主題：認識聖神
舊約時代有逾越節，紀念天主把以色列人，從埃及的奴役中解放出來。天主宣佈在埃及境內降下「殺長子」的災難。那些依照梅瑟吩咐的人，宰殺了一隻羔羊，把羊血塗在門框及門楣上。當晚天主經過時，見到羊血，便過其門而不入，故稱為「逾越節」（出12:13）。耶穌選擇了在逾越節這個猶太人的大節日受難，目的在指出，祂纔是真正的逾越節羔羊。他犧牲自己，以自己的血保護了信徒，並從罪惡的奴役中解放了他們。
大部份的教友對三位一體的天父和聖子耶穌都有所認識。我們對聖神的理解，實有不足。可能因為聖父和聖子的形象清晰，比較容易掌握，聖神就有如若望福音所載，好像風一樣，很難捕捉得到。我們可以看到風吹過所留下的痕跡，卻不能看到風本身。同樣，我們可以看到聖神工作的成果，卻看不到聖神本身。讓我們重溫一下，聖神在新約聖經所留下的蛛絲馬跡，從而加深對聖神的認識和信靠。
首先，聖神降臨到童貞女瑪利亞身上，使她懷孕聖子耶穌。總領天使加俾額爾這樣解釋說：「聖神要臨於妳，至高者的能力要庇廕妳；因此，那要誕生的聖者，將稱為天主的兒子。」（路1:35）在天使的說話當中，我們所能夠理解的，就是聖神是「至高者的能力」。聖神就是天主的能力，一種無所不能的能量。若全能的天主願意，又有甚麼事辦不到的呢？且看舊約的眾多例子和新約匝加利亞的妻子依撒伯爾，她們都是過了更年期，在老年懷孕的。連已經不能生育的婦女，天主也有能力使她們懷孕，要保存聖母瑪利亞的童貞，又有何難呢？今天，我們在彌撒中呼求聖神降臨在祭台上的麵餅和葡萄酒，使它們成為耶穌基督的聖體聖血。所以，相信耶穌基督親臨在聖體聖事內，與相信耶穌基督由童貞女瑪利亞所生，兩件事都是出於聖神的能力，都是同出一轍。因此，我們不能既想享受聖體聖事的神益，但同時又想否認瑪利亞是天主之母的地位，不願意給予聖母應有的尊重。這是自相矛盾的，而且是對三位一體聖神的否定。
其次，根據【若望福音】的記載，耶穌在最後晚餐時，告訴門徒，他離開世界之後，會請求聖父賜給他們另一位「護慰者」，永遠與他們同在（若14:16）。耶穌稱這「護慰者」為「真理之神」，祂要教訓門徒一切，也要使他們想起耶穌曾說過的話（14:26）。這「護慰者」甚至要為耶穌作證（15:26）。不過，聖神喜歡透過信徒作證，多於自己親自出馬。聖神使門徒說多國語言；使沒有接受過正式教育的伯多祿，在不同場合，雄辯滔滔地為耶穌的復活宣講和答辯；聖神並賜給門徒驅魔、治病、復活死人和行其他神跡的能力。聖保祿宗徒曾在他的書信中，提到天主聖神賜了門徒的不同恩寵，「有的蒙受了信心，有的蒙受了治病的奇恩，有些能行神蹟，有的能說先知話，有的能辨別神恩，有的能說各種語言，有的能解釋語言」（格前12:9-10）保祿認為這些恩寵雖然不同，但目的祗有一個，就是為了建設教會團體，保祿把這個教會團體，比喻成耶穌基督的身體。看，我們又回到耶穌的「聖體聖事」了。
最後，聖神不但是「真理之神」，更是「愛德之神」。就算門徒在理智上，記得耶穌教訓過他們要彼此相愛，理智上知道不等如會實踐。所以，是聖神燃起耶路撒冷教會的門徒，心中的愛火，把所有的財產變賣，把所得的金錢全數交給宗徒，任由宗徒分配，照顧窮人；是聖神引發歷代聖人聖女和殉道者，對耶穌的熱愛，這份火熱的愛，驅散了他們心中的害怕，使他們能從容就義，獲得榮冠。是聖神燃起傳教士對拯救靈魂的熱心，促使他們慷慨地回應聖召，飄洋過海，為遠方人民的得救，貢獻一世。這一切數之不盡的愛德行動，全都是源於聖神所引發的愛。
讓我們作一個小結。從聖經，我們獲得了一個印象，聖神就是「天主的力量。」第二：祂是「真理之神」，祂會幫助我們明瞭耶穌的教訓。最後，聖神是「愛德之神」，祂燃起世人對天主和對人的熱愛，把信仰生活出來。
耶穌復活後四十日升天，帶著人性的軀體，返回天父的家；標誌著在末日，全人類，無論好人壞人，都會一律復活升天，接受天主父的審判。這就是我們天主教信仰中，有關末日的信念。
耶穌復活後的第五十日，是猶太人的五旬節，剛好又是一個大節日。天主喜歡在這些猶太人的大節日發出啟示，因為所有的猶太成年人，每年必須在猶太人的三大節日之一─即逾越節、五旬節和帳棚節─到耶路撒冷朝聖。按【宗徒大事錄】的記載，就在五旬節這一天，聖神降臨到當時全部120名信徒身上。他們開始說世界各地的語言，使來自世界各地的朝聖者，能聽到有人用自己的母語，為耶穌的受難復活作見證。當天一日之內，有三千人相信了門徒的作證，接受了洗禮。這一個五旬節，可以說是教會的生日，我們改稱這一天為「聖神降臨節」。
祈禱是基督徒靈性生命的補給線，一個不祈禱的基督徒，很快便會乾枯了。保祿宗徒在羅馬書提醒我們，當我們不知如何祈禱的時候，聖神會以祂不可言喻的歎息，代我們轉求。（羅8:26）所以，讓我們多認識聖神，呼求祂充滿我們的心，催促我們踏出一步，放心大膽地宣講耶穌，親近有困難的兄弟姊姐，從而在他們身上，體會天主的臨在，天父的慈悲。
天主保祐。
The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Year C)
Theme: To know the Holy Spirit
In the Old Testament, the Feast of Passover remembered how God delivered the Israelites from the bondage of Egyptians. God declared a final plague of killing the first-borns. Those who listened to Moses killed a lamb, smeared its blood on the door posts and lintel of the house. That night, when God saw the blood, He would pass over and spare the house. That explains the name "Passover" (Exodus 12:13). Jesus chose to die on this big Jewish feast of Passover to teach that he is the true Paschal lamb. He sacrificed himself to protect believers with his own blood and to liberate them from the bondage of sin.
