(Catechesis for
Confirmation or appropriating the grace of Confirmation already received)
The
prophet Joel, about 400 years before Christ, prophesied:
“I
will pour out my spirit on all mankind.
Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams and
your young men see visions” (Joel 3:1-2).
In the New Testament St Peter says that this prophecy was fulfilled at
Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was manifested by tongues of fire and the sound
of wind. (Acts 2).
THE
PERSONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:
The
Holy Spirit is not a dove, obviously, but a person, nor an impersonal force,
but a person who speaks (Rev. 2:7),
intercedes (Rom. 8:26), testifies (Jn. 15:26), leads (Acts 8:29), commands
(Acts 16:6), guides (Jn. 16:13), can be lied to (as Ananias and Sapphira did in
Acts 5, and were punished by death), can be insulted (Heb. 10:29), can be
blasphemed (Mt. 12:31), can be grieved (Eph. 4:30). So, as we can see, the Spirit is a person
with all the attributes of personality, but is a divine person (Acts
56:3); the third person of the Trinity
(i.e. Father, Son and Holy Spirit).
THE
TWO WINGS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:
The
Bible shows the Holy Spirit acting in two ways:
1. Giving charismatic gifts.
2. Giving the fruits of the Spirit, who is
the Sanctifier that sanctifies or makes holy.
A. FIRST WING OF HOLY SPIRIT:
1. CHARISMATIC GIFTS:
The
Vatican Council said that priests must help the laity to discover their
charismatic gifts (P.O. 9). So we
examine the charismatic gifts and then the roles, e.g. not everyone has the
charism of healing (1 Cor. 12), but everyone has a role to play in praying for the sick – “all believers will
lay hands on the sick and heal them”.
(Mk. 16:18) Not everyone has a charism
of intercession, but a role of
interceding for others - “I urge you to offer to God petitions, prayers,
intercessions for all people” (1 Tim. 2:1).
Nearly all 30 charisms below have a corresponding role, except, for
example, tongues, marriage etc., as they have no corresponding role.
CHARISMATIC GIFTS – explicitly mentioned in
Scripture, and the names of some great Christians who used them :
1. ADMINISTRATION (1 Cor. 12)
2. APOSTLE (1 Cor. 12) e.g.
Bishops.
3. CELIBACY (1 Cor. 7:7, 32;
Mt. 19:12; Lk. 18:29-30 e.g. Priests and sisters.
4. DEACON (Phil. 1:1)
5. DISCERNING OF SPIRITS (1 Cor. 12) e.g. St
Ignatius of Loyola, St Benedict the
Black ofm.
6.
EXHORTATION (Rom. 12) e.g. Christian counsellors.
7. EVANGELIST (Eph. 4) e.g. St Bernadine of
Sienna, St John Capistrano, Billy
Graham.
8.
EXORCISM OF DEMONS (Acts 16:16-18) e.g. Fr Gabriel Amorth.
9. FAITH
(1 Cor. 12) e.g. St John Vianney.
10. GIVING (Rom. 12) e.g. Tom Monaghan of
Domino’s Pizza.
11. HEALING (1 Cor, 12) e.g. St Francis of
Assisi, St Anthony, St Colette.
12. HELPS (1 Cor. 12) e.g. Parish typists!
13. HOSPITALITY (1 Pet. 4:9-10)
14. INTERCESSION (1 Jn. 5:16; Jam. 5:16)
15. INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES (1 Cor. 12)
16. KNOWLEDGE (1 Cor. 12)
17. LEADERSHIP (Rom. 12:6-8), St Joan of Arc.
18. MARRIAGE : The gift of being called for the
two ends of marriage – Unitive and
Creative (1 Cor. 7:7)
19.
MARTYRDOM (1 cor. 13:3) e.g. St Ignatius
of Antioch, St Charles Lwanga and the
Ugandan martyrs.
20. MERCY (Rom. 12) e.g. Mother Theresa.
21. MIRACLES (1 Cor. 12) e.g. Padre Pio, Don Bosco, St
Columba of Iona.
22. MISSIONARY (Eph. 3:7) e.g. St Junipero Serra,
St Francis Xavier.
23. PETRINE CHARISM (Mt. 16:13-20; Lk. 22:32)
e.g. The Popes.
24. PRIEST (Phil. 1:1; Titus 1:4-9) St John
Vianney.
25. PROPHECY (Rom. 12; Acts 11:28, 21:10) e.g. Sr
Briege McKenna.
26. SERVICE (Rom. 12) Every Church has these
quiet servants.
27. TEACHING (Rom. 12) e.g. Sunday School
catechists.
28.
TONGUES (1 Cor. 12, C.C.C. 2003) e.g. St Hildegaard of Bingen, St Theresa of
Avilla.
29. VOLUNTARY POVERTY (1 Cor. 13:3) e.g. Mother
Theresa.
30. WISDOM (1 Cor. 12) e.g. St Catherine of
Sienna.
CHARISMATIC
GIFTS DEFINED:
1. Administration: The gift of administration is the special
ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to understand
clearly the immediate and long-range goals of a particular unit of the Body of
Christ and to devise and execute effective plans for the accomplishment of
those goals. (1 Cor. 12)
2. Apostle: The gift of apostle is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to assume and exercise
general leadership over a number of churches with an extraordinary authority in
spiritual matters that is spontaneously recognized and appreciated b y those
churches. (1 Cor. 12)
3. Celibacy: The gift of celibacy is the special ability
that God gives certain members of the Body of Christ to remain single and enjoy
it; to be unmarried and not suffer undue sexual temptations. (1 Cor. 7:7, 32; Mt.
19:12)
4. Deacon: Called for dedication to the people of God in
the service of the liturgy, Gospel and works of charity. (Phil. 1:1;
1 Tim. 3:8-13)
5. Discerning
of Spirits: The gift of
discerning of spirits is the special ability that God gives to certain members
of the Body of Christ to know with assurance whether certain behaviour
purported to be of God is in reality divine, human or satanic. (1 Cor. 12)
6. Exhortation: The gift of exhortation is the special
ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to minister
words of comfort, consolation, encouragement and counsel to other members of
the Body in such a way that they feel helped and healed. (Rom. 12)
7. Evangelist: The gift of evangelist is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to share the gospel
with unbelievers in such a way that men and women become Jesus’ disciples and
responsible members of the Body of Christ. (Eph. 4)
8. Exorcism: The gift of exorcism is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to cast out demons and
evil spirits. (Acts 16:16-18)
9. Faith: The gift of faith is the special ability that
God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to discern with extraordinary
confidence the will and purposes of God for the future of His work. (1 Cor. 14)
10. Giving: The gift of giving is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to contribute their
material resources to the work of the Lord with liberality and cheerfulness.
(Rom. 12)
11. Healing: The gift of healing is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the
Body of Christ to serve as human intermediaries through whom it pleases God to
cure illness and restore health apart from the use of natural means. (1 Cor.12)
12. Helps: The gift of helps is the special ability that
God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to invest the talents they
have in the life and ministry of other members of the Body, thus enabling the
person helped to increase the effectiveness of his or her spiritual gifts. (1
Cor. 12)
13. Hospitality: The gift of hospitality is the special
ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to provide open
house and warm welcome for those in need of food and lodging. (1 Pet. 4:9-10)
14. Intercession: The gift of intercession is the special
ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to pray for
extended periods of time on a regular
basis, and see frequent and specific answers to their prayers to a
degree much greater than that which is expected of the average Christian. (1
Jn. 5:16; Jam. 5:16)
15. Interpretation: The gift of interpretation is the special
ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to make known
in the vernacular the message of one who speaks in tongues. (1 Cor.2)
16. Knowledge: The gift of knowledge is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to discover,
accumulate, analyze and clarify information and ideas that are pertinent to the
growth and well-being of the Body. (1
Cor. 12)
17. Leadership: The gift of leadership is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to set goals in
accordance with God’s purpose for the future and to communicate these goals to
others in such a way that they voluntarily and harmoniously work together to
accomplish those goals for the glory of God. (Rom. 12)
18. Marriage: The gift of being called for the two ends of
marriage – unitive and creative. (1 Cor.
