THE HOLY SPIRIT CONCEIVES US IN GLORY


SAINT BONIFACE, BISHOP, MARTYR 

Act 22:30,23:6-11; Ps 16:1-2,5,7-11; Jn 17:20-26

The Holy Spirit of Glory

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of glory, for he reveals the glory of the Father and the Son. All who are born of him are sons of glory. Just as the Son of Man is conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, each believer in the Son of Man is also conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the spiritual order. Hence, we experience growth in our spiritual life with true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The visible characteristics of the increase in spiritual life are deeper prayer life and steadfastness in our confession of faith in Jesus Christ. These are the essential features of the glory that the Holy Spirit confers on us, which manifests through our lives. Christian prayer is always a gift from the Holy Spirit, for he joins with our spirits to enable us to cry Abba Father. The essence of Christian prayer is to recognise God as our Father, and the grace of prayer that is well said flows into the steady and consistent confession of faith in the Son of Man who purchased us with his precious blood. The recognition of God as our Father is the intensification of our union with the Son of Man, who is our Head. The grace flows into our deeper devotion to the Blessed Virgin, whose maternal and prayerful solicitude is indispensable to our overcoming the enemies of our salvation.

The glory of being conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which implies to be born according to the will of the Father, is what Jesus prayed for us. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may always see the glory you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” Our knowledge of the glory the Father gave the human nature of his Son is to share in his birth through the Blessed and Immaculate Virgin Mary. It is in the Blessed Virgin Mary we come to understand the marvel of grace the Holy Spirit wrought in the conception and birth of the Eternal Word. We cannot be completely one with him without sharing in this experience of his human nature. “With me in them and you in me, may they be so completely one that the world will realise that it was you who sent me and that I have loved them as much as you loved me.” When the Holy Spirit establishes Jesus Christ in us, there is no way he will not share the loving sentiments he has for his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, with us. These are essential contents of the glory of the Son of Man. Our oneness with the Son of Man is not based only on the love the Holy Spirit pours into our souls; we are also one with him in the mystical sense of sharing his conception through the Holy Spirit and birth by the Blessed Virgin Mary.

We see the analogy of these essential aspects of the glory the Holy Spirit confers on us play out in Saint Paul’s witnessing before the Sanhedrin. He presented the credentials of his parents to overcome his enemies and accusers before the tribune. “Now Paul was well aware that one section was made up of Sadducees and the other of Pharisees, so he called out in the Sanhedrin, ‘Brothers, I am a Pharisee and the son of Pharisees. It is for our hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” Should we not follow the example of Paul to realise and publish the credentials of our spiritual parents? We have God as our Father, for his divine will conceives us. We have the Blessed Virgin Mary as our mother, for she mystically brings us to life with our Head in the spiritual order. The gift of the Holy Spirit bestows this glory on us.

These mysteries are the source of glory of the Son of Man and the source and foundation of the steadfastness of Saint Boniface. He was born in Devon in 675 as Wynfrith. He had his education at the Benedictine monastery at Exeter and later entered the monastery at Nursling, near Southampton. He taught and preached the Gospel for some time before going on a mission. Pope Gregory II commissioned him for the foreign mission and changed his name to Boniface. He left England to evangelise the heathen tribes of Germany, where he had great success. He was created the Bishop of Mainz and founded or restored the dioceses in Bavaria, Thuringia, and Franconia. He worked with King Pepin the Short to reform the Frankish church. He was murdered during his missionary work in Friesland in 754. He is honoured as the apostle of Germany.

Let us pray: May the Martyr Saint Boniface be our advocate, O Lord, that we may firmly hold the faith he taught with his lips and sealed in his blood and confidently profess it by our deeds. Through our Lord Jesu Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.  

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