OUR SPIRIT FEEDS ON GOD'S WILL


MONDAY, THIRTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Rom 8:12-17; Ps 68:2,4,6-7,20-21; Lk 13:10-17

Our Spirits working with the Holy Spirit

Through faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit generates a new spiritual life within us by the merit of the sacrificial death of the Son of Man. The new spirit we receive is actually the life of the Son of Man within us. We gain this by believing that he died our death, so that we may live his life. It is a fair exchange with the Eternal Word of God made man for our salvation. Saint Paul enunciates this truth in his second letter to the Corinthians 5:15. The reason he died for us is that we may no longer live for ourselves, but for him who died and rose for our salvation. We gain this new spirit at the moment of profession of faith in his death; that is, at our baptism. The exchange is made possible through the will of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit, who makes his home within us at the same instant. The Holy Spirit takes His residence in us, to feed or nurture the new spirit to fullness of the stature and maturity of Jesus Christ. He does this by feeding us with the things that belong to Christ Jesus, our Lord. He feeds us with the truth that is Jesus Christ to bring us to the fullness of life that is Christ’s.

The grooming of our spirit by the Holy Spirit is continuous if our attention remains focused on the spiritual or interior aspects. It only breaks or stops when our interest or desire is taken up by the unspiritual or temporal. Hence, Paul admonishes us as follows: “My brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live.” The new spirit, which is Jesus Christ living within us, has only one desire, namely, the will of the Father, which is our true life in God. To abandon this new way leading to fullness of life, and entertain any other desire, is death for our souls. This new spirit, as we stated in the previous reflection, defines prayer within us. Our spirit witnesses not only that we are children of God, but also that Jesus lives now in us. “The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.” Both sufferings and glories are the nourishment from Jesus Christ, with which the Holy Spirit feeds us on a daily basis. Hence, our spiritual life is the desire and cry for the daily bread that we receive from heaven. Without this daily bread, we are doomed to die of starvation. Material goods can never satisfy our spiritual longing. The Father feeds us daily that we may live and accomplish his will. “This God of ours is a God who saves. The Lord our God holds the keys of death.”

The Father gives life to the world through the Eternal Word. The power to save and give life to anyone who comes to him is demonstrated by the Son of Man in the Gospel. He was teaching in a synagogue when he saw a woman enfeebled by a demon for eighteen years, causing her to bend over and be quite unable to stand upright. “When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are rid of your infirmity’ and he laid his hands on her. And at once she straightened up, and she glorified God.” The power of the Son of Man to heal us comes from his conformity with the will of the Father; it is the power of Grace the Father has showered upon us through the Eternal Word, by revealing His holy will to us for our salvation. The sabbath is a holy day because it is a day we seek to hear the word of God, to know the will of the Father; it is not holy by itself. The synagogue official failed to understand the meaning of the Sabbath law and complained about Jesus’s healing activity. The Lord judged his action hypocritical. “But the Lord answered him, ‘Hypocrites!’ He said ‘Is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the sabbath and take it out for watering? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound these eighteen years—was it not right to untie her bonds on the sabbath day?” From this, we understand why the Church holds the salvation of souls as the supreme law, taking priority over every other law. Since the salvation of a soul belongs to the Father, when he reveals his will to save a soul, we must never put any barrier to saving that soul. The Holy Spirit works with us to save us and others.

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, increase our faith, hope and charity, and make us love what you command, so that we may merit what you promise. 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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