Commissioned: Powered Up: Living With the Holy Spiritنموونە

How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit

After his resurrection, Jesus again promised his disciples that he and the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be with them. John the Baptist had baptized people who repented of their sins, but now the Holy Spirit himself would give repentant sinners new life in the waters of baptism.

Jesus told his disciples to wait a few days in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came to them. Then he ascended into heaven. A group of about 120 disciples, including the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary, waited together in prayer for nine days. (This is where we get the idea of a Novena—a nine-day period of prayer.)

Then on the tenth day after his ascension, the 50th day after his resurrection—the Jewish holiday of Pentecost, when the city of Jerusalem was full of pilgrims from many nations, the Holy Spirit came. He came with the sound of a loud wind and with tongues of fire that rested on each one of the disciples. They glorified God and proclaimed his word in languages they did not know, and people from all the nations gathered there in the city understood them in their own language!

Then Saint Peter preached a powerful sermon, beginning with God’s promise to pour out his Spirit on all people and ending with this call to faith: “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” When the people asked Peter how they should respond, he said: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

For two thousand years, people from all the nations of the world have received God’s promise of the Holy Spirit through baptism. We receive the Holy Spirit through Baptism and Confirmation, which deepens and strengthens the graces of baptism. When we need more of the grace of the Holy Spirit, we can repent of any sins, renew our baptismal promise to belong to Christ, and ask the Holy Spirit to fill us afresh. The same Holy Spirit that began to change the world on the day of Pentecost is available to us right now!

Stop, think and pray:

Let’s meditate on the words spoken over us when we were confirmed: “Be sealed with gift of the Holy Spirit.” This seal marks us as belonging entirely to Jesus Christ and empowered by his Spirit. Let’s accept the reality of that sacrament by faith, surrender ourselves entirely to Jesus, and ask that He fill us afresh with the Holy Spirit.