Many years ago – almost two decades ago – I was invited to attend a charismatic prayer meeting at the home of a friend. As a rather quiet and traditional Catholic, I was feeling quite out of place among the enthusiastic worship and exuberant prayer. I had a mature relationship with Jesus, but the charismatic environment was both unfamiliar and uncomfortable.
The visiting Franciscan sister who was leading the gathering said, “Raise your hand if you’ve got the fire of the Holy Spirit!” Hands shot up all around me, but I hesitated – Yes, I was baptized and confirmed, but did these Catholics have more of the Spirit than I did? I firmly believed in Jesus and was living the Catholic faith with sincere fervor, so I had to assume that the Spirit was at work within me. As I slowly, sheepishly raised my hand in the small group, the sister joyfully joked, “It looks like the fire of Spirit is falling on someone right now!
Fire is a beautiful symbol of the Spirit’s presence. In the book of Acts, the Spirit descended as tongues of fire (Acts 2:3-4). St. John of the Cross also uses the image of fire to describe how the Holy Spirit gradually changes us: A log that is placed in a fire does not burst into flame all at once, but it is slowly consumed and transformed by the fire.
In a similar way, the Holy Spirit – whom John of the Cross calls “the Living Flame of Love” – purifies us of our sins, then enkindles us with God’s love, until we act in complete union with his love. St. John of the Cross describes the heights of the transforming union with the Spirit to which we are called:
Finally, all the movements, operations and inclinations the soul had previously from the principle and strength of its natural life are now in this union… changed into divine movements, and alive to God.… Accordingly, the intellect of this soul is God’s intellect; its will is God’s will; its memory is the eternal memory of God; and its delight is God’s delight; … and although the substance of this soul is not the substance of God, since it cannot undergo a substantial conversion into him, it has become God though participation in God, being united to and absorbed in God. Such a union is wrought in this perfect state of the spiritual life, yet not as perfectly as in the next life. (Living Flame of Love, 2.34).
All Catholics – whether charismatic, traditional, or some combination thereof – should agree that the Spirit’s work is a process, not just a one-time event: In Baptism we die to sin with Christ and begin a new life in the Spirit as children of God. Confirmation strengthens us with the Spirit’s gifts and prepares us for our mission in the Church. Occasionally, we experience unmistakable encounters with the Holy Spirit that lead us to deeper personal conversion. The Holy Spirit works to transform us “from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18) until we are conformed to the image of Jesus himself.
The spiritual life is traditionally understood to include three basic stages: The beginner (the purgative way), the proficient (illuminative way), and the perfect (unitive way). First, the Lord purifies us of sin and attachment to worldly things (purgative way). Then, the Lord increases our virtues and our intimacy with him (illuminative way). Finally, the Lord brings us into a profound union with himself, characterized by deep peace, spiritual joy, and the perfection of charity (unitive way).
The process of starting a fire can help us understand these three spiritual stages. As any good camper knows, you can’t just put a match onto a log and expect it to catch fire. You need three basic things to really get a fire going: tinder, such as dry leaves or pine needles; kindling, such as small dry branches; and good logs for fuel. The way that a fire reaches full strength is like the way that the Holy Spirit gradually inflames our souls.
First, you light the tinder, which burns easily and quickly. This is similar to how the Holy Spirit gives us “sensory consolations,” emotional experiences that inspire us to deeper devotion. The Lord often uses things like architecture, liturgy, music, or nature to stir our hearts toward heaven. As tinder helps to get a fire going, the Holy Spirit gives us bursts of inspiration to move us toward holiness.
As the small tinder burns away, the larger kindling should become enflamed next. This is like the Holy Spirit giving us “spiritual consolations,” deeper encounters with the Lord that call us to greater intimacy with him. You might experience a profound insight from Sacred Scripture, an intense awareness of God’s presence, or a deep longing to accomplish some mission in the Church. Just as a fire cannot survive on tinder alone, our hearts need more than passing emotional experiences – we need the Spirit to work within our intellect, our memory, and our will to strengthen us in faith, hope, and charity.
A fire is fully blazing only when the kindling causes the larger logs to catch fire. Eventually, both the tinder and the kindling burn away, and only the blazing logs remain. In a similar way, St. John of the Cross speaks about how passing sensory and spiritual consolations give way to an abiding presence of God, rooted in pure faith, hope, and charity. Our hearts have then been overtaken by the living flame of the Holy Spirit, so that only his action within us remains.
If that Franciscan sister asked me today if I have the fire of the Holy Spirit, I’d raise my hand with much less hesitation. I’d also have to acknowledge, though, that the Spirit still has a lot of work to do within me! May the fire of God’s Holy Spirit purify and transform every one of us, “that God may be all in all” within us (1 Corinthians 15:28)!