The Holy Spirit - the "highest" gift of God

When we sing "Veni Creator Spiritus" or the words of "Come, Holy Ghost" we sing the words, "O Comforter, to you we cry, God's gift of love sent from most high. Thou font of life and fire of love, and sweet anointing from above."  The original hymn spoke about the Holy Spirit as the "highest gift of God."  This second verse of the hymn also refers to font (water), fire and anointing (oil).  These are references to our baptism.  In the pagan world, oil was utilized for beauty or for athletes to strengthen their muscles for competition.  In the religious world, oil was used to consecrate the person for special purpose.  Jesus is the "anointed" one of God, the Messiah.  The fullness of God is realized in Jesus' baptism.

Fr. Cantalamessa distinguishes between the two anointings in Jesus' life.  In the incarnation, his anointing was "personal."  Jesus receives God's call as the Messiah, the anointed one.  However, in the Jordan River, he receives the Spirit as the grace he submits to the world through his body.  He goes to the synagogue and, after reading Isaiah, announces, "today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  Early in the church rituals were created to express this for every Christian sharing in the anointing of Jesus.  Today, we anoint both before (oil of catechumens) and after (chrism oil) a child is baptized recognizing these two movements in Jesus' own life.  Every Christian person shares as an anointed one in the person of Jesus Christ.  There is a personal journey (catechumenal) and there is a public journey (chrismal) in which we are called to go forth and be Christ bearers for the world.

There are times in each of our lives when we become overwhelmed by our own sinfulness; our weakness and our imperfections.  At these times, we must rely upon our anointing.  Even in prayer, we must rely on this anointing from God.

As Fr. spoke I recalled a time I went to visit a prisoner in Orient, Ohio.  He had been found guilty on 32 charges and had been a police chief in a neighboring suburb.  I was called to the house the night he was found guilty because they feared he would commit suicide.  After his sentencing he was moved to the Ohio State prison in Orient, Ohio.  I remembered going to visit him and how scared I was.  I felt so inadequate, unprepared, and ill equipped to know what I would say.  I remember praying the entire drive to Columbus, "please Lord, give me the words you wish me to speak."  Jeff was behind a glass wall, shackled hands and feet and his first words to me were, "Father I just wish I were dead."  What do you say from there?  However, God gave me words from above.  I remember speaking words that I knew were not my own.  They came from on high.  They were "anointed" from above.  Another prisoner overheard my words and said, "Preacher, them were some mighty powerful words you spoke."  I remember pointing up to heaven and said, "they weren't mine, they were his." Jeff later wrote that the day of my visit was the worst day of his life and it was as if God had sent an angel to him on that day to lift him from his sorrow.  I understand the power of being anointed.  For certain it had happened on that day and, it has happened time and time again.  It reminds me that no matter what I have been called to do or to say or to go, I am anointed by God to do so.  We are God's anointed and chosen ones!