Acts.2:33,37-39 Promise of the Holy Spirit
Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear.
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him."
Comments
Dear Young People,
Once again this evening we have heard Christ’s great promise – "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you". And we have heard his summons – "be my witnesses throughout the world" – (Acts 1:8).
These were the very last words which Jesus spoke before his Ascension into heaven. How the Apostles felt upon hearing them, we can only imagine. But we do know that their deep love for Jesus, and their trust in his word, prompted them to gather and to wait; to wait not aimlessly, but together, united in prayer, with the women and Mary in the Upper Room (cf. Acts 1:14). Tonight, I am praying for you and for young people throughout the world. Be inspired by the example of your Patrons! Accept into your hearts and minds the sevenfold gift of the Holy Spirit! Recognize and believe in the power of the Spirit in your lives!
The other day we talked of the unity and harmony of God’s creation and our place within it. We recalled how in the great gift of baptism we, who are made in God’s image and likeness, have been reborn, we have become God’s adopted children, a new creation. And so it is as children of Christ’s light – symbolized by the lit candles you now hold – that we bear witness in our world to the radiance no darkness can overcome (cf. Jn 1:5).
Tonight, let us pray for the resolve to nurture unity: contribute to it! resist any temptation to walk away! For it is precisely the comprehensiveness, the vast vision, of our faith – solid yet open, consistent yet dynamic, true yet constantly growing in insight – that we can offer our world.
Dear young people, is it not because of your faith that friends in difficulty or seeking meaning in their lives have turned to you?
Be watchful! Listen! Through the dissonance and division of our world, can you hear the concordant voice of humanity? From the forlorn child in a Darfur camp, or a troubled teenager, or an anxious parent in any suburb, or perhaps even now from the depth of your own heart, there emerges the same human cry for recognition, for belonging, for unity.
Who satisfies that essential human yearning to be one, to be immersed in communion, to be built up, to be led to truth? The Holy Spirit!
This is the Spirit’s role: to bring Christ’s work to fulfilment. Enriched with the Spirit’s gifts, you will have the power to move beyond the piecemeal, the hollow utopia, the fleeting, to offer the consistency and certainty of Christian witness!
Source:(Zenit.org).- An extract of the address Benedict XVI gave at the World Youth Day vigil Saturday night at the Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. JULY 19, 2008
Showing posts with label '1 Holy Spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label '1 Holy Spirit. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Acts 1:8 Receive Power
Acts 1:8 Receive Power
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses
Comment
This scripture was the theme for World Youth Day 2008
This passage occurs after the death and resurrection of Jesus, just before his ascension to the Father. It represents the birth of the Church. (from www.wyd2008.org)
*******
Sent Out into the World: the Holy Spirit, the Principal Agent of Mission
How many of you can claim, by your actions, to have knowingly brought someone closer to Jesus Christ and the Church?
I could go on and on about the excuses we make for not evangelizing. But let's go straight to the heart of the matter: We are, all of us, called to be Apostles. That's our vocation. That's our right and our duty. In a sense, evangelizing is in our Christian DNA from the moment we received the Holy Spirit in our Baptism and our Confirmation, We need to understand that those sacramental moments were our own Pentecost. We've not only been sent but, like the original Apostles, we're empowered to preach the Good News, to become Apostles ourselves. Don't forget this: We have already had our own Pentecost.
The word "Apostle", comes from the Greek apostolos which means "one who is sent forth;" someone who is entrusted with a mission. It has a stronger sense than the word "messenger." It actually means something closer to a "delegate." An Apostle, therefore, is a delegate of Christ: not someone who speaks about a particular doctrine or delivers a message, but someone who gives testimony of something he or she has experienced.
Hardships and even persecution come with "the territory" of being an Apostle. We live in a world that sees suffering as a curse to be avoided at any price. But remember Jesus' warning that hardships, rejection and persecution by the world can't be avoided. I'm sometimes amazed at the discouragement I find in otherwise motivated Catholics — and sometimes in myself — when real obstacles and challenges make the Christian life difficult. These sufferings are precisely God's sign that his followers are doing the right thing. You and I should feel encouraged, not defeated, by the trials that inevitably come our way.
