In Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 Saint Paul refers to The Church as The Body of Christ and that we are members of His Body.

And in Colossians 1:18 Paul refers to Christ as The Head of His Body, The Church.

So, if we, as the members The Church, make up The Body and Christ is The Head of The Body, who would you say the Heart of The Body is?

Many theologians submit that The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Heart of The Body of Christ.

This isn't too great a stretch even in our own families

In my experience, I would definitely say that our Moms are the Heart of the Family!

Okay, continuing with the theme of The Body of Christ:

In a body, what is the purpose of the heart?

It pumps blood all through the body, right.

And why is it important to pump The Blood all through The Body?

The Blood carries the oxygen from the lungs and nutrients from the digestive system to all the cells in the body to give Life to The Body.

If we follow through with this idea, then it follows that the oxygen, the air, that The Church - The Body of Christ with us as Its members - the Air that The Church breathes is the very Breath of God, which is…

Yes! - The Holy Spirit.

Let's put a finger in the story here and let's go back a ways…a long ways!

Which book is the first book in the Bible?

Right!  The book of Genesis.

What is the first thing that happens in the very beginning of Genesis, the first book of The Bible?

That's right - God creates.

Gen 1:1-2

"In the beginning…"

"The earth was without form and void"

"The Spirit of God was moving…"

What or, more accurately, Who was before the Beginning?

God - The Blessed Trinity.

God, in the Blessed Trinity is a life-giving communion of persons, a relationship, a family

God the Father pouring His Love out into the Son,

the Son receiving that love giving it back to The Father

and the Love between them is so real. it is actually a Third Person named Holy Spirit.

This is why my favorite image of the Blessed Trinity is that of the family –

The husband pours his love out into his wife

the wife received that love, gives it back to the husband,

and the love between them is so real that,

as Scott Hawn says,

nine months later, you might have to give that love a name!

The Blessed Trinity, like a family, is a life-giving communion of persons through The Holy Spirit.

So God creates.

He just speaks The Word and new life is created:

After six days of Creation, God Created Man, The Crown of His Creation!

He forms Man out of the clay

He breathes His Breath, The Holy Spirit, into the man and The Holy Spirit's union with body of the Man brings forth Life - Adam

A life created in the Life-Giving Union through The Holy Spirit

And God shows Adam that it is not good for him to be alone

He casts Adam into a deep sleep which is more accurately interpreted as an "Ecstasy," like the ecstasy experienced in the one-flesh union of a husband and wife that is the image of the ecstasy we will experience in the final Consummation, our union with The Blessed Trinity forever in Heaven.

God takes a "rib" form Adam's side but this actually a play on words in Hebrew.

God actually takes part of Adam's Spirit, The Spirit God had breathed into him, and God creates The Woman - Eve. - another life created

Another life is created in the Life-Giving Union through The Holy Spirit

God makes a Marriage Covenant with Adam & Eve, another meaning to the blessing of the Seventh Day

God's First Command to the newly married couple - Be fruitful and multiply

What does it mean for a couple to be fruitful?

It is revealed in the phrase from the Hail Mary prayer by her Cousin Elizabeth "Blessed is the Fruit of your womb"

How are Adam & Eve fruitful?

There are a number of phrases for it: the Marital Embrace, the Conjugal Act, the One-Flesh Union, also called Sexual Intercourse.

There is the egg, the sperm, also referred to as the seed.

But what else or, more accurately, Who else must be present for this connection of human cells to become a person?

The Holy Spirit is there yet again to ensure that the adding, infusing, breathing of a soul into this union makes a person.

The marital union of Adam & Eve brings forth the fruit called Cain, Able, and Seth

More lives created in the Life-Giving Union through The Holy Spirit

Let's march a little faster on through bible history:

There is The Family Covenant God made with Noah after The Flood

Then The Tribal Covenant with Abraham through circumcision where God gives him the three-fold promise of Descendants, Land, and a World-wide blessing

We have a slight change with Moses and the freeing of the Israelite slaves from Egypt.

God makes a Nation Covenant through Moses and God dwells among His People for 40 years as they wander in the dessert

He is present as the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night

The Pillar of Cloud, referred to as the Shakina Glory, would settle on the Tent of Meeting in the Tabernacle when God would call Moses there to speak with him.

Moses would actually have to cover his face with a veil after his union with God because his face would be so bright that people couldn't look at him!

God feeds and leads His chosen people to give them Life!

God then continues to grow His family through the Kingdom Covenant with David

Then all history converges on a teen-aged Jewish girl, probably about your age!

The Angel Gabriel comes and says "Guess what?"

And The Holy Spirit comes upon Mary the same way - the bible using the same words - the same way as the column of smoke coming upon the Tabernacle in the midst of the Israelites in the desert:

The Shekinah Glory

There is no sperm involved, only God Breathing the Holy Spirit again into an earthly thing planting His Seed to create New Life, only this time it is an egg inside Mary instead of the clay of the earth.

Jesus Christ formed in Mary in the Life-Giving Union through The Holy Spirit.

Mary visits her Cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea and, at the sound of her greeting, John the Baptist in the womb of Elizabeth and Elizabeth herself are filled with The Holy Spirit!

Jesus is born and, around age 30, He is ready to begin His Earthly Ministry

He is baptized in the Jordan establishing the Sacrament of Baptism and The Holy Spirit descends upon him in the form of a dove.

And at the Last Supper He establishes the Sacrament of Holy Orders (Priesthood) and the Sacrament of The Eucharist.

After He suffers and dies and rises from the dead, he established the Sacrament of Reconciliation  (Confession) when he appears to them and breathes on them

"Receive the Holy Spirit"

"Whose sins you hold bound are held bound"

"Whose sins you hold loosed are loosed"

What is the next Holy Spirit event?

Pentecost

After Christ ascends back to heaven to reunite with The Father, The Holy Spirit - The Love renewed between the Father and the Son - is sent.

And The Church is born from the side of Christ after a labor that started on the cross.

Life-Giving Union in The Holy Spirit brings forth life - The Catholic Church is born!.

And now the story comes back to us, The Church, The Body of Christ, and Christ as The Head

Fast forward to around 14-15-16-17-18 or so years ago when each of your parents united and The Holy Spirit was there when each one of you were created!

You were created on purpose and for a purpose, the fruit of your mother's womb.

Another Life-Giving Union with The Holy Spirit brings forth life - YOU.

This same Holy Spirit was there at the Sacrament of your Baptism when you were born again into a new a new life in the Catholic Church.

The Holy Spirit bears fruit in the Sacrament of Holy Orders where our priests unite themselves in a marriage to the Church, The Body of Christ

And in the Sacrament of The Holy Eucharist where Christ's Body and Blood are again brought forth through the Power of The Holy Spirit at the hands and words of the Priest.

Then we unite with Christ in the one-flesh-union through receiving the Eucharist.

Another Life-Giving Union with The Holy Spirit brings forth Life.

And the one we are all waiting for, the one we are all working towards, is the Sacrament of Confirmation

Another Life-Giving Union with you when The Holy Spirit brings forth life!!