Receive the Holy Spirit

[RWMorris]

And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit … "

• John 20:22

I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

• Matthew 3:11

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

• Acts 2:4

Is there a difference between receiving the Holy Spirt, being filled with the Holy Spirit, or being baptized with the Holy Spirit?

 

[DebChris]

Is there a difference between receiving the Holy Spirt, being filled with the Holy Spirit, or being baptized with the Holy Spirit?

I read them all as the same. However, you do want to become continually filled with the Holy Spirit, to grow in faith and understanding. This is only possible when we submit to God and receive the grace that He has for each one of us. It requires that we spend time in prayer.
When the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, when they received the Baptism of which John talked, they overcame their fears and by the action of the Holy Spirit living and breathing within them, they were able to perform the same works that Jesus performed when He walked on earth.

 

[phoage]

Think of this example.

You are in a restaurant. The waitress comes by and asks, “Would you like some coffee?”

“Yes please.”

You receive the coffee and tour cup is** filled with** the coffee.

(While composing this response, I thought of that phrase from the 23rd Psalm, “My cup runnith over.” Just an extraneous thought).

Patrick

 

[DebChris]

Think of this example.

You are in a restaurant. The waitress comes by and asks, “Would you like some coffee?”

“Yes please.”

You receive the coffee and tour cup is** filled with** the coffee.

(While composing this response, I thought of that phrase from the 23rd Psalm, “My cup runnith over.” Just an extraneous thought).

Patrick

And it is a bottomless cup. The waitress will keep pouring coffee into the cup as long as we keep drinking the coffee.
The more we keep drinking in the Holy Spirit, the more He keeps pouring Himself into us.

As John the Baptist said, “I must decrease while He increases.”

 

[RWMorris]

Think of this example.

You are in a restaurant. The waitress comes by and asks, “Would you like some coffee?”

“Yes please.”

You receive the coffee and tour cup is** filled with** the coffee.

(While composing this response, I thought of that phrase from the 23rd Psalm, “My cup runnith over.” Just an extraneous thought).

And it is a bottomless cup. The waitress will keep pouring coffee into the cup as long as we keep drinking the coffee.
The more we keep drinking in the Holy Spirit, the more He keeps pouring Himself into us.

As John the Baptist said, “I must decrease while He increases.”

Excellent analogy! But I have additional questions. In John 20:22 Jesus breathed on the Apostles and said "Receive the Holy Spirit … "
Then at a later time, on the day of Pentecost, those same Apostles were “filled with the Holy Spirit”. Why the distinction? Is there a difference?

 

[DebChris]

Excellent analogy! But I have additional questions. In John 20:22 Jesus breathed on the Apostles and said "Receive the Holy Spirit … "
Then at a later time, on the day of Pentecost, those same Apostles were “filled with the Holy Spirit”. Why the distinction? Is there a difference?

Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, He told the disciples to wait and that they would be clothed with power from on high.
This is just a thought. Although the Apostles received the Holy Spirit when Jesus appeared to them after the Resurrection, He remained outside of them. At Pentecost, He was no longer outside, but dwelling within each of the Apostles.
Returning to the analogy of the bottomless cup of coffee. The cup is poured. It is accepted as you sit and savor the aroma. There is even awe, but the cup has yet to be drunk.
At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is no longer outside. The coffee has been drunk.
It is at Pentecost that we speak of the Indwelling Spirit, and not before, of receiving God’s power as our own.

 

[RWMorris]

… It is at Pentecost that we speak of the Indwelling Spirit, and not before, of receiving God’s power as our own.

Pentecostal Protestants and charismatic Catholics see salvation and baptism in the Holy Spirit as separate and manifestly different phenomenons, the latter infusing them with a fiery drive to evangelize. I am not sure I believe them, although they do seem to have some Scriptural support. Is there some truth to their viewpoint?

 

[DebChris]

Pentecostal Protestants and charismatic Catholics see salvation and baptism in the Holy Spirit as separate and manifestly different phenomenons, the latter infusing them with a fiery drive to evangelize. I am not sure I believe them, although they do seem to have some Scriptural support. Is there some truth to their viewpoint?

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of those gifts that each of us has already received by virtue of our Baptism and Confirmation. It is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as received on the Day of Pentecost by the Apostles.
This term, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, as used by Pentecostals, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, is not a new Sacrament. Through the Blood of Christ on the cross we have been saved. We continue to be saved each and every time the Mass is celebrated any where in the world until the end of time. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith, by which we are fed and nourished.
Likewise, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit who has infused us with His power and grace so that we more and more reflect that grace to which we are called. The grace and power of the Holy Spirit is released within our lives through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

 

[RWMorris]

… Likewise, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit who has infused us with His power and grace so that we more and more reflect that grace to which we are called. The grace and power of the Holy Spirit is released within our lives through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you so much for the dialogue. My final question would be, is baptism in the Holy Spirit and baptism in water a singular event, or are they separable events that just happen to coincide?

 

[phoage]

I believe they are separate events that happen to coincide, once. You can be baptized only once but you can receive the Holy Spirit many times. As the least, the Holy Spirit is present at Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders and Anointing the Sick. Reference the Catechism, 1266, 1303, 1585, and 1520. Check out the Catechism index under Holy Spirit. There is almost a page and a half of just references in the index.

 

[aingil]

Excellent analogy! But I have additional questions. In John 20:22 Jesus breathed on the Apostles and said "Receive the Holy Spirit … "
Then at a later time, on the day of Pentecost, those same Apostles were “filled with the Holy Spirit”. Why the distinction? Is there a difference?

It is interesting that you bring this up. I was reading a homily by St Vincent Ferrer the other day and he specifically mentioned that distinction.

