The Wind of the Spirit

Here in the Pacific Northwest we get a bad rap for the rain. Well, yes it does rain and sometimes it rains profusely. But we always look forward to the sunny, warm, sometimes hot, summer months when the rain dries up big time.

Most of the time, though, it’s the wind that hits the Pacific coastline generally in November/December that makes one take cover and hold on. Tall, stately Douglas fir trees that fill backyards and cover the mountains can also be a worry when the wind blows strong. They bend back and forth as a 40 or 50 mile an hour gust buffets against them and though their roots are shallow, it is said that if they are close together the roots hang on to each other. Disney would have them reach their branches out like arms or maybe line dance in the wind. “Hang on boys. It’s a mighty one,” we might hear them say with a Disneyesque imagination.

Today’s Gospel from John 3: 7-15 is a continuation of yesterday’s conversation between Jesus and the inquisitive Pharisee Nicodemus. So, if you’re reading this blog entry, you may want to back up to yesterday first then come to this. Either way, it works.

In that reading we hear Jesus say, “The wind blows where it will, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes . . .” You think Jesus dropped in during one of our wind storms? His statement is both poetic and mysterious. I believe the work of the Holy Spirit in our midst, in our personal lives, in those born by water and the spirit, a.k.a. those deeply committed to the Christian Gospel, indeed may find themselves in for a rough blow at times.

Also, I find that Our Lord may be preparing Nicodemus for what lies ahead after his Resurrection – the time in which the Spirit of God will blow and rest far beyond Jerusalem to the Gentile world. In unlikely and unpredictable ways, the preaching of Paul, Peter, and the other Apostles and those who accompanied them on their various missions beyond the city of Jerusalem were surprised by how the same Holy Spirit which came to rest on them (Jews) now blows and alights on the Gentile world. The Church has more than once been defined as, “Here comes everybody!” Indeed that is God’s intent; to breathe his life upon all who come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Let me close as I add this beautiful prayer to the Holy Spirit composed by the great convert and theologian of the fifth century, St. Augustine of Hippo. As you pray today, may your day be one filled with the wind and breath of the Spirit. We need to allow God the freedom to blow as he will:


Breathe into me, Holy Spirit,
That my thoughts may be all holy.

Move in me, Holy Spirit,
That my work, too, may be holy.

Attract my heart, Holy Spirit,
That I may love only what is holy.

Strengthen me, Holy Spirit,
That I may defend all that is holy.

Protect me, Holy Spirit,
That I may always be holy.


St. Augustine