THE SPIRIT OF CONSECRATION TO THE TRUTH


WEDNESDAY, SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER

Act 20:28-38; Ps 68:29-30,33-36; Jn 17:11-19

The Holy Spirit of Truth

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, for when we speak of the truth, we mean the word of God that brought all things into existence, and when we are with the word of God, we are with the Father. Hence, to say the Holy Spirit is of the truth is to say that He is the Spirit of the Father and the Son. The coming of the Holy Spirit into our souls is to open the path of truth before us and to make us committed to living the truth. Hence, our spirits, born through him, are nurtured by truth. In other words, our spirits feed on Jesus Christ, who is Eternal Truth. In this sense, Jesus proclaimed himself the way, the truth, and the life. The Holy Spirit makes us in the likeness of the Son of God and leads us into the truth of the word of God. He feeds us on the heavenly pasture that is Jesus Christ. In this sense, it is important what we believe. To believe falsehood is to feed on a spiritual poison. False belief causes harm to our spiritual life, which may lead to spiritual death. So, the fundamental work of the Holy Spirit in the Church is to safeguard the contents of the Christian faith from corruption. Through his presence and aid, we can understand the truths of the Gospel and proclaim them correctly in the Church. We cause a lot of harm to souls when we believe in falsehood and proclaim it by our words and lives. Powers of evil enter a soul through false belief and doctrine. Saint Paul was hard on those who added or removed from the truth of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The dire consequences of false beliefs and doctrines made the presence of the Holy Spirit in our souls a consecration to the truth. He teaches us divine truth and consecrates us to living out the truth. The consecration becomes a reality only if we pay adequate attention to things of the spirit. Our Lord prayed to the Father to protect his own from the evil one by consecrating them to the truth. “They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth.” Therefore, we aid the work of the Holy Spirit, which is to continue the work of the Son of Man, by getting familiar with the word of God. He reveals the will of the Father by making us understand the word of God and proclaim it in our lives. The doing of the will of the Father, which is the coming of the kingdom of heaven, separates the faithful from the world. So, the coming of the Holy Spirit into our souls answers the prayer of Jesus for our protection from the world. “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake, I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth.” Our lives in the spirit, directed by the Holy Spirit, are the meaning of consecration to God. Our consecration is impossible without the Holy Spirit. Our communion as Christ’s faithful stands on our consecration to the truth he reveals to us and taught by the Church through his inspiration and guidance.

Our faithfulness to our consecration to the truth adds up to the consecration of the Church to the Gospel truth. The Holy Spirit always assures, through his presence in the Church, that there are teachers of the divine truth and holy shepherds of the flock of Jesus Christ. Hence, he calls us individually and collectively to prayer and vigilance. We hear this vocation of the Holy Spirit through the voice of Saint Paul as he admonished the elders in the church of Ephesus. “Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the overseers, to feed the Church of God which he bought with his own blood.” In line with what we have stated above, Paul recognises the fact that fierce wolves invade the flock of God through false teaching and beliefs. “Even from your own ranks, there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them.” We all need to be on our prayerful guard over those entrusted to us, especially as parents. Many parents are abandoning their duty to start their children on the Church’s faith and practice of prayer, thereby exposing them to fierce wolves. We pray for the renewal of the Holy Spirit to enable us to consecrate ourselves to the truth of the Gospel.

Let us pray: Graciously grant to your Church, O merciful God, that, gathered by the Holy Spirit, she may be devoted to you with all her heart and united in purity of intent. Through our Lord Jesu 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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