7:7)
19. Martyrdom: The gift of martyrdom is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to undergo suffering
for the faith, even to death, while consistently displaying a joyous and
victorious attitude that brings glory to God. (1 Cor. 13:3)
20. Mercy: The gift of mercy is the special ability that
God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to feel genuine empathy and
compassion for individuals, both Christian and non-Christian, who suffer
distressing physical, mental or emotional problems, and to translate that
compassion into cheerfully-done deeds that reflect Christ’s love and alleviate
the suffering. (Rom. 12)
21. Miracles: The gift of miracles is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to serve as human
intermediaries through whom it pleases God to perform powerful acts that are
perceived by observers to have altered the ordinary course of nature. (1 Cor. 12)
22. Missionary: The gift of missionary is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to minister whatever
other spiritual gifts they have in a second culture. (Eph. 3:7)
23. Petrine
Charism: The gift of leading the
Church as St Peter did, and serve it by strengthening and confirming the faith.
(Mt. 16:13-20; Lk. 22:32; Jn. 21:15)
24. Priest: Sanctifies, teaches and shepherds the
faithful assigned to him by the Bishop (Apostle). (Phil. 1:15; Titus 1:4-9)
25. Prophecy: The gift of prophecy is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to receive and
communicate an immediate message of God to His people through a
divinely-anointed utterance. (Rom. 12; Acts 11:28. 21-10)
26. Service: The gift of service is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to identify the unmet
needs involved in a task related to God’s work, and to make use of available
resources to meet those needs and help accomplish the desired goals. (Rom. 12)
27. Teaching: The gift of teaching is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to communicate
information relevant to the health and ministry of the Body and its members in such
a way that others will learn. (Rom. 12)
28. Tongues: The gift of tongues is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ (a) to speak to God in
a language they have never learned and/or (b) to receive and communicate an
immediate message of God to His people through a divinely-anointed utterance in
a language they have never learned. (1 Cor. 12)
29. Voluntary
Poverty: The gift of voluntary
poverty is the special ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of
Christ to renounce material comfort and luxury and adopt a personal life-style
equivalent to those living at the poverty level in a given society in order to
serve God more effectively. (1 Cor. 13:3)
30. Wisdom: The gift of wisdom is the special ability
that God gives to certain members of the
Body of Christ to know the mind of the Holy Spirit in such a way as to receive
insight into how given knowledge may best be applied to specific needs arising
in the Body of Christ. (1 Cor. 12)
The Bible says that each of
us has been given his own spiritual gift or charism (1 Pet. 4:10, Eph. 4:7; 1
Cor. 12:7) or talent to use for the good of Christ’s Body, the Church. On the Day of Judgement we will be asked how
we have used this gift (Mt. 25:14-30). So,
obviously, we need to find out our talent or charismatic gift, and use it. How? One starting point is to look around and
see what needs you can identify. Then,
try to do something to meet a need. Look
for the needs of other people. Look for
the needs of the Church. Find out where
you can b e useful in any way, and do it.
Be available for any job
around the church you might be asked to do.
When you get an assignment, undertake it in prayer. Ask the Lord to show you through that
experience, whether you might have a spiritual gift along those lines. Persevere in
it and ‘work hard and willingly, but do it for the sake of the Lord, and
not for the sake of men’ (Eph. 67:7).
Discovering charismatic gifts does not usually come easily. Give each job a fair chance and do not give
up easily!
CHARISMATIC GIFT AND ROLE
I would like to give some
examples of two charisms and their roles, namely: celibacy and intercession:
1. CELIBACY :
CHARISMATIC GIFT AND ROLE.
Paul
describes it: “each has his own gift” (1 Cor. 7:7-8. See Matthew 19:10-12; 1 Cor. 7:32-35). The gift of celibacy is the special ability
that God gives to some members of the Body of Christ to remain single and enjoy
it; to be unmarried and not to suffer undue sexual temptations.
The
role corresponding to the gift
of celibacy as it affects
1. Unmarried
People: Abstinence from all
sexual intimacy until one is married (1 Cor. 6:13-20)
2. Married
People: Short periods of
mutually agreed abstinence for the purpose of special devotion to prayer (1
Cor. 7:5)
I
dwell on these two charisms of marriage and celibacy deliberately because most
of us get confirmed as teenagers and this is the time to pray and discern God’s
will as regards these two gifts. Many
people have not taken time to discern and got married unhappily, once or twice,
when perhaps they were really called to be single in the Service of God, and
did not have a vocation to marriage.
2. CHARISM OF INTERCESSION
This
gift is the special ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of
Christ to pray for extended periods of time on a regular basis, and see
frequent and specific answers to their prayers to a degree much greater than
that which is expected of the average Christian (1 Jn. 5:16; Jam. 5:16).
But
the average Christian also has a role to pray for others, especially when asked
to do so.
In
His charismatic action, the Spirit works through, not for, a person; He does not come to improve the individual’s
spiritual state, but rather for the benefit of the community. A person may not become any holier through
the charism received, but actually abuse the charism so that the gift becomes a
reason why he or she is condemned as we can see.
In
the New Testament we have the puzzling words of Jesus when he says on the last
day some great charisms will cry out “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy, cast out
demons, work mighty miracles in your Name?”, and Jesus will say to them: “I
never knew you; depart from me you evil people”. (Mt. 7:22)
It
is possible to have spiritual experiences and even exercise spiritual power,
but fail to do the will of God for our lives, e.g. to fail to be sanctified or
made holy by the Holy Spirit “the Sanctifier”.
“Being precedes doing”. We must
be good people before doing good deeds. Could such people really be acting
under the influence of the Holy Spirit, people may well ask? Seemingly “yes”, because a validly ordained
priest can be profligate, but the life-giving Sacraments can be life for
others, but a misfortune for him. In a
sense, God’s call and gifts are irrevocable. (Rom. 11:29)
Quote:
“The
Holy Spirit can give every kind of gift without being present Himself; on the
other hand, He proves that He is present by grace when He gives love.” (St Fulgentius) P.L.65, 797
SUCCESS
WITHOUT HOLINESS!:
Ralph
Martin says it is possible to be effective in service on Jesus’ behalf without
actually being under his lordship. It is
possible to have spiritual experiences and even exercise spiritual power, but
fail to do the will of God for our lives.
If we are using spiritual power to gratify our ego or to make a name for
ourselves, if we are not denying our very self and taking up our cross each day
and following Christ, we are deluding ourselves. The result can be blessing for others, but
damnation for us. These are clear and
forceful words of Jesus in the Gospel.
Whilst
on this sombre matter, it is important to remember Jesus’ words that the sin
against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven (Mk. 3:27) for we are not to
grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30) as
some people have done, who, having received the Holy Spirit and the Sacraments
of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist) as well as the
charismatic gifts, fall away from the Church, the body of Christ (Heb.
6:4). Jesus calls the Church “My
Church”. (Mt. 16:18)
“For
it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been
enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers
of the age to come. (Heb. 6:4-5)
ANANIAS
AND SAPPHIRA:
The
shocking story of the death of Ananias and Sapphira, (Acts 5:1-11) that
profoundly shocked the early church, is a reminder of the danger of resisting
or not co-operating with the Holy Spirit:
“You are always resisting the Holy Spirit”, St Stephen complains (Acts
7:51). We must not take lightly the
promises we make to the Holy Spirit at Confirmation. We are called to exercise our charism and also to grow in holiness.
Judith
Tydings wrote: “Reading through Church history, I had come across many examples
of people who seemed charismatic without being especially distinguished for
holiness. On the other hand, I never
found holiness (or sanctification) without evidence also of charisms. The Church has never canonised a saint for
great charismatic gifts, but only because of holiness of life and “heroic
virtue” (Col. 1:11). What a person is,
is more important than what he does. So
we need to strive for holiness above all else for “without holiness no-one can
ever see God” (Heb. 12:14). We read in
Liviticus “I am the Lord. I sanctify you!”
(Lev. 20:8). Or, in other words: “I am
the Lord who wants to renew you with my Spirit!
Let yourselves be renewed by my Spirit!”
B. SECOND WING OF HOLY SPIRIT:
2. THE FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
“The
followers of Christ are to have the fruits of the Spirit for their
sanctification” (Vatican II L.G. 40)
“What
are the good fruits of the Spirit? In
practice, all of the new life in
Christ is a fruit of the Spirit.
But St Paul lists some fruits in particular: “love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”
(Galatians 5:22-23). The fruit that encompasses
all the others is the one listed first: love agape. It is the fruit par
excellence of the Spirit, so much so that, wherever love is, it encompasses
everything: “Make love your aim” (1 Corinthians 14:1a).
