Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Prior to His ascension Jesus told His apostles, “Before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” He added, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses” (Acts 1:5-8). The Apostles prayed for the coming of the Holy Spirit with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and a group of about one hundred and twenty. On Pentecost they were “baptized with the Holy Spirit” and were transformed into new creatures, bold witnesses for Christ.

Pentecost comes to each of us in the Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. In Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit and become God’s children and members of the body of Christ. In Confirmation we receive a new fullness of the Spirit and are empowered to serve the Church and bear witness to Jesus.

Often we do not allow the Spirit we have received to be as active in us as He wants to be. To use an analogy, He is like chocolate syrup poured into a glass of milk–it goes to the bottom of the glass until stirred up. But when it is stirred up, it permeates the milk and transforms it into something new. We can learn how to “stir up” the Spirit–and how to receive more of Him–from Jesus in the Gospels:

“If anyone thirst, let him come to Me, let him drink who believes in Me. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of His heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now He said this about the Spirit which those who believed in Him were to receive” (John 7:37-39). “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13)

The Lord teaches us that first we must thirst for God; we must desire more and more of His Spirit. Then we must believe that Jesus is faithful to His promises and will indeed give us His Holy Spirit. Finally, we must ask God for the Holy Spirit. We must pray with perseverance, asking, seeking, knocking, believing that “everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:10). We can follow the example of the early Church by praying for the Spirit in union with Mary and the apostles as they did at the first Pentecost (see Acts 1:12-14).

What can we expect when we are “baptized with the Holy Spirit” ? We can expect an immediate or gradual experience of deeper union with God, our loving Father and with Jesus, our Lord and Friend; a fresh appreciation of Scripture; a greater love for others and a desire for Christian fellowship; the fuller presence in our lives of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience and more (see Galatians 5:22-23); the receptions of one or more of the Charismatic gifts of the Spirit such as discernment, service, prophecy, praying in tongues, healing (see 1 Corinthians 12-14). This gift of a new fullness of the Holy Spirit is, I believe, the grace of our age. “Ask and it willbe given to you!”

Harold Cohen, S.J.

Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap

It is important to understand what the Renewal in the Spirit is all about. After the Second Vatican Council, many things in the Church’s life were renewed–the liturgy, pastoral care, canon law, the constitutions and dress of religious orders. Although all these things are important, they are only external things. Woe to us if we stop there and think the task is finished. It is not structure but souls that are important to God. “It is in men’s souls that the Church is beautiful,” writes St. Ambrose…and therefore it is in men’s souls that she must make herself beautiful.

God is Author and Power

The Renewal is a renewal in which God, not man, is the principal author “I, not you,” says God, “make all things new”(Rev. 21:5). “My Spirit–and He alone–may renew the face of the earth” (see Ps. 104:30). From the religious point of view, we tend to view things from a ptolemaic perspective: at the foundation are our efforts–organization, efficiency, reforms, and goodwill. These have the earth here as the center which God comes to strengthen and crown by His grace and our effort.

We must–at this point as the Word of God cries out–”give the power back to God” (Ps. 68:35) because “the power belongs to God” (Ps. 62:12). For too long we have usurped this power of His by managing it as if it were ours, as if it was up to us to “govern” the power of God. We have to totally change our perspective. That is, we have to acknowledge simply that without the Holy Spirit, we cannot do anything, not even say, “Jesus is Lord!” (1Cor. 12:3).

The Baptism in the Spirit is not a sacrament, but it is related to the sacraments of Christian initiation. The Baptism in the Spirit makes real and in a way renews Christian initiation. The primary relationship is with the sacrament of Baptism.

We believe that the Baptism in the Spirit makes real and revitalizes our Baptism. To understand how a sacrament which was received so many years ago, usually immediately after our birth, could suddenly come back to life and emanate so much energy, as often happens through the Baptism in the Spirit, it is important to look at our understanding of sacramental theology.

Catholic theology recognizes the concept of a valid but bound sacrament. A sacrament is called bound if the fruit that should accompany it remains bound because of certain blocks that prevent its effectiveness. Extreme examples of this are the sacrament of Matrimony and Holy Orders received in the state of mortal sin. In such circumstances these sacraments cannot grant any grace to people until the obstacle of sin is removed through Penance. Once this happens, the sacrament is said to live again, thanks to the indelible character and irrevocability of the gift of God. God remains faithful even if we are unfaithful because He cannot deny Himself (see Tim. 2:1-3).

