The Gift and the Power of the Holy Spirit in our Lives

Come, Holy Spirit, Come!  And, indeed, the Spirit came, as we read in the first reading of today's liturgy, Acts 1: 1-11:  "...[S]uddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared 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!"  A large crowd gathered and were confused "because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, "Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them...speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God."

Nothing is impossible for God!  Enabling persons from different languages and cultures and beliefs to hear foreigners proclaim "the mighty acts of God"   is not beyond God's power any more than it was beyond God's power to bring the Son of God into our world in the incarnation, impregnating the womb of a teenage woman with the Son of God taking on human nature through her! And as Jesus walked among us,  He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, restored the health of the sick, cast out demons and  raised the dead to life. And when Jesus returned to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit, not only to the people in that house or who crowded around that house but to you and me as well!

As Paul says to us in today's second reading, 1 Cor 12: 3b-7, 12-13,  each of us has been given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit. Paul explains:  "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."  Through the Church, that is, in our baptism, confirmation, and the reception of other sacraments, we are given a variety of spiritual gifts, not for our own sake, but for the sake of others. We are entrusted with certain forms of service. The workings we do, and that we see others do, are produced in everyone by the Holy Spirit at work within us.  The Spirit manifests Him/Herself through us for the other person's benefit and, in other people,for our benefit!

And so we pray in today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 104: "Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord, my God, you are great indeed! How manifold are your works, O Lord!...May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lore be glad in his works! Pleasing to him be my theme; I will be glad in the Lord."

Empowered by Faith and Convinced of God's Promises

In today's first reading, Romans 4: 20-25, we read about Abraham's faith: "Abraham did not doubt God's promise in unbelief; rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God and was fully convinced that what God had promised he was also able to do. That is why it was credited to him as righteousness . But it was not for him alone that it was written that it was credited to him; it was also for us, to whom it will be credited, who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over for our transgressions and was raised for our justification."

May I, Lord, like Abraham, not doubt your promises to me: the promise of salvation, of being justified, of being made righteous by the Blood of Jesus!  May I not doubt the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out upon me at baptism and confirmation and reconfirmed throughout the events of each day when I call upon you for the help of the Spirit, that is, for the gift of wisdom, courage, prudence, understanding, counsel and fear of the Lord; and for the gift of piety.  May I not doubt your presence, Lord, at the core of my being and existent in every human being.  Every human being is an image of you; may I see your image in each person. Also, Lord, may I seek you in all that is, including the universe and all in it!  May I not doubt your promise to set me free and that you will save me from all of my enemies, especially those within me: pride, fear, envy, avarice, lust, covetousness, greediness, selfishness, and anything that blocks me from surrendering to Your will and serving you and others in faith, hope and love.  May I not doubt your mercy, compassion, and unconditional love.  May I not forget that you are forever freeing me to "worship you without fear" (Luke 1: 75) and that, in your sight, I am holy and righteous, made so by the blood of Jesus!  I ask for these graces in Jesus' name and through the intercession of  Mary, the mother of Jesus and my mother, too. Amen.

St. Stephen's Witness

It is the day after Christmas and the Church celebrates the martyrdom of St. Stephen described in the first reading, Acts 6: 8-10; 7: 54-59.  In the Gospel itself, Matthew 10: 17-22, Jesus asks us to "[b]eware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans....Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved."  Eight days after his birth, Jesus is brought to the temple and Simeon says to Mary:  "You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected--and a sword will pierce your own soul too--so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare" (Luke 1: 14-15).

Jesus also tells us in the Gospels not to be afraid when  you encounter troubles in the world, as He, too, encountered troubles and conquered them. In the darkest day of our salvation history, when Jesus hung on the cross dying, He, like Stephen, said to God: "Into your hands I commend my spirit." Three days later Jesus conquered suffering and death and rose again. Forty days later, Jesus ascended into heaven. Stephen, as he faced his murderers, was "filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of God standing at the right hand of God.'"

May we like Jesus and like Stephen commend our spirits to the Lord when we, in turn, are at death's door waiting to pass through death, by whatever means, and enter eternal life. Like Stephen, when we are dying, may we look to heaven and see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father waiting for our return to our eternal home.  In preparation for that moment, may we, throughout life's difficulties turn to the Lord for help.  May we always take refuge in the Lord and focus on the Lord when we are facing challenges instead of locking ourselves into our anger, feeding it and thus succumbing to temptations we would otherwise be able to resist because God is always at our side, as He was for St. Stephen.