"But today, they receive the Holy Spirit for the plenitude of grace and spiritual perfections. About this our theme speaks: “Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” It does not say they accepted the Holy Spirit, because already they had accepted him through sanctifying [gratificantem] grace. But “they were filled” which is to say that they were filled again, just as John 3, “reborn” and also “filled” that is filled again. I find that after the resurrection of Christ, the apostles and disciples received the Holy Spirit in
three fullnesses:

• First with the fullness of intellectual knowledge.
• Second with the fullness of spiritual power.
• And third with the fullness of universal eloquence. But today’s reception was greater,
  therefore the theme says: “All were filled.”
  …Now I go to practical things which I shall declare through four necessary dispositions for
  receiving the Holy Spirit with a fullness of grace.
  First, is bodily abstinence,
  Second, is affective prayer,
  Third is fraternal concord, and
  Fourth is doctrinal listening.
  All these dispositions, each and every one, the apostles and disciples of Christ had, on account of which the theme says: “They were filled etc.” "

The whole homily is here. svfparish.org/svfsermons/B247_Pentecost.htm

There are some references to events that are not specifically mentioned in scripture, so I’m not sure what that is about. But the points he makes are still interesting and valid.

 

[DebChris]

It is interesting that you bring this up. I was reading a homily by St Vincent Ferrer the other day and he specifically mentioned that distinction.

"But today, they receive the Holy Spirit for the plenitude of grace and spiritual perfections. About this our theme speaks: “Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” It does not say they accepted the Holy Spirit, because already they had accepted him through sanctifying [gratificantem] grace. But “they were filled” which is to say that they were filled again, just as John 3, “reborn” and also “filled” that is filled again. I find that after the resurrection of Christ, the apostles and disciples received the Holy Spirit in
three fullnesses:

• First with the fullness of intellectual knowledge.
• Second with the fullness of spiritual power.
• And third with the fullness of universal eloquence. But today’s reception was greater,
  therefore the theme says: “All were filled.”
  …Now I go to practical things which I shall declare through four necessary dispositions for
  receiving the Holy Spirit with a fullness of grace.
  First, is bodily abstinence,
  Second, is affective prayer,
  Third is fraternal concord, and
  Fourth is doctrinal listening.
  All these dispositions, each and every one, the apostles and disciples of Christ had, on account of which the theme says: “They were filled etc.” "

The whole homily is here. svfparish.org/svfsermons/B247_Pentecost.htm

There are some references to events that are not specifically mentioned in scripture, so I’m not sure what that is about. But the points he makes are still interesting and valid.

This is great. I wanted to return to the analogy of the coffee cup. Without this explanation, it could be confusing.
At first, our capacity to hold the Holy Spirit amounts to that of a thimble. It doesn’t take much to be filled to overflowing. As we grow in faith, so does the size of the vessel that we are becoming. There is a big difference between how much a thimble can hold and how much a juice glass, or tea cup can hold. We begin to feel empty, but remaining open to the Holy Spirit by means of our life and prayer, He comes to us once more, He fills us to capacity, how ever much we can hold until we say “I’m full.”
God is patient. When we are ready, when we have grown some more, and our capacity increased, He fills us once more with His grace and Love.
We begin as a thimble. We become a teacup, then a mug. We become a pitcher, etc. God’s love is boundless. It is our capacity to receive that Love which is limited.
He who abides in Love abides in God, and God in him.

 

[RWMorris]

… Reference the Catechism, 1266, 1303, 1585, and 1520. Check out the Catechism index under Holy Spirit. There is almost a page and a half of just references in the index.

Thank you for the references; I will read them.

 

[RWMorris]

It is interesting that you bring this up. I was reading a homily by St Vincent Ferrer the other day and he specifically mentioned that distinction … The whole homily is here. svfparish.org/svfsermons/B247_Pentecost.htm

This is a really good sermon; it really helps my understanding.

 

[BRB1]

is baptism in the Holy Spirit and baptism in water a singular event, or are they separable events that just happen to coincide?

They could coincide, but scripture indicates they can be separated in time.

 

[incense]

Since at the very worst, nothing would happen, why not seek a baptism of the Spirit and see if you notice a difference.

 

[DebChris]

Since at the very worst, nothing would happen, why not seek a baptism of the Spirit and see if you notice a difference.

I’m trying to find the exact scripture passage in which Jesus asks if a father would give a rock to his child if he asks for a loaf of bread.
So your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to whomever asks.

 

[antonabe]

Very inspiring Dialogue,I just want to add one more thought to this.The Holy Spirit will remain with you after Baptism and Confirmation and can be invoked as long as you are in the state of grace.Mortal Sin will drive away the Holy Spirit, and repentance and confession will thereafter the create the climate for the rentry of the Holy Spirit

 

[cdanison]

I have a question. About twelve days after my beloved husband passed away, I was watching TV, when I felt a presence. I immediately turned off the TV. I asked “Ed, is that you?” There was a beautiful aroma, which I cannot relate to any flower I have ever smelled. It was as if my husband’s spirit was standing behind my right shoulder and I felt him say “I love you and I don’t want you to cry.” Then he was gone and so was the aroma.

I have attributed this to a visit from the Holy Spirit because I cannot attribute it to any thing else. There have been two or three other occurences which I can only attribute to the Holy Spirit.

Am I wrong to believe this was a visit from the Holy Spirit? Nothing like this has ever happened in my life. I think some may think I am making this up, or that I am crazy. It actually happened. I would appreciate your thoughts.

 

[antonabe]

I’m trying to find the exact scripture passage in which Jesus asks if a father would give a rock to his child if he asks for a loaf of bread.
So your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to whomever asks.

In Luke 11-11 it says"You fathers if your children ask for fish do you give them a snake…etc
Is this the quotation from the Bible you are looking for?