In the case of Baptism, what is it that causes the fruit of the sacrament to stay bound? The sacraments are not magical rituals that act mechanically, without the person’s knowledge, disregarding any response on his part. Their effectiveness is the fruit of a synergy or cooperation between divine omnipotence–in reality the grace of Christ or the Holy Spirit–, and human freedom. As St. Augustine said, “The one who created you without your cooperation will not save without your cooperation.”

The opus operatum of Baptism, namely God’s part, or grace, has several aspects: forgiveness of sins, the gifts of the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity (these, however, only as a seed), and divine sonship. All of these aspects operate through the effective action of the Holy Spirit. But what does the opus operantis in Baptism–namely, man’s part–consist of? It consists of faith! “Whosoever believes and is baptized shall be saved”(Mark 16:16). Along with Baptism therefore, there is another element: the faith of man. “To all who received Him He gave the power to become children of God: to those who believe in His name” (John 1:13).

Baptism is like a divine seal put on the faith of man. Having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and having believed in it, you have received (of course, in Baptism) the seal of the Holy Spirit (see Eph. 1:13).

Baptism and Confirmation of Faith

At the beginning of the Church, Baptism was such a powerful event and so rich in grace that there was normally not a need of a new effusion of the Spirit like we have today. Baptism was ministered to adults who converted from paganism, and who, properly instructed, were in the position to make on the occasion of Baptism, an act of faith, and a free, mature choice. It is sufficient to read the mystagogic catechesis on Baptism attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem to become aware of the depth of faith to which those waiting for Baptism were led. In substance, they arrived at Baptism through a true and real conversion, and thus, for them Baptism was a real washing, a personal renewal, and a re-birth in the Holy Spirit.

The favorable circumstances that allowed Baptism at the origins of the Church to operate with so much power was that the grace of God and man’s response met at the same time. There was a perfect synchronization.

Infant Baptism in a Non-Christian Environment

But now this synchronization has been broken since we are baptized as infants. Little by little this aspect of the free and personal act of faith no longer happens. It was substituted instead by a decision made by intermediary parents or godparents. When a c child grew up in a totally Christian environment, this faith could still flourish, even though at a slower rate. Now, however, this no longer the case, and our spiritual environment is even worse than the one at the time of the Middle Ages. Not that there is no normal Christian life, but it is now the exception rather than the rule.

In this situation, rarely, or never, does the baptized person ever reach the stage of proclaiming in the Holy Spirit, “Jesus is Lord.” Until one reaches this point, everything else in the Christian life remains out of focus and immature.
Miracles no longer happen, and we experience what Jesus did in Nazareth: “Jesus could not perform many miracles because of their lack of faith” (Matt. 13:58)

God’s Will

Here, then, is what I feel to be the significance of the Baptism in the Spirit. It is God’s answer to this malfunctioning that has grown up in the Christian life in the sacrament of Baptism.

It is an accepted fact that over the last few years there has been some concern on the part of the Church, among the bishops, that the Christian sacraments, especially Baptism, are being administered to people who will not make any use of them in life. As a result, it has even been suggested that Baptism should not be administered unless there are some minimum guarantees that it will be cultivated and valued by the child in question. For one should not throw pearls to dogs, as Jesus said, and Baptism is a pearl because it is the fruit of the Blood of Christ.

But it seems that God was concerned about this situation even before the Church was, and He raised up here and there in the Church, movements aimed at renewing Christian initiation in adults. The Charismatic Renewal is one of these movements, and in it the principal grace is, without doubt, linked to Baptism of the Spirit and what comes before it.

Release and Confirmation of Faith

Its effectiveness in reactivating Baptism consists in this: Finally man contributed his part–namely, he makes a choice of faith, prepared in repentance, that allows the work of God to set itself free and to emanate all its strength. It is as if the light is switched on. The gift of God is finally “unbound”, and the Spirit is allowed to flow like a fragrance in the Christian life.

In addition to the renewal of the grace of Baptism, the Baptism in the Spirit is also a confirmation of one’s own Baptism, a deliberate “yes” to it, to its fruit and its commitments. As such, it is also similar to Confirmation. Confirmation is the sacrament that develops, confirms and brings to completion the work of Baptism.

From it, too, comes that desire for greater involvement in the apostolic and missionary dimension of the Church that is usually noted in those who receive the Baptism in the Spirit. They feel more inclined to cooperate with the building up of the Church, placing themselves at her service in various ministries both clerical and lay, to witness for Christ–to do all those things that recall the happening of Pentecost and which are actuated in the sacrament of Confirmation.

