06-03-2014, 12:31 AM
FIDELITY TO CHRIST ONLY IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 19:1-8; JOHN 16:29-33
http://www.universalis.com/20140602mass.htm
“Do you believe at last?” This question that Jesus put to His disciples is equally relevant to us. Indeed, we have to examine ourselves honestly with regard to our faith in Jesus as the Son of God. We are not very different from the disciples who spoke so confidently of their faith in Jesus as the Son of God. They claimed to have known Jesus when they said, “’Now you are speaking plainly and not using metaphors! Now we see that you know everything, and do not have to wait for questions to be put into words; because of this we believe that you came from God.” We too think that we know Jesus and truly believe that He is the Son of the Father. But do we?
What would be the crucial test of our faith in Jesus? It boils down to this: fidelity! Will we be faithful to Christ in moments of our trials and temptations? Will we stay with Jesus and defend Him when our faith is questioned and tested just as St Paul did when “he spoke out boldly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God … for three months”? Will we give our whole lives to the proclamation of the gospel without counting the costs and at the expense of our pleasure and convenience?
The reality is that many of us have betrayed our promises to Jesus. This is not surprising. After all, the disciples too were over confident of themselves. They all professed allegiance to Jesus. And yet Jesus knows us better. How consoling it is to know that the Lord knows how weak we are. He knows us more than we know ourselves! Hence, He forewarned them, “Listen; the time will come – in fact it has come already – when you will be scattered, each going his own way and leaving me alone.” Yes, we will betray Jesus in various ways.
But why is it that our faith in Jesus is so weak and cannot stand up against the challenges to our faith? Many of us are still operating on the level of knowledge about Jesus. Having knowledge of Jesus is not yet the discovery of truth. As truth is an event, and therefore an experience of a reality, it means that truth must be acknowledged not merely in our heads, but experienced in our hearts. Only when our confession of faith in Jesus is more than just an intellectual assent to some external doctrines but goes to the depth of our beings, that our faith can remain strong against all difficulties.
This is certainly the case of Jesus even in His relationship with the Father. If Jesus could overcome the struggles of fidelity to His mission, it was because Jesus was one with the Father. He is conscious of the Father’s abiding presence in His life. Hence, He said, “And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” Only this recognition of the Father’s presence can enable Him to remain faithful in His moments of temptation, thereby overcoming the world.
How then can we experience the abiding presence of Jesus in us so that our faith in Christ becomes an event in our lives? We need to pray for the renewal of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Only the Holy Spirit can lead us to Jesus. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the Truth about Jesus to us. Without the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts, we will know Jesus only as a notion. The Holy Spirit as the Soul of the Church makes Jesus personally present to us in the spirit. This has been true for the disciples of Jesus and that of the early Church.
This necessary reception of the Holy Spirit is exemplified in the first reading when Paul realized that something was missing in the disciples at Ephesus. This made him ask them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” The answer was in the negative. Thus Paul explained that the baptism by John was simply a baptism of repentance. Although John’s disciples were upright and devout believers, their spiritual lives were not complete without the Holy Spirit. Hence, when Paul baptized them in the Lord Jesus and with it, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, “they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.” Yes, if we peruse all the texts from the Acts of the Apostles, the early Church was always conscious of the need to receive the Holy Spirit in order to be effective witnesses.
Today, the encouraging and uplifting words of Jesus should give us strength for He has revealed to us the way to keep ourselves afloat in all difficulties. Indeed, He said, “I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but be brave: I have conquered the world.” Truly with the Spirit of Jesus in us, with the presence of the Father and the Son making their home in us, we can be sure that we will prevail over difficulties. His presence will give us the strength to hold out all the temptations of the world and especially discouragement and despair.