HOLINESS
AND CHARACTER:
To
become a holy person, a good character should be our aim. Charismatic gifts express ability, fruit
expresses character and character is more important than ability. The exercise of gifts is temporary. As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 13:8-13,
“there will come a time when gifts will no longer be needed, but character is
permanent. The character we develop in
this life will determine what we will be throughout eternity. One day we will leave our gifts behind; our
character will remain forever”.
HOLY
SPIRIT, THE SANCTIFIER:
The
second way in which the Spirit works (the way of sanctification) is shown in
the Old Testament after the Exile to Babylon, and consists in transforming or
sanctifying or making holy the person who receives the Spirit. Ezekhiel speaks of a “new Spirit” that will
change our hearts and make us able to keep God’s laws. (Ezek. 36:26-27) and in Psalm 51 the Spirit
is called “holy” for the first time and inward purification and renewal are
attributed to him.
The
sanctifying work (or making holy) of the Holy Spirit can be seen in Paul: “God
chose you from the beginning to be saved through the sanctification by the
Spirit” (2 Thess. 2:13) and in Peter: “sanctified by the Spirit” (1 Pet.
1:2). This consists in new life in the
Spirit, particularly in love. The Holy
Spirit is the Sanctifier.
Paul
talks of the twofold action of the Spirit when he speaks of the charisms, and
then of love (1 Cor. 12-14), which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. He insists on the superiority of love to the
charisms e.g. he says one can have the charismatic gifts of tongues, or
prophecy, or faith to move mountains, or martyrdom, but without love it is
nothing. (1 Cor. 13:1-3). But Paul also
insists that love and charisms are both
necessary for building up the Body of Christ, the Church: “You must want love
more than anything else, but desire for the spiritual gifts (charisms) as
well”. (1 Cor. 14:1)
PENTECOST:
To
say that ‘they were all filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:4) means that they
were all filled with the love of God, that the apostles had an overwhelming
experience of being loved by God.
Paul
explains Pentecost in this way: “The love of God is poured into our hearts by
the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). According to St Thomas Aquinas, the love Paul
is speaking of is at the same time the love with which God loves us and the love with which He makes
us capable of loving Him in our turn. ‘We are to love then, because God loved
us first’ (1 Jn. 4:19). When the
apostles were filled with the love of God, they were at the same moment filled
with love for one another.
GOD’S
LOVE:
One
of the most striking fruits of the operation of the Holy Spirit is an
experience of God’s love. Obviously an
experience like this does a lot for one’s self worth and self esteem! Self esteem does not come from psyching
oneself up in front of a mirror and saying, ‘I must have self esteem’ again and
again! Self esteem comes from a personal
experience of God’s love for each one of us as unique beings created, not by a
remote distant God, but one who passionately cares for each one of his
creatures.
Quote:
“To
fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances, to seek Him, the
greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest achievement”. (St Augustine)
PEACE,
JOY, SELF-CONTROL:
This
new life also includes Peace, Joy and Self-control (Gal. 5:22 – fruits of the
Holy Spirit). We experience a peace that surpasses all
understanding (Phil. 4:7), that endures even when we experience trials and
tribulations of all sorts. We experience
too, a joy and happiness that
comes from doing God’s will and can intensify as we overcome a temptation or do
something good when we would prefer not to do anything.
Self-control
is another wonderful fruit of the Spirit.
In the Bible we read “to be master of myself was a thing I could not do”
(Wis. 8:20) because ‘the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak’ (Mk. 14:38). If we are not in control of our passions and
instincts, they will control us.
People
often say “I’m as strong as an ox, but when temptation comes I am as weak as a
baby!”
What
is the answer? The Spirit of Jesus comes
to help us in our weakness (Rom. 89:26) again and again and again. He releases His power into our lives and
transforms our lack of self-control into victory over all unruly emotions and
desires that can destroy us.
THE
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT:
LOVE
is the Key – JOY is Love singing – PEACE
is Love resting – PATIENCE is Love enduring – KINDNESS is
Love’s touch – GOODNESS is Love’s character – FAITHFULNESS is Love’s habit –
GENTLENESS is Love’s self-forgetfulness
– SELF-CONTROL is Love holding
the reins.
LOVE ................................................ Mark 12:30-33
JOY
.................................................. Psalm 30:11-12
PEACE
.............................................
Philippians 4:6
PATIENCE
.......................................
James 1:2-4
KINDNESS
.......................................
Matthew 25:34-40
GOODNESS
.................................... James
3:13
FAITHFULNESS
..............................
Revelation 2:10
GENTLENESS
................................. Luke
10:3
SELF-CONTROL ............................. Proverbs 16:32
ENJOYABLE
AND SATISFYING:
People
often think that the exercise of the charismatic gifts (like tongues or
prophecy) is what makes Christianity most rewarding. In fact, it is the awesome process of
sanctification, or transformation, that makes Christianity really enjoyable and
satisfying. Aquinas said that “no-one
can live without delight in something, and that is why someone deprived of
spiritual joy goes over to carnal pleasure”.
It is the Spirit that gives us the delightful fruits of love, joy,
peace, self-control etc. (Gal. 5:22)
NEW
LIFE:
It
is the Spirit that moulds us into the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor.
3:17-18). “All of the new life “in Christ” is a fruit of the
Spirit” (Cantalamessa). Jesus said:
“Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).
We become a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15); we ‘put off the old
man’ (Col. 3:9), to assume the new man (Eph. 4:24). With a new mind (Col. 3:2; Rom. 12:2) that
takes every thought captive to obey Christ’ (2 Cor. 10:5) for ‘whatever does
not proceed from faith is sin’ (Rom. 14:23), no longer conforming abjectly to
the world but becoming conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). We become people of the new covenant (Lk.
22:20) keeping a new commandment (Jn. 13:34).
“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has
passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Cor. 5:17).
ALL
THIS AND HEAVEN TOO:
This
is an exhilarating and wonderful new life brought about by the process of
transformation, or sanctification, as we learn to live and move in the Spirit
(Gal. 5:16) or learn to live and move ‘in Christ’. “For all practical purposes, to be or to live
‘in the Spirit’ is the same as to live ‘in Christ’. (Cantalamessa) St Paul uses the phrase ‘in Christ’ 164 times
in his letters.
Learning
to do everything ‘in Christ’, our eating and drinking, waking and sleeping,
working and recreating, raises our humdrum lives to a new dimension as we
realise ‘in everything God
works for good with those who love Him’ (Rom. 8:28). We can experience in our daily grind a sense
of meaning and purpose, as well as a joy and peace that cannot be
expressed. All this and heaven too! Through the indwelling Spirit we believers in
Jesus even now experience “the life of the age to come” – eternal life. (Jn.
17:3; Heb. 6:5). But it is important to
remember: “None can understand the grace, till he becomes the place, where the
Holy Spirit has His dwelling” (Bianco of Sienna).
TRANSFORMATION,
SANCTIFICATION, BEING MADE HOLY:
Do
not be conformed but transformed by the renewal of your mind (Rom.
12:2). “And all of us, with our unveiled
faces like mirrors reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed
into the image that we reflect in brighter and brighter glory; this is the work
of the Lord who is the Spirit”. (2 Cor.3:18)
In
the Bible, transformation means
“change, or renewal, from a life that no longer conforms to the ways of the
world, to one that pleases God” (Rom. 12:2).
This is accomplished by the renewing of our minds, an inward
transformation that will manifest itself in outward actions. The Bible presents the transformed life in
Christ as demonstrated through our “bearing fruit in every good work (and)
growing in the knowledge of God” (Col.
1:10). Transformation involves those who
were once far from God being “drawn near” to Him through the blood of Christ
(Eph. 2:13).
Moreover,
evidence of transformation within us is seen in the way we increasingly reflect
the likeness and glory of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18).
“God doesn’t just want to save us from our sins (though this is a
necessary first step); He wants to save
us for Himself, for immersion
in His own blessed Triune life of love, for a glorious transfiguration wherein
our humanity becomes resplendent with His divinity” (Jared Ortiz).
NOT
OPTIONAL:
Transformation
is not optional, for the Christian, Ralph Martin, maintains. He says that “the source of all our
unhappiness and misery is sin and its effects, and the sooner the purification
of sin and its effects can take place in our life, the happier we will be and
the better able to truly love others.