Imitators of Christ

In today's second reading, 1 Thes 1: 5c-10, St. Paul says to the people: "[Y]ou became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia." Yesterday I had the privilege to attend a funeral of a relative.  She, too, became an imitator of the Lord. She received the Word in the good times of her life and the not-so-good times. She experienced the joy of the Holy Spirit in her relationships with her loved ones and sometimes experienced the sadness that comes with efforts to love and be loved.  And in the end, through the Holy Spirit working in her,  became a model for all the believers who knew her.

Life is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. We encounter the good spirit and the opposing spirit within us and within others, as I mentioned in my most recent blog. I walked into my place of work this morning and someone points out how I have been deceived by someone. No, life is not easy. A part of me wants to set the record straight, which I could by the evidence shown me. Or I can let go and let God. In the turmoil, however, I know that the "Lord is my strength," as we pray in today's responsorial psalm. God is "my rock, my fortress, my deliverer."  As I brought all of the issues to the Lord in prayer this morning, I opened the Scriptures three times and pointed to a passage on each page. The  Lord gave me the following three messages:  The first passage was from Gal 5: 24--You cannot, Dorothy Ann, belong to Christ Jesus, unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. In this case, I need to crucify my need to make things straight. The second passage was from Luke 10: 23-24--Happy the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see and never saw it, to hear what you hear, and never heard it, and the third from Col 3: 11--There is only one Christ. He is everything and He is in everything!"  I am blessed to hear the words of Christ over and over again and to "see" Him at work in me and around me.

What are your blessings? What are you hearing and seeing that brings you to the feet of the Lord? What is God asking of you?

The Power of the Holy Spirit

Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost--the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, who were hidden behind locked doors out of fear of being put to death, as was their Master and Savior. "...[S]uddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of 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: 1-11).

In the Sequence for Pentecost, we pray: "....Where you [the Holy Spirit] are not, we have naught, nothing good in deed or thought, nothing free from taint of ill." In a meditation for June 4 written by Sarah Young in Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence, Sarah reminds us that "[without Jesus and His Spirit, we] wouldn't make it past the first hurdle" of any given day.

The power of the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives this day as much as it was at work in the disciples/apostles on that first Pentecost!  Jesus told his disciples then and now that He returned to His Father in order to send us an Advocate, who would teach us everything Jesus teaches us in the Scriptures. Jesus also reminded us that we will do greater things than He because of the Spirit working in and through when we place our hope in Him.

Being Cherished by the Lord

In today's first reading, Acts 16: 11-15, we meet Lydia, a woman who worshipped God and listened intently to Paul and his companions proclaim the Lord Jesus. As she is listening to Paul, the Lord "opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying." Graces poured into her heart and she and her household asked to be baptized in Christ Jesus.

As you and I listen to the Word of God that comes to us in the Scriptures, in our participation in sacred liturgies, or through others witnessing to the Lord, our hearts, too, are opened by Jesus.  Graces pour in and, like Lydia, hopefully, graces pour out onto others with whom we interact throughout the day!  Triumphantly, through the Holy Spirit operative in our lives, we live the Pascal Mystery as the day unfolds, having sat at the Lord's feet in prayer.

Because of the mercy and compassion of the Lord, we experience what the psalmist in today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 149, says to us; namely, that the "Lord takes delight in his people, and "adorns the lowly with victory."

Appointed as Overseers by the Holy Spirit

“Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the Church of God that he acquired with his own Blood,” Paul says to us in Acts 20: 28-38.  He adds: “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock.”  In the Gospel, John 17: 11b-19, Jesus says to His Father and ours: “When I was with them I protected them in your name…and I guarded them…But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One…Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.”

Our first responsibility is to “keep watch over ourselves.”  The Evil One, “savage wolves” from within will attack the weakest part of our human nature, that part of ourselves where sin abides: pride, lust, narcissistic tendencies, sloth, selfishness, deceitfulness, wickedness.  The Holy Spirit has appointed each one of us an overseer of this side of ourselves that Jesus “acquired with his own Blood.”  The “world” within us hates the holiness within us that is there at the price of Jesus’ blood.  We live in this world of sin and darkness but do not belong to it by virtue of being adopted as sons and daughters of God. We are now, by virtue of dying and rising with Christ in our baptism, citizens of heaven. While here on earth, while living in this world, however, as Jesus does not ask the Father to take us out of the world, but to “keep us from the Evil One,” to “consecrate” us “in the truth,  we are also citizens of heaven to which the Risen Jesus has returned, sitting at the Father’s right interceding for us and waiting for all of His enemies, and ours, to be destroyed.