In his novel Lord of the World, the great British author and convert Robert Hugh Benson describes the Anti-Christ as someone who has invented a new "painless" world religion and even a new technique of prayer that takes only minutes and very little effort. Benson's point is clear: If faith is painless and quick, just the way today's culture wants things to be, then it cannot be genuinely Christian. It comes from the devil.
Never lose your focus on this truth: Jesus is always there for you.
After 38 years of ministry as a priest, I can assure you that Jesus never fails; He never fails.
One of those great challenges, all over our world, but especially inside our Church and among our young people, is a fear of offending the world.
Pope John Paul gave us the antidote to this paralyzing disease: "Open wide the doors to Christ!" To open wide our lives to Christ means to let the Holy Spirit act in us, to bring us the grace we need to be courageous. Just look at the Bible's description of Pentecost. The passage begins by telling us that the Apostles were hiding "for fear of the Jews." It ends with an outpouring of courage and joyful preaching, understood in all imaginable languages. What a transformation! And that transformation is within our own reach, because we have already received the Holy Spirit. It's only our fear that prevents God from unleashing all his power in our lives.
Being brave does not mean being blind to the dangers we face, or ignoring the pain of being mocked or attacked. Being "unafraid" does not mean pretending not to fear. Being brave means overcoming our fear with the strength of the Holy Spirit, just as St. Paul and all the great Christian missionaries did, because proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ is worth any cost.
Pay attention to this reflection Pope Benedict made about St. Paul and suffering in our own Christian life: "The call to become the teacher [of] people is at the same time also intrinsically a call to suffering in the communion of Christ, who has redeemed us through his Passion. In a world where falsehood is so powerful, the truth is redeemed through suffering. Whoever wants to avoid and keep away suffering keeps away life itself and its greatness; he cannot be a servant of the truth and therefore a servant of the faith. There is no love without suffering, without the suffering of self-renunciation, transformation and purification of the self by the real truth. Wherever there is nothing worth suffering for, life itself loses its value."
I pray with all my heart that the Holy Spirit will awaken and unleash in you his joy and power, so that you may go out from this World Youth Day renewed, strengthened and encouraged to become apostles of Jesus Christ.
Source: by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. Talk given to all youth at one of the many events at World Youth Day in Sydney
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses
Comment
This scripture was the theme for World Youth Day 2008
This passage occurs after the death and resurrection of Jesus, just before his ascension to the Father. It represents the birth of the Church. (from www.wyd2008.org)
*******
Sent Out into the World: the Holy Spirit, the Principal Agent of Mission
How many of you can claim, by your actions, to have knowingly brought someone closer to Jesus Christ and the Church?
I could go on and on about the excuses we make for not evangelizing. But let's go straight to the heart of the matter: We are, all of us, called to be Apostles. That's our vocation. That's our right and our duty. In a sense, evangelizing is in our Christian DNA from the moment we received the Holy Spirit in our Baptism and our Confirmation, We need to understand that those sacramental moments were our own Pentecost. We've not only been sent but, like the original Apostles, we're empowered to preach the Good News, to become Apostles ourselves. Don't forget this: We have already had our own Pentecost.
The word "Apostle", comes from the Greek apostolos which means "one who is sent forth;" someone who is entrusted with a mission. It has a stronger sense than the word "messenger." It actually means something closer to a "delegate." An Apostle, therefore, is a delegate of Christ: not someone who speaks about a particular doctrine or delivers a message, but someone who gives testimony of something he or she has experienced.