Only then will we be able to enter into the purpose God has for our
life. Truly, in this case, better sooner
than later.
And
finally, it is important to realize that there is only one choice; either to
undergo complete transformation and enter heaven, or be eternally
separated from God in hell. There are
only two ultimate destinations, and if we want to enter heaven we must be made
ready for the sight of God. Holiness
isn’t an “option”. There are only
saints in heaven; total transformation is not an “option” for those
interested in that sort of thing, but is essential for those who want to spend
eternity with God. Jesus said “you must
be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect”. (Mt. 5:48)
We
are to strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one
will see the Lord. (Heb. 12:14)
The
whole purpose of our creation, the whole purpose of our redemption, is so that
we may be fully united with God in every aspect of our being. We exist for
union; we were created for union; we were redeemed for eternal union. The sooner we’re transformed the happier and
the more “fulfilled” we will be. The
only way to the fulfilment of all desire is to undertake and complete the
journey to God.
In
the Old Testament it was clear that to actually see God in our untransformed
human condition was to be destroyed.
Then Moses said, “Do let me
see your glory!” God answered, “I will
make all my beauty pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce my
name, “LORD”; I who show favours to whom I will, I who grant mercy to whom I
will. But my face you cannot see, for no
man sees me and still lives.” (Ex.
33:18-20, NAB)
It
is only Jesus who sees the face of the Father, and it is through Jesus that we
can be made ready to share in His vision of the Father. It is through our union with Jesus, our
contemplation of His “face”, that we are, little by little, transformed and
made ready for the beatific vision, which is so much more than what we commonly
understand as “seeing”; it is indeed a participation in the ecstatic knowing
and loving of the Trinity, a participation in Love itself.”
SANCTIFICATION
BY SACRAMENTS:
The
Holy Spirit of Jesus sanctifies us primarily by the Sacraments, but, not exclusively. (“It is not only through the Sacraments and the ministrations of the
Church that the Holy Spirit makes holy the people of God, leads them and
enriches them with His virtues”. (Second Vatican Council – Vat. II L.G.
12)) The Word of God, which is the
‘Sword of the Spirit’ (Eph. 6:17), lists no fewer than twenty-five references
to the Sacraments in John’s Gospel alone, showing their importance. St Leo the Great said that “what was visible
in Christ passed over into the Sacraments of the Church”.
A
Sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace within the Church.
The Holy Spirit is ‘the Spirit of Grace (Heb. 10:29). There are seven Sacraments and three
categories of these:
(A) Sacraments
of Initiation
(B) Sacraments
of Healing
(C) Sacraments
of Vocation
The
following outline of the Sacraments is a very brief one pertaining to
sanctification:-
A. SACRAMENTS OF INITIATION:
These
three Sacraments (Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist) lay the foundations of
every Christian life. For the early
Fathers of the Church, Justin Martyr, Origen, Didymus and Cyril of Jerusalem,
Christian initiation was a synonym for baptism in the Holy Spirit. Baptism in the Holy Spirit “is a renewal and
reactivation and actualization not only of baptism, but of all that Christian
initiation involves” (cc sp. P.54).
1.
BAPTISM:
Jesus says that “unless one
is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn.
3:5). The Ignatius Bible, commentating
on this, says that “Jesus is speaking not of two separate births, one by water
and another by the Spirit, but of a single birth through the working of water
and Spirit together”. (Ignatius Bible,
p.166). See the account of Peter going
to baptise the pagan Cornelius, and before
he pours the water, the Holy Spirit came down on Cornelius and all his
household, and then Peter, in obedience to the Lord, still baptises him with
water (Acts 10:44f) – a “single birth through the working of water and Spirit
together”.
St Paul, in 1 Corinthians
12:13, uses the expression ‘baptised in the Spirit’ for water baptism: “For by
one Spirit we were all baptised ..... and were made to drink of one
Spirit”. Baptism renews (Titus 3:5) and
refreshes us through the Spirit (Jn. 7:37-39), as does the spiritual ‘drink’ of
the Eucharist (1 Cor. 10:4) of which Jesus said: “He who eats me will draw life
from me” (Jn. 6:57).
St Ambrose of Milan called
baptism “the sacrament of the cross”.
When early missionaries went to Russia, they had to translate the Bible
into Slavonic, and wondered how to translate the word baptism into this language.
They finally decided to translate baptism as to ‘take up your cross’. A Christian is a ‘cross-bearing person’, a
person who dies to self to live only to God in Christ. “When we were baptised in Christ Jesus, we were
baptised in his death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s
glory, we too might live a new life”
(Rom. 6:3)
2. SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION (confirming
or appropriating our baptism)
Quote:
“For our part through faith
and the sacraments, we must lay hold on the grace Christ won for us and live in
obedience to Him”. (St Charles Borromeo)
1
What is confirmation?
Confirmation is the second
stage of our initiation into the mysteries of faith; it is our personal
Pentecost, a descent of the Holy Spirit to claim us as witnesses for his
Christ.
John
14:16-17; 15:26-27; Acts 2:1-4
2 How
is the sacrament related to our baptism?
It completes and perfects our baptism;
for in baptism we do receive the Holy Spirit as the source of the new life in
Christ that we have been considering; whereas in confirmation the Spirit comes
on a special mission with a fresh out-pouring of His gifts, so to strengthen us
in our faith that we are ready to stand up for Christ before an unbelieving
world.
Acts
8:14-17; 19:1-7; John 16:33; 1 John 5:5-7
3 Who
is the minister of confirmation?
Priests may confer the
sacrament in cases of necessity, but the bishop is the normal minister; and this is fitting, because he is the successor
of the apostles, and committed as such to spreading the faith, not only i n his
own community, but ‘to the ends of the earth’.
Acts
1:8; LG 11
4 How
is the sacrament conferred?
The baptismal vows are solemnly renewed,
hands are imposed, and the forehead is anointed with the oil of chrism in the
sign of the cross; “Be sealed”, the bishop says, “with the gift of the Holy
Spirit”.
2
Cor. 1:21-22
5 How
does the sacrament affect our lives?
We are sealed with this mark or character
that calls us to defend the faith, a seal that cannot be effaced, whether we
are loyal or not; we have to put up with our share of difficulties, like good
soldiers of Christ Jesus, withstanding the great opposition that certainly
besets us, always supporting the faith by word and example, never ashamed of
it.
2
Tim. 2:3; 1 Thes. 1:6; Col. 4:5-6; 1 Pet. 3:15; Mark 8:38; DH 14; LG 11; AA 3;
AG 11
6 As
a sacrament of growth, what does confirmation imply for us Catholics?
It implies that, even
though the sacrament is not essential for salvation, we are bound to receive it
because our sense of faith is aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth; and
it implies that we should try to acquire a deeper understanding of the faith we
practise, so the better to identify with Christ as our teacher, for growth is
gradual, and how can we emerge as faithful witnesses unless we grow apace in
knowledge as in holiness!
1
Pet. 3:15-16; Col. 1:27-28; AG 11; CIC can. 890
(Msgr. Michael Tynan,
Catechism for Catholics, Four Courts Press)
SOLDIERS FOR CHRIST:
Traditionally the bishop in
confirmation gave the candidate a slight symbolic tap on the cheek – a reminder
to be strong and brave in spreading the faith like the apostles after the Day
of Pentecost. St Paul writes to young
Timothy ‘share in suffering as a good soldier’ (2 Tim. 2:3). But our weapons as Christians are not guns or knives or suicide
bombs, but the weapons of the Gospel (2 Cor. 6:7), like prayer, fasting, good
example – spiritual warfare, in fact.
But how can we be brave and
strong like the apostles (nearly all of whom died as martyrs) in the face of
persecution, pain and torture? Jesus
gives us a clue in Matthew 10:16 when he says do not worry about what you are
to say in such occasions, as the Holy Spirit will give you words. The Spirit, who always “comes to help us in
our weakness” (Rom. 8:26), will also give us strength and power. Besides, the Spirit of God never tests us
beyond our ability to endure (1 Cor. 10:13).
CHARISM OF MARTYRDOM:
In recent times more
Christians were martyred than in all
the previous centuries put together. Perhaps we may be called to give our lives
for the love of God like the many martyrs extolled in the Letter to the
Hebrews, Chapter 11. For “they loved not
their lives even unto death” (Rev. 12:11).
