At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and all those gathered with them in the upper room, He came down as tongues of fire. From this point on, spiritual fire has been one of the most recognized signs of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We hear phrases like, “The fire of love,” or “my heart was burning,” and “set the world aflame,” and these words lead us to think of the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the eighth stanza of the Pentecost sequence sings of the Holy Spirit as heavenly fire:
Flecte quod est rigidum, Bend that which is inflexible,
fove quod est frigidum, fire that which is chilled,
rege quod est devium. correct what goes astray.
The first line of the stanza reminds me of the line in the Psalm, “Bend my heart according to your will” (Ps 119:36). The Lord wants to give us natural hearts that are not brittle but can be moved and “bent” according to His will (see Ezekiel 36:26). Just as fire can cause a cold, hard iron bar to be highly malleable and shaped according to the mind of an artist, so too the fire of the Holy Spirit can teach us to desire what God desires and be “flexible” to do the will of God.
One of God’s greatest desires and commands is that we would “love one another” (John 13:34). When we are filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit, we are filled with love for our neighbor – i.e. the desire we have for their good – eternal and present – is increased without limit. St. Paul, in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, writes of his love for the Corinthian people by saying that his heart is opened wide for them (2 Corinthians 6:11). In a commentary on this passage, St. John Chrysostom explains,
“Our heart is enlarged. For as heat makes things expand, so it is the work of love to expand the heart, for its power is to heat and make fervent. It is this that opened Paul’s lips and enlarged his heart. … he loved all the faithful with as intimate a love as any lover could have for a loved one, his love not being divided and lessened but remaining whole and entire for each of them.”
The heat of love – the fire of the Holy Spirit – expands our hard hearts enough to love all those around us. This fire comes to us when we invite the Holy Spirit in, and when we invite Jesus in, because he brings with him the Holy Spirit. And, amazingly, when we receive Holy Communion, believing that Jesus truly comes into our hearts, we believe that the Holy Spirit in his entirety comes as well. In this regard, Pope St. John Paul II quotes St. Ephrem as saying, “He called the bread [the Eucharist] his living body and he filled it with himself and his Spirit… He who eats it with faith, eats Fire and Spirit.”
This Holy Fire, the person of the Holy Spirit, works in us continually to bring about a great work of conversion in our souls and lives. The last line of the stanza reminds me of Psalm 139:24 – “See that there be not an evil way in me, and lead me in the path of life eternal.” I find it very consoling to know that I can trust in the work of the Spirit to guide and correct me as I move along in life. He is our best and truest spiritual director. His fire lights our way (see Ps 119:105) when we go astray.
A heart on fire is a heart longing without ceasing for the Heavenly rest. It is a heart that yearns with an ever-increasing longing for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit, fill me with this desire! Let it burn in me hotter than any furnace; brighter than the sun. All the water of the oceans and more could not suppress the strength of this love. Let this burning flame light my way and guide me to my Father’s house, as I walk in the dark valleys of this world. Let my expanded heart burn for you, for the good of my neighbor, and make me all aflame. Come Holy Spirit, set us on fire with your love!