You've been with me from the beginning, says Jesus

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052719.cfm
Acts 16:11-15
John 15:26-27

In the gospel of John, and especially in the passages that have enriched us over the past several weeks, we have been introduced and re-introduced to the Spirit which Jesus promised the Father would send. Yet, ignorance of the Spirit is common. I know fathers and sons and brothers. They are an ordinary part of my life; so, from my beginning, my Heavenly Father and Jesus did not come to me as total strangers.

The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God is lacking such favorable associations. Perhaps that resulted from the questionable kinship implied by his previous title: ‘Holy Ghost’. The ‘Holy’ part was never quite sufficient to offset childhood memories of ghosts. Apparition, bogey, phantasm, specter, spook, wraith — all these are considered synonyms of ‘ghost.’ None sound particularly inviting; and all carry implications of death. Fortunately, wisdom dictated a more accurate name be assigned.

We come to know the Father steadily and surely through the centuries of the Old Testament; and we come to know the Son in the person of Jesus Christ. But it would appear that our Scriptural knowledge of the Spirit is sparse. Such is not the case.

What is true is that references to the Spirit are scattered and there is not a clear, concrete image to which these references can be attached.

Nevertheless, the Spirit is revealed in multiple verses. Among these we find Bez’alel being selected to build the Tabernacle for the Ark of the Covenant because “I [the Lord] have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship”. (Exodus 31:3) In the book of Judges we read that the Lord selected a certain Oth’ni-el to battle the oppressor of his people. “The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel; he went out to war, and the LORD gave Cu'shan-rishatha'im king of Mesopota'mia into his hand.” (Judges 3:10) We find that King David had a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. Even as he was dying, he spoke of their interaction. "The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me, his word is upon my tongue.” (II Samuel 23:2) In Psalm fifty-one we learn that the Spirit is indicative of the very presence of God. “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:11) And in another Psalm we find that creativity is the work of the Spirit. “When you send forth your Spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.” (Psalm 104:30) Then, too, there is the verse from the book, Wisdom of Solomon, which tells us that wisdom comes to men through the Holy Spirit. “Who has learned your counsel, unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy Spirit from on high?” (Wisdom of Solomon 9:17) Following the coming of the Holy Spirit in power at Pentecost, Paul tells us on multiple occasions that it is the Holy Spirit who brings renewal, rebirth, and a new creation.

We have a saying whose truth is dubious at best: Ignorance is bliss. With regard to the Holy Spirit, Ignorance is nowhere close to bliss. In fact, ignorance of the Holy Spirit is probably self defeating. Consider: Over and above our innate abilities, intelligence, knowledge and craftsmanship (Exodus 31:3); over and above our innate power, strength and judgment against oppression (Judges 3:10); over and above our innate awareness of the presence of the Lord (II Samuel 23:2)(Psalm 51:11); over and above the wisdom that flows from our rational nature (Wisdom of Solomon 9:17); over and above all these we can be blessed with the Spirit who will take any and each and all of these to an entirely new level. That is why Jesus told the Apostles that they should celebrate his return to the Father; for it was upon his return that the Spirit would be sent.

The dictionary’s first definition of ‘spirit’ is that ‘spirit’ is “an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms.” The Spirit is not only the source of that animating or vital principle held to give life, the Spirit of God is, in its very being, Life. It is that “life in abundance” which Jesus came to bring.

So we are left with the simple problem of physical association — the connection which makes it easier to relate to Father and Son. For this I have no solution. For myself, the best I can do is turn to my firm grasp of the fact that the intangible, the unseen, the spiritual Are undeniable realities. Creativity and life and love are truths which I can affirm as absolute. They are the essence of the Holy Spirit.