Cedric Pisegna - Veni Sancte Spiritus

Welcome to «Live With Passion»! I’m Father Cedric Pisegna. So glad that you tuned into the program. This series is about, «I am with you,» that’s God speaking. And in a very special way, God is with us through the Holy Spirit. The ancient prayer of the church is «Veni Sancte Spiritus,» come, Holy Spirit. This reading comes from the Gospel of John chapter 20. This happened right after the Resurrection. «On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, the risen Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' Then he showed them his hands inside. And the disciples were glad when they saw the risen Lord. And Jesus said again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' And when he said that, he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'»

I grew up in Massachusetts and there were some frigid, cold mornings that we had there. We’d go out to the bus stop, be a group of us students, we’d be standing there trying to get warm as we wait for the bus, and we’d talk to each other saying, «Good morning,» or whatever it was, and whenever you spoke, this cloud came out of our mouth. It was our breath. Because it was so cold, you could see your breath. Breath is a reality. Breath is life. There’s an animation in breath. You’ve ever seen mouth to mouth resuscitation when somebody’s sick or almost drowning, someone will come and… they’ll breathe breath into them.

That’s exactly what happened in the book of Genesis. God was forming Adam out of the clay, out of the mud, and he breathed into his nostrils. And I am praying that that breath of God, the word in the Hebrew is ruah, breath, sounds like breath, onomatopoeic. I pray that the ruah of God, the breath of God will come into you as you watch this program. That you will sense the Holy Spirit. The title of this program is «Veni Sancte Spiritus,» which means, «Come, Holy Spirit,» but more than that, I think we ought to be praying, «Welcome, Holy Spirit,» because the Spirit is already present. What we need to do is open up our hearts to receive. We welcome the Holy Spirit into our life in a beautiful way. And I am praying that you will simply believe and receive.

The Spirit brings abundance. Number one, a personal relationship with God. This is how we know God in a real way through the Holy Spirit who lives with us. Number two, the Spirit comes to bring about change. Talked about that in one of my other episodes, that we can only change with God’s help. We can change a little bit on our own, but really doesn’t work, not lasting change. We need God’s help. The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit, holy in and of itself, but comes to make us holy. And then number three, the Spirit comes so that we can be a witness. Jesus said, «Wait here until you receive power from on high and you will be my witness».

What I mean by that is that the Spirit comes to help us develop and to change and to realize our potential, to become all that we can be, to fulfill our destiny. Who you are is God’s gift to you, but who you become through the Holy Spirit is your gift to God. It’s real simple. The Spirit comes to give us something real with God, to change us, and so that we can become all that we can be. It’s abundance. This series is all about how God is with us. But through the Holy Spirit, God is in us, in our innermost depths of our heart. In is so much closer than with, of course. It was Saint Augustine that said years ago, «God is closer to us than we are to ourselves». You think you’re close to yourself, you think about your own heart, God is even closer than that. This is such a wonderful truth. Jesus came to bring us life, abundant life.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, «What lies behind us, what lies before us, are little compared to what lies in us». And what lies in us? Almighty God, the breath of God, the person of God, the presence of God that is the Holy Spirit, our soul mate, our beloved. Eternal life, which Jesus came to bring, doesn’t just happen after you die. It happens when you come into a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Wow, eternal life. That’s what Jesus came to bring us. Jesus told us a parable about a man who was walking in a field and he dug in that field and he found a treasure. And what he did is, he buried the treasure, went off and he sold all that he had, and he bought that field. The Holy Spirit is a treasure, wealth of fortune untold.

I have discovered in my life something so rich of inestimable value. I remember my parents, they used to have one of these treasure finders. They would go on the beach. You’ve seen people on the beach that do that. They go back and forth looking for metal. What happens is, if you get over a watch or a ring or coins, it beeps. And they dig and they found that they had a whole treasure chest full of things, watches as I said, and all kinds of different coins. They had rings, earrings that they found. It was a treasure chest full of stuff worth nothing compared to the Holy Spirit. You have within you a treasure, wealth untold. And here’s what I want to tell you. This treasure is of inestimable value. You can’t put a price on this. The Holy Spirit is priceless. The Holy Spirit brings joy and eternal life in abundance.

There are some descriptive words in the Bible about the Holy Spirit, the Helper. We all need help, every situation we get into. The Energizer. I always talk to people about living with passion. The Spirit brings passion, energy, destiny. The Spirit is the Comforter, love that, because we all need comfort, especially when we’re going through hard times. The Spirit is the Counselor. The Spirit guides us, helps us, leads us, controls us, counsels us. The Spirit is our Intercessor. Do you know that at this very moment, the Holy Spirit is praying for you? Says in Romans 8 that we don’t even know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit prays through us with groans and sighs too deep for words. And the Spirit, of course, strengthens us and stands by us. Wonderful Holy Spirit.

The interesting thing about this treasure, and it’s so much, in this treasure we could spend all day unpacking it, there’s so much in there. The interesting thing is most people don’t even know, they don’t even know there is a Holy Spirit. They hear about the Holy Spirit, but they don’t know who the Holy Spirit is. Most don’t know the person of the Holy Spirit living in them, they’re missing the core of Christianity. The reason why Jesus came to bring us eternal life, to unite us with the Holy Spirit.

