Today the Universal Church commemorates Pentecost Sunday, the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the first disciples….Without the Holy Spirit nothing happens!…..Not just for the original disciples but for us….In the text from the Gospel read at Mass today, St John tells us that Jesus literally breaths the Holy Spirit from his resurrected body upon the disciples……”As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,"Receive the Holy Spirit.”……This “breath of God” has enabled saints for two thousands years to do the impossible!….And so will it enable us - If we give God permission…..As Catholics we know that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity….The Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit are all one in the same…That means if we “make room” in our life for the Holy Spirit - God himself will animate us….This is the same God that turned water into wine - This is the same God that fed five thousand people from a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish - This is the same God that was crucified and rose from the grave in three days - Think what this same God can do with your life!……What holds us back? - In a word - FEAR…..We are afraid - We lack trust - We lack faith!……All that being said, one simple YES can remedy all of our doubts and weakness….Just as the original twelve disciples were afraid, God himself came to them and empowered them to do the impossible - Why do we “think” we are any different?……One unconditional YES gives God permission to work in our life…But again, we must make room for God to work - That means “clearing away” all that is not of God in our life….Notice also what is told to us in the Gospel today when Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit upon the disciples - ”Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained”…..In giving the disciples the Holy Spirit, he also gave them authority to forgive sins…..And by utilizing the authority of the Church and going to frequent Confessions with a Priest (once a month), we “make room” for the Holy Spirit to work in our life…..It’s a simple “formula” - RIGHT?!? - And it all begins with a simple three letter word - YES!!!
“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love”
Jesus tells us many things in the pages of Scripture but one of the most important statements he instructs us with is this….”I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing”….Before the reader of this reflection affirms this statement to be true - Think long and hard - Do you really believe that without God you can do nothing? - That means all your education means nothing - That means all your wealth means nothing - That means your position within the Church means nothing…It all means NOTHING WITHOUT GOD!…God can use a street sweeper more than a Cardinal of the Catholic Church if that street sweeper fully surrenders his life to God with an unconditional YES and the Cardinal does not!….When we look at the lives of the saints and see how God took some of the most simple people - People with little to no education - People who were poor and completely invisible to the power structures of their day - And God took those same “nobodies” and literally “shook the foundations of the world” by their witness to the Gospel……..In the Magnificat, a young girl who the world came to know as the Mother of God said these words…..”For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant”……If the Mother of God who was born without sin considers herself as “lowly” - What does that imply about us?…But here is the “key” - So pay attention!!! - Humility is Truth - When we know “our place” before God - That God is God and we are NOT - Its then that God will use us!….St Francis would pray these words into the night - “Who are you Lord and who am I” - When we fully digest that we can do NOTHING without God and when we fully graft our life to “the vine”, which is the Church - Then we will bear fruit that will last! - And not before - Why? - Because without me you can do NOTHING!
“O most blessed Light divine, Shine within these hearts of yours, And our inmost being fill! - Where you are not, we have naught, Nothing good in deed or thought, Nothing free from taint of ill”
Today the Universal Church in her wisdom commemorates the day Jesus empowers his first apostles to go forth throughout the world and “make disciples of all nations”…Think for a moment - How could twelve uneducated fishermen accomplish this task?…It’s a herculean task asked of them - I will tell you how they do it - “As the Father has sent me, so I send you."And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit”….This same man, who walked the earth and rose from the dead says the same thing to us today!……"Receive the Holy Spirit” - “And renewal the face of the earth”……It does not matter who you are - If you give God permission - And “clear away” all that interferes with God in your life - We too will be a “force of nature”, as the saints were - Why do you have any doubt?!?…..”These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”……God can do more with your life than you can - Do you believe that?….If you do, the greatest adventure of your life is about to begin!……”Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth”…..JMJ
No comments:
Post a Comment