The Baptism of the Spirit is not the only occasion known within the Church for this reviving of the sacraments if initiation. There is, for example, the renewal of the baptismal promises in the Easter Vigil. There are also the spiritual exercises and religious profession, sometimes called a “second Baptism.” At the sacrament level there is Confirmation. It is not difficult to discover in the lives of the saints the presence of a spontaneous effusion, especially on the occasion of their conversion. The difference with the Baptism in the Spirit, however, is that it is open to all the people of God, small and great, and not only to those privileged ones who do the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises or make religious profession.

The Will of God in History

Where does this extraordinary force that we experienced when were baptized in the Spirit come from? What we are talking about is not just some theory, but something that we ourselves have experienced and therefore can say with John, “What we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what our hands have touched, this we also announce to you, so that you too can be in communion with us (see John 1:1-11). The explanation of this force is in the will of God because God was pleased to renew the Church today by this means, and this is enough.

There are certainly some biblical precedents, like the one told in Acts 8:14-17, when Peter and John, having heard that Samaria welcomed the Word of God, went there, prayed for them and laid hands on them so they could receive the Holy Spirit. But these biblical precedents are not sufficient to explain the vastness and depth of the contemporary manifestations of the Spirit.

The explanation, therefore, is in God’s plan. We could say, by paraphrasing a famous saying of the Apostle Paul: Because Christians, with all their organization, were not able to transmit the power of the Spirit, God was pleased to renew the believers through the foolishness of Baptism in the Spirit. In fact, theologians look for an explanation, and responsible people for moderation; but simple souls touch with their hands the power of Christ in the Baptism of the Spirit. (1Cor. 12:1-24).

We men, and in particular, we men of the Church, tend to limit God in His freedom. We tend to insist that He follow a compulsory pattern (the so-called channels of grace). We forget that God is a torrent that breaks loose and creates its own path, and that the Spirit blows where and how He wants. (Notwithstanding the role of the teaching of the Church to discern what actually comes from the Spirit and what does not come from Him.)

What does the Baptism in the Spirit consist of, and how does it work?

In the Baptism of the Spirit, there is a secret, mysterious move of God that is His way of becoming present in a way that is different for each one. Only He knows us in our inner part and how to act upon our unique personality. There is also an external community part which is the same for everyone. This consists mainly of three things: brotherly love, laying on of hands, and prayer. These are non-sacramental but simply ecclesiastic elements.

From the Father and Son

Where does the grace we experience in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit come from? From those around us? No! From the person who receives it? No! It comes from God! We can only say that such grace is related to Baptism because God always acts with coherence and faithfulness. He honors the commitments and institutions of Christ. One thing is certain–it is not the brothers who impart the Holy Spirit, but they do invoke the Holy Spirit on the person. Only Jesus may give the Holy Spirit.

As to the manner of this grace, we may speak of a new coming of the Holy Spirit, of a new mission by the Father through Jesus Christ, or a new anointing corresponding to a new degree of grace.

The Baptism in the Spirit has changed my life! When I was prayed over in 1968, the Holy Spirit visited me in a personal Pentecost. In this column I want to share with you some of what the Lord has taught me over the years. This Golden Jubilee Year is good time to reflect on what the Baptism in the Holy Spirit can (and should) do in our lives. I think there are at least ten things the Baptism in the Spirit can do for us.

I. BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT CAN GIVE YOU ANEW LIFE IN THE SPIRIT.

Being baptized in the Spirit can make a decisive difference in your life. Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., the preacher to the papal household, says that he has had two lives, one before being baptized in the Spirit and one after. When you read or hear good testimonies, there is always a before and an after. Has there been a before and an after in your life? Do you want that? If so, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit can do that for you.

II. BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN BRING YOU INTO A LIVING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER AND THE SON.

Do you want to be brought into the experience of the love of the Father and the Son? My wife, Patti, likes to use Romans 5:5 as a definition of what it means to be baptized in the Holy Spirit: “The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Do you want to have a sense of being a beloved child of the Father, crying out, “Abba, Father” (cf. Rom. 8:15)?  Scripture tells us, “No one can say ‘ Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” Is that a living reality in your heart?  Do you want to know God the Father and Jesus the Son in a more intimate way? If so, then the Baptism in the Holy Spirit can do that for you.

III. BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT CAN SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGE YOUR PRAYER LIFE.

Do you have a real prayer life? Do you give time to prayer every day? Is this part of your daily schedule, like eating and sleeping? In  prayer, do you want to experience a greater sense of adoration, praise and thanksgiving to the Lord? Do you want to enter into a charismatic dimension in prayer, that is, the experience of tongues, prophecy, revelation, guidance, inspirations, etc.? (We are certainly not talking about experiencing all of these all the time, but rather some of them some of the time…at least the gift of praying in tongues.) If you want your prayer life to be significantly changed, the Baptism in the Spirit can do that for you.

