The Spirit

God's relationship with Man can be traced in three ages based on how it is perceived: The Age of the Father since creation and His preparation of the Chosen People in the Old Testament to the coming of the Son, The Age of the Son since the incarnation of Christ to his Ascension, and the Age of the Holy Spirit from the time of Christ's sending of the Spirit at Pentecost to the end of the world. We live in the Age of the Holy Spirit. 
In his Sunday May 24 homily (titled "Ce confinement nous invite à un voyage intérieur ..." in French here), the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad added that the Spirit of God, the Paraclete, is in the profound spirit of each person. We need the Spirit of God in these troubling times of the pandemic. 
Indeed Fr. George Montague, SM, wrote: [The earth was waste and void, darkness covered the abyss, and a mighty wind was blowing over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2). . . .Why do we find this mention of the wind—or “spirit” of God (as the Hebrew word is also translated)— before God spoke his creating words? We have to look at the verb used to describe the spirit’s action. Some translations use the word “blowing,” others “moving”; but I believe that the best translation is “hovering.” The spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The only other place where this verb is used is in Deuteronomy 32:11, where it describes a mother bird beating her wings over her little ones, encouraging them to fly. Unlike the Babylonian myth of creation, in which the chaos is an enemy to be conquered, this formless mess is to be loved and fostered into being. One of the earliest Jewish commentaries on this text, dating from New Testament times, interpreted it this way: “A spirit of love before the Lord was blowing (hovering) over the face of the waters.” This holy wind is not a part of the chaos, it is God’s motherly love conveying the promise of life, order, and beauty to what was of itself a mess. Because God’s spirit was hovering over it, chaos became promise. And so we recognize the relevance of this image for our own lives. At times we feel like our lives are a mess. There is no light, and we are floating about like a cork lost at sea. We try to fight it, to no avail. We try to flee, but there is no exit. What do we do? We fall on our knees and ask the Holy Spirit to hover over our mess, to embrace it lovingly and prepare it for the light of God’s word. If any of our chaotic depths surface, we then turn them over to the Lord. As the powerful but wordless Spirit of God prepared for God’s cosmic word, the Holy Spirit in our wordless prayer lovingly prepares our chaos for the word that will give shape and meaning to what made no sense before. The Spirit will show us how “God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28).Fr. George Montague, a Marianist priest, is professor of biblical theology at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. This is adapted from his book, Holy Spirit, Make Your Home in Me. 
The Jesuit Pope Francis is one of the most remarkable Pontiffs in modern times. You may wish to watch his Mass on the birth centennial of Pope St. John Paul the Great here. His homily can be found here. The Mass was translated by Sister Bernadette (Mary) Reis who is a member of "The Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul" - She translates the on-line Masses and other activities of Pope Francis with a sweet voice of devotion. She was interviewed by EWTN on 25 March 2020 (here). Her portraits taken in interviews 5 years ago give us a window in her beautiful spirituality as she sees Christ in the weak and elderly persons that she assists (here and here). On May 30, Pope Francis will lead the major shrines around the world in praying the rosary to implore Mary’s intercession and protection amid the coronavirus pandemic. For May 31, The Solemnity of Pentecost, Pope Francis has called all people to pray together to the Holy Spirit to renew the world and help all humanity to survive the pandemic...