DAILY HOMILIES #holy spirit

Today, Jesus Christ calls us his witnesses. We are to work side by side with the Holy Spirit in spreading the truth about him to the world. The question is: How are we to be his witnesses if we are yet to understand him fully? How can we talk to people about Jesus without first talking to Jesus himself? How are we to stand up for him, if we are not convinced about him as the answer to the world’s deepest yearnings? How can we witness to him if we do not abide in the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit is God dwelling in us, speaking in the depths of our hearts and making the impossible possible in our lives. We must pray every day for a renewal of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we may live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

If God so loved us even when we were His enemies due to our sinfulness, we too must love our enemies; we must love those who persecute us, we must pray for them and ask God to forgive them even when we keep receiving their stones.

Like Jesus Christ, we all have two names; one which appears on our certificates and one which defines who we are. Although the names we bear may vary, the kind of life we live must reflect our real identity - Christianity. People should not only call us Christians; they must also see Christ in us.

(Image: Courtesy of stock.adobe.com) As we celebrate World Mission Sunday today, we are reminded that missionary work is not the exclusive reserve of the ordained but something to which we all are called. In his message for world mission Sunday 2022, Pope Francis tells us: “The essence of the mission is to bear witness to Christ, that is, to his life, passion, death, and resurrection for the love of the Father and of humanity.” (para. 5).

Take in a deep breath for instance and say a prayer to the Holy Spirit. It may be a short prayer and as you exhale the air, say another short prayer. Doing this little exercise can catapult you to a higher realm and make you conscious that you are not alone in this life. God is with you right here, right now. Feel his presence in the Holy Spirit.

“Who is God? He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God. Seek no further concerning God; for those who wish to know the great deep must first review the natural world. For knowledge of the Trinity is properly likened to the depths of the Sea, according to that saying of the Sage: And the great deep, who shall fathom it? Since, just as the depth of the sea is invisible to human sight, even so, the godhead of the Trinity is found to be unknowable by human senses.” There is no way I can explain how there are three persons in just one God in a way that you will understand. So instead of attempting to explain, I can tell you why it is impossible to explain: God is greater than what our human brain can carry. Before attempting to understand God, believe first. God is one, yet He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our Psalmist today sings: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name through all the earth.”

What is the essence of speaking in tongues if there is no love in our hearts? What is the essence of shouting and jumping in the church if upon going back to our homes, we bear grudges, think evil thoughts, and allow sin dominate our lives? If the gift of speaking in tongues was necessary on the day of Pentecost to aid the spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth, I believe that what we need most today in Nigeria, (a country at the brink of destruction because of corruption at all levels) is the gift of telling the truth and acting according to our conscience. Elections are just around the corner again and so many lies are flying about. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us to avoid making the same mistakes over again.

Let us pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our lives that he may fill us with supernatural joy and bless us with a kind of peace that this world cannot provide.In our first reading, we encounter another fruit of the Holy Spirit which is the ability to speak in tongues. We are told that as soon as Paul laid his hands on the people of Ephesus, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

We fall too easily into the lie trap because we do not realize the seriousness of the existence of lies in our lives. No wonder the popular saying goes: “Say the truth and shame the devil.” Telling lies glorifies the devil. Spreading falsehood deliberately just to incite others or achieve mundane objectives is plainly assisting the devil in his work as a destroyer. Jesus tells us: “He (the Holy Spirit) will glorify Me, for he will take what is mine and declare it you.” (John 16:14). Anyone who lies lacks the Spirit of Truth – the Holy Spirit.

Right there in prison, rather than fall into despair, they burst into singing. They prayed, they sang and the Holy Spirit came down. God who did not prevent them from being beaten and thrown in prison became moved when he heard them pray and sing. He not only freed them from prison, but he also brought about the conversion of the chief jailer.

Jesus himself said, witnessing for him comes with its own downsides. There are definitely roadblocks along the way. It is not funny! There are certainly people who will be ready to kill you all because you are talking about Jesus. Jesus said: “even people who kill you will think they are doing a service to God.” That is to say, our greatest persecution will not come from atheists but from people who claim to believe in God; fellow Christians.