IV. BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN GIVE YOU A LOVE FOR THE WORD OF GOD.

Would you like to be  irresistibly drawn to the Word of God, Holy Scripture? Do you want to eat and drink the Word of God, like Ezekiel in the Old Testament and John in Revelations? In the early days of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, it was not unheard of for people to stay up all night reading Scripture. The Holy Spirit produces that hunger and desire for God’s Word. If you want that kind of attraction for Holy Scripture in our life, the Baptism in the Spirit can do that for you.

 V. BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN PROPEL YOU TO BE INVOLVED  IN WITNESS AND EVANGELISM.

One of the primary purposes of the outpouring of the Spirit was to give us the power to witness to Jesus (cf. John 15:26-27; Acts 1:8).  Would you like to have that impulse to share the good news, according to your life circumstances, wherever you are? Do you want to look for opportunities to bear witness in word and deed? If so, the Baptism in the Spirit can do that for you.

VI. BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT CAN CAUSE YOU TO WANT TO MEET TOGETHER WITH OTHER CATHOLIC CHARISMATICS FOR FELLOWSHIP AND SUPPORT.

Scripture tells us, “Do not neglect to meet together as is the habit of some…”(Heb. 10:25).  We know that a way of getting a fire to burn out is to pull the logs apart. In a similar way, if we are pulled apart from each other, our spiritual fire will go out, both individually and collectively. Do you desire some kind of regular  gathering for spiritual growth an element in your life? If so, the Baptism in the Spirit can do that for you.

 VII. BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT CAN HELP YOU TO BE WILLING TO RECEIVE AND EXERCISE SPIRITUAL GIFTS.

We see especially in the Acts of the Apostles that there is a mysterious link between the coming of the Holy Spirit and charismatic gifts. When the Holy Spirit is poured out, there is an outbreak of charismatic activity. The spiritual gifts are given for the common good (cf. 1 Cor. 12:7). Scripture states that there are different kinds of gifts, for example: preaching, teaching, faith, miracles, healing, prophecy, revelation, discernment of spirits, giving money, exercising leadership, hospitality, works of mercy, administration, etc., to name a few.  Baptism in the Spirit can help us to be open to receiving and using the spiritual gifts. Do you want to be able to contribute any gift to the Body of Christ? If so, Baptism in the Spirit can do that for you.

VIII. BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT CAN HELP YOU TO EXPERIENCE A CHANGE IN YOUR MORAL LIFE, YOUR ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR.

Has there been a real break with serious sin or is serious sin still a regular occurrence in your life? This is a basic point but we need to start there before moving on.  Are you still attached to some deep character flaws, for example, in the use of the tongue? Do you still have what the spiritual writers call an “affection for sin”, a pet sin that is very familiar and you can’t seem to get rid of, for example, a spirit of criticism? Try to imagine having a pet poisonous snake that you like to wrap around your neck. You don’t even realize when the snake is biting you and injecting poison into you. Do you want to be  better able to love God, whom you cannot see and also love your neighbor, whom you can see (and is apt to be irritating!)? Do you want to see some improvement in your moral life, some change for the better? If so, Baptism in the Spirit can help to do that for you.

IX. BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT CAN HELP YOU EXPERIENCE A CHANGE IN YOUR APPROACH TO THE SACRAMENTS.

Do you want to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation regularly, with repentance and faith, as a means of spiritual growth? Would you like your experience of the Mass changed so that you enter into the liturgy, join with the priest, and make it your own offering and prayer? Do you want to experience a change in your reception of the Eucharist so that it is a blessed time of communion with the Lord and not just a routine formality? If so, the Baptism in the Spirit can help to do that for you.

X. BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT CAN GIVE YOU AN EXPERIENCE OF A CONVERSION IN YOUR MIND.

Do you have a desire to learn what the Catholic Church teaches? Are you familiar with the Documents of Vatican II and the Catholic Catechism? Do you know basic Catholic teaching? Do you want to read and understand what authentic Catholic writers are saying? Do you want to be a well-informed Catholic Charismatic Christian? Do you want your beliefs to influence your actions, conversations, and your vote? Do you want to put on not only the Spirit of Christ but also put on the mind of Christ? If so, the Baptism in the Spirit can help to do that for you.

In short, Baptism in the Holy Spirit can lead you into a deeper and richer experience of your Christian life. It is available to those who are hungry and thirsty, and who ask in faith, based on the promises of the Lord.

©Al Mansfield, 2015