The early Church in
its preaching continued in this trend of thinking and emphasized the radical
transformation that must come into human lives that are united with Jesus
Christ. St. Peter speaks of how “By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter
1:3) The same insight is proclaimed by St. Paul when he writes that
a Christian by virtue of his baptism dies with Christ and rises to a new
existence - “If
we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united
with Him in a resurrection like His.” (Romans 6:5)
In his letter to the
Corinthians, St. Paul explains the rebirth that a Christian comes to when he is
united with Christ - “Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians
5:17) Therefore what counts
for a disciple of Christ is not so much the external expressions and
traditional observances but the total change of heart, “For neither circumcision counts for
anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” (Galatians 6:15) This necessity is highlighted in
the incident of Jesus cursing the fig tree. The tree was full of foliage, rich
and attractive to draw Jesus to its side. It’s the nature of the fig tree that
it puts forth abundant foliage in its fruit-bearing season. But this tree had
no fruit. So Jesus cursed the tree and it dried up. There was no point in its
existence if it could not bear fruit. The identity of the tree is bound to the
fruit it bears. Only faithfulness will bring in fruitfulness.
Christ makes it clear that the
only purpose of existence for a Christian to live the radical transformation of
the heart. This radical transformation comes to man when he is united with
Christ in such a way that his entire existence is drawn from his rootedness in
Christ. “I
am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is
that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) In this vital connection to Christ, the life
sap of the Holy Spirit flows into us enabling us to live out our commitment to
Jesus and bear witness by a fruitful life. The allegory of the prophet Jeremiah
points to this necessity to have our lives rooted in the Divine - "Blessed
is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree
planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not
fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in
the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." (Jeremiah
17:7-8)
“You Will Receive Power When The Holy Spirit Comes On You” (Acts
1:8)
Radical commitment
to Jesus effects the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit in turn
brings about a total transformation where we are redirected from death to life.
From the beginning of salvation history, the Holy Spirit is introduced as God’s
Power giving life and transforming human lives. In God’s creation activity, it
was the Holy Spirit hovering over the formless void to bring about an ordered
and magnificent creation. “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was
upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of
the waters.” (Genesis 1:2) The primordial chaos was turned to a
beautiful cosmos. Whenever the face of the earth was scarred by the sin of man
and the cosmos was slipping into shadows, the people of God prayed for the
Spirit of God to descend and renew His activity of regeneration. The psalmist
so sings, “When thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth.” (Psalm 104:30)
When God decided to
save humankind, He sent the angel to Mary to announce to her that the Holy
Spirit would overshadow her enabling her to conceive the Son of God as man. It
was the Spirit of God who filled Jesus and led Him in His ministry of
salvation. Finally it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. The
question in the minds of the women when they were rushing to the tomb early
morning was “Who would roll the stone away?”And the evangelist adds that
the stone was too large for anyone to move (Mark 16:4). To their great surprise, they saw
that the stone had already been removed from the opening of the tomb. They were
bewildered! In fact this question continued to amaze the early Church. It was
St. Paul who gave the answer in clear terms saying that it was the Spirit of
God who raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11). Right from the beginning of
times, with the fall of man, humanity came under the shadow of death. The one
reality every man and woman had to encounter was death. But now the power of
death was defeated by the Power of the Spirit. The startling victory of
darkness over Jesus was short-lived. Hence St. Paul exclaims - “O death, where
is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55) He continues to explain that what the Spirit
achieved in the Lord Jesus He continues to effect in those who are united with
Christ. “If
the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised
Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His
Spirit which dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)
“The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) Sin ensnared man to trip into the pit of death. The Holy Spirit vanquishes the power of sin itself. The Holy Spirit is the power that works in us to raise us up every time we fall into the tomb of sin and despair that we may no longer be debtors to the flesh (Romans 8:12).
Before Jesus conferred the authority to the apostles to forgive sins He
anointed them with the power of the Holy Spirit: “He breathed on them, and said to them,
‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if
you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ ” (John 20:22-23)
The sacramental confirmation of the forgiveness of sins is the
external manifestation of the inner movement of the Spirit. When we read from
the Gospel of John that Jesus breathed on the disciples and gave them the
authority to forgive sins, we need to understand that this in Scripture is the
second life-giving Breath of God. By the first breath, God gave life to man. “God breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis
2:7) By the second Breath of
God, man is given the Holy Spirit - the Power from Above to restore divine life
that is lost by sin.
“I Will Sprinkle Clean Water On You, And You Will Be Clean” (Ezekial
36:25)
One may recall how
God brings new life to the dry bones in the prophetic vision given to Ezekiel. “Thus says the
Lord God to these bones: See! I will bring Spirit into you that you may come to
life.” (Ezekial 37:5) God says again, “O Spirit, breathe into these slain that
they may come to life.” (Ezekial 37:9) And we are told in the
prophesy that the Spirit came upon the dry bones and they came alive and stood
straight (v.
10). When the Holy Spirit comes, the dead are awakened to life.
Anyone living in the enslavement of sin needs to feel this action of the Spirit
in order to be liberated to a new life.
A couple poured out
their woes to me during a retreat. They were terribly preoccupied with the
scandalous behavior of their teenage daughter. The girl, once diligent and the
pride of the family, had over a short period of time become indifferent to her
studies and rebellious in her attitudes at home. I felt prompted by the Spirit
to ask them how happy were they in their married life. They openly began to
share the sad reality of their disillusionment with each other. Sometime in the
early days of the marriage, the wife came to know that the husband and his
family had deceived her. They had said before the marriage that the groom had a
post- graduate degree and they owned the large house they were living in. She
came to know that though he was earning well in his business he had only a
graduation and the house was a rented one. She felt cheated. She lost her trust
in him and began to question everything. She could not understand how he could
do this to her. The more she thought about it the more bitter she became and
she began looking at him with contempt. All the tenderness in the relationship
was drained out. Two children were born and as years went by, the indifference
and the endless arguments between the parents began to affect the children. The
mother revealed an exaggerated version of the problem to the elder girl seeking
support from her. The girl had been very fond of the father and this disclosure
of the mother shattered her. She had never been particularly close to the
mother because of her nagging and bossy ways. Now the father too was presented
in dark shades! She kept away from both the parents. She began spending long
hours glued to the television or to the internet. Since the parents were
preoccupied with their own problems, they failed to notice that the girl, who
was by nature very intelligent and vibrant, had become a dull loner. Her grades
in school began to drop. She had lost interest in her studies altogether. And
one day to the great shock of the parents, it was discovered that the girl was
on Facebook communicating with boys in rather vulgar conversations.
I told them that the problem
had to be dealt with by first rectifying their own sinful failures. The husband
had not yet asked pardon from the wife for the deception - holding on stubbornly
to his pride. The wife had not accepted the husband from the Hands of God. For
her, the material property had become more dear than the person of the husband.
Their marriage was not lived out as a sacrament because the Presence and Activity
of the Holy Spirit was stifled by the anger they were breeding in their hearts.
I reminded them of the warning of St. Paul, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in
whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be
kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ
forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:30-32) I explained to them the urgent need
was for them to surrender to the Lord in repentance all the anger and all the
moments of their bitter exchanges and take up the commitment to forgive each
other. I reminded them of the message and the vision of the dry bones that
prophet Ezekiel had been given. Their relationship had become decayed and dried
up. I also presented them the hope that was given to the people of God who
despaired ‘our
bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.' To
them the Lord God had responded: “Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your
graves, O my people… And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.”
(Ezekial 37:11-14)
God is unchanging in
His Power and working. I could feel the movement of the Holy Spirit in this
couple. Dry bones did rise up to new life. They turned to the Lord repenting
and confessing their sinful failures. They turned to each other accepting each
other from the Hands of God grieving over the pain they caused each other. They
asked pardon from their daughter and clarified to her their own failings. This
brought about a drastic change in her attitude towards her parents. As the
family improved in their communication of love with each other, she found the
intimate love of the family deep and satisfying. She came for a Youth retreat
and made a commitment of her life to holiness and to proclaim God to her
friends. I still remember the words she spoke “I got my family back. I’m amazed
at what the Holy Spirit could do and this is what I want in my life.” In
prayer I thanked God with the psalmist - “This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”
(Psalm 118:23) What friendly advice and expert psychological
counseling had not achieved, the Holy Spirit worked out in a marvelous way
according to His character of being the Power of Love effecting the recreation
of the family of man.
“Who Will Go For Us?” (Isaiah 6:8)
There is a crisis in
the culture that we live in. A culture of death - as Pope John Paul II had
labeled it - has pervaded families, the human minds, relationships and
institutions. People have given up on God and therefore on goodness and
commitments, on each other and even on themselves! The farther man walks away
from God, the more he is distanced from others. He slips into a shell of
isolation and shadows of evil darken his ways. When we look around our culture,
perhaps all we see is the reality of dry decayed bones that Ezekiel saw in the
valley (Ezekial
Chapter 37). And it is to us, the Lord offers the call to be
prophets of this day invoking the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and challenging
our generation to rise up to life in the Spirit.
Pope John XXIII was
such a prophet for he inaugurated his papal mission by daring to open wide the
doors and windows of the Church to let the refreshing renewing breeze of the
Holy Spirit to sweep across the Church. The result was the Second Vatican
Council which brought in a great renewal in the Church as a whole. In our own
times, Pope John Paul II was a great prophet who challenged the youth to be the
saints of this generation, believing they can make a difference for Christ in
the world of today.
Failures have
crushed the spirit of the people. Betrayals have broken families. Uncertainty
of the future has suffocated aspirations for betterment. Unhealthy peer
pressures have distorted our youth. Despair has crept into every field of life.
The Holy Spirit is looking for prophets to announce a “Season of Regeneration”.
It should be as it was in the time of Ezekiel and Elisha that this broken
people “may
know that there is a prophet in the nation.” (2 Kings 5:8) The
disciples of Jesus are not to be part of this culture of death - “But you are a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may
declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
Let Us Pray:
Lord Jesus, You fulfilled Your Promise on the Day of Pentecost
as You sent the Holy Spirit on Mother Mary and the Apostles. They were anointed
and empowered to take up the challenge of continuing the work of salvation that
You initiated on the face of the earth. They were constantly filled and led by
the Spirit to proclaim the acceptable time of salvation to a world steeped in
sorrow and misery.
In our own times we realize the call for us to rise up and be
witnesses of the sure hope in the Holy Spirit to a world that is crumbling into
dryness and emptiness. Let us never be intimidated by the magnitude of our
mission or lose heart when we are met with rejection but press on knowing that the
Promise we have of the Holy Spirit must be fulfilled.
Amen.
