From the Gospel: Governed by the Holy Spirit
The Spirit is the one who helps us know Jesus not only with our minds but also with our hearts.
Today’s readings: Acts 2,1-11; 1 Corinthians 12,3b-7.12-13; John 20,19-23
It might be difficult for us to fully grasp the excitement and incredible energy experienced in the early Church after God sent his own Spirit with power on Jesus’s disciples. This was the Big Bang of Christianity, setting things in motion that would continue to evolve, unabated, 2,000 years later.
This was essentially a leap for humanity that was so much more significant than man’s first step on the moon, for it was not merely the conquering of spatial distance but the renewal of the mind and the regeneration of the human spirit. From now on, the God who had come to visit his people in Jesus became present in human beings in a hitherto unknown way.
Good Morning, Holy Spirit, by Benny Hinn.In Good Morning, Holy Spirit, pastor Benny Hinn makes four insightful statements: (i) “The greatest tragedy in the Church today is that the Holy Spirit is ignored”; (ii) “The Holy Spirit was sent to make Jesus real in your life”; (iii) “When you know the Holy Spirit intimately, you will never be the same”; and (iv) “God never intended for Christianity to be a powerless religion.”
No wonder Jesus said, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you” (Jn 16,7). It is better to have the Holy Spirit among us and within us than to have Jesus himself walking our streets and visiting our cities.
That he makes Jesus real in our lives is what fascinates me most. Without him, Jesus would simply be an intriguing personality of the past. The Spirit is the one who helps us know Jesus not only with our minds but also with our hearts.
To better understand the Holy Spirit, it helps to remember that, from all eternity, Jesus was a spirit like him but then took on our humanity at a specific point in time. The only difference is that the Holy Spirit remained a spirit but he is just as awesome as Jesus, having a personality like his.
And the two work together. Just as God had breathed into the figure made of clay, thereby creating a human being and giving him life, so did Jesus breathe on the disciples. In doing so, they who were formerly lifeless, fearful and paralysed, received power and authority that was beyond human capacity. The first mission given to them was to dismantle the kingdom of sin through forgiveness.
Will Malta succumb to division, or will it rise above partisan tensions to work towards the common good?
What is intriguing is that the Spirit did not possess the disciples in a way that stripped them of their liberty, as is seen in cases of diabolical possession where people may lose full control over their bodies. The disciples remained totally free and fully aware of their actions. The Spirit, called an Advocate, inspired them how to speak but did not manipulate their speech. They still had to do the talking, the preaching, the writing but they did so animated by him. He is not an overbearing God but expresses profound respect towards every human person.
If God’s breathing on Adam brought an individual into being, his breath on Pentecost created a community. It is significant that, this year, we are celebrating Pentecost on the eve of the general elections. The descent of the Spirit recounted in Acts 2 brought about an incredible unity among people of different ethnic backgrounds, such that each could understand Peter’s speech in their own language.
Will Malta succumb to division or will it rise above partisan tensions to work towards the common good? The Moral Re-Armament, based at Caux Palace, in Montreux, had a dictum that is highly pertinent to our nation: “I want to see the world governed by men [and women] who are governed by God.”
