Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Pentecost, or to be more accurate, the Feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, 50 days after Easter. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit make up the Blessed Trinity, three Persons in one God. This formula is Christian specific. Whichever sects that do not profess this faith cannot be called Christian. For example, the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept the Blessed Trinity as an article of faith. They are not Christians.
Among the three Persons, the Holy Spirit is the least understood. Of course, we cannot understand God but at least, we have a fairly accurate picture of the Father, the Creator of this world. He created this world in such a way that men are conscious of themselves. God revealed to men that they were created in His image and likeness because God loves us. We were created in His image so that we possess a built-in mechanism to seek Him, to join Him and partake in His everlasting life. After the Fall of men, the Father did not give up. He decided to send His Son to redeem the fallen world.
From the gospels, we obtain a fairly accurate picture of the Son, the Redeemer of this world. He incarnated, took our humanity and lived among us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth two thousand years ago. He preached the good news of the Kingdom of God, gathered a community of followers to continue his mission and lastly died a martyr. He came back to life, gathered his scattered disciples and commissioned them to preach the gospel to the whole world before he returned to his Father.
However, when we come to the Holy Spirit, we find it difficult to visualize it (pardon me for using a neuter pronoun which only highlights my ignorance). In my early years of Christian life, I thought of the Holy Spirit as some sorts of energy/power. However, energy/power is NOT a person. The Holy Spirit is a person. In the Acts of the Apostles, we find passages telling us that the Holy Spirit speaks and is offended. It is meaningless to offend the sunlight or the solar wind. However, Jesus warns us that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven (Mark 3:29), showing us that the Holy Spirit is not purely energy but a person. As a person, the Holy Spirit proves to be the most elusive. Like a strong wind, it hovered above the primordial waters during Creation (Genesis 1:2). It "possessed" certain celebrities in the Bible and gave them special powers to accomplish their missions (70 elders, Samson, Saul, prophets, Jesus and the 120 disciples etc.) When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan, the Holy Spirit came down upon him in the form of a dove (Mark 1:10). When it descended on the 120 disciples on Pentecost, it came in the forms of a strong wind, a loud sound and tongues of fires (Acts 2:2-3). The Jews handed down their understanding of the Holy Spirit --- wind/breath. The Holy Spirit is the breath of God and God Himself. Our brains are simply too microscopic and slow to compute its meanings (Here, I am reducing this meat ball into an information processing device. It can only be an analogy).
Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Advocate, the Counselor (John 14:16), affirming its personhood. Furthermore, he called it the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17).
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all
that I have said to you (John 14:26).
Alas! We are given the truth, but with our limited capacity, we can only articulate the truth in a partial way. The following is one such example.
Our team is going to present the topic of transsexual marriage on Tuesday in our Sexuality and Marriage ethics course. This is going to be an explosive and perhaps revolutionary topic.
In the beginning, God created man male and female (Genesis 1:26). For ages, we understand the truth of masculinity and femininity as air-tight concepts. The late Pope John Paul II expounded the Theology of Body in 1980's to deal with masculinity and femininity for the communion of persons. The body is a sacrament, a visible sign that conveys God's grace. The communion of persons is attained through marriage and celibacy in this earthly life. Pope John Paul II also analyzed Jesus' discussion of the eunuchs in Matthew 19 to uphold the nobility of celibacy. Virginity is highly priced, not because of the economic values of virgins in ancient world, but of the witness celibacy bears to life after resurrection. Celibacy is, if not better, on a par with marriage in attaining the communion of persons in this earthly life and in the communion of saints after resurrection.
I have not done TOB enough justice in so few sentences, but enough for our presentation. Now, let us turn to the transsexuals.
Medical advances allow us to recognize the phenomenon of the ambiguity of gender. The gender of babies was determined by external genitals. However, in some cases, the genitals can be ambiguous due to inadequate development of the fetus. What is more, internal elements such as chromosomes (the XX and XY), the uterus and the hormones which are not readily visible can be ambiguous as well. There are cases in which a "perfectly normal girl" was discovered to have XY chromosomes and without uterus only when she underwent surgery in her teens. In particular, the hormones affect the functioning of the brain may cause a man to feel that he is actually a woman imprisoned in a man's body. He underwent Sex Reassignment Surgery and became a transsexual woman.
So, what shall we make of the truth of masculinity and femininity?
Perhaps in the beginning, there were only male and female. However, through generations of environmental pollution, mutations and what not, as well as their subsequent survival, the compartment dividing masculinity and femininity is melting down. We are witnessing the development of a continuum of masculinity and femininity in the human race. At present, the percentage of gender ambiguity may be small. But just like the striped sheep which Jacob bred to outwit his uncle Leban, and which, in seven years, outnumbered the purely white and black ones, the gender ambiguous people would one day outnumber the purely male and female and become the majority. Perhaps we need another Pope with wisdom to extend TOB to include the transsexuals whose bodies will also partake in the communion of saints when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. I dare to say that the discussion of eunuchs in Matthew 19 has already shed lights on the situation of transsexuals. Yet, our brains are not yet ready for and capable enough of entertaining such thoughts. The only truth we are sure of is that Jesus saves us all, including the transsexuals whom we do not yet have a proper label. Are they male, female or neuter?
I was being provocative to ask whether the Holy Spirit is male, female or neuter. In fact, the concept of gender is not appropriate for God. God created man male and female in His image and yet God is uncreated. We need a better understanding of the meaning of "created in the image of God" rather than imposing a gender on God.
Dear Advocate, I pray thee that our minds be open enough to drink of the truth You impart on us. You are the Spirit of Charity. Make us grow in truth and love day by day. Amen.
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