Receive The Holy Spirit
Our Lady of Medjugorje now leads us to the final phase of our pilgrimage, where she wants us to understand the role of the Holy Spirit in Her life, in the Life of Jesus and in the life of the Church. If we can talk of a special grace in the Church today, it is, I believe, connected with the person of the Holy Spirit. Among other things, this century will be remembered in the history of the Church as the century of the rediscovery of the role of the Holy Spirit. Not only because the role of the Holy Spirit has been rediscovered but even more so because of the experience the Church has had of a releasing of the Holy Spirit which has given rise to various charismatic and Pentecostal movements. For many Christians Joel’s prophesy is no longer just a lovely quotation in Peter’s sermon at Pentecost but a reality to be relished. They can bear witness to the fact that ‘in the last days God poured out his Spirit on all flesh: on sons and daughters, on young men and old men, on men servants and maid servants”. (Joel 3:1 if.; Acts 2:17-18).
On Easter evening, Jesus breathed upon
his disciples and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit”,
Christ almost begging his disciples to accept His gift. In this gesture
the great prophecy of
Ezekiel 37, concerning the dry bones is fulfilled. “Then he said
to me; prophecy to the spirit,
prophesy, son of man, and say to the Spirit; thus says the Lord God! From
the four winds come O Spirit and breathe into these slain that they may
come to life” Ezekiel 37:9
In the Catholic creed of the Church we proclaim “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy, Catholic Church. Both the Church and the Holy Spirit are intimately joined to Jesus Christ, and continue His mission of establishing the Kingdom of God on earth. They are joined as “body and soul”: the Church is the “body of Christ” [Ephesians 1:22, 23 Colossians 1:18] and the Holy Spirit is the “Soul” of the Church.
Who is the Holy Spirit? Many find it more difficult to understand the divine person of the Holy Spirit than to understand the Father and the Son. One reason is that we have natural human images of “Father” and “Son”, but none of “Holy Spirit”. The Bible teaches: “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit, [lCorinthiansl2:3 CCC 683]. The Holy Spirit alone enables us to know God through faith: “to be in touch with Christ, we must first been touched by the Holy Spirit” [CCC 683]. Christians “know” the Holy Spirit because the Father and the Son have sent him to us, to dwell within us, as in a temple. [Romans8:9-1 1; I Corinthians 6:19]
Christians can know the Holy Spirit through
his action and presence:
1. In the sacred scripture or tradition that he has inspired.
2. In his ‘voice’, speaking through the Church’s prayer,
prophetic words, and in her official teaching.
3. In the Liturgy and in the Sacraments.
4. In the charisms and ministries by which he builds up the church.
5. In the witness of missionaries and saints through whom he spreads the
Gospel, to all people. [CCC 688]
The catechism summarizes the teaching of John’s Gospel; “The Holy Spirit will come and we shall know him; he will be with us forever, he will remain with us’. [CCC 729]
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE LIFE OF JESUS
1. JESUS BEFORE THE JORDAN
The gospel tells us very little about the hidden years of Jesus. As far
as the people were concerned he was no different than anyone else, but,
when he returned home from the Jordan, they asked, “Where did the
man get all this [wisdom and power]? This is the carpenter, surely (Mark
6:2-3)
2. JESUS AT THE JORDAN
Luke3:21 -22 in describing the event, tells us that the Holy Spirit descended
upon Jesus;
a) While he was at prayer. The giving of the gift of the Holy Spirit takes
place only within the context of prayer.
b) The Holy Spirit comes in bodily shape — like a dove.
c) With the voice of God sounding from heaven and saying — “you
are my Son, the beloved Trinity involved.
3. JESUS AFTER THE JORDAN
We now learn from Luke, That Jesus was;
A. Filled with the Spirit
B. Is led by the Spirit,
C. And moves around in the Power of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit works in him and through his body to help anyone in need
who comes to him. He experiences power going out from him. Luke 8:43-48,
Luke 6;19.
If we want to find out what the Holy Spirit
can do in the lives of men and women, all we have to do is take a look
and see what the Holy Spirit did through Jesus. Jesus goes back to his
hometown of Nazareth, just after receiving the Spirit. Jesus says, ‘The
Spirit of the Lord has been given to me’. Then He lists five reasons
as to why the Spirit was given to him. The Spirit was given to him to:
A. Bring good news to the poor
B Set prisoners free
C Give sight to the blind
0. Lift up the down trodden.
E. Announce a year of the Lord’s favor (ie for the needy)
In not one of these instances does Jesus say that the Spirit has been given to him for himself NO, the Spirit is given for the sake of others.