All through 2000 years of
Christianity we see the Holy Spirit coming to the help of Christian martyrs in their weakness. For example, one of the glories of the early
Christian centuries, a young pregnant woman by the name of St Felicity (died in
203 AD), was in prison awaiting martyrdom, and she cried out in labour pains on
giving birth to a daughter. One of the
soldiers taunted her thus: ‘If you feel so much pain now, what will it be like
when you are thrown to the lions?’ She
replied: ‘Now the suffering is mine. But
when that happens, there will b e someone else inside me suffering in my place,
because I will be suffering for Him’ – the Spirit of Jesus.
3. SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST:
Jesus said that “he who abides in me, and I in him, he it
is that bears much fruit” (Jn. 15:5) – the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians
5:22-23). Jesus also said that “he who
eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides
in me and I abide in him”.
(John 6:56). In this same Chapter 6, Jesus
tells us four times that if we do not eat the consecrated bread and wine, we do
not have life in us, we cannot be saved, and states that “whoever eats me will
draw life from me” (Jn. 6:57).
The life that Jesus imparts
is not natural, but supernatural. It
elevates us to become sharers in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). This is the doctrine of deification or
divinization, and this extra-ordinary participation in the divine life is a
gift that comes to us through the sacraments (C.C.C. 1692). It is especially in the Eucharist that we
come to share in the divinity of Christ who hum bled himself to share in our
humanity (C.C.C. 1129; 1996-2000) and this is the work of the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:2 shows the Holy Spirit working
powerfully during the liturgy (leitourgeo) of the Eucharist. Thus Acts 13:2 can be translated: ‘while they
were engaged in the liturgy (leitourgeo) of the Lord and fasting, the Holy
Spirit spoke to them’. In celebrating
the Eucharist, the priest consecrates the bread and wine into the body and
blood of Christ, invoking the Holy Spirit and holding his hands over the gifts
to symbolise the Holy Spirit coming down (the epiclesis).
We are sanctified by the
blood of Jesus: “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through
His own blood, suffered... (Heb. 13:12).
We are not sprinkled by blood as the Jews of the Old Testament were at
the making of the Old Covenant. In the
New Covenant we drink the sacramental blood of Christ at the eucharist to renew
the Covenant. In preparing the wine and
water at Mass for consecration, the priest or deacon says: “By the mystery of
this water and wine, may we come to
share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity”.
Fr. Andrew Hofer O.P. says that this prayer suggests that the mingling
of water and wine is both a symbol of, and vehicle for our sharing in God’s
divine life, what the Christian tradition has called divinization or
deification, or in Greek, theosis. Simply
put, God wants – to borrow a phrase from St Augustine – to “turn His
worshippers into gods” (City of God, 10.1).
Compare Jesus’ statement ‘you are gods’ (John 10:34).
Jesus, at the Last Supper,
said: “Do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19).
He spoke this in Aramaic and this can be also translated: Every time you
do this, you bring me back! Perhaps this
is the reason the lonely Apostles, and the community, after the Ascension of
Jesus to Heaven, celebrated the Eucharist every
day. (Acts 2:46)
If these chosen apostles
needed the Eucharist regularly, then so do we.
To miss Mass deliberately on a Sunday is a mortal sin (1 Jn. 5:16), as
there are 168 hours in a week, and if we can’t afford one hour out of 168 for
the Lord, then our faith is in serious jeopardy. Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is one of the Ten
Commandments, and Jesus said: “if you love me, keep my commandments”. (Jn.
15:10)
B. SACRAMENTS OF HEALING:
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church says that these are (1) the sacrament of
Reconciliation, and (2) the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick (C.C.C. 1421).
1. SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION (OR
CONFESSION):
After the Resurrection of
Jesus from the dead, He appeared to His disciples, breathed on them and
said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven. If you retain the sins of any,
they are retained”. (Jn. 20:22) Obviously,
for the apostle to know what to forgive and what to retain, demands that the
person confess audibly his sins and not
confess them privately to God.
The Holy Spirit convicts us
of sin so we can repent: ‘When the Spirit comes, he will convince the world of
sin‘ (Jn. 16:8) – so it can repent. However, the sin against the Holy Spirit can
never be forgiven (Mk. 3:29) for we are not to grieve the Spirit (Eph. 4:30) as some people have done who,
having received the Holy Spirit and sacrament of initiation (baptism,
confirmation and Eucharist) as well as the charismatic gifts, fall away from
God (cf. Heb. 6:4-5). The shocking story
of Ananias and Sapphira is a reminder of the danger of resisting or not
co-operating with the Spirit. (Acts 5:1-11)
Jesus said that ‘the sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in
this age or in the age to come’ (Mt. 12:32).
By sin we lose the anointing by the Holy Spirit.
2. SACRAMENT OF ANOINTING OF THE SICK:
(Mk. 6:7-13;
James 5:14-15)
This sacrament heals
physically, emotionally and spiritually.
People with the charism of healing say that the greatest obstacle to a
person being healed is lack of forgiveness.
It seems this is the greatest barrier to the healing work of the Holy
Spirit. This sacrament forgives sins
committed by the sick who are anointed and so allows the Spirit of grace (Heb.
10:29) to work unhindered to heal the person, body and soul.
C. SACRAMENTS OF VOCATION:
The
two sacraments of vocation are the sacrament of Holy Orders, and the sacrament
of marriage. These invite the ordained
and married couples to become icons of God in different ways. (An icon in the sense of a person regarded as
a representative symbol):
1.
SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY:
St Paul says it is a charism
(1 Cor. 7:7). The early Christian
writing of about 250 A.D., the Didascalia, says “Through baptism the
spouses receive the Holy Spirit, who is ever with those that work
righteousness, and does not depart from them by reason of natural issues and the
intercourse of marriage, but is ever and always with those who possess the
Spirit and keeps them”.
St Ambrose (339-397 A.D.)
describes marital intimacy between a man and his wife in the sacrament of
marriage, as ‘holy communion’. The Bible
knows nothing of ‘recreational sex’. The
Law presupposes that sexual relations outside of marriage are unlawful: virginity is the proper state of unmarried
persons (Isaiah 62:5). The New Testament
is adamant that fornication (sexual relations outside the Sacrament of
Marriage) excludes one from the Kingdom of Heaven. (Eph. 5:3-5) The Bible condemns divorce (Malachi 2:16) and
remarriage (Mt. 5:31; Mk. 10:9). The
Church teaches the Biblical doctrine of the two ends of marriage: unitive and
procreative – that marriage is for sexual pleasure as well as the creation and
raising of children for God and not for sinful contraception or abortion of the
unborn. (C.C.C. 2370)
The couple are called to
work diligently for the sanctification of one another and their family – the
domestic church, and embrace the vocation to marriage and family with a sense
of mission.
2. SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS:
Jesus said “You must be
perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt.5:48). To be perfect or holy is to be separated from
the profane or the worldly, and be consecrated (or sanctified) – to be in the
world, but not of the world. (cf.
Presbyt. Ordinis 12)
Priests are bound by a
special reason to acquire this perfection. They must be submissive to the
impulse and guidance of the Holy Spirit and who, because of their intimate
union with Christ and their holiness of life, are able to say with St Paul: ‘It
is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’ (Gal. 2:20). Priests are to strive always towards the
greater holiness that will make them daily more effective instruments for all
God’s people. (P.O. Vat II, no. 12)
Pope John Paul II,
commenting on St Paul’s assertion that those who do not marry ‘will do better’
(1 Cor. 7:38), said that this opinion was held by all tradition, but that the
superiority of continence for the sake of the Kingdom of God does not mean a
devaluation of marriage in any way.
(Weekly Archivae, 7 April 1982)
Scott Hahn writes:
“The unmarried state is the
most conducive to serving the Lord with undivided attention. Paul highly recommended virginity to both men
and women, although he did not require it of believers; he suggested that the
unmarried are better suited to give of themselves completely to God than their
married counterparts (1 Cor. 7:25-35; 1 Tim. 5:22)” (Catholic Bible Dictionary
p.942)
Of course this discounts
tartuffism, the practices of a hypocritical devotee for “whatever does not
proceed from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23)
POST CONFIRMATION:
After
our Confirmation we should not get disappointed if we think nothing has
happened or has changed in us, for the Spirit can work in mysterious and hidden
ways. In the 4th century,
Messalians or false charismatics identified the grace of the Holy Spirit with a
psychological experience – good vibes, nice feelings, consolations etc. In opposing them the Fathers of the Church
said that the Holy Spirit can act in a hidden, mysterious way – even when one
is afflicted or desolate. We should not
rely on feelings, which go up and down, but should trust the promises of God –
if we obey the Word of God then God will keep His promises to give us the Holy
Spirit if we thirst for Him. Paradoxically it is the Holy Spirit who
enables us to obey the Word of God.
