With the Solemnity of Pentecost come and gone, I have been doing a bit of thinking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the grace that these gifts give to us in our day to day lives. I've begun to realize more and more how much it is necessary to ask God to send his spirit to us every day, to grace us with these gifts, and fill our lives with His holy presence. God's grace is a gift that must be constantly welcomed into our lives. It is not a "one and done" deal, so to speak, where we ask God for grace once, and He blesses us with all the grace we need for the rest of our earthly lives. If that was the case, churches would be empty, there would be no need for Priests, and I probably wouldn't be in Toronto right now!
Often, when I listen to Christan Radio stations, I hear so many people talking about being a "born again" believer, talking about that "one great moment" when they came back to God, or when they acknowledged Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and were saved. Belief in God is definitely very important, and it must be the center of our daily lives, but belief in God alone isn't enough. Jesus himself said "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. (Matthew 7:21).
So what does that mean for us? How do we know if we are doing the will of our Father in Heaven? The answer is through the Spirit. The Spirit is how God speaks to us, and unless we learn to listen for the Spirit, we will be unable to discern the will of our Heavenly Father. This is a skill that takes great practice (and one that I am only beginning to learn), but through meditation and prayer, we begin to "tune in" more and more to the voice of the Spirit, and we learn to "tune out" the distractions of the flesh, or the things of the world that seek to lead us away from God.
As we seek to grow closer to God, we begin to realize more and more just how dependent we are on him. Hence the constant need to ask for the Grace of the Spirit. Therefore, our life in God becomes not about the one big rebirth in the spirit, but about a series of "little rebirths" that take place every day of our lives. Through our Baptism, we ARE reborn in the Spirit (which is most definitely our "large" rebirth, along with Confirmation), but unless we always strive to live our lives in perpetual Communion with this Spirit, we are simply reborn in word only, and not in deed. We can talk about how we were Baptized all we want, but unless we do something with the Grace we receive in Baptism, we are the proverbial "noisy gong" or "clashing cymbal" that St. Paul talks about in his First Letter to the Corinthians. So let us always strive to let the Love of God shine through in all that we do.
I would like to conclude this post with words from the Letter of Saint James:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day,and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Indeed someone might say, "You have faith and I have works." Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works.
-James 2:14-18
Lord Jesus, we pray that you would send us your Spirit, so that through the seven-fold gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord, we may always seek to know, understand, and carry out your will for us. May we always seek to grow closer to you, and place those things which seek to keep us from you at the foot of Your most Holy Cross, so that you may take them from us, and help us to draw ever closer to you. Amen.
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