Am I aware that I have dual citizenship: that of this world, in my case, of the U.S.A, and that of heaven and that one will last forever and the other come to an end? For which am I building up treasures? This world or the world to come?  

Jesus Returns to the Father to Send Us An Advocate

In today's Gospel, John 16, 5-11, Jesus tells the apostles and his disciples that he will be leaving them.  He notices their sadness and then says to them:  "It is better for you that I go.  For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you."  The Advocate is the Holy Spirit. Following His Ascension into heaven, Jesus will no longer be speaking to them  through His flesh but through the Spirit.

The Spirit of God is everywhere, in  all created things, in the core of our very beings, present wherever we are.  As with the return of Jesus to His Father and the disciples sadness, we, too, are distraught when the spirit of our loved ones leaves their body and they are no longer physically present to us or able to speak to us through their earthly bodies.  As with Jesus who no longer spoke to the apostles or his disciples in His flesh but through the Spirit, so, too, our loved ones, once they leave this world, no longer speak to us through their earthly bodies, the flesh, but through their spirits, present, I believe, wherever we are.  As with the disciples who did not recognize the Risen Christ, we do not, normally, recognize the spirit of our loved ones at our sides either.  However, that does not mean that they are not there, any more than, our not seeing the Holy Spirit with the naked eye, mean that the Holy Spirit is not hovering over us always.

Jesus' Endurance for Our Sake's

In today's first reading, Hebrews 12: 1-4, St. Paul speaks about Jesus' endurance of the cross, "despising its shame," and then taking his seat at the right hand of the Father in eternity.  Many times, much suffering accompanies our following of Jesus, our obedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit directing us throughout the day. We may be called upon to walk away from gossip or to refrain from gossiping or, even, to confront such behavior among our co-workers, family members or friends. The Spirit  may challenge us to be honest, humble, kind, outgoing and solicitous for the good of another when we want to promote ourselves.  Or the temptation to sin may be even greater: committing adultery, stealing from our employee in some way, not really doing a full day's work, for instance, or abusing a child, a spouse, an elderly person, physically striking them, or verbally or emotionally abusing their spirit, killing their initiative or spontaneity, crushing their self-esteem, crippling their self-confidence.

Jesus confronts sin. His challenges of the evils of His day led to His crucifixion and His dying a shameful death on the cross, being obedience to the Father's will that Satan be overpowered by Good. Jesus destroyed sin by doing good and by His obedience.  He was restored to life in the resurrection and now sits at the right hand of the Father where He intercedes for us, as we, too, struggle with evil.  It is through Jesus' intercession to the Father on the cross itself--"Father, forgive them; they know not what they are doing" when cooperating with evil, when following Satan's lies--and in heaven that we, too, triumph over evil in our world and in our personal lives. 

Preparing Oneself to Recognize Good Spirits

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple.  Of all of the babies being brought to the Temple that day, how would Simeon know which one was Jesus, the Messiah? Babies all look alike, do they not?  His guide was the Holy Spirit!  He could not go wrong in recognizing which baby was the Holy One of God.  You and I are guided by the same Holy Spirit, who points out who is/is not of God, which is/which is not the path to our God.  The difficulty comes from the fact that we have both good spirits and bad spirits at work within and around us.  The angels who rebelled against God—bad spirits-- prowl this world, seeking persons to lead astray.   Good angels, good spirits, also roam this world and direct us toward God’s way, put God’s thoughts within us, warn us of danger, of that which denigrates us or lies to us. Simeon practiced listening to good spirits, the Holy Spirit, guiding him.  We, too, can learn how to discern good from bad spirits. God has equipped us with the same openness to the Holy Spirit. In prayer, in solitude, we learn to listen. One way to develop the ability to hear God’s voice and become still in prayer is to practice centering prayer. What is that? Centering prayer is focusing on a word that still us, such as “Jesus,” “God,” “Love,” “Peace.”   When our thoughts stray, come back to the word  we have chosen, such as the name of “Jesus” to re-enter the stillness.  We will be training ourselves to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice.