Hardships and even persecution come with "the territory" of being an Apostle. We live in a world that sees suffering as a curse to be avoided at any price. But remember Jesus' warning that hardships, rejection and persecution by the world can't be avoided. I'm sometimes amazed at the discouragement I find in otherwise motivated Catholics — and sometimes in myself — when real obstacles and challenges make the Christian life difficult. These sufferings are precisely God's sign that his followers are doing the right thing. You and I should feel encouraged, not defeated, by the trials that inevitably come our way.
In his novel Lord of the World, the great British author and convert Robert Hugh Benson describes the Anti-Christ as someone who has invented a new "painless" world religion and even a new technique of prayer that takes only minutes and very little effort. Benson's point is clear: If faith is painless and quick, just the way today's culture wants things to be, then it cannot be genuinely Christian. It comes from the devil.
Never lose your focus on this truth: Jesus is always there for you.
After 38 years of ministry as a priest, I can assure you that Jesus never fails; He never fails.
One of those great challenges, all over our world, but especially inside our Church and among our young people, is a fear of offending the world.
Pope John Paul gave us the antidote to this paralyzing disease: "Open wide the doors to Christ!" To open wide our lives to Christ means to let the Holy Spirit act in us, to bring us the grace we need to be courageous. Just look at the Bible's description of Pentecost. The passage begins by telling us that the Apostles were hiding "for fear of the Jews." It ends with an outpouring of courage and joyful preaching, understood in all imaginable languages. What a transformation! And that transformation is within our own reach, because we have already received the Holy Spirit. It's only our fear that prevents God from unleashing all his power in our lives.
Being brave does not mean being blind to the dangers we face, or ignoring the pain of being mocked or attacked. Being "unafraid" does not mean pretending not to fear. Being brave means overcoming our fear with the strength of the Holy Spirit, just as St. Paul and all the great Christian missionaries did, because proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ is worth any cost.
Pay attention to this reflection Pope Benedict made about St. Paul and suffering in our own Christian life: "The call to become the teacher [of] people is at the same time also intrinsically a call to suffering in the communion of Christ, who has redeemed us through his Passion. In a world where falsehood is so powerful, the truth is redeemed through suffering. Whoever wants to avoid and keep away suffering keeps away life itself and its greatness; he cannot be a servant of the truth and therefore a servant of the faith. There is no love without suffering, without the suffering of self-renunciation, transformation and purification of the self by the real truth. Wherever there is nothing worth suffering for, life itself loses its value."
I pray with all my heart that the Holy Spirit will awaken and unleash in you his joy and power, so that you may go out from this World Youth Day renewed, strengthened and encouraged to become apostles of Jesus Christ.
Source: by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. Talk given to all youth at one of the many events at World Youth Day in Sydney
Isaiah 11:1-3 Gifts of the Spirit
Isaiah 11:1-3 Gifts of the Spirit
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;
Comment
These seven Gifts –Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord – are spoken of throughout Scripture, and have been received and explained by saints throughout the ages.
Of these, the 13th century Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas offers us what is perhaps the clearest and most thorough explanation of how the Gifts work in our life.
The Gift of Fear of the Lord (extract)
Why would God want to give us a gift called “Fear of the Lord?”
How could fear ever be good and desirable?
Saint Thomas Aquinas tells us that we need the Gift as a kind of first beginning of the perfection of all gifts. For the Fear of the Lord conditions us to show proper reverence to God and to be completely devoted to Him. In this way, Fear of the Lord is a kind of foundation on which the other Gifts are built.
The Fear of the Lord is not a matter of anxiety or terror. Rather it is marked by calm yet eager resolve. How does Fear of the Lord help us to follow God?
Saint Thomas helps us to see how when he points out a common fact of life: before people can begin to do good, they must first withdraw from evil. As we know from our own experience, fear always involves turning away from something we consider a threat to our wellbeing.
In our relationship with God, fear can play a role in two ways.
First, fear can be a fear of punishment (especially Hell) Saint Thomas refers to this kind of fear as “servile” fear or the fear of one who obeys the master because of the possibility of punishment.