After
our Confirmation we should go on praying that we may fan into flame the gift we
received from the Holy Spirit when the Bishop laid hands on us. Listen to St Paul: “That is why I am
reminding you now to fan into flame
the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity, but
the spirit of power, and love and
self-control. So you are never
to be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord... bear
the hardships for the sake of the good News, relying on the power of
God who has saved us and called us to be holy”. (2 Tim.1:6-9) St Paul also reminds Timothy – and us – “you
have in you a spiritual gift which was given to you... when hands were laid on
you; do not let it lie unused”.
(1 Tim. 4:14) These texts, of course,
refer to ordination, but since we too had hands laid on us at Confirmation, we
can see them as referring to us, and the need to fan into flame the gift that
God gave us at Confirmation.
TOTAL
SUBMISSION:
I
personally believe that nothing really deeply happens in our spiritual life
(and after confirmation) unless we make this personal commitment and total
submission to Jesus, putting our hand to the plough and never looking back (Lk.
9:62) like the American Catholic writer, Rose Sweet. She was a nominal Catholic until adversity
and trouble came into her life. An old
saying states that “man’s extremity is God’s opportunity” and Rose Sweet was at
her wit’s end. She decided she had
nothing more to lose, and so decided to commit her life entirely and
unreservedly to Jesus. She writes: “The
words came silently on their own: O my God, I am heartily sorry for having
offended Thee... and I offered Him every area of my life. In that act
of surrender, I expected to feel differently, to hear bells, or to
maybe sense the presence of angels.
There was nothing like that... little did I know that in that precious
and intimate act of communion with God, I had conceived a new spiritual life
and that little dying ember in my heart was beginning to fan into a blazing
flame”.
“My
non-Catholic friends had always encouraged me in my personal relationship with
Jesus, but it was the Catholic Church who called me into full communion with
His Body and the gifts of the sacraments.
In surrendering my heart to Christ, I willingly surrendered to His
Church as well”.
“Immediately
I began to have an insatiable hunger for a deeper knowledge of Scripture, of
the Church’s teachings, and of the lives of the saints”.
This
wonderful new life in the Spirit is free for the asking – sincere asking – “If you seek me you will find me if you seek me with all your heart”. (Jer. 29:13)
Fr
Cantalamessa says that this entails a personal decision: “Those who say, and mean, ‘Jesus is Lord’,
practically, are saying to Him ‘You are my Lord; I submit myself to You, I
freely acknowledge that You are my saviour, my head, my master, the one who has
every right over me’. It is to give
Jesus the reins of one’s own life”.
REBELLION:
Unfortunately,
in all of us, there lies a spirit of rebellion, preventing us from humility
before God, holding us back from bending the knee before the mystery of God and
the Church He established. Modern man
prides himself on his autonomy and hates to admit his dependence on One greater
than himself. That’s why we need to “go
on being filled with the Holy Spirit” every day, as St Paul says (Eph. 5:18),
to daily exorcise this spirit of rebellion in our hearts and re-align ourselves
with the Father’s will. In a sense the
deepest sin of all is our failure to let Christ rule our lives. Who is ruling my life – self or Christ? We need daily to be emptied of self and
yielding to Christ day by day.
Countless
Christians throughout the centuries have experienced new life b y undergoing
conversion. “The Gospel has spoken of
conversion as a decision and apostolic teaching has spoken of conversion as an
awakening”. So, whether it is an
awakening of sacramental grace, appropriating the grace of baptism, the release
of the Spirit or the fruit of prayer, the important thing is that it happens.
In
Matthew 13, Jesus gives us the parable of the ‘pearl of great price’. This illustrates the zeal with which the
Kingdom should be pursued. It expresses
the great value of the Kingdom, the joy that it brings, and the total
commitment that it deserves. To win the
pearl of great price, we need to make this personal commitment and total
submission of mind and heart to God ‘taking the Kingdom of God by force’ as
Jesus says in Matthew 11:12.
Barclay
says that no-one drifts into the Kingdom which only opens its doors to those
who are prepared to make as great an effort to get in as men do when they storm
a city. Only the man in whom the
violence of devotion matches and defeats the violence of persecution will in
the end enter into it. St Irenaeus,
writing about the year 200 A.D., interprets this as meaning we need to storm
heaven, take it by force of prayer.
Pope
Pius XII interprets it in a similar way when he says we need “daily assiduous
unremitting effort to our very last breath” to gain the Kingdom of Heaven.
Gaining
Heaven is not a cakewalk in the park, or a picnic. It involves a struggle. Jesus says “Strive to enter by the narrow
gate” (Lk. 13:22) as the gate that leads to damnation is wide, the road is
clear and many choose to
travel it (Mt. 7:13). ‘Strive’ comes
from the same word as the English word ‘agony’ is derived. The struggle to
enter can be intense, it can be described as an agony of soul and body.
Quote:
“In
our Christian growth poetry eventually replaces grammar, gospel replaces law,
longing transforms obedience as gradually as the tide lifts a grounded
ship”. (C.S. Lewis)
It
is crucially important that conversion and filling by the Holy Spirit happen
with the happiness it brings, because as Aquinas said “no-one can live without
delight” in something. Without delight
in God our Christianity becomes “white knuckle” Christianity – we grit our
teeth and clench our knuckles to fulfil our duty to God. It becomes a religion of ‘must do’,
fulfilling obligations to pray and worship with no delight in God, or relish
for His will, .... Like the first vineyard labourers (the Jews) in Jesus’
parable (Mt. 20:1f) whose religion was seen as a burden in the heat of the day,
and not delight in serving God as we find in the psalmist who delights in God’s
law.
St
Francis of Assisi said that when a person’s spirit is lukewarm and gradually
cooling to the Spirit’s grace, flesh and blood needs seek their own. What is left, when the soul finds no delights
in God, but the flesh turns to its kind.
And the animal appetite uses the argument of necessity as a pall or an
excuse. Then the carnal sense shapes a
person’s conscience so that what began in the Spirit can end up again in the
flesh. (Gal. 3:1f)
As
mentioned above, countless Christians throughout the centuries have experienced
the power of the Holy Spirit in becoming a new, happier person. Here is a
composite model drawn from a number of sources, putting together in one
sequence the experiences of many.
CONVERSION: A COMPOSITE MODEL OF NEW LIFE IN THE SPIRIT:
Sarah
was a nominal Christian teenager, and a rebellious phase had taken an ugly turn
as Sarah got in with a bad crowd. She
was trying drugs, contemplating suicide and dabbling in witchcraft. Though pretty enough, she suffered from that
bane of many a girl’s existence: her looks.
Her devout Christian parents were frantic and enrolled her for a
Christian weekend camp, storming the heavens for her conversion.
She
attended the weekend reluctantly, and was desperately unhappy, envying the
staff members at the camp who seemed happy, well-adjusted people. She was prepared to give life a last chance
and so listened attentively to all the talks.
These consisted of an overview of salvation history: God creating us in
love, man’s fall into sinfulness, unhappiness and separation from God till
Jesus came to save us from the great chasm that had opened between God and
mankind, and His expectation that we give our lives to Him when He stands
knocking for entrance.
CONVERSION: Sarah, in spite of herself, was touched by
the sincerity of the speakers and their testimonies, as they seemed sincere
people without guile. She now felt sorry
that she had grieved Jesus and her loving parents, and felt convicted of her
sin and selfishness in thinking only of herself, instead of her anxious family
and friends. Convicted by the Spirit,
she decided to go and make a general confession in the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, and to rededicate her life to Jesus completely, as she was now
convinced there was no one like Jesus, and He deserved to be obeyed and
followed.
The
retreat over, she went home on the school bus which dropped her off outside her
family flat. Her parents anxiously
scanned the bus windows for her face. As
she came off the bus she was beaming widely, or rather ‘glowing’, her delighted
parents said later, as they mused on God’s amazing grace in turning their once
rebellious, suicidal daughter to a young woman of grace, joy and peace – in
just a weekend. She felt as if she were
a new being as she was now so happy and at peace with herself.