At the beginning of Mass, we say, «The grace of the Lord Jesus,» it’s called the greeting, «The grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all». Communion, oneness, union with God. I was watching a documentary about the Trappist monks, Cistercian monks. They pray together in community several times a day. Work and prayer, work and prayer, that’s the mainstay of their life. And they said, «The reason why we do this is to achieve union with God». That, in a nutshell, is the Christian life. We are striving for union, communion, with God. This is why the Holy Spirit comes, to give us something real, to give us something personal, to give us something intimate with God.

And I would venture to say, in the church people have heard about the Holy Spirit, but they don’t really know who the Holy Spirit is. Walter Kasper, he was a theologian in the Catholic Church, called the Holy Spirit the unknown God, and I’m trying to make that known to you because the new covenant was all about, «Everybody will know me from the least to the greatest. They shall all know me». And knowing in the Bible is an intimate term having to do with oneness and communion. Remember, Paul the Apostle went to the Corinthians and he looked them in the eyes and he said, «Don’t you know,» and I say that to you right now watching my program, «Don’t you know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit lives within you»?

They didn’t know. There has to be an awakening, a new consciousness, a welcoming of the Holy Spirit. Pray that again, «Veni Sancte Spiritus,» come, Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, we welcome you into our hearts. We want to know you, want to receive eternal life. We wanna know you in an intimate, real way, yes. I was leading a Bible study one time talking to the people around. I was talking about the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit was working in my life, and I’ll never forget, the woman across from me looked me in the eye and she said, «Who is the Holy Spirit? And how come we don’t hear this being preached»?

And I looked at her and I saw her desire, her curiosity, if you will, she really wanted to know. And I think, to me, she was representing millions of people out there who are saying, «Who is the Holy Spirit? Yeah, we hear about it in the Bible, we hear about it at church and we pray in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, but who is the Holy Spirit»? Saint John Paul II used to be a pope in our church. John Paul II, now a saint, he wrote an encyclical years ago called, «The Holy Spirit: Lord and Giver of Life».

Just that title tells us who the Holy Spirit is. Number one, Lord. The Holy Spirit is God. Not just an angel, although angels are pretty almighty and pretty powerful. Not just an angel, but the Holy Spirit is God. Everything that God is, the Holy Spirit is. The person of God, the presence of God, omnipotent, all powerful, omniscient, everywhere present. The Holy Spirit, Lord and giver of life. I’ve talked about that. The Spirit comes to bring abundant life, to assure us of eternal life, to change our lives, to help us to change, to give us something real with God. Giver of life, abundance. Think about overflow, think about grace. Welcome, Holy Spirit, veni Sancte Spiritus, come upon my viewers as they watch this program, touch them in a powerful way, change their lives, revolutionize us by your presence.

I got to preach at a National Catholic Black Congress. This was near Washington DC, some 3,000 black Catholics. Now, I remember during the congress there were people gathered from all around the country, and from other countries too, and during the congress they would have speakers. I was one of the speakers, but they would have other speakers, and they would get up there in front of everybody and say, «God is good». Everybody would respond, «All the time». And then the speaker would say, «All the time,» and everybody would say, «God is good». That’s who the Holy Spirit is. God, the goodness of God all the time.

When I talk about the goodness of God, his beauty, his brilliance, his glory that illumines us, the gifts of God like blessing, favor, generosity. Most of all, though, when we talk about the goodness of God, it’s the person of God. Remember that scene with Moses where God passed by and God said, «You can’t see my face, no one can see my face and live,» and he passed by him, all of his goodness passed by. I’d like to say that you don’t always see the Lord coming, but you know when he’s been there. God is good all the time, all the time God is good, the presence, the person of the Holy Spirit. Most don’t even know who the Holy Spirit is and that’s why our church, in some ways, is in crisis.

What do I mean by that? Vocations to the priesthood are way down. Religious life in many places is diminishing and even dying. Seventeen percent of Catholics since the pandemic have returned to Mass and are going to Mass, 17%. That’s 83% of the church isn’t even attending or participating. Four out of five young people fall away. And why this exodus, why this crisis in the church? We need an encounter, a meeting, a touch of the Holy Spirit. That’s my prayer for you. To be honest, one of the reasons why I wanted to get on television is so that I could help people to receive what Jesus died to give them. That’s the Holy Spirit. Because once you come into relationship with the Holy Spirit, once you come into communion with the Holy Spirit and develop intimacy with the Holy Spirit, you have eternal life. It’s yours forever and ever. Death doesn’t stop it, death will catapult you into something more.

Remember what Paul the Apostle said? He said, «Nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even death». Death doesn’t separate us from the love of God, death catapults us into the love of God even more. «The Holy Spirit is the love of God poured into our hearts,» Paul tells us. The very love of God, the person of God, the love, the affection that God has for us, the care, the wonderful grace of God poured into our hearts, this is who the Holy Spirit is, a real person, God Almighty, living in us. Veni Sancte Spiritus, welcome, Holy Spirit, come and touch all viewers, all listeners. Touch them with your glorious, peaceful, loving presence. Revolutionize our life. Millions of people need this because our church is in crisis.

