REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF EASTER 24TH APRIL 2024

-
REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF EASTER 24TH APRIL 2024

Acts 12:24-13:5a; Ps.67; John 12:44-50

Being Docile to the Holy Spirit

In today’s first reading, we realize that it is the Holy Spirit who enables us to discover the particular mission for which God calls us. It is the Holy Spirit who enlightens us on how to accept and live out God’s will for our lives.

At the Annunciation, the message of the Angel troubled the heart of Mary and she wondered how possible it is for her to fulfill what was outlined for her. The angel made it clear that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that she will be able to carry out her missionary mandate. Prior to His Ascension, Jesus specifically told His disciples to wait for the out pour of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the primary agent of Evangelization. It is the license without which the vehicle of evangelization cannot be driven. Without the Holy Spirit there is no commissioning; and unless we are commissioned, we cannot be authentic. Therefore, the Holy Spirit authenticates the mission.

It is a case of poor Christian formation for a Christian to see the Holy Spirit only as an instrument of revenge and destruction. Most times, people do not call upon the Holy Spirit to enable them understand and carryout God’s will, but to help them destroyed perceived enemies. When we continue to practice the Christian faith with a mentality of what God can do for us without considering what our Christian obligations are, we become spiritually irresponsible.

In the gospel reading, Jesus lamented the spiritual irresponsibility in His audience. They have witnessed Jesus’ ground breaking teachings and uncommon miracles yet they refuse to believe in him. Believing in Jesus will demand that they change their way of lives. This was far too expensive for them to bear.

People want to be called Christians, people want to be seen present in Church on Sundays but they do not want God to direct their lives because of what they may “loose”. Beloved, each time we summit ourselves to the Lord, the Lord always surprises us. When the Spirit was setting aside Barnabas and Saul for a specific mission, no one envisaged that Saul (who became Paul) will become the greatest apostles of the Gentiles. Conversion has no adverse effect. Let us open ourselves to the Spirit of God so that lives will always be saturated with Divine Providence.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CHURCH: MODEL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION HOMILY FOR THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER 21ST MAY 2022)

-
CHURCH: MODEL OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (22 May 2022) Acts 15:1-2,22-29; Jn 14:23-29 In today's liturgy of the word from the Acts 15 a great controversy arose in the early Christian community between the Jewish Christians on the one hand and  Paul and Barnabas on the other hand, on whether the Gentile Christians must conform to the law of Moses in other to be saved. We are told that “certain individuals came down from Judea (to Antioch) and were teaching the brothers, “unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1) and in Jerusalem “ some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and also said ‘ it is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). This debate was birthed on the grounds of the significance of circumcision and the law of Moses to the Jews. For them, in Judaism, these are unchangeable and irreplaceable laws and traditions that guarantee salvat...
Read more