By Fr. John Adamski

A couple of recent articles in the Bulletin highlighted a growing phenomenon in the Church today – the Pentecostal movement. Many people regularly attend “prayer meetings,” belong to prayer groups and profess a baptism in the Holy Spirit.

I think that one certain effect of these activities has been to reawaken the Church as a whole to a more conscious attention to the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. It’s a good thing.

As a child I’m afraid that the Holy Ghost (the change to Spirit also seems opportune) always seemed to me to be some mysterious combination of a dove and Casper, the friendly ghost. Theological study helped me to grow from that position thankfully to something much more real and vital.

I mention these things by way of introduction to some thoughts that I would like to share with you about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the priest. Recently, I read an article by Father Gerard Broccolo, “The Priest Praying in the Midst of the Family of Man” in Volume 52 of Concilium.

Father Broccolo, Professor of Liturgy at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago, outlines well the connection of the Spirit in the life and activity of priestly ministry. He refers particularly to the relationship between the Spirit and the priest in and through the liturgy.

We believe that it is in and through the power of the Holy Spirit that the Eucharistic action of Christ takes place in the Church today. It is precisely in the role of the priest as the leader of the believing community’s worship that the connection with the Spirit is realized. Father Broccolo expands his point in this way: “Moreover, the priest executes this role in the liturgical setting because this is actually his function in the total life of the Church. The priest must fulfill the same role in the daily life of a human community if his liturgical activity is to ring true. The priest is the logical and natural person to preside in the liturgical gatherings of a community because of his Spirit role in building up the family of man into the Body of Christ in the extra-liturgical situation. In the Sacrament of Order, the gift of the Spirit is conferred upon the priest so that he can inspire the Christian community to remember the Lord. He is the natural spokesman in the Church’s memorial action of the Eucharist because he fulfills the role of ‘prophetic interpreter’ or ‘salvific conscience’ in the midst of all the daily events in the life of the Christian community.”

That’s a tall order for the priest or for the person who would like to serve God’s people in the office of priesthood. The gift of the Spirit which is invoked through ordination demands a serious personal effort on the part of the ordained man to be an individual who is willing to listen to and respond to the voice of the Spirit in his own life.

That happens in many different ways: prayer, people and situations around him, etc. The response is not automatic with the gift. The genuine effort to be a prophetic interpreter is a necessary part of the whole process.

Only when the priest is willing to live his life – public and private – in this perspective will he begin to fulfill the liturgical role that Father Broccolo outlines.

Liturgy and worship should build on the actual lives of the believing people who give their thanks to God – including the leader of that prayer expression. The presence of the Spirit becomes most discernible when a community of people have seriously responded to the gospel message and seek to live out that message in daily lives which are pulled together in their regular liturgical celebrations. Each of us must accept the Spirit’s call in a willing effort to follow his guidance for our lives.

The reliance of the entire Church upon the presence and strength of the Spirit can also be shown in the faithful lives of individual members of the same church. The person who is thinking about ministry in the Church, participating in a particular function of the Spirit’s presence, needs to give special attention to the Spirit’s call in his own life.

Understanding that call will demand patience and openness. All the theory will come crashing into the frequent routine and ordinary flow of daily life. At that level, the ordinary takes an additional meaning for it may be the moment of communication in and through God’s Spirit.

Thanks to many people within the Church today, a larger number of us have been encouraged to reflect again on the role of the Spirit. That reflection should lead us to the strong realization that the Spirit continues his vitalizing presence not only in prayer groups or special events but also in the totality of the life and people of the church today.