A
few weeks ago two of our young people were confirmed. The bishop
prayed with them and asked God to bless them with the gift of his
Spirit. Why? Because without the gift of the Spirit we cannot live
the Christian life. It is the Holy Spirit, a real person, who
makes it possible for us to believe and to live as Christians. The
Spirit gives us the desire to pray, to know God, and the ability to
love.
No
doubt most of us here were confirmed at around the same age. We
probably had a day of great celebration with our families and then
forgot all about it. Did you notice a profound difference in your
faith afterwards? Probably not. But why not? If we have received the
all-powerful Spirit of God, who was there at the beginning of
creation bringing order on chaos, the same Spirit that transformed
the disciples and turned them into unstoppable warriors for God, why
don’t we feel a difference too? Perhaps it is because we
never asked! That probably sounds silly, but I think it is really
true.
Although
the Holy Spirit is so powerful, He totally respects our freedom and
our individuality. The Spirit is not going to force himself on us
unless we ask for him to act. It is as if He waits quietly in the
background until we ask him to make our faith alive. The Apostles
were waiting and praying for the Spirit in the upper room. They were
open to him and they were asking for this power, because Jesus had told them to. Most of us were
never taught to actually personally ask the Holy Spirit ourselves to
make us more alive in our faith. I think this is something we don’t emphasize enough.
When
I was 19 a group of young people taught me to do just that. They
taught me to really ask the Spirit to come alive inside me. And then
they prayed with me that this would happen, and boy did it happen!
When they prayed with me, initially nothing seemed to happen, but in
the days that followed I began to notice that things were happening.
I was in college at the time studying marketing. I began to have a
profound desire to pray. I became aware of the Scriptures and the
mass as though I had never heard them before. They were suddenly
alive. It was like someone had switched on my faith. The Spirit had
suddenly come alive and it changed my life. That was thirty-one years
ago, but the effect never wore off, so it wasn’t just a passing
phase, or just youthful enthusiasm. I say this because you
don’t have to be someone extraordinary, or holy, for this to happen.
All you have to do is ask, but most of us were never taught this.
God
deeply desires to make us alive in every sense. ‘I have come
that you may have life and have it to the full’ (Jn 10:10). And God
will make us alive if we ask. If you wish that your faith was more
alive, or that God meant more to you, then ask God’s Spirit to come
alive inside you, because the Spirit is already there and is waiting
for your response. Maybe you were confirmed 20, 30, 40, or 50 years
ago, but the Spirit is still with you and is waiting for your
invitation. Perhaps you never asked. Ask God to make your faith
alive.
‘What
am I supposed to say?’, you may wonder. Say, ‘God make my faith
alive. Holy Spirit let me know that you are real. Set me on fire with love for you.’ If you make that
prayer sincerely, you will see the result and I guarantee you will
see that I am not making this up.
In
today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells us that we must love each other
as he loves us. How did he love us? He spoke the truth; he
challenged people; he saw the good in everyone, regardless of their background; his life was one of service and total sacrifice
and God asks us to do the same. That is not easy. He tells us that
this is what will mark us out as his followers. People will know that
we are Christian by the way we love each other. If you go anywhere in
the world and meet any community of Christians, be it a parish or
small group, you will know straight away whether they are alive or
not, by the way they love each other and it is a really wonderful
thing to meet when you do.
But
where does this strength and energy to love others come from? People
can be very demanding and unreasonable, even when you try to help
them. The strength to love and the ability to love comes from God.
That is one of the things that the Holy Spirit gives us. It is the
most important thing of all. Having the fanciest and most organised church, with every kind of
facility and program you could ask for, is completely empty, unless there is love
there, unless the Spirit is there. When we have the gift of God’s Spirit, we have everything
and the Spirit gives us the power to love as we should, because it is
too difficult by our own strength.God doesn't ask us to do this by our own strength, but by his strength.
Now
let us take a moment to make that prayer. Close your eyes for a
moment and listen. Pray these words in your heart if you dare:
‘Holy
Spirit I believe in you. Make my faith alive. Help me believe in
everything Jesus taught. Help me to believe in the real presence of
Jesus in the Eucharist. Set me on fire with love for you, so that I
may live the life that Jesus calls me to live. Come Holy Spirit of God and transform me, as you will. Amen.’
‘By
this love you have for one another
Everyone will know that
you are my disciples.’
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