In the eastern rite the priest approaches the Altar of Sacrifice with the words, "Now is the time for God to act." These words remind the faithful that in the Liturgy the substance of bread and wine is changed by the action of the Spirit into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and that, as we receive the Energy of the Triune God in the Mystery of the Blessed Sacrament, it is the Sanctifier who acts to change our very being, restoring in us the Image of that which we receive.

I believe I express the teaching of the Fathers when I say that, in the Eternal Now, the Spirit acts perpetually to change and transform creation, but that His action is gift from Person to person, and awaits our call. The simple prayer, Veni Sanctus Spiritus, Come, Holy Spirit, repeated silently in the heart calls Him into our lives. It reminds us that the fruitfulness of all our actions depends completely on God's transforming Presence and that His gifts are never for us alone, but always for the Life of the world.