COMPASSION: Sarah’s compassion for
her poor, long suffering parents spilled over into love for the poor and the
needy, so loved by God, as she discovered in her personal Bible study. She began visiting the poor regularly to
bring food and a word of encouragement.
Once despairing, she was now a person of hope, abounding in hope, in
fact, and she faced the future with joy and confidence, instead of as before,
with fear and trepidation.
LIGHT: Her inner life, which once seemed enveloped
with darkness, now seemed bathed with light.
She said it was as if the light had suddenly been turned on and she
could see things for the first time.
This inner life, which once seemed chaotic and depressing with a
multitude of clashing interests, now seemed reconciled and at peace.
JESUS: She attributed her new life to Jesus and
became ‘bananas for Jesus’, seeing Him in everybody and everything, especially
in the beauty of creation. The vast
expanse of the sky which once filled her with dread, now filled her with love
and awe for “in Him were created all things and He holds all things in being”
(Col. 1:16). All of nature seemed to
point beyond itself to spiritual realities. Nature was so transfigured by the
presence of God that sometimes she felt like Eve in Paradise! She found a poem by J.M. Plunkett, which
captured this, and stuck it on her wall:
I see blood upon the rose,
And in the stars the glory of his
eyes;
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.
I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the
birds
Are but his voice and, carven by his
power,
Rocks are his written words.
All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the even
beating sea.
His crown of thorns is twined with
every thorn,
His cross is every tree.
SACRAMENTS: Church services (once boring) and the
Sacraments, now came alive for her, especially Confession and the Eucharist,
and she decided to attend Mass every day like the apostles in Acts 2. The Eucharist was a source of great strength
and consolation for her, and the demon that had troubled her for some time with
thoughts of suicide quickly disappeared.
HUNGER
FOR SCRIPTURE: Sarah was delighted that she now had a
ravenous appetite for Scripture, and read it on the bus to and from school, and
in free periods at the school library, much to the amusement of her peers. But peer pressure was now a thing of the
past, and she shrugged off criticism with good humour. Sarah discovered that some Scripture passages
glowed on the pages as if addressed to her personally by God. She was to discover later that those were
rayma, or the individual Scriptures which the Spirit brings to our remembrance
for use in time of need.
Another
fruit of the Spirit revealed to her was self-control, as she used to have a
foul temper, and there was a mark on the kitchen door where she had thrown a
metal object at her brother in anger, and missed! Purity or chastity seemed so much easier now,
she discovered, as the Spirit comes to help us in our weakness again and
again. Now she was in control of her
body and passions, and not them in control of her. Sarah came to realise that impurity is often
a secondary infection. It can be a dummy
which you suck when ambition is frustrated, or when pride is hurt, and that the
devil can catch you when your guard is down after you feel you have done well,
and deserve a let-up.
God
showed her the direct link between ambition and impurity. It was like an old-fashioned lift or
elevator. When ambition was satisfied,
and we felt we were appreciated and doing well, the lift was at the top and the
counter-weight at the bottom. When
success or praise do not come our way, the lift of ambition went down and the
counter-weight of desire took over.
GOD’S
LOVE: One night as she slept she heard ethereal
music and had a profound experience of God’s love poured into her heart by the
Holy Spirit, and once she experienced this tender love of God with “her heart
throbbing and full” (Is. 60:5), she began to long for God as a deer for running
streams. This longing or thirsting for
God grew to such a pitch that she wanted to be gone like St Paul to be with
Christ. (Phil. 1:23)
Prayer
became a hunger instead of something boring, and she spent a good deal of time
engrossed in it in thanksgiving, praise and worship.
She
once wrote in her spiritual journal:
“All
my life long I had felt unloved. The
next day that feeling vanished entirely as I felt myself immersed in a new
experience of the love of God, and from that day, it has never left me”.
HOLY
TRINITY: This experience included actually
experiencing the Holy Trinity: the
Fatherhood of God, the love of Christ and the power of Spirit. Her feelings of self hate disappeared as she
realised she was a beloved child of God, and this obviously did a lot for her
self-esteem and self-confidence. So much
so that she would frequently repeat to herself the Psalm verse – ‘How can I
repay the Lord for His goodness to me?’
In gratitude she wanted to give her whole life to loving and serving God
and her neighbour.
TESTING: But, she also had her pruning and testing, as
Satan obviously is not pleased in losing a soul to the enemy – God. Instead of feeling paranoid by Satan’s tricks
(Eph. 6:11), she rebuked the evil one constantly and laughed at the proud
creature’s “wiles”.
Sarah’s
life was filled with an inner ardour from waking in the morning to going to bed
at night, an ardour which lasted at least a year. Satan, however, never gives up – she had
overcome the grosser forms of sin, but was now tempted to pride and to feel occasionally
superior to those not as spiritual as herself.
However,
she was grateful to God for the first experience of exuberant joy which set her
alight and more grateful for the subsequent modifications of that first joy
which made her dip beneath mere experience to reality itself – God. She had enjoyed the gifts of God and now
sought more the God of gifts, and a closer walk or union with Him. With an abiding trust in God she realised
that “in everything God works
for good with those who love Him”. (Rom. 8:28)
Quote:
Raniero
Cantalamessa says “at the beginning of a spiritual journey grace is experienced
in gifts and great consolations so that a person may become more detached from
the world and make a decision for God.
But afterwards, once a person is detached from the world, the Spirit urges
that individual to go the “narrow way” of the Gospel, the way of mortification,
obedience and humility”.
Quote:
“The
God who made you without your co-operation will not save you without your
co-operation.” (St Augustine)
CONTINUING
IN THE NEW SPIRITUAL LIFE:
“Go
on making more and more progress
in the kind of life that you are meant to live: the life that God wants”. (1 Th. 4:1)
“Let
your present state always leave you dissatisfied if you want to become what you
are not yet. For, whenever you feel satisfaction, then you will stop. Say that it ‘is enough’ you are lost. You must always look for more, look beyond make progress”. (St Augustine)
The
American Life in the Spirit Seminars, and the British Alpha Programme have
helped many Christians to come into a deeper life in the Holy Spirit, by being
‘baptised in the Spirit’. Fr Francis
Sullivan S.J., in Charisms and
Charismatic Renewal,
says that Luke has used “as synonyms for ‘baptise in the Spirit’, ‘to send’,
‘to pour out’, ‘to give the Spirit’; equivalent expressions for ‘being baptised
in the Spirit’ are ‘being clothed with’, ‘receiving’, ‘being filled with’ and
having the Spirit ‘come’ or ‘fall upon one’.
To say that Jesus ‘baptises’ in the Holy Spirit then is simply a
biblical metaphor for saying that He sends, or gives, us the Spirit. To be ‘baptised in the Spirit’ is to receive
an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, or more literally, to receive the gift of the
Spirit,” Fr Sullivan maintains.
St
Paul commands us in Ephesians 5:18 to be filled with the Spirit or go on being
filled with the Spirit. Paul uses the
imperative mood – it is a command or obligation to go on being filled again and
again by the Spirit all through our lives.
There are many fillings with the Spirit.
Nicky
Gumbel of the Alpha Programme writes that “being filled with the Spirit is not
a one-off experience. Peter was filled
with the Spirit three times in the space of chapters 2-4 in the Book of Acts
(Acts 2:4; 8, 31)”.
Alan
Schreck, in his book Catholic and
Christian, says that to speak of the “baptism in the Spirit” is
misleading if it implies there is only one event in a person’s life that could
be properly called by that name. God can
pour out the Holy Spirit in a new and significant way many times in a person’s
life if He wishes. The first time that this happens to a person is often the
most dramatic, Schreck says, because it can be experienced by the person as a
totally “new thing”. He says that God
can, and does, pour out this Holy Spirit many times in a person’s life, often
in response to faith-filled prayer. Fr
Sullivan agrees and says he is convinced that “there will never be a time
during our pilgrimage on earth when the Lord could not give us a powerful new
gift of His Spirit that would really move us into some new act or new state of
grace”.
The
person who is truly “Spirit-filled” is one who “lives” and “walks” by the Holy
Spirit; who has put to death the “works of the flesh” and manifests the “fruits
of the Spirit”. This is what it means to
be a “new creation” in Christ Jesus – “the old has passed away – behold, the
new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17).