4. THE PROBLEM
The problem is that Jesus’ body was human and limited in every way
like any other human body. It gets tired, hungry, can only be in one place
at any one moment. What would happen at the death of Jesus? Where then
would the Spirit have a dwelling place? If this Spirit could be “transplanted”
into another type of body then it could be released and available to all
people of all times and places.
5. THE SOLUTION
This is what happened at the Pentecost. At the Pentecost a completely
new type of body comes into existence — the new body of Christ —
the Church. St Paul calls it a new creation. its function or role is to
be the place — holder, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit just
as Jesus himself had been, for the sake of others.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH
1. NEW BODY IN ACTION
Could this new body do the same kind of things that Jesus himself had
done? The Acts of
Apostles is full of stories, which tell how the young Church did what
Jesus had done. Indeed,
Jesus had promised that this would be so when he said, “Whoever
believes in me will perform the same works as I do, he will do even greater
works. (John 14:12)
2. THE BODY GROWS
The two thousand years of Church History, holds up a picture of men and
women, individuals, and small communities, young and old, of every race
and culture, who made the gifts of the Holy Spirit a reality in their
lives and situations.
3. THE BODY TODAY
Where is the Holy Spirit, today in our world, in our parish, in his Church
today? The Spirit of Jesus is present here today, in you, sitting before
me. The Holy Spirit is active in events of my Parish over the last few
years. The Holy Spirit is alive, when dialogue and love, overcome violence
and fear. The Holy Spirit is active when barriers erected by evil people
come tumbling down.
4. THE PRICE
Every gift has its price. And the value of a gift is often known from
the price paid for it. The gift of the Holy Spirit also had its price
— the death of Jesus, the Son of God. This is what makes this gift
so precious. It is ours for the asking, because someone else did the earning.
John 19; 30 John says that Jesus ‘bowed his head and gave up his
Spirit’. That is, he not only breathed his last, but he gave the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit, His Spirit to us.
RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT
Jesus said “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink” John 7:37 “He said this is reference to the Holy Spirit” John 7:39
The first condition for receiving the Holy Spirit is not the merits and virtues but desire, vital need, thirst. The words of Jesus echo those in Isaiah 55:1 who said - “All you who are thirsty, Come to the water! You who have no money, Come, receive grain and eat”.
Are we thirsty for the Holy Spirit or do we have instead an unacknowledged fear of him? We think that if the Holy Spirit comes, he cannot leave everything in our existence as he finds it. He could even make us do “strange” things that we are not ready to accept. He has never left those upon whom he has come, dormant and inactive. Whoever the Holy Spirit touches the Holy Spirit changes.
Thus our prayer for having the Spirit sometimes resembles the prayer of St. Augustine, addressed to God before his conversion: “grant me chastity and self — control, but please not yet’. We are tempted to say “Come Holy Spirit, come but not right now, and especially no strangeness”. Therefore, in the first place let us ask the Holy Spirit to take away our fear of him. Let us say “Come, come Holy Spirit! Come now, come as you wish — bend, warm, cure, water, renew”.
Jesus is the one who cries to the Spirit, who calls him and breathes him out. He does not call him from outside himself, “from the four winds,” but from himself, from his open side. Today, Jesus breathes on us, “Receive the Holy Spirit”, let us expose our faces and our souls to his breath of life and let it quicken and renew us. The apostles received the Holy Spirit that Easter evening, but its power was not released until Pentecost Sunday.
St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians 5:25 says “If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit” St Paul makes uses of the opposites Flesh/Spirit in order to explain the three fundamental facts of existence: birth, life and death. In other words, according to the word of God there are two ways to be born of the flesh and of the Spirit, two ways to live — according to the flesh and according to the Spirit, and two final outcomes — death or eternal life. St. Paul says, The concern of the flesh is death, but the concern of the Spirit is life and peace”. (Romans 8:6). In other words, flesh indicates the “human condition’. To say that the “word becomes flesh” (John 1:14) is to say it was made human, that it assumed the human condition. The Spirit — deals with the soul.
‘I. TWO WAYS TO BE BORN:
FLESH: Natural birth, - without faith — John 3:6
SPIRIT: The birth of the Spirit is expressed by “of God” Johnl:13 “from above”, John3:3, “through the living and abiding word of God” lPeterl:23. This birth or rebirth happens at the initiative and will of God the Father who brings it about through the Spirit. The life that results from this new birth is life “in Christ”- or life “In the spirit”. The new birth is always connected with faith “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God” (1John 5:1). In reality, it is not we who are born anew but it is Christ who is conceived and born in us “through the working of the Holy Spirit”.
