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What is the Baptism in the Spirit?
Prior to His ascension Jesus told His apostles, "Before many days you shall
be baptized with the Holy Spirit." He added., "You shall receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses" (Acts 1:5-8). The
apostles prayed for the coming of the Holy Spirit with Mary, the Mother of
Jesus, and a group of about one hundred and twenty. On Pentecost they were
"baptized with the Holy Spirit: and were transformed into new creatures, bold
witnesses for Christ.
Pentecost comes to each of us in the Sacrament of Initiation: Baptism,
Confirmation, and Eucharist. In Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit and become
God's children and members of the body of Christ. In Confirmation we receive a
new fullness of the Spirit and we are empowered to serve the Church and bear
witness to Jesus.
Often we do not allow the Spirit we have received to be as active in us as He
want to be. To use an analogy, He is like chocolate syrup poured into a glass of
milk - it goes to the bottom of the glass until stirred up. But when it is
stirred up, it permeates the milk and transforms it into something new. We can
learn how to "stir up" the Spirit - and how to receive more of Him - from Jesus
in the Gospels: "If anyone thirst, let him come to Me, let him drink who
believes in Me." As the scripture has said, "Out of his heart shall flow rivers
of living water." He said this about the Spirit which those who believed in Him
were to receive. (John 7:37-39). "If you then, who are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luke 11:13).
The Lord teaches that first we must thirst for God; we must desire more and
more of His Spirit. Then we must believe that Jesus is faithful to His promises
and will indeed give us His holy Spirit. Finally, we must ask God for the Holy
Spirit. We must pray for perseverance, asking, seeking, knocking, believing that
"everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks fiends, and to him who knocks it
will be opened" (Luke 11:10). We can follow the example of the early Church by
praying for the Spirit in union with Mary and the apostles as they did at the
first Pentecost (see Acts 1:12-14).
What can be expected when we are "baptized with the Holy Spirit"? We can
expect an immediate or gradual experience of deeper union with God, our loving
Father and with Jesus, our Lord and friend; a fresh appreciation of Scripture; a
greater love for others and a desire for Christian fellowship; the fuller
presence in our lives of the fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience
and more (see Galatians 5:22-23); the reception of one or more of the
Charismatic gifts of the Spirit, such as discernment, service, prophecy, praying
in tongues, healing (see I Corinthians 12-14). This gift of a new fullness of
the Holy Spirit is, I believe, the grace of our age. "Ask and it will be given
to you!"
(This article is reprinted from the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of New
Orleans).
What is the Baptism in the Spirit?
Baptized in the Holy Spirit
by Harold Cohen, S.J.
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