The joy of conversion, Christian community, and the Catholic faith
St. John shows us the major works of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus told the disciples about at the Last Supper. The Holy Spirit teaches us God’s truths about life. He reminds us of what Jesus did and said. He witnesses to what comes from God or from the devils. And the Holy Spirit guides us through our lives so we can help God make the world a better place to live in and ultimately at the end of our life get to heaven.
We have been created to find our fulfillment and peace only in knowing, loving and serving God. It is an unmistakable fact of experience that human beings will be restless and searching until they have surrendered their lives totally to God. We have been created with a God-shaped hole, or vacuum, in our hearts, which can only be filled by Him who created us. It simply won’t work to find true happiness and fulfillment in anything or anyone else. St. Augustine expressed it this way: “You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You,” O God.
My second reason to write is to let you know how we came to accept Jesus in our hearts, and how He became a big part of our lives. Jesus led us into his light, away from the darkness of sin, and we became a new creation as some say, “born again,” and we learned a new way of living our lives. Looking back to the beginning of our spiritual life, Our Lord chose to use sadness to get the attention of Marjorie and me. Our son Anthony was our first child, born November 30, 1969, and died on October 18, 1978, from Leukemia. He died in five days. The doctors told us that the autopsy indicated that he would have suffered much in a couple of weeks since his appendix was close to giving a lot of trouble. To add sadness to our broken hearts, it was my birthday when he died. Three days later began the change of our life together. I understand in many situations like ours, people will pull away from God, thinking HOW can God do this to us, etc.
As we really pray this Sequence, not just read it, something amazing begins to increase in us. Jesus’ Light grows in intensity in us. We enter more deeply into the fountain of “living water,” Jesus promised to the women at the well in St. John 4:10: Jesus replied to the women and to us: “If you recognized God’s gift, and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him instead, and He would have given you Living Water….the water I give shall become a fountain within the person leaping up to provide eternal life,” John 4:14. See also Ezekiel 47, Isaiah 55:1ff and Psalm 1. Aren’t these wonderful promises and blessings? Let us praise and thank God for all He has already given us. Scripture says, “Ask and you will receive; seek and you shall find.”
Are you ready for a new Pentecostal Fire? Last week I shared with you the major work of God, the Holy Spirit, that Jesus told his closest followers about at the Last Supper. At the Ascension forty days after his Resurrection, Jesus commanded them to remain in the city until they would receive POWER from on high. This is the only novena, 9 days of prayer, that we find in Scripture.
When our churches reopen, we want to get frequently to Mass and receive the real presence of Jesus in his bread and wine, not just spiritually as now. Next, we pray more and ask the Holy Spirit to show us how and where we are to tell others about God’s loving plan for us. We want to know our ministry to make the lives around us more productive for God’s kingdom and to bring them his Good News. Amen!
Nancy Ward quotes C. S. Lewis: “If we thought we were building up a heaven on earth, if we looked for something that would turn the present world from a place of pilgrimage into a permanent city satisfying the soul of man, we are disillusioned, and not a moment too soon.” She responds that “C.S. Lewis’ approach to facing hardship shifted my concern from preparing as best I could for shortages and remaining vigilant in protecting my health to thanking God for the lessons he is teaching me to draw me closer to him this Lent of surprises.”