2. TWO WAYS OF LIVING:
St Paul says, “For those who live according to the flesh are concerned
with the things of the flesh but those who live according to the Spirit
are concerned with the things of the Spirit. The concern of the flesh
is death. But the concern of the Spirit is life and peace. For the concern
of the flesh is hostility towards God; it does not submit to the law of
God nor can it; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God”
(Romans 8:5-8)
FLESH: To live according to the flesh means to live on a natural level without faith — you live according to nature — nature corrupted by sin which expresses itself by means of various desires — the so called “works of the flesh” — “immorality, impurity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissensions, envy, drinking, adultery, drugs etc. [Galatians 5: 19-20]
SPIRIT: To live according to the Spirit means to think, will and act, by the Spirit of Jesus, given us in the Sacrament of Baptism. To live according to the Spirit is equivalent, therefore, to imitating Christ. Manifestations or characters of this new life are the so-called “fruits of the Spirit” “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22)
3. TWO WAYS TO DIE:
We come to the different outcomes to which living according to the flesh
and living according to the Spirit, respectively lead: death or life.
St. Paul says “for if you live according to the flesh, you will
die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you
will live” (Romans 8:13).
FLESH: if someone lives according to the flesh, in a purely natural and earthly way, since “flesh” is by definition that which passes away, is corrupted, has a beginning, a period of development and an end, the ultimate horizon of such a life can only be death. All flesh, the Bible says, the human being is like grass and “flower of the field”. The grass withers, the flowers wilt. “Isaiah 40 6-7 The human being is born and lives in order to die.
SPIRIT: If someone lives according to the Spirit, since the Spirit is, by definition, that which does not decay, the eternal, the horizon in this case does not close with death. The new life of the Spirit has a beginning but not an end. “The one who sows for his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows for the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit”. (Galatians 6:8)
St Paul says “if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you” (Romans 8:11) We are called to witness, and speak in the name of God — to evangelize.
SYMBOLS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
There is no reason why a Christian should fail to know and recognize the
Holy Spirit. The catechism summarizes the teaching of John’s Gospel;
‘The Holy Spirit will come and we shall know him; he will be with
us forever, he will remain with us’. CCC 729.
There is a wealth of symbols of the Holy Spirit. Water, oil (anointing) fire, cloud, light, zeal, imposition of hands, God’s fingers, the dove (ccc.694-701) However, one short comings of these symbols is that they are all impersonal. Although the Holy Spirit is a Person of God, it is easy to think of “Spirit’ as an impersonal power or force.
St Luke emphasizes the Holy Spirit as a person, not as titles, as in John’s Gospel — but by describing the personal activity of the Holy Spirit in the Church — the Holy Spirit can be lied to and tested [Acts5:3,9], the Holy Spirit is busy in the Church, speaking (Acts:1O:19) consoling (Acts:9:31) sending people forth (Acts:13:4) deciding (Acts:15:28) warning (Acts:20:23). He prevents Paul and Timothy going Asia (Acts:16:7). In the acts the Holy Spirit is presented as a person who is in an active, personal relationship with the disciples of Jesus.
THE HOLY SPIRIT CHANGES
The apostles, after coming of the Holy Spirit, were changed people. Change
doesn’t happen in an instant — it has to be gradual, a growth
process. All growth can be slow and painful. We do not easily let go of
old habits and attitudes. People change when they are given hope; when
someone believes in them, above all they change when they are loved. It
is the Holy Spirit who is the power to do this. The Holy Spirit is our
strength in times of weakness, our guide in times of doubt, our consoler
in times of sadness, our advocate who always pleads our cause. Pentecost
— apostles were filled with Holy Spirit was an overwhelming experience
of the love of God. They had an overwhelming experience of God.
“What the Holy Spirit touches, the Holy Spirit changes”
PRIESTS
Many priests are embarrassed around lay people when they see how lay people
exercise the gifts of the Spirit. Many priests have completed a ‘life
in the Spirit program’ but have never put the program into practice,
just in case it doesn’t work. [Spend time with a few people in the
Renewal Movement that you trust, and practice with them] My first experience
of the gifts of the Spirit, what we call being slain in the Spirit —
incident at Maryland.
READINGS
Romans5: 6—10, Mathew: 5-42, lsaiah6l: 1-3, 1 Corinthians 2: 9-13,
Ephesians2:1 2-18