The Spring of Life in Our Hearts

After Pentecost the apostles were changed people. Although it appears to be a sudden change, it is a mistake to think that the change in their heart happened instantaneously.
Sure, the Holy Spirit enkindled the heart of the Apostles, but their heart had gradually been prepared for this moment. It had to be a process. It was a growth process, set in motion by the action of the Holy Spirit. And growth happens gradually. Let us look at how spring goes about its work of change and renewal.

Each year in South Korea towards the middle of March we will see patches of green begin to appear in the fields and on the hillsides, new patches on an old garment. Day by day the patches get bigger. A month or so later, spring will be wearing a completely new garment.

Yet spring doesn’t make anything happen. It is only facilitator. It merely creates a climate in which things can grow. The new life comes from within. It cannot be imposed. All these brand-new things that we see come from within. What spring does is provide living things with the opportunity, gives them the impulse to realize what is already inside them in a
germinal state.

People, too, need to renew themselves. This renewal, however, cannot be imposed. If this is attempted it will merely result in an outward show, a dressing up. It will not enrich the person, and will soon fade and eventually wear out like a garment.

What people need is someone to awaken them to what is inside them, to bid them live, and help them grow. But growth is slow and painful. We do not easily let go of the old garment, woven out of old attitudes, old ways, and old habits.

But we have been given a wonderful Facilitator, namely, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit awakens us to the mysterious power within us, bids us live, and helps us grow. This gives us some understanding of what happened to the Apostles at Pentecost, and what can happen to us too.

So, my friends, let’s open our heart to the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s accept the gifts – wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, piety, fortitude and fear of the Lord – so that the Spirit of Truth and Love may renew the new spring of life in our heart.

-Fr. John Kim