In Word, In Power And In The Holy Spirit Series

Monday of 21st week in Course

This is a great time to be alive and to be a Christian. Now it’s not a very convenient time to be a Christian. In fact, with threats of terror coming from every part of the world, it’s not even a very convenient time to be alive. But greatness does not very often accompany convenience. When we recognize saints, we first determine that they led lives of not only virtue, but of heroic virtue. That means things weren’t either easy or convenient for them. So if we are, in the words of one of the saints, going to be a "spectacle of saints," what better time to be alive than now, when the Church is encircled by enemies from both the left and the right.

It is time again, as in the time of St. Paul, for the gospel to be proclaimed not only in word, but in power and the Holy Spirit, and with much conviction. Think of the little scraps of paper with prayer requests we keep at the back of the chapel. Think of the courage and pain that brought these men and women and children to write their requests to God. I believe that God is acting with power to give what people really need every time we take one and pray for it. I think the Holy Spirit is inspiring you to take them and to pray for these needs.

Our Gospel today also give us some guidance on avoiding the opposite behavior, doing holy things without becoming holy, or considering only ourselves when we strive to become more religious. The separated ones, or Pharisees, specialized in maximum visibility of their religious actions with minimum inconvenience to their personal private actions or finances. They went to a lot of trouble to persuade Jews to adopt their separated lifestyle, but then taught them to keep all the 600+ commandments of Torah without attaining a spirit of discipleship to Moses. Hence Christ’s fussing about their oaths. If one of them swore to do something, or to the truth of a statement, by the Temple, that was like crossing their fingers behind their backs–it had no value. But if they swore by the gold in the Temple or on the Temple, it was valid. It reminds me a little of legislators who write 2700 page bills so nobody can read them and see how they are cheating the little guy. The Holy Spirit, if we are open and honest, will always inspire us to avoid legalism, especially that designed to make ourselves better-off at the expense of another.

The other way the Holy Spirit is inspiring us is by leading us to praise and thanksgiving. The best prayer of praise is, of course, what we do here. It’s called a “sacrifice of praise.” But in our day the Holy Spirit is stirring all of us to spend some time every day just praising God for His goodness. We can use the psalms, we can use repeated prayers of praise, we can pray in tongues, or we can just sit in silent praise. Praise is our natural response to God’s eternal loving kindness and mercy, and praise is itself healing for us when we engage in it. Remember to praise God during the thanksgiving, and during and after communion. If our goal is to become like Christ, then we must become, as he wanted, a holy people of praise.