See, what happened to me is, when I was 19 years old, I had left the church. I called out to God for wisdom, for help. That’s exactly what Jesus taught. He said, «Seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened; ask, and you shall receive». «If you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father,» this is from the Gospel of Luke, «how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask»? That’s what we ought to be asking for more than anything else. We’re good at asking for all kinds of different things, for health and for jobs and for relationships. That’s all fine. Those are petitions and intercessions, but our main prayer ought to be for intimacy with God. How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit, veni Sancte Spiritus, to those who ask.

I started asking for wisdom. I started asking and God answered and revolutionized my life. I had, it’s hard to describe in words, a filling, a release of the Holy Spirit, baptism in the Holy Spirit. It’s what John the Baptist said. Said, «I come to baptize you with water, but the one coming after me will baptize you,» think about being plunged, surrounded, sopping wet with water, saturated by the Holy Spirit. But once the Holy Spirit touched my life, it was like a veil was lifted, I began to understand. And the more that I read, the more I wanted to read, and I began to develop my relationship with Jesus and learn wisdom and understand the scriptures that my prayer life was revolutionized.

Romans 8 says we don’t even know how to pray as we ought. I was just praying these rogue prayers that didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Then, it became this love relationship, this communion that I never knew before and I’d never knew I could have. You see, the Spirit comes to revolution. Get that booklet, «Receive A Revolution,» that I have on my website or write me for that. «Receive A Revolution,» or, «Experience Rebirth». Those two booklets will help you. Get my book, «Glorious Holy Spirit». It’ll really help you. Revolutionized. And then, one of my prayers was, «Lord, lead me, guide me, control me, use me». I love that prayer to the Holy Spirit. You can pray that too. Lord, lead me, guide me, control me, use me.

I started praying that and I started getting these… it was my voice, but… we call them being led by the Holy Spirit, they’re impressions and inner knowing, I started hearing from the Holy Spirit like, «Forgive that person». I’d hear things like, «Accept this situation in your life». «Give, donate,» then, «Slow down,» when I’m driving. «Get involved with prison ministry, with migrants, with church». I was never involved in church. It was the Spirit that led me to become a priest, called me to get involved, fully involved. And that’s what the Holy Spirit brings. The Holy Spirit brings a whole new perception of life, a whole new voice within you that will lead you to the fullness of God’s will because we don’t know God’s will in the natural. It’s the Spirit that has the mind of Christ, knows God’s will, knows the mind of God.

That’s right from 1 Corinthians, that’s right from Romans. And because of the Spirit, we can be walking in God’s will. I want you to be filled with the Holy Spirit, want you to know God in a personal way, to be led and controlled and guided and walking in God’s will. There is no greater joy. Millions of people have received the Holy Spirit, of course. We’ve all heard about the Charismatic Renewal and Azusa Street and the revivals and all the different… but the Holy Spirit is for the mainstream also, not just for the Charismatics. The Holy Spirit’s for everybody. Jesus died for us to have this abundant life. Jesus said, of course, in John 10:10, I quoted it before, «I’ve come that you may have life, life abundant».

Think about that breath, that renewal, that revival, that revolution. Jesus doesn’t want churchgoers per se, that’s not why he died. Although he wants us to go to church and be involved and participate and make a difference in the world, he came to revolutionize our life and it’s the Holy Spirit who does that. This series is about, «I am with You,» and God is with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. Wow, Holy Spirit is so good. You might say, «Well, I don’t feel worthy». Think about the Gospel of John, the Samaritan woman. Jesus meets this woman at the well. First of all, she’s a woman, not a good thing in that culture. She’s a Samaritan, they were at odds with the Jews. She had been divorced five times and the man that she’s… she’s living in sin.

And Jesus said, «If you knew who you’re talking to, you would have asked him, and out of your heart would have flowed rivers of living water. I would have given you living water,» He said. There’s so many images for the Holy Spirit, water, wind, fire, the dove, light, breath. And I love how Jesus offers this sinful woman, who we believe has become a saint because of the Holy Spirit, he offers this woman who is not worthy the grace and the power of the Holy Spirit. So, maybe you don’t think that you’re worthy, that nobody’s worthy, but everybody can receive.

Veni Sancte Spiritus. Come, Holy Spirit. I pray that the comforter who brings the blessed assurance… see, the Spirit bears witness in our spirit that we’re the children of God. The Spirit is the foretaste, the down payment, the guarantee of what is to come. The Spirit of Jesus will raise us from the dead, the Spirit of Jesus brings us assurance of eternal life because the Spirit is eternal life, and I pray that you will receive the Holy Spirit, have the mind of Christ, have intimacy with God, and become all that you can be. The ancient prayer of the church was «Veni Sancte Spiritus,» come, Holy Spirit, and I pray that you will welcome the Holy Spirit into your life because God is good all the time and all the time God is good. Don’t just live, live with passion.