By Sister Delia Calis, SSND
Augustine speaks often of the inner power of the Holy Spirit, both within each person, individually, and within the Church. as the Body of Christ. In celebration of Pentecost, I'd like to share some of his reflections and prayers.
In his sermon on the Feast of Pentecost, Augustine writes:
At Pentecost, … the humble piety of believers brought all these diverse languages into the unity of the Church. What discord had scattered, love was to gather together.
Like the limbs of a single body, the separated members of the human race would be restored to unity by being joined to Christ, their common head, and welded into the oneness of a holy body by the fire of love.
Anyone therefore who rejects the gift of peace and withdraws from the fellowship of this unity cuts himself off from the gift of the Holy Spirit.
So then, my fellow members of Christ’s body, you are the fruits of unity and the children of peace.
Keep this day with joy, celebrate it in freedom of spirit, for in you is fulfilled what was foreshadowed in those days when the Holy Spirit came.
At that time whoever received the Holy Spirit spoke in many languages, individual though he was. Now in the same way unity itself speaks through all nations in every tongue.
If you yourselves are established in that unity you have the Holy Spirit among you, and nothing can separate you from the Church of Christ which speaks in the language of every nation of the world. (Sermon 271:PL 38, 1245-1246)
Augustine also writes of the Holy Spirit moving within all creation, using the images of wind, fire, breath, water, the earth, the sea:
I set before the sight of my spirit the whole creation, whatever we can see therein (such as earth, stars, trees, mortal creatures); yes, and whatever in it we cannot see .... And Thee I imagined on every part encircling and pervading it: as if there were a sea, everywhere and on every side, through unmeasured space, one only boundless sea; and it contained within it some sponge, huge, but bounded; that sponge must needs, in all its parts, be filled with that immeasurable sea: so conceived I Thy creation, itself finite, yet full of Thee, the Infinite; and I said, behold what God hath created, and behold how we are encompassed...
Present as the sea in every pore of the sponge, the Spirit of God makes the world dripping wet with divine presence. (Confessions, Book XIII)
Augustine also composed many powerful and beautiful prayers invoking the Holy Spirit that Christians have prayed throughout the ages:
PRAYER FOR THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Holy Spirit, powerful Consoler, sacred Bond of the Father and the Son, Hope of the afflicted, descend into my heart and establish in it your loving dominion. Enkindle in my tepid soul the fire of your Love so that I may be wholly subject to you. We believe that when you dwell in us, you also prepare a dwelling for the Father and the Son. Deign, therefore, to come to me, Consoler of abandoned souls, and Protector of the needy. Help the afflicted, strengthen the weak, and support the wavering. Come and purify me. Let no evil desire take possession of me. You love the humble and resist the proud. Come to me, glory of the living, and hope of the dying. Lead me by your grace that I may always be pleasing to you. Amen.
PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
Breathe in me O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy.Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. Amen
PRAYER OF BLESSING
Lord, let my whole heart be inflamed with love for you.
Let nothing in me belong to me and let me have thought for myself.
Let me burn and be wholly consumed in you;
Let me love you with my whole being as one set on fire by you.
Augustine’s whole Book of Confessions is a prayer of praise. We are familiar with the following beautiful and intimate prayer:
Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace. (Confessions, X)
