LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

 

Today we are celebrating the feast of Pentecost. On this day, the Church was born with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all who were gathered together in the upper room with Mother Mary. If we survey the revelation (scriptures) we find the presence and work of the Spirit at every beginning. In the Old Testament, Holy Spirit was simply known as ‘Spirit of God’. In the beginning, before the creation, the Spirit was moving in the waters (Gen 1:2). God created man by breathing His Spirit on him (Gen 2:7). The Spirit of God was on the Mount Sinai when God chose Israel as His possession – as His chosen race (Ex 19). At the start of the New Testament, the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of God) overshadowed Mary to form God-Man Jesus in her womb (Mt 1:20; Lk 1:35). The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus when He received Baptism from John (Mt 3:16). At the start of His public ministry Jesus says that the Spirit of the Lord is upon Him (Lk 4:18). Today the Holy Spirit is coming upon the followers of Jesus to give birth to the Church (Acts 2:1-11).  Therefore, Holy Spirit is indispensable to begin anything a new. At Baptism, we are born a new, because the Holy Spirit is infused in us to give birth in Christ Jesus – to be a member of God’s Church. When we attain the age of reason we receive the Sacrament of Confirmation to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Because, with the age of maturity/reason we begin a new life – a life that demands our responsibility for all that we do. In the second reading St. Paul says that it is only with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit one can come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and accept His Lordship over oneself (1 Cor 12:3). Thus, Holy Spirit is central to Christian living. We become Christians and live as Christians only with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

In the Jewish setting Pentecost is the fiftieth day after Passover (for us Easter). On this day Jews gather in Jerusalem to offer the harvest of the land as this is a festival of harvest. This day is also celebrated by Jews as ‘day of remembrance’ of Sinai Covenant. When God came down on Mount Sinai to give Ten Commandment, there were smoke and fire. We read in Ex 19:16 that on the day of great theophany (appearance of God) whole Mount Sinai was filled with peals of thunder and lightning. There was a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud blast of the shofar. In verse 18 we read thus: “Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the Lord had come down upon it in fire. The smoke rose from it as though from a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently.” The same thing happens on the day of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles. When the Holy Spirit comes down, there is heavy wind (Acts 2:2). He appears to them as tongues as of fire and rests on each one of them (Acts 2:3). On Mount Sinai, God appeared in wind and fire and gave the inscribed Ten Commandments that were written on the stone plate. Here on the Pentecost day, God infuses His Holy Spirit upon each one of them individually and writes his commandments in their hearts. In this way the promise of New Covenant which God made through prophet Jeremiah is being fulfilled: “this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days—oracle of the Lord. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer 31:33). With the law of God written into their hearts the believers have strong will to keep them at all cost, because, the operating force within them is not they (human power) but the Holy Spirit (God). In this connection only St. Paul says in Gal 2:20 that it is no longer he who lives but Christ.

The life in the Holy Spirit is well said in the Gospel of the day. The receiving of the Holy Spirit gives one the authority to forgive sins (Jn 20:23). More than the authority, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes the person to be in a state of peace. Jesus through His passion, death and resurrection reconciled God and man. The fruit of that reconciliation is peace – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Thus, with the possession of the Holy Spirit we are the people of peace who propagate forgiveness. When we fail in the mission of forgiveness and commit ourselves to do evil we reject the operating force of the Holy Spirit in us. In Ps 51 David cries to God not to remove the Holy Spirit as a punishment for his sins. The removal of Holy Spirit form the person puts one in utter confusion. Each sin lessens the operation of the Holy Spirit in us. The Sacrament of Confession is the means to withhold the presence of Holy Spirit in us. The more we approach this Sacrament the lesser becomes the influence of evil in us and better becomes the working of Holy Spirit in us. Thus, it is better that we recognize the advantage of the Holy Spirit in us and get hold of Him. May we renew the Holy Spirit in us by approaching the Sacrament of Confession as often as possible.