Knowing your spirits

 

Sunday5th June 2022

Pentecost Sunday

Open our ears, O Lord to hear your word and know your voice. Speak to our hearts and strengthen our wills that we may serve you today, now and always. Amen.

We need to get to know the spirits in our lives.

Might we hear inside our heads:
‘I am no good’, ‘I am a bad parent’, ‘I am not worthy’, ‘I could never do that’, ‘people don’t like me’,….?

These are typical of bad spirits!

God does not accuse.  Only the evil one accuses.  Rather, God convicts our hearts through love. The best way to explain this is to hear what Jesus says to us in John 12:47-48:

I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge 

There are times when we know in our hearts:

‘Yes, I should not have said/done that’

‘Yeah, I did not do it when I should have…’

We need space and time to be silent and to let the Holy Spirit whisper to us

Perhaps we could devote a few minutes at the end of each day reflecting, journaling and praying on these lines:

• Come Holy Spirit and help me to recall those moments today when I was aware of your love and to savour again what you meant to me.

• Help me to recognise those inspirations and promptings you gave me and to know whether I responded or not.

• Help me to recognise those times when I saddened you by what I said or did or by what I failed to do.

Feelings are important but they are not the only thing.  We can know god’s will by careful discernment with the help of age-old means of:

• Prayer

• Reading of scripture

• Reflection on our moods, emotions and life events.

When we experience lasting peace and freedom - even joy - this might very well be a sign of God's presence and beckoning. But let’s be careful. Sharing with a trusted and competent person could help to check our self-will and purely private interpretations.

The culmination of Jesus’s teachings as reported in the Gospel of John is conveyed to us in five key pledges that we can trust and hang on to in our minds and hearts at the start of every day:

1    We are not alone (the Holy Spirit has been sent and continues to breathe on us) – John 14:18 

‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.’

2    We called to live in a new commandment of mutual love (that the world may see and believe) – John 13:34

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

3    The continuing help and presence of the Holy Spirit is guaranteed – John 16:13

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

4    Joy and peace and with that freedom are the fruit of that Holy Spirit (marking such gifts out from all else) – John 15:11

I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

5    We will know the truth and the truth will set us free – John 8:32

and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’

To sum up:

1. We are not alone

2. Love one another

3. The Holy Spirit will guide us

4. How do we know? – Joy and Peace!

5. And that joy will set us free

Really, we could not ask for more!

Father in the name of Jesus open our hearts, today, to your Holy Spirit.

• Set us on fire
• Send us out to witness to your great love
• Thank you

A quiet place

 Sunday 22 May 2022

(6th Sunday of Easter)

Over the last two years I have had some time and space to myself due to circumstances outside my control.  To varying degrees and at different stages, we were all subject to advice or restrictions regarding travel, social interaction and distancing as well.  In many ways I can sum up my personal experience during this testing time as an echo of the verse in the Book of Hosea:

Therefore, I will now persuade her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. (Hosea 2:14)

I had the fortunate to be able to stay in a 'wilderness' of sorts in this beautiful coastal area of North County Dublin. I have also been fortunate in being able to evidently avoid covid during these last two years.

What did I learn once again?  .... that I was not alone but accompanied all the way by God's Holy Spirit even if I sometimes fail to live up to the demands of the Gospel in my living. Second, I learned once again about listening.  When upset, not sure, annoyed or simply frightened it is always and everywhere possible and necessary to cast our burdens on the Lord 

'Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you' (1 Peter 5:7)

I could make the prayer of David my own:

I will listen to what the Lord God will say, for he shall speak peace to his people and to the faithful, that they turn not again to folly. (Psalm 85:8)

 Although I do not always manage to do it I strive to:

• find a time and a place to 'listen' to God in my heart.
• listen to another.
• listen to myself.

One ought not be afraid to go that special place and time, no matter how limited or constrained, to find a listening space.  

A wise person advised me to say often the following invocation:

Lord Jesus Christ, fill me with your Holy Spirit.