The Spirit of the Lord
February 8, 2023 - Wednesday, 5th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalm 104:1-2a, 27-28, 29bc-30
Psalm 104 helps us to reflect on the second story of creation recorded in Genesis 2:4-25. Verses 27-28 of our psalm speak about God’s providential care providing sustenance to all creatures. “These all look to you, to give them their food in due season”. Then, verses 29-30 speak about God’s spirit, "ruah" in Hebrew. If God takes their “breath” [ruah], they die, but when God sends forth His Spirit [ruah], they are created.
The word “ruah” appears for the first time on the pages of the scripture in Genesis 1:2. We read: “and the Spirit [ruah] of God was hovering over the face of the waters”. In Psalm 104:29-30, we read about the breath [ruah] of all creatures and the Spirit [ruah] of the Lord. In Hebrew, the word “ruah” has the meaning of spirit, breath, and wind. Connecting the passages from Genesis 1:2 and Psalm 104:29-30, we realise the importance of the Spirit of God in creating and sustaining the life of every creature.
This creative and sustaining power of God’s Spirit is beautifully expressed in one of the hymns from Eastern Christian tradition dedicated to the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit is presented as the Breath of the Almighty “who shapes the seed, makes the grass green, through whom the rose is beautiful and the lily is splendidly clothed”. The Holy Spirit also bestows vitality to the fish and the ability to soar to the birds. He has given royalty to the lion and fearlessness to the tiger, gentleness to the lamb and tenderness to the dove.
But the power of God’s Spirit is not confined to nature alone. The psalmist says that when the Lord, our God sends forth His Spirit the face of the earth is renewed. On June 2, 1979, Saint John Paul II began his first pilgrimage to Poland. It was a time of huge ecumenical crisis, the food was being rationed, the shops were empty, and the prices of commodities on the black market were well beyond what an ordinary citizen could afford.
In his first homily on Victory Square in Warsaw, Saint John Paul II uttered the words to which the people responded with a fifteen-minute-long ovation. The words were based on Psalm 104 and spoken on the eve of the feast of the Pentecost: “Let your Spirit come down! And renew the face of the earth! Of this land!“ And so it happened. Ten years later, the world could witness the truth of the psalmist’s words. When the Lord takes away “their breath”, not only the creatures but also the mighty empires perish. Then, God’s Spirit comes to renew the face of the earth (see Ps 104:29).