Servile fear, however, does not involve the full range of freedom and grace that Our Lord wants us to enjoy. There is a second and holier kind of fear that has to do not with punishment, but with the wonderful good of communion with God.
This second kind of fear is not afraid of punishment but of losing God. Saint Thomas calls this “filial” fear, the fear of sons, since it is the kind of fear a good son should have about ever violating or losing his relationship with his father. To have filial fear means to be eager to avoid the evil of offending God or doing anything that might damage our relationship with Him.
The Holy Spirit’s Gift, Fear of the Lord, is a Gift of filial fear.
Source: The Gifts of the Holy Spirit According to Saint Thomas Aquinas
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;
Comment
These seven Gifts –Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord – are spoken of throughout Scripture, and have been received and explained by saints throughout the ages.
Of these, the 13th century Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas offers us what is perhaps the clearest and most thorough explanation of how the Gifts work in our life.
The Gift of Fear of the Lord (extract)
Why would God want to give us a gift called “Fear of the Lord?”
How could fear ever be good and desirable?
Saint Thomas Aquinas tells us that we need the Gift as a kind of first beginning of the perfection of all gifts. For the Fear of the Lord conditions us to show proper reverence to God and to be completely devoted to Him. In this way, Fear of the Lord is a kind of foundation on which the other Gifts are built.
The Fear of the Lord is not a matter of anxiety or terror. Rather it is marked by calm yet eager resolve. How does Fear of the Lord help us to follow God?
Saint Thomas helps us to see how when he points out a common fact of life: before people can begin to do good, they must first withdraw from evil. As we know from our own experience, fear always involves turning away from something we consider a threat to our wellbeing.
In our relationship with God, fear can play a role in two ways.
First, fear can be a fear of punishment (especially Hell) Saint Thomas refers to this kind of fear as “servile” fear or the fear of one who obeys the master because of the possibility of punishment.
Servile fear, however, does not involve the full range of freedom and grace that Our Lord wants us to enjoy. There is a second and holier kind of fear that has to do not with punishment, but with the wonderful good of communion with God.
This second kind of fear is not afraid of punishment but of losing God. Saint Thomas calls this “filial” fear, the fear of sons, since it is the kind of fear a good son should have about ever violating or losing his relationship with his father. To have filial fear means to be eager to avoid the evil of offending God or doing anything that might damage our relationship with Him.
The Holy Spirit’s Gift, Fear of the Lord, is a Gift of filial fear.
Source: The Gifts of the Holy Spirit According to Saint Thomas Aquinas
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Gen 2:7 – The Breath of Life
Gen 2:7 – The Breathe of Life
Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Comment - The birth of the Church
The birth of the Church, accomplished in the mystery of Christ’s Passover, is concretely manifested in important gestures and in words: ‘The evening of the same day, the first day of the week...Jesus came...and said to them: “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you”.
After saying this he breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven”’ (Jn 20:21–23).
Very sensitive to biblical symbolism, John notes that the event dates from the first day of the week. According to the biblical account, creation began at the beginning of a week. The Breath of God hovered over the water; through the action of the Breath, Adam awakened to life. On this other first day of the week, Jesus breathes on the disciples. The gesture is creative, the Church is created in the Spirit of the risen Jesus.
Source: Holy Spirit of God
Scott Hahn
Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Comment - The birth of the Church
The birth of the Church, accomplished in the mystery of Christ’s Passover, is concretely manifested in important gestures and in words: ‘The evening of the same day, the first day of the week...Jesus came...and said to them: “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you”.
After saying this he breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven”’ (Jn 20:21–23).
Very sensitive to biblical symbolism, John notes that the event dates from the first day of the week. According to the biblical account, creation began at the beginning of a week. The Breath of God hovered over the water; through the action of the Breath, Adam awakened to life. On this other first day of the week, Jesus breathes on the disciples. The gesture is creative, the Church is created in the Spirit of the risen Jesus.
Source: Holy Spirit of God
Scott Hahn
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