The First Installment of our Inheritance

Today’s first reading, Ephesians 1: 11-14, led me to think about  the excitement of persons who won a lottery of millions and millions of dollars and are promised 1000’s of dollars weekly.  The excitement, I imagine, is uncontainable. The future looks brighter than it ever has been.  For some, the hopes and dreams for their future are realized in genuine, authentic living of the messages of the Gospel. For others, living a purely secular lifestyle, the worst in human nature can spill out into jealousies, envious actions, abusive spending, selfish pursuits, wild ambitions, covetousness, prideful claims and so on.  Life, somehow, can become emptier and more chaotic than ever imagined.

Desperation, for some persons, leads them to turn to God, to take up the Bible, looking for help. The Spirit within them breaks through the darkness, as somewhere in the world prayers are being offered continually for the salvation of all persons.  Searching for God in the letter of St. Paul to the  Ephesians  in Chapter 1 verses 11-14, they are told that they are “chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that…[they and] we might exist for the praise of his glory.”  In this passage, Paul reminds them and us that  we who first hoped in Christ….[and those who later come to believe in Him are] sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,…the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession.” 

Wow!  I wonder why our excitement is not as overwhelming as the excitement of those lottery winners!  We do not need to imagine “winning the lottery” that only God can give.  We did not even purchase a ticket. Jesus purchased it for us through His obedience to the Father’s plan for our redemption, his death and resurrection.  We have been given this inheritance  by the price which Christ Jesus paid for it.   The “inheritance toward redemption” includes the following: 

•  Being “chosen, destined in accord with the purpose”  of the Holy One, the giver of eternal wealth 

• Being “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”  the “first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession”

My response and yours? Let us, with Mary and all the saints and angels in heaven [and on earth],  praise God in the words of the Magnificat: “My being proclaims your greatness,” O God, “and my spirit finds joy in you, God, my Savior, for you have looked upon me, your servant, in my lowliness…God, you who are mighty, have done great things for me. Holy is your name….”

A Reflection on Pentecost

Pleased God to give His only begotten Son to save us and through whom to send us the Spirit.

Every day God sends the Spirit to lead us to the truth.

Never does God stop loving us.

To this very moment God is imminent and intimately involved in every detail of our lives.

Especially in the midst of the turmoil of our lives, God is there to save.

Caringly, God watches over us.

Obediently, Jesus became sin for us that we might become the holiness of God in Him and through Him and with Him.

Standing by our side, the Trinity keeps us from the Evil One.

Truly, there is no God like our God, who complete Jesus’ mission with the sending of the Holy Spirit to be with us until the end of time.

HAPPY PENTECOST!

O, the greatness, the goodness, the love of our God, who, in creation made the world and all that is in it in God's image and to image God on earth.

O, the love of our God expressed for us in the total obedience of His Son, who gave His life for our ransom.

O, the fidelity and humility of our God, who sent the Holy Spirit to us on Pentecost to guide us to all truth, to sanctify us and to strengthen us to follow God's lead in all the events of our lives until we become totally one with God and take our places with Jesus in heaven.

The Hand of the Lord Was upon Them

In today's first reading, Acts 11: 19-26, we learn that the disciples of Christ fled the region where followers of Christ were being persecuted and moved on to places far away as Pheonicia, Cyprus and Antioch, proclaiming the Lord Jesus "to no one but Jews."  Non-Jews were among their listeners and these persons, in turn, made Jesus known to Greeks as well.  "The hand of the Lord was upon them and a great number who believe turned to the Lord." 

The Church in Jerusalem heard the good news and sent Barnabas to the region.  Barnabas "saw the grace of God,...rejoiced and encouraged...all to remain faithful to the Lord in the firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith."
When I walk i8nto a situation, what do I see? God's grace at work? Or do my prejudices, anxieties and preconceived ideas block my vision?

The Holy Spirit is Not Rationed

God "does not ration the Holy Spirit" (Jn 3: 31-36).  Ever admire the work of others and wonder how they accomplished what the did in their life-times--people like your own parents, for instance, or people life Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, Pope
Francis or Pope John Paul II or Pope Emeritus Benedict XVi, or the pastor of your parish or the Sisters who taught you in gradeschool, high school, college? Ever wonder how hour favorite author did what he/she did?  The answer, obviously, is through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In today's Gospel, St. John tells us that God "does not ration the Holy Spirit" (Jn 3: 34). Jesus says to Philip in John 14:12-13: "I tell you most solemnly whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself; he [she] will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father....I will send" (John 16:8) the Advocate, the Holy Spirit to you.

Do I realize that no matter what I want to do in carrying out the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, whatever I want to do in my vocation to further God's Kingdom, I am capable of doing by the power of the Spirit within me?