More Beautiful Than the Sun

John 15: 26-27, 16:12-15

‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

You are a good Christian. You attend Mass on Sundays and perhaps other days of the week, you yearn for God’s presence in your life, you pray in times of trouble and give thanks to the Lord in good times and you are concerned about being who the Lord has called you to be.

Have you ever stopped to think that on your own steam you have absolutely no capacity to be the spiritual person you are and that the only reason you can desire God and make efforts to include him in your life is because the Holy Spirit is blessing you moment by moment with vision, desire and capacity? It is the Holy Spirit who prepared your spirit for creation and continues to do so in the same way he hovered over the chaos of the world and prepared it to hear the Word. “Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created.” His action is constant and never ending if we allow it. The Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives is a gift beyond comprehension.

Yet, the Holy Spirit has been called The Forgotten Paraclete. Why? Perhaps it’s because we remember to ask Jesus or the Father or Mary or our favorite saints for help and guidance but we often forget to direct our attention to the Holy Spirit.  This may be because Jesus, Mary and the Saints had human bodies with human natures and the word ‘Father’ is basically a human concept that embodies in our minds a certain set of familiar characteristics. But the Holy Spirit in scripture was never presented to us in a human form and has not been portrayed as a being with a human face or human characteristics. He is usually symbolized by flames of fire, a mighty wind or by a dove and that makes him a little more difficult to comprehend or apprehend with our minds. It’s challenging to have a close relationship with fire, wind or a bird.

Which is a pity. Just think of a few of his alternative names: Comforter, Counselor, Advocate and Paraclete. The word Advocate comes from the Latin Advocare - “to call to one’s aid.” The word Paraclete comes from the Greek words para, “alongside”, and kletos, “to call”.  The Holy Spirit is on call 24/7 and he walks alongside of us completely available to comfort, counsel, teach, change and give aid to us.

Still, who is this Holy Spirit, really? What can we say about him that would fix in our minds and hearts the reality of the person that he is?

I’ve got a little list. This list is from the book of Wisdom, (chapter 7: 22-30 and 8:1) and it is one of my all time favorite scripture passages. It is said to be a description of Wisdom (personified in the old testament as a ‘she’) but in reading this descriptive list of the characteristics of wisdom, it is so obviously a description of the Holy Spirit. Read this list and you will have a much clearer idea of the amazing and awesome nature of the Holy Spirit who was sent to be our constant companion when we were baptized and who has remained with each one of us ever since.   

“There is in her (wisdom) a spirit that is intelligent, holy,

unique, manifold, subtle,

mobile, clear, unpolluted,

distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,

irresistible, beneficent, humane,

steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,

all-powerful, overseeing all,

and penetrating through all spirits

that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle.

For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;

because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.

For she is a breath of the power of God,

and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;

therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.

For she is a reflection of eternal light,

a spotless mirror of the working of God,

and an image of his goodness.

Although she is but one, she can do all things,

and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;

in every generation she passes into holy souls

and makes them friends of God, and prophets;

for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.

She is more beautiful than the sun,

and excels every constellation of the stars.

Compared with the light she is found to be superior,

for light is succeeded by the night,

but against wisdom darkness does not prevail.

She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,

and she orders all things well.

Whenever I read that I am comforted and excited. This is the One whom Jesus sent to be with us forever to guide, console, help, counsel and make us more aware of who Jesus and the Father are.

There is one word in that description I love the best: “subtle”. The Holy Spirit is so subtle that he penetrates all other subtleties. What this means is that if we are not experiencing blatant displays of God’s power in our lives in ways we would like to see, it does not mean we are forgotten or that nothing is being accomplished. The Holy Spirit is subtle and his power is more likely to subtly penetrate the deepest areas of our lives causing slow but deep-rooted change rather than wowing us with lightshows of his power which can thrill us in the moment but leave us unchanged in the roots of our beings. That doesn’t mean we can’t witness the beautiful movement of the Spirit. It just means we need to pay way more attention than we normally do. He is always there, always working and always creating, but we usually miss his presence and workings unless he graces us with a really obvious display of power. Again, living in the present moment is how and where we will gain a huge appreciation for how the Spirit moves. It rarely will be the way we think he should move or the way we want him to move but the wisdom of the Spirit permeates our lives. The Spirit “orders all things well.”

In his famous prayer, St. Patrick wrote, “I arise today through a mighty power…” Try making this your morning prayer: “I arise today through a mighty power. Today, by the power of the Holy Spirit I shall be created.”

Then step back and let him do it.


Note: The book of Wisdom (or the Wisdom of Solomon) can only be found in Catholic bibles in the Old Testament right after The Song of Songs.