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Following Pentecost, Nicole Berlucchi ponders the transformation fire can bring.


With the recent celebration of Pentecost Sunday, I inevitably started thinking about fire (the image of tongues of fire resting on the apostles’ heads still fresh) and its general ability to take something that seems immovable, at least by human strength, and totally transform it into something pliable.  

Glass blowers heat the glass to be bent and blended and then blown into: so soft, it reacts to a breath to create a beautiful ornament or pitcher or vase. Iron workers and welders heat metal to hammer, twist, fuse together, and create a beautiful cross, railing, or door handle.  

Pottery, too, must meet the fire in order for its color to come to fullness, sometimes shiny, sometimes matte, but always richer in color than when it was first painted. If you have children, it’s highly likely you have stepped foot into one of the paint-it-yourself pottery places. Children usually relish their time painting a new figurine, picture frame, or mug, but are often surprised and disappointed by the idea that they don’t get to take it home that day. 

It needs to get fired in the kiln. Come back in a week. 

 

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Infused with the Spirit, the Church is like a kiln

Kilns are described as places where raw materials become art. I’d like to think of the Catholic Church as the place where the raw becomes redeemed with the fire of the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Church infused with the Spirit can bend brittle minds, open closed hearts, and make pliable a stubborn will.  

Our soul is also a kiln in which we allow the Spirit to work within us on those days between Masses. “Firing up” a kiln takes time, precision, and attention, just as our own personal transformations take time, focused effort, and prayer. Making space for getting “fired up” will lead to a deep love and transformation that Jesus wants the Holy Spirit to bring to our lives. 

 

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What has been created in you this Pentecost?

So, here we are about a week or so after Pentecost. What has the kiln of the Catholic Church created in you this Pentecost? Can you feel the changes in your heart and soul? Has your soul become a kiln in which the Holy Spirit can work?  

Maybe you tempered the fire of the Spirit a bit? I have done that one too many times. Telling the Lord to turn it down: Not quite ready for that transformation yet, Lord.  

What am I thinking? Pottery that never makes it into the kiln remains dull; it appears lacking — you know there’s still something that needs to happen. It doesn’t look how you want it to look. 

 

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Don't try to limit the power of the Holy Spirit

It is the same with the Holy Spirit. Trying to limit the power of the Holy Spirit and the way it's unleashed in your life doesn’t get you to where you are meant to be. This image of unfired pottery makes me long for the fire of the Holy Spirit in a new way, longing for the brightness, energy, vividness that only personal Pentecost can bring.  

It reminds me that with the fire of the Holy Spirit, our life will never be lacking. We will be living in full color, exactly as God intended for us. May we all be open to the fire of the Holy Spirit. 

 

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Copyright 2024 Nicole Berlucchi
Images: Canva