Open the Treasure Chest, Awaken the Spirit

By John Graveline, Director of Parish Life

September 20, 2026

“The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.”

Isaiah 11:2-3

Beginning on Pentecost Sunday back in May, the Diocese of Saginaw has been celebrating a Year of the Holy Spirit. We have begun to participate in this initiative in various ways over the summer. The bulletin columns have focused on heeding how the Holy Spirit is speaking to the Church in our modern times through the 16 documents of Vatican II, taking our lead from Pope Leo’s weekly teachings this year. We also offered a summer-long series of small-group discussions on the topic of Catholic Discipleship.

We were honored to host Bishop Gruss on our patronal feast day, when he conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation upon four of our young disciples. In his remarks before our parish patronal feast day potluck picnic, Bishop Gruss spoke to us about the importance of fostering a deep, personal relationship with the Holy Spirit in our lives. We often hear of the centrality of having a personal relationship with Jesus (and it is of vital importance!), but we rarely hear of the importance of having a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Our artistic representations of the Holy Spirit can obscure who the Holy Spirit is as a Divine Person. He is not “God the Bird” or “God the Flame” or “God the Wind” even though we use these images to represent him.

Sometimes, our artistic expressions of God may get in the way of developing this relationship. God is pure spirit and thus has no body. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 370) The mystery of the Incarnation changed this at a particular moment in human history—the “fullness of time”—when the Second Person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God became human. (John 1:14) Therefore, the eyewitnesses of Jesus truly saw God’s Body. By extension, we therefore truly worship and receive the Body of Christ when we participate in the Eucharist. The Father and the Holy Spirit did not become incarnate in the same way, taking on human flesh as the Son did. All of this is to highlight that our artistic representations of the Holy Spirit can obscure who the Holy Spirit is as a Divine Person. He is not “God the Bird” or “God the Flame” or “God the Wind” even though we use these images in our artistic representations of the Holy Spirit because a dove, tongues of fire, or the sound of a mighty wind are associated with the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. (Luke 3:21, Acts 2:2-4) However, The Holy Spirit is a Divine Person with whom we can have an intimate, personal relationship. As Bishop Joseph McKinney, an auxiliary bishop of Grand Rapids for many years known far and wide for his devotion to the Holy Spirit, wrote in his book Living in the Power of Pentecost, “A key discovery was when I realized that the Holy Spirit is a real person of the Blessed Trinity. It is difficult for some people to realize this . . . the Holy Spirit is someone we can call upon as a person and respond to as a person.”

“But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”

Romans 8:9

At our baptism, the presence of the Holy Spirit was poured into us, thus we become living temples of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5, Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1265) God the Holy Spirit is not somewhere “out there” in space, but dwells within us deep in own hearts. The Person of the Spirit intercedes within us, and it is the voice of the Holy Spirit that we discern speaking to us personally in the still, small voice of our consciences. (Romans 8:16, 26-27; John 16:8; Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos.1777, 1785) Through the Sacrament of Confirmation, the baptismal presence of the Holy Spirit is strengthened “through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1302) This sacramental anointing unleashes the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us that we first received on the day of our baptism.

But what good is a gift if it is not received with a grateful heart and put to its intended use? Just like an old birthday or holiday gift sitting in an attic or the back of the closet, the gifts of the Holy Spirit do us little good “collecting dust” in a remote memory of a sacramental ritual in which we participated when we were a teenager.

“The Lord wants you to dig it up, open the treasure chest and see what he’s given you.”

On the first Friday of every month, Bishop Gruss hosts a Mass at the Cathedral in Saginaw, followed by a luncheon presentation. At the September First Friday presentation, Bishop Gruss compared the Gifts of the Holy Spirit to a treasure chest, “the Lord wants you to dig it up, open the treasure chest and see what he’s given you . . . it needs something to wake them up, a new awakening. In the spiritual life, we call that asking the Holy Spirit to bring us a new springtime to our hearts . . . we should be asking for that. ‘Holy Spirit, come alive in me. I want this relationship with you in a way I’ve never had it before.’”

To facilitate that reawakening in each of us personally and in our parish as a whole, our Faith Formation Commission will be offering the series “The Wild Goose” this fall. This video and discussion series is designed to help facilitate an encounter or a renewed personal encounter with the Person of the Holy Spirit that was gifted to us in Baptism and strengthened in us through Confirmation. “The Wild Goose” is an ancient Celtic term referring to the Holy Spirit’s untamable power in our lives and in our world. We are offering it twice each week, one session on Monday evenings and one on Wednesday afternoons, beginning next week, September 28. If you desire a deep, personal relationship with the Holy Spirit and a new springtime in your spiritual life, I highly recommend participating in this series.

Another way to deepen our relationship with the Holy Spirit is through praying and studying the Spirit-inspired Word of God. Our Thursday morning Bible study meets every Thursday morning from 9:15-10:30. On the 2nd and 4th Saturday mornings of the month, the Knights of Columbus host a men’s faith study. Both offerings prepare participants to listen better to the Scripture readings at the weekend liturgies. I can personally attest to the insights that are shared in these small groups. Our fellow parishioners have so much wisdom that has enriched my spiritual life immensely. Also, we will be beginning an ecumenical Thursday evening Bible study on Handel’s oratorio Messiah this November in conjunction with our December community concert. More information will be forthcoming soon.

Also, over the next seven weeks, this bulletin column will feature an exploration of each of the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Hopefully, we can unpack these treasures together so that we can put them to greater use in our lives.

May each of us find some way to answer the Holy Spirit’s invitation this year to grow in an intimate and life-giving personal relationship: transforming our hearts and minds, our parish, our diocese, and our world.

John