“The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3:8)
I love the image of the Holy Spirit as wind. You can´t see the actual air, but you see and feel its effects as it blows your hair and rustles the trees. You can hear it whether it´s a breeze or a hurricane; it´s the mystery of a presence that is obvious and invisible.
On Divine Mercy Sunday, the Regnum Christi family in Madrid united to celebrate the 75th birthday of our Movement. That day, I saw the wind.
During the Mass, testimonies, videos, lunch conversations, sports tournaments, adoration and Benediction…while walking amid the parents, kids, young people, seminarians, Legionary priests, and consecrated men and women, there was something extremely striking yet familiar about the atmosphere. I think it was the wind.
Sports and adoration
I saw the wind in the little girls in front of me during Mass who, sitting in their daddy´s lap, each placed a euro in the offering basket. I saw the wind in the baby sitting next to me in the adoration chapel, being nourished in the presence of the Eucharist since the first months of her life. I saw the wind in the young people going back and forth between sports tournaments and adoration turns. I saw the wind in the smiles and music and celebration. I saw the wind in the abundant congregation at Mass… in the constantly full and fervent adoration chapel… and in the overflowing pews, aisles and doorway during the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. I saw the wind in the spontaneous, whole-hearted fervor at Mass (even in an auditorium) that no one jump-started with an announcement before the processional hymn—people kneeling in the cramped spaces during the Consecration and Communion; only using the projector to add a crucifix to behind the altar; altar boys in their Familia Misionera bandanas following with patens up and down the aisles during Communion; the congregation spontaneously standing in reverence as the Eucharist was being brought from the auditorium to the chapel. I saw the wind in priests available in the confessional in the middle of a party, and in the penitents lining up hour after hour. I saw the wind in the prayers shared aloud by schoolchildren, young couples, parents, consecrated, and Legionaries, leading their family to gratitude, humility, asking for forgiveness, and joy.
Here are some snapshots of the wind I saw. I bet you see it too.
