Baptism in the Holy Spirit

After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” – Luke 3:21-22

“beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”  - Acts 10:37b-38

Jesus went to a lay man, John the Baptist, to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  He was already One with the Holy Spirit but still received the anointing of Baptism in the Holy Spirit before starting His public ministry.  It is important to observe here that Jesus did not start His mission without first receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit to equip and empower Him for His mission.  Immediately after His baptism Luke tells us: “Filled with the holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry.” (Luke 4:1-2).  Luke tells us that Jesus was “led by the Spirit”.  This sets a profound example for us in living out the mission that God has called us to.  Just as Jesus received the anointing of the Holy Spirit and was led and empowered by the Spirit, so too are we called to receive the very same anointing, equipping and empowering to live out our earthly duties.   
It is true that the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation infuse our very beings with the presence of the Holy Spirit, and after receiving these sacraments we very truly become temples of all mighty God. Since we know that the Holy Spirit is fully present inside our souls, how is it that He is not as active and powerful in our lives as we want Him to be?  The book of Acts presents the early history of the Catholic Church and all throughout it we read how the Holy Spirit gave the early Church power to preach and evangelize while confirming their work with miracles, signs and wonders.  How is it that we can have the very same Holy Spirit Who anointed and empowered Jesus and the apostles of the early Church in their missions and not experience the same power that endowed them with miracles, charismatic gifts and the power to live transformed lives of virtue?    One answer is that we are living a lifestyle contaminated with the harmful philosophies of the world and thus with unconfessed or unrepented sin that has separated us from God and His grace, leaving us powerless.  Apart from serious unconfessed sin, another answer is simply the fact that we haven’t asked God to make the Holy Spirit operative in our lives.  The most popular analogy used throughout the last 50 years is that the Holy Spirit is poured into our souls at Baptism like chocolate syrup is poured into a tall glass of milk.  The syrup sits at the bottom of the glass inactive until it is stirred up, transforming regular milk into the new creation of chocolate milk.  So it is with the Holy Spirit being poured into our souls at baptism and confirmation, He is present but we need to “stir Him up” as St. Paul writes to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:6) to make Him active in our lives. 
Jesus tells us “ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?  Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?  If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” – Luke 11:9-11

The prayer for Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a new sacrament, but is an awakening of the graces of Baptism and Confirmation.  It is a plea for God to let the Holy Spirit fall upon us make His presence more operative in our souls.  It is a chance for the mature Christian to consciously renew the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation in a free will decision and petition to God to make the Holy Spirit more active in their life.  God is a gentleman and will never force His Spirit upon us, we need to seek, desire, ask and knock as the passage from Luke 11 above states. 

On the feast of Pentecost in 2008 Pope Benedict addressed a crowd of thousands with the following words:  “Today I would like to extend this invitation to everyone: Let us rediscover, dear brothers and sisters, the beauty of being baptized in the Holy Spirit; let us be aware again of our Baptism and of our confirmation, sources of grace that are always present. Let us ask the Virgin Mary to obtain a renewed Pentecost for the Church again today, a Pentecost that will spread in everyone the joy of living and witnessing to the Gospel.” (10).

Effects of Baptism in the Holy Spirit (11).

• New awareness of the reality and presence of Jesus in one’s life
• Spiritual gifts
• New Power for holiness
• New Experience of God’s love, a personal, unconditional deep experience of His love
• Peace in midst of confusion and frustration
• Greater understanding of Who Jesus is.  That He gave His life for me, suffered and died for me, sent His Holy Spirit for me
• Power: over fear, sin, past and current struggles
• Fruits of the Holy Spirit
• Desire to share God with other people