I doubt the conversation between Paul VI and Bugnini happened just like that, but I don’t doubt that the Pope wept when he realized the Octave of the Holy Ghost had been done away with. Like the Octaves of Christmas and Easter, we used to celebrate Pentecost for eight straight days, each one a First Class Feast. In my parish, thanks be to God, we are still permitted to do that. I entered the sacristy this morning to find red vestments, and I asked my liturgical assistant which martyr we were celebrating. He explained that it was the Octave of the Holy Spirit. And I rejoiced.
The older I get, the more I appreciate the Holy Ghost. After all, I am getting a bit more ghostlike myself. God gives us (who live long enough) the gift of old age. Our bodies grow weaker so that our spirits may grow stronger, preparing for a splendid liftoff into eternity. We older folks can see so much farther than we used to; we have become strong enough to weather storms with deep serenity. My dear father, at whose grave I prayed yesterday, said at a family reunion when he was 94: “At my age, it’s getting harder to deny reality.” He had been a soft atheist since reading Marxism at Columbia in the 1950s, but seeing his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he could only wonder at life’s beauty and tranquil order.
As my physical powers fade, I appreciate the Holy Spirit more. My body is ceding the tyrannical demands it once made so that I can think more clearly and see more deeply. My flesh is making more room for my spirit, and for the Holy Spirit of God. I too am becoming ghostlike as my hair thins (it’s been pure white for ten years already), my eyes dim, my limbs lose some of their bulk, and my memory fades. I’m looking up a lot more than looking down these days.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ll keep riding my bike until I fall off of it. We have to keep moving as long as we can, but there will be a day when I will stop moving, and then my spiritual transformation will be complete. The Holy Ghost will take over, I hope, and I will shoot into heaven. For this grace, gracious God, we beseech thee!