Most of us know the Father and the Son of the Blessed Trinity better but as for the Holy Spirit, our knowledge is shaky. Probably the Father and the Son have a clear image and are easier to imagine. But the Holy Spirit is difficult to catch like the wind described in the gospel of John. We can see the signs left behind by the wind but we cannot see the wind itself. Similarly, we are able to see the fruits of the work of the Holy Spirit, but we cannot see the Holy Spirit itself. So, let us revise what fingerprints the Holy Spirit has left behind in the New Testament so as to deepen our knowledge and trust in Him.
First of all, the Holy Spirit came upon the BVM to make her pregnant with Jesus, the Son of God. The archangel Gabriel explained in this way, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." (Luke 1:35) From the words of the angel, we may understand the Holy Spirit to be "the power of the Most High". He is the power of God, a kind of almighty energy. If the Almighty God wishes, what can stop it? Take a look at the many examples in the Old Testament and Elizabeth, the wife of Zachariah in the New Testament. All of them were beyond menopause, and yet got pregnant. God's power could even make barren women pregnant. What would be so impossible for God to retain Mary's virginity as a mother? Today during mass, we invoke the Holy Spirit to descend on the bread and wine on the altar to turn them into the body and blood of Jesus. Therefore, our belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of Eucharist, and our belief in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ are based on the power of the Holy Spirit. The belief is the same. Therefore, we cannot enjoy the spiritual benefit of the Eucharist while at the same time deny the status of the BVM as the Mother of God, and the dignity she deserves. This is contradictory and is a denial of the Holy Spirit in the Blessed Trinity.
Secondly, according to the gospel of John, during the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples that after he left the world, he would pray the Father to send another Counsellor to be with them forever (John 14:16). The Counsellor is the "Spirit of Truth" who would teach them all things and bright to their remembrance all that Jesus had taught them (14:26). The Counsellor would bear witness to Jesus (15:26). But the Holy Spirit prefers bearing witness through the disciples to doing it Himself. He enabled the disciples to speak in different languages; made the illiterate Peter to proclaim and defend the resurrection of Jesus eloquently in different occasions; gave power to disciples to exorcise, to cure, to raise the dead and to work miracles. In his letter, Paul wrote about the different graces the Holy Spirit gave to different people, "to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues." (1 Corinthians 12:9-10) Paul taught that though the graces were different, there was only one purpose, to build up the Church community to which Paul applied the metaphor of the Mystical Body of Christ. See, we come back to Jesus' Sacrament of Eucharist again.
Lastly, the Holy Spirit is not only the "Spirit of Truth", but is also the "Spirit of Charity". Even if the disciples intellectually remember Jesus' teaching that they should love one another, they might not put it into practice. Thus, the Holy Spirit inflamed the charity in the hearts of the believers of the Jerusalem Church. They sold their property, laid all the money before the feet of the Apostles for them to distribute among the needy. It was the Holy Spirit who torched the love of Jesus among the saints and martyrs of every generation. This love chased away the fear in their hearts. They embraced the tortures and obtained the glorious crown. It is the Holy Spirit who inflamed the desire of the missionaries to save souls and responded generously to God's vocation. It was the Holy Spirit who drove them across the seas to spend their whole life for the salvation of the far away peoples. All of these countless incidents of charity come from the love ignited by the Holy Spirit.
In conclusion, from the Bible, we obtain an impression of the Holy Spirit as the power of God. He is the Spirit of Truth who helps us understand Jesus' teachings. Lastly, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Charity who ignites our love towards God and towards our fellow neighbour, to live out our faith.
Forty days after resurrection, Jesus returned to the dwelling place of the heavenly Father, bringing along with him his humanity. This indicates that on the Last Day, all men, both the righteous and sinners, would come back to life, ascend into heaven to receive the judgment of the Father. This is our Catholic faith on the Last Day.
Fifty days after resurrection, it was the Jewish feast of Pentecost, another big feast. God likes to reveal His glory on big Jewish feasts because every Jewish adult had to visit Jerusalem in one of the three big feasts: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. According to the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit descended on the 120 believers on Pentecost. They began to speak in different languages of the world. The pilgrims were amazed to hear them proclaim the passion and resurrection of Jesus in their mother tongues. On that day, three thousand people believed in the testimony of the disciples and received baptism. This Pentecost could be called the birthday of the Church. We rename it to "the Descent of the Holy Spirit".
Prayer is the lifeline of the spiritual life of Christians. A Christian who does not pray withers very quickly. Paul reminds us in the letter to the Romans that when we do not know how to pray, "the Holy Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words." (Romans 8:26) Therefore, let us know more about the Holy Spirit and invoke Him to fill up our hearts, to drive us to take the first step to proclaim Jesus boldly, to come close to brethren in need and in them, experience the presence of God, the mercy of the Father.
God bless.
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