The Non-Negotiable Holy Spirit
Pentecost makes me a bit… sad. Not because I don’t enjoy the day, but because it feels like once the day is over, the Holy Spirit is put back into a box and tucked away until Easter Season of next year. There’s an ache in me that wishes to see the Holy Spirit celebrated, honored, and the topic of conversation as a normal – even daily – part of our Catholic experience. And although our theology surely encourages this, there’s a strange discomfort in the Church with the topic of the Holy Spirit, especially when it comes to the matter of having an active relationship with Him.
“Oh, so you’re a charismatic,” is the typical response at the mention of His name or His gifts. I’ve heard this countless times, followed by an eye roll or a knowing nod and a dismissive wave of the hand. Unfortunately, this also has been too frequently accompanied by a dent to my reputation.
There’s a lot of baggage that comes with the term “charismatic.” There is a complicated history to the word, in part because it is associated with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, a movement in the 1960’s that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Regardless of one’s opinion of that movement, the true meaning of “charismatic” has somewhere managed to fall through the cracks, and instead, the word has become a source of discord and division in the Church, even being placed in contrast to the label of “traditional.”
Re-Capturing Charismatic
The word charis is a Greek word meaning a freely bestowed gift. St. Paul uses a form of this word, charismata, when talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in his letter to the Corinthians. While these terms are being applied more specifically in reference to the spiritual gifts, the word charismatic in its full sense can be broadened to encompass the entire charismatic dimension of the Church as one of her constitutive elements.[1] In layman’s terms, we can define charismatic as simply the free-flowing action of the Holy Spirit with His people.
What this means is that as Catholics, we are ALL charismatic – or at least intended to be.
Pentecost is known and celebrated as the birthday of the Church. This is a beautiful notion to reflect upon, but there is also a very practical dimension to it that impacts us today, as disciples.
The Church wasn’t the Church until the Holy Spirit showed up. On that day in history, Christ’s disciples, in a matter of moments, went from being a collection of people gathered in a room to the Church. And the deciding factor was the Holy Spirit’s presence – with them and upon them.
In other words, when it comes to the Church, the Holy Spirit is a non-negotiable.
Theologically, there’s not a Catholic who would argue against this. But there are many ways in which we, as the Church, have been willing to live without Him.
This grieves me deeply. To me, it’s like inviting the guest of honor to the annual birthday party, but locking Him out of the house for the remainder of the year. Yet somehow this dynamic has become normative in Catholic culture: to pursue good and righteous things, but by our own human strength, as though this crucial Person left to us by Jesus to fulfill our commission was an option – take it or leave it. And being filled with the Holy Spirit, while once the identifier of belonging to Christ and the norm for every believer, now carries a stigma.
The misunderstanding, labels, and judgment in all of this trouble me profoundly, but knowing the true meaning of this word, “charismatic,” I find myself wondering… can we even call ourselves the Church if we haven’t left room for the Holy Spirit?
Beyond etymology, this – I think – hits upon the true area of dispute: What does it actually mean to have a living, active relationship with the Holy Spirit? What does it truly mean to be Spirit-filled?
Being Spirit-Filled
As someone who refuses to join either camp of “charismatic” or “traditional” (or perhaps I’ve joined them both!), here are some thoughts on engaging with the Holy Spirit that I hope can shed some light from both “sides.”
Being Spirit-filled is not simply adding the Holy Spirit to our own efforts, like adding icing to a cake. To quote Ennie Hickman, it does not mean “doing stuff and hoping God blesses it.” We don’t simply bring our efforts to something, and if things go well, we give a nod to the Holy Spirit as the reason they went well, and if they tank, we humbly absorb the blame.
Being Spirit-filled is an act of ongoing collaboration with the Holy Spirit. It means we are co-laborers with Him. It means He is actively involved in all stages of our process – supplying insight, ideas, and solutions to problems, and leading our decisions and actions at every step.
Being Spirit-filled is not incompatible with sound-mindedness. It doesn’t mean we abandon human reason or lose our pastoral senses about how to engage with the world. It doesn’t mean we shut down our intellects or embrace recklessness. Grace builds on nature, so we start by embracing our human nature.
Being Spirit-filled is a relinquishing of control. It is an invitation to let God be in the driver’s seat, abandoning our agenda for His agenda in any given moment. It means allowing Him to lead with a divine wisdom that at times may even defy human wisdom, and allowing space for Him to move in power, even if it interrupts our previously made plans. It means taking some risks and allowing room for surprises and – yes – for things to get messy.
Being Spirit-filled is not a license to be weird. It’s not permission to act without consideration for how others are experiencing us. We have a responsibility to engage with others in a manner that builds connection and fosters order, peace, and unity.
Being Spirit-filled is a calling to be set apart. It means we are supernatural. Plain and simple, it means we do things that humans should not be able to do. Now, this is going to be perceived as weird by nature, because it offends the senses. But I would argue that if we dare to call ourselves disciples, there had better be something that sets us apart from unbelievers, and that ‘something’ had better not be mere pious behavior. That ‘something’ needs to be the transformative power of the Holy Spirit that we carry within us.
1. Cf. Pope John Paul II, "Speech at Meeting with Ecclesial Movements and New Communities," par. 4