By Fr Ramon Borja, SDB
On this evening of Pentecost Sunday, I cannot but ask myself this question… “HAVE I FELT THE HOLY SPIRIT TODAY?”
Actually it was during my early evening stroll outside our home, along Foochow Road, under the Kuching sunset sky, that this question clicked in my mind. And as I was having my jalan-jalan… as far as CMCO has led me… these honest answers made me very thankful and happy.
I felt the Holy Spirit…
As I woke up and saw the bright sky greeting me to a special Sunday morn…
As I made my morning prayer and celebrated the Holy Mass… yes, physically alone but surely not spiritually for I was one with my brothers and sisters, the ones I prayed for and the ones who, like me, were also praying in their own homes…
As I was brewing my coffee and toasting my bread… and more so when I was having my coffee-and-bread breakfast while sitting in our garden… and especially since there in our garden was this decoration that I made—the image of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove with the calligraphy that says ‘VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS (Come Creator Spirit)’… how could I not?
As I was visited by a friend who asked me to, as a priest, bless some religious articles (thanks to her, I felt very ‘priestly’ again… something very rare these lockdown daaays)…
As I was having a chat with a friend who asked for some advice… thanks to her, I felt not just ‘priestly’ but ‘friendly’ as well…
As I was having fried chicken for lunch… thanks to Fr Andre who gets better and better in cooking as stay-at-home days go on and on… and especially when the two of us had a toast of Guinness stout… which made me feel quite unsure if it was still the Holy Spirit I was feeling or it was already the spirit of that beer… anyway, both spirits made me feel so happy and high, hehe…
As I was enjoying my afternoon rest watching a true-to-life moving Netflix film entitled ‘Kalushi’… which made me value freedom, human dignity and equality more, which made me pray more ardently for those who up to now are still deprived of these… and sadly there are still so many of them across the globe…
As I received a call from my sister in Australia (and thanks to her I have Netflix) and as I phoned my father in Philippines (and thanks to him I have… me)…
As I was feeling high and touched watching the music-video, “Shelter Me”, performed by the Young Voices of the Philippines and that, “Power of Your Love & Spirit Song”, rendered by some Kuching youth with our Archbishop…
As another friend accompanied by her two sons dropped by with gifts of Spanish bread and pandesal… how generous they were… how can I fail to feel the Holy Spirit in them?
As I was having my late afternoon exercise, under the blue sky, following a work-out video… something I am able to do daily these lockdown period, yahoo… I really felt the Spirit making me able to do so till the end, as if whispering to me, “You can do it, Ramon. Come on, jog more, stretch more. Contribute to flatten the curve.” That’s the Spirit!
As I was having my stroll when some neighbors whom I’ve met greeted me with their kind smiles… even if I now look like a caveman-terrorist with my very long (though not very many) hair and my quarantine-look unshaved face…
And others more.
I realise now that in many moments of today, I did feel the Holy Spirit. Wooow! I’m so glad and grateful, really!
If you are in my shoes, would you not feel the same?
But, hey… come to think of it, you are also in my shoes, aren’t you?
Just think about it…. Put those sneakers on and let your mind and heart take a stroll now… Go ask yourself… “It’s Pentecost Sunday. Have I felt The Holy Spirit today?”
…and you will also realise that The Holy Spirit has also been there with you all throughout your seemingly simple day.
It’s very true… even in very ordinary moments, our very extraordinary Holy Spirit is there… making our seemingly simple life so very special, so very filled with God, with His goodness, graciousness, greatness. That’s the spirit. That’s The Holy Spirit.
I confess. I think I haven’t really been ‘slain by The Spirit’ in all the Life in the Spirit seminars and retreats I’ve attended. Hopefully in due time soon. But know that The Holy Spirit is so present not just during such ecstatic events. He is there too so present with us and in us in very mundane moments. There to turn our ordinary occasions into God’s loving and saving expressions.
On this evening of Pentecost Sunday, I’ve asked myself, “HAVE I FELT THE HOLY SPIRIT TODAY?”
And my honest answer was, with all gratitude and gladness, “I SURE DID… IN MANY, MANY WAYS TODAY.”
I hope you did too.
And I hope we would day after day… not just on this Pentecost Sunday.
For indeed, The Holy Spirit is with us… every single day.
I started with a question… which leads me to conclude with this follow-up question…
After asking ourselves “HAVE I FELT THE HOLY SPIRIT TODAY?”, may we then also, more so, ask ourselves “HAVE I MADE SOMEONE FEEL THE HOLY SPIRIT TODAY?”
Though not in many, many ways, though not in many, many someones, and though not in many, many extraordinary ways, I really hope we were and are able to do so today AND every day.
Me writing this, sharing this, posting this… I hope, I just did… made YOU… FEEL THE HOLY SPIRIT.