But
the New Testament sounds a warning note – a rather frightening one about
Christians who fall away from this wonderful new life in the Spirit (Heb. 6:3-8
and 2 Pet. 2:20-22).
“For
it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been
enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of
the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers
of the age to come, and yet fall away” (Heb. 6:3-8). The Ignatius Bible says: “even a baptized
Christian can forfeit salvation and end up cursed rather than blessed. (Heb. 6:8).
This dreadful prospect is noted elsewhere in Hebrews 10:26-31 and 12:15-17”.
“And
when a person has escaped from the wicked ways of the world by learning about
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and then gets tangled up with sin and
becomes its slave again, he is worse off than he was before. It would be better if he had never known
about Christ at all, than to learn of Him and then afterwards turn his back on
the holy commandments that were given to him” (2 Pet. 2:20).
St
Peter says that we should work valiantly to make God’s call, and His choice of
us a permanent experience, and if we do so we will never fall away (2 Pet.
1:10). So, in our spiritual life, if we
do not avoid what the Bible calls ‘occasions of sin’ (Ezek. 18:30), we endanger
our chances of remaining alive in the Spirit and can lose the Spirit’s
anointing altogether. In fact, if we do
not progress, we regress or backslide.
There
are four practices we need in our lives in order to grow and persevere:
Prayer,
Community, Study and Service.
PRAYER:
We
should spend time with the Lord in prayer every day. Personal relationships do not grow without
two people spending time together, so we have to spend time with the Lord to
grow in our relationship with Him. When
we pray, we talk to God; when we read the Scriptures, He talks to us. But we need some silence in our lives to hear
God speak and get to know Him more deeply: “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). We need to set aside time every day for
prayer and scripture reading – for a “quiet time” with God. (See Appendix on “Praying with the Bible”)
COMMUNITY:
Many
Christians are accustomed to viewing salvation in individualistic terms whereas
Jesus intended us to live as a community.
It was not for nothing that Jesus lived always surrounded by companions
and only sought solitude to be able to return refreshed to the company of His
companions. Hal Miller contends that the
Great Jerusalem Commune (Acts 2:42-44) was not just a “freak” thing, but was
meant to be an essential way of life for all Christians.
Often
we don’t find community ready-made. We
often have to uproot like Abraham and step out in faith not knowing where God
is leading us. The Seminars warns us
that “the Lord does not want us to leave the Church, but to become more active
members of it”. Pray and work with the
Holy Spirit to build a community with other Catholics in your parish who are
also seeking the same experience of faith.
STUDY:
“All
Scripture is inspired by God and can profitably be used for teaching people to be holy” (2 Tim. 3:15).
Study
of our faith is one of the fundamental means of growth. If a baby is to grow properly, it must have
the right food. If we are to grow strong
in the Christian life, we also need the right kind of nourishment. God, in His love and wisdom, has given us
this food in the Bible – especially in the gospels. Our knowledge and love for Him will grow as
we find out more about Him. As Catholics
we interpret the Old Testament in the light of the New, and the New Testament
in the light of the early Fathers of the Church and the magisterium.
Our
friendship with Jesus will deepen as we spend time listening when He speaks to
us. Our faith in Him will grow stronger
as we discover more of His power and love.
In the act of surrender to God, we suspend all our previous notions,
beliefs and values, and re-think the whole of life according to the mind of
Christ and His teachings.
SERVICE:
Every
Christian is saved to serve. Faith
without good works is dead (James 2:26).
We are disciples and servants of Christ.
Our one aim in life should be to please and serve Christ... We can serve Him at home by being helpful,
thoughtful, patient and loving. The home
is not an easy place in which to be a Christian, because we are known only too
well, and so it is the place in which to begin.
Of
course, “charity begins at home”, but it does not stay there. We need to be in active service at work
too. People will watch us like hawks to
see if our lives back up what we say with our lips. We should be prepared to put our body where
our mouth is! We are exhorted by St Paul
over 164 times to do everything “in Christ”, including our work: “Whatever your
work is, put your heart into it as if it were for the Lord and not for men”
(Col. 3:22ff). As we work at doing
everything “in Christ”, we learn to pray all the time as Jesus exhorted us to
do. This can bring a great and abiding
sense of joy as nothing seems irrelevant to our life with God. If we are exhorted
to do all our work in Christ, then if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing
well and efficiently. We should be
honest in all our dealings.
We
should keep calm when our faith is attacked or laughed at. We should b e ready to speak out at injustice
or racial discrimination. Obviously, if we
live alone we tone down our moral stance as loneliness amplifies our fears and
worries, whereas in a community these are minor matters. We should always be ready to share with
others what Christ means to us when an opportunity arises, but always with courtesy
and consideration.
Of
course, we should use any charismatic gift we have received for building up the
Body of Christ, the Church.
STAGES
OF THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY:
Ralph
Martin says that over the centuries various attempts have been made to classify
the stages of the spiritual journey to God and the predominant classification
is the three-stage division of purgative, illuminative and unitive:
“In
brief, the purgative stage, or
way, includes the initial phases of the spiritual life, including coming to
conversion, turning away from sin, bringing one’s life into conformity with the
moral law, initiating the habit of prayer and the practices of piety, and
maintaining a relatively stable life in the Church.
The
illuminative stage is one of
continuing growth. It is characterized
by deeper prayer, growth in the virtues, deepening love of neighbour, greater
moral stability, more complete surrender to the lordship of Christ, greater
detachment from all that is not God, and increasing desire for full union. It is accompanied by various kinds of trials
and purifications and sometimes by great consolations and blessings, including
what are commonly referred to as “mystical phenomena”.
The
Holy Spirit may test us many times to see if we really mean business. He may even call on us to surrender something
in principle that He really does not want us to surrender in fact, but which He
wants us to be willing to surrender.
Remember God testing Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac?
The
unitive stage is one of deep,
habitual union with God, characterized by deep joy, profound humility, freedom
from fears or suffering or trials, great desire to serve God, and apostolic
fruitfulness. The experience of the
presence of God is almost continual; great insight into the things of God is
experienced; and while not without suffering, suffering now becomes primarily
the grace of sharing in the redeeming suffering of Christ rather than the
suffering of purification. This deep,
habitual union is variously described as a “spiritual marriage” or
“transforming union”.
Once
again it is necessary to emphasise that transformation in Christ is not an
optional extra. Without it we will not
have the wherewithal to dwell in heaven.
As Martin says above, seeing God in our untransformed human condition
was to be destroyed.
In
Matthew 22, in the Parable of the Wedding Feast of heaven, not having wedding
garments (the garment of transformation) was to be excluded. In early Christian symbolism the butterfly
represented the Resurrection and baptism.
The butterfly has three phases during its life: the caterpillar, which
seems to eat continually and be pre-occupied with its physical needs. Secondly, the cocoon or chrysalis stage, and
thirdly, the butterfly. Some people,
like the caterpillar, never seem to move beyond the caterpillar stage and
material needs, and without the dying of self, or entombment stage, they never
receive the wings to soar above the earth to heavenly realities. No transformation, no transcendence!
The
unitive stage is the precursor to complete union with God in heaven. In the unitive stage St Paul can say: “I live
now not I but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20) and “for me to live is Christ and
to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). So if we
can’t say ‘to live is Christ’, then we won’t be able to say either ‘to die is
gain’! Dying to self, growing in Christ
is the way to eternal life and happiness.
Although death gradually overtakes our body (outer man) through
privations, injuries and aging, our soul (inner man) is increasingly enlivened
by the Holy Spirit. (2 Cor. 4:16):
“Though this outer man of ours may be falling into decay, the inner man
is renewed day by day”.
The
famous composer, Mozart, certainly could say that ‘to die is gain’, as we can
see from a very edifying letter he wrote to a friend before his early death:
“as death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our
existence, I have formed during the last few years much closer relations with
this best and truest friend of mankind, so that his image is no longer
terrifying me, but is indeed very soothing and consoling. And I thank my God for graciously granting me
the opportunity of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our
true happiness. I never lie down at night without reflecting
that – young as I am – I may not live to see another day. Yet no-one of all my acquaintances could say
that in company I am morose or disgruntled.
For this blessing I daily thank my Creator and wish with all my heart
that each one of my fellow creatures could enjoy it”.
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