All we need to do is pray earnestly for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit whom we have already received when we were baptized. When He comes, we will have no more doubts because we would have experienced for ourselves the power of the victory of Christ over death in the resurrection. And indeed, all our sorrows would turn into joy because we have remained faithful to our Master till the end.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
- See more at: http://www.csctr.net/reflections/#sthash...rnGSI.dpuf
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 19:1-8; JOHN 16:29-33
http://www.universalis.com/20140602mass.htm
“Do you believe at last?” This question that Jesus put to His disciples is equally relevant to us. Indeed, we have to examine ourselves honestly with regard to our faith in Jesus as the Son of God. We are not very different from the disciples who spoke so confidently of their faith in Jesus as the Son of God. They claimed to have known Jesus when they said, “’Now you are speaking plainly and not using metaphors! Now we see that you know everything, and do not have to wait for questions to be put into words; because of this we believe that you came from God.” We too think that we know Jesus and truly believe that He is the Son of the Father. But do we?
What would be the crucial test of our faith in Jesus? It boils down to this: fidelity! Will we be faithful to Christ in moments of our trials and temptations? Will we stay with Jesus and defend Him when our faith is questioned and tested just as St Paul did when “he spoke out boldly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God … for three months”? Will we give our whole lives to the proclamation of the gospel without counting the costs and at the expense of our pleasure and convenience?
The reality is that many of us have betrayed our promises to Jesus. This is not surprising. After all, the disciples too were over confident of themselves. They all professed allegiance to Jesus. And yet Jesus knows us better. How consoling it is to know that the Lord knows how weak we are. He knows us more than we know ourselves! Hence, He forewarned them, “Listen; the time will come – in fact it has come already – when you will be scattered, each going his own way and leaving me alone.” Yes, we will betray Jesus in various ways.
But why is it that our faith in Jesus is so weak and cannot stand up against the challenges to our faith? Many of us are still operating on the level of knowledge about Jesus. Having knowledge of Jesus is not yet the discovery of truth. As truth is an event, and therefore an experience of a reality, it means that truth must be acknowledged not merely in our heads, but experienced in our hearts. Only when our confession of faith in Jesus is more than just an intellectual assent to some external doctrines but goes to the depth of our beings, that our faith can remain strong against all difficulties.
This is certainly the case of Jesus even in His relationship with the Father. If Jesus could overcome the struggles of fidelity to His mission, it was because Jesus was one with the Father. He is conscious of the Father’s abiding presence in His life. Hence, He said, “And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” Only this recognition of the Father’s presence can enable Him to remain faithful in His moments of temptation, thereby overcoming the world.
How then can we experience the abiding presence of Jesus in us so that our faith in Christ becomes an event in our lives? We need to pray for the renewal of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Only the Holy Spirit can lead us to Jesus. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the Truth about Jesus to us. Without the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts, we will know Jesus only as a notion. The Holy Spirit as the Soul of the Church makes Jesus personally present to us in the spirit. This has been true for the disciples of Jesus and that of the early Church.
This necessary reception of the Holy Spirit is exemplified in the first reading when Paul realized that something was missing in the disciples at Ephesus. This made him ask them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” The answer was in the negative. Thus Paul explained that the baptism by John was simply a baptism of repentance. Although John’s disciples were upright and devout believers, their spiritual lives were not complete without the Holy Spirit. Hence, when Paul baptized them in the Lord Jesus and with it, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, “they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.” Yes, if we peruse all the texts from the Acts of the Apostles, the early Church was always conscious of the need to receive the Holy Spirit in order to be effective witnesses.
Today, the encouraging and uplifting words of Jesus should give us strength for He has revealed to us the way to keep ourselves afloat in all difficulties. Indeed, He said, “I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but be brave: I have conquered the world.” Truly with the Spirit of Jesus in us, with the presence of the Father and the Son making their home in us, we can be sure that we will prevail over difficulties. His presence will give us the strength to hold out all the temptations of the world and especially discouragement and despair.
All we need to do is pray earnestly for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit whom we have already received when we were baptized. When He comes, we will have no more doubts because we would have experienced for ourselves the power of the victory of Christ over death in the resurrection. And indeed, all our sorrows would turn into joy because we have remained faithful to our Master till the end.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
- See more at: http://www.csctr.net/reflections/#sthash...rnGSI.dpuf