Purawanna Ma Obage Balen

Touch me, O Holy Spirit,
touch me, O divine Spirit,
fill me full with your power,
O Holy Spirit

Burn up my body,
that the soul may be made whole,
fill me full with your power,
O Holy Spirit

Pour out, within my heart,
the streams of living water, always,
fill me full with your power,
O Holy Spirit

This is a short, fervent prayer to the Holy Spirit, and it asks for one thing above all, to be filled. Its refrain says it directly and repeatedly: “fill me full with your power, O Holy Spirit.” The song opens with a plea for the most intimate kind of contact, “touch me, O Holy Spirit,” longing not for distant help but for God’s own hand upon the soul.

Each verse then asks for a different work of the Spirit, and the images are strong. First, purifying fire: “burn up my body, that the soul may be made whole.” This is the fire of Pentecost that refines, willing to let the merely earthly be consumed so that the spirit within can be completed. It is a bold request, asking God to burn away whatever hinders in order to make one whole.

Then, refreshing water: “pour out, within my heart, the streams of living water, always.” This echoes Jesus’ promise that from the heart of the believer would flow “rivers of living water,” which the Gospel explains means the Spirit. So the two great images sit side by side, fire that purifies and water that gives life, both poured into the same waiting heart. What the listener is left with is the simple, undivided longing of Pentecost, a soul asking to be touched, burned clean, flooded with living water, and filled to the full with the power of God’s own Spirit.