People formed by the Lord - with an indwelling Spirit

WORD 2day - Wednesday, Sixth week in the Eastertide

May 08, 2024 - Acts 16, 22-34; John 16: 5-11

The Lord bidding farewell to his disciples and apostles, tells them how he would wish to say many more things but they were really not prepared to take any more! He knew them, he knew their inability, he knew their difficulty, he knew their capacity. The Lord knows our capacity too! And that is why the Lord has promised us the Indwelling Spirit - the Spirit who dwells within us, who resides in our hearts and waits to guide us from within. It is a pity that most of the time we do not ever become aware of this presence. 

We are all the time on the search, going out in search, search every where for answers and solutions and a light to clarify our questions of life. We fail to understand that the light resides within, the light is shining in there... all that we need to do is, take a minute and become aware; take a moment and surrender to the Light. Lead kindly light...amid the encircling gloom, lead thou me on - those are truly inspired words by Newman. The Lord promised to send the Spirit from the Father and each of us is given that gift, right at our baptism. We possess! Do we realise?

The People of Athens were practically intelligent. They who worshipped a pantheon of gods, had an altar for the unknown God! Because they did not want to take chances... in fact they were afraid to take the risk of facing the wrath of a god who could be accidently neglected! That was a fear ridden religiosity, that Paul is addressing in the first reading today. That is not our case, thanks be to the merciful love that Jesus has revealed to us. But the danger is that we have gone to the other extreme, we dare to neglect God who empties Godself to give us life, to give us fullness of life! 

Father who gives away everything including God's only Son; the Son who gives away everything including his own body and blood; the Spirit who gives away everything including the majesty of divinity and deigns to live within us mere humans... how conscious are we of this? Do we really come to grips with the intimacy that the Spirit offers us with God? The Lord wishes to form us for this consciousness, to realise and relate to the indwelling Spirit.