How do you picture the Holy Spirit? As we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, today’s reflection encourages us to see the Spirit in a new light and look for God at work in the world.

May 24, 2026: Pentecost Sunday, Year A
Acts 2:1–11
Psalm 104:1, 24, 29–31, 34
1 Corinthians 12:3b–7, 12–13
John 20:19–23

Kindle the Fire of Love

In Koine Greek, the language of the New Testament, the word περιστερά is used to describe the Holy Spirit as a dove (e.g. Mt 3:16). But did you know that περιστερά is also the word for the common pigeon? Based on the text, it would not be incorrect–linguistically, at least–to imagine the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus in the form of a pigeon! This has led to certain people in my life referring to the Holy Spirit as the “Holy Pigeon.”

I begin with this image not to make light of Christ’s baptism, nor because I am a classicist by training, but because it encourages us to expand our mental image and open ourselves to new understandings of the Spirit.

We see countless descriptions of the Holy Spirit throughout Christian history–in Scripture, patristic texts, treatises by medieval contemplatives, books by modern theologians, etc–which each contribute to a fuller picture of the Spirit, and helps us understand that each of us has our own unique concept of the Holy Spirit which reveals something new.

Fire is a common image in these texts, and an important one in the New Testament: at Pentecost, the Spirit descended upon the disciples, appearing “to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim” (Acts 2:3–4). Today, many use this image to describe their faith, often discussing being “on fire with the Spirit.” Jesus also presents us with an opposing image: “‘Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. As Scripture says: Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me.’ He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive” (John 7:37–39). The Spirit is connected to the living water which renews and nourishes us all.

When Jesus gives the disciples the Holy Spirit to the disciples after the resurrection, the Spirit is linked to his breath: “he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained’” (John 20:22–23). A Hebrew term often used in connection to God’s spirit, רוּחַ (rûaḥ), evokes similar images of breath. Similarly, the Spirit is often associated with wind, both in Scripture and in the later tradition. Rahner, for instance, expands on John 3:8 and imagines “the Spirit of God blow[ing] where he will, and in his loving patience he roams throughout all the streets of the world in order to touch us there, where we are… And he says: ‘You are mine’” (The Eternal Year).

Generations of children who grew up hearing the Holy Spirit referred to as the Holy Ghost might picture the Spirit as something out of a cartoon–white sheet and all (I know I sometimes do). One of my dear friends pictures the Holy Spirit as a loving presence of light, with whom she can sing, discuss her day, and spend time with, embodying St Teresa of Avila’s description of contemplative prayer in the Spirit as “an intimate sharing between friends. The purpose of contemplative prayer is to take time, again and again, to be alone with the Holy One who we know loves us.”

For me, the Holy Spirit is represented by love. Any Aquinas scholars reading this will know immediately where I’ve taken this from (ST I Q.36), and while I admit that I do find Aquinas’ description of the Holy Spirit compelling, I have something decidedly less Thomistic in mind.

Today, as we celebrate Pentecost, we celebrate that gift of love which Jesus bestowed upon the Apostles, and which is bestowed upon each of us at baptism and in which we are sealed at our confirmation. Love is a gift, and one which must be given selflessly in order to be true–given without expecting anything in return, given completely, and given without conditions. By this gift, “the Holy Spirit shows us how… the Spirit of love is given to us in order to transform us by… charity, and having transformed us, to lead us back to God” (Divine Intimacy).

The readings for Pentecost remind us that “there are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit” (1 Cor 12:4–7). Just as we all imagine the Spirit in unique ways, so does our love take infinitely many forms.

Perhaps love is expressed in the care shown between family members, the extra time a teacher takes to help a student master a difficult topic, the compliment given to a stranger, or the time spent volunteering with local charities. If we look closely, we can see the Spirit at work around us and witness God moving in the world. No matter what it looks like, the Spirit is present in our diverse love, and does not discriminate, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13).

So let us look for and embody this love in our own lives and communities, and pray that the gift of the Holy Spirit might be continually renewed in us: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.”

Carter Fahey (he/him) is the Associate Editor of Breath of the Spirit and studied at Oxford. He is a convert and has an interest in doing outreach work to Catholic communities to combat misinformation and create opportunities for community among LGBTQIA+ people.