The Wind in My Sails 

   “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.” (John 3: 8) 

   This verse from the gospel at daily Mass this morning really struck a chord in me.  The word spirit comes from the Greek “pneuma” meaning breath or wind.  In Greek tragedy writings it sometimes denotes the “breath of life”.  For Christians the Spirit is the third person of the Trinity; the advocate promised by Christ to lead us to the truth.

   I know very little about sailing, but I do know that a sailing vessel is in serious trouble in a calm.  Without wind there is no force to move the ship and it flounders in the sea with nothing to move it forward.  Without the wind it can’t be steered and is at the mercy of the currents.

   Our life is like a ship at sea and like a ship without the wind, life without the Holy Spirit is in peril.  There is no direction or guidance; it is adrift on the sea not knowing where it may end up.  We cannot reach the safe harbor offered by our Lord.  The Spirit is needed in the sails of life just as in the sails of a ship.  Without it, catastrophe may await, we may crash upon the waves of sinfulness.

   The Holy Spirit is the wind in our sails, the power to guide our life on the way of God’s will.  If we open our hearts and souls to the Spirit, we need not worry, we are safe in the hands of God. 

Without the Spirit I am lost.

Like a ship with no wind to guide it.

With the Spirit there is strength and direction.

A path to safe harbor in Your will. 

Amen