THE HOLY SPIRIT REMOVES OUR VEILS


THURSDAY, TENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

2 Cor 3:15-4:1,3-6; Ps 85:9-14; Mt 5:20-26

The Removal of Veil of Unbelief

The new spiritual birth we have received from the Holy Spirit makes us able to see and interact with spiritual realities. Without the spiritual life and its faculties received from the Holy Spirit, a soul is dead to God and other spiritual things. We have this in the passage from Saint Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. He judged many Jews ignorant of the spiritual realities God has revealed through Jesus Christ due to their lack of faith in Jesus Christ. Their refusal to believe in the Son of Man resulted in their turning away from the Spirit of truth and heavenly life. They misunderstood the Old Testament, which was supposed to lead them to Jesus Christ. “Even today, whenever Moses is read, the veil is over their minds. It will not be removed until they turn to the Lord. Now this Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Their being Israelites or Jews benefited them nothing because they rejected the revelation of God, for Israel’s vocation and blessedness rest on their obedience to the will of God expressed in his word. Thus, Israel had the pillar of cloud and light to guide them only when they followed the Lord in obedience. Refusal to follow the word of God made them lose sight of God’s protection and guidance.

What God gave to Israel in symbols is now given to us in the reality of the Incarnation of the Son of God. The humanity of Jesus Christ is the pillar of cloud and light that guides the Christian people along the wilderness of this mortal life to our heavenly home. All who believe in the Son of Man have their faces unveiled because faith gives access to the Eternal Word in our human nature. The Holy Spirit, who dwells in us through our profession of faith in the Son of Man, gives us spiritual sight to behold the Lord, unlike the unbelievers. “And we, with our unveiled faces reflecting like mirrors the brightness of the Lord, all grow brighter and brighter as we are turned into the image that we reflect; this is the work of the Lord who is the Spirit.” So, as we constantly behold the Lord in prayer, meditation, and contemplation of life events, we are purified more and more by the word of God, to whom we commit ourselves in greater devotion each day. We see the Lord in the daily events of life because the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual sight through our faith. But he is hidden from the unbelievers and us when we refuse to exercise our faith. We preach the gospel through our daily response to his abiding presence within our daily activities. “If our gospel does not penetrate the veil, then the veil is on those who are not on the way to salvation; the unbelievers whose minds the god of this world has blinded, to stop them seeing the light shed by the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

The Psalmist foretold of the glory of the Lord that will dwell in our land. “I will hear what the Lord God has to say, a voice that speaks of peace. His help is near for those who fear him and his glory will dwell in our land.” By the incarnation of the Eternal Word, God has established his presence among us. The faithful must live in the full awareness of this presence for their virtue to be firmly rooted in him. “If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.” The revelation of God in our flesh must guide our relationship with one another. We must offer our lives to God through our dedicated service to the Lord for the salvation of our brothers and sisters. “So then, if you are bringing your offering to the alter and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the alter, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering.” We pray for the grace to penetrate the real presence of God with us always, that we may offer him our lives as spiritual sacrifices pleasing and acceptable to him through the Holy Spirit of communion.  

Let us pray: O God, from whom all good things come, grant that we, who call on you in our need, may at your prompting discern what is right, and by your guidance do it. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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