not be any visible ‘tongues of fire’ over their heads and yet I know that I will be seeing with my heart the presence of God.