+ Today we have rather startling readings: startling
in their simplicity, common sense, and forthrightness. To understand the
readings more fully we need to focus in on a supernatural law and spiritual
principle that resides deep in our minds, hearts and souls: and that is the
ability to recognize truth and goodness (love) from inside out! We spend our
whole live striving after the fullness of these things, truth and love, so when
someone on the outside addresses these supernaturally charged entities of our
beings, then we can “know for sure” that they are telling us the truth, that
they are offering us an experience of self-sacrificial giving which is love. Even
though we grapple with the details, and are ever filling in blanks, then erasing
them, then putting them back, changing our minds – but all the while we are
getting closer and closer to pure truth and pure love!
And so the first reading from
the letter of Jude today tells us to use the one thing preliminarily for any of
this to make sense at all, and that is the power of faith, the virtue of faith,
the “application” or “app” if you will, of faith – that is freely given by God,
the only one who can distribute it, to any who ask for it – and not just once, but
daily, and even hourly if necessary – when things and circumstances seem to
gets fuzzy. THE POWER TO OPERATE FAITH IS THE KEY TO EVERYTHING!
So Jude says: use your most holy faith as your foundation
and build on that, praying in the Holy Spirit. And this last part “praying in
the Holy Spirit” is another golden key that unfortunately these days is used by
the most miniscule percentage of those who claim the name Christian and are
baptized into the life of the Mystical Body of Christ. This type of prayer is
praying without words: desiring to pray so deeply, in a very private channel
between you and God the Father – that you just sit in deep silence for a few
minutes but then you pass air over your vocal chords and begin to simply let
whatever syllable and patterns emerge that the Spirit causes to happen – and
then you are led by the Spirit to control the intensity of it and format:
whether to whisper it, shout it, sing it or what. It may sound like gibberish
to you, but it is as clear as a bell in God’s ear what the Spirit is formulating
for your prayer at that moment. And you will feel a deep sense of connection to
God, and you will at the same time sense, feel, know that he is answering your
prayer in the depth of your heart and soul. This method you can apply to any
type of prayer you want. The one prerequisite is to ask for a moment, for the
full release of the Holy Sprit’s gifts that were poured out upon the Apostles
on Pentecost. Just ask, and then go about your business. That’s it! It is so
simple, yet so very powerful.
In the gospel passage we see
Jesus having a conversation with the priests, scribes and elders of the temple
in Jerusalem about the authority that he spoke with and did the things he did:
in teaching the people with a decisive and game-changing sort of way. The only
reason they asked the question was because they were “stung to the mind and
heart” in their own search for truth and love, and they recognized in Jesus one
who had command over everything, everything that is: they knew that he was greater
than Moses whom they had based their knowledge on. So Jesus plays a little mind
game with them in asking the authority of John the Baptist’s baptism of
repentance – and they were stumped – and so Jesus did not have to spell out for
them where his authority came from because they KNEW, they SIMPLY KNEW he had
more supernatural connections than anyone ever could.
Because of our baptism into
the life of Christ Risen, and Confirmation and reception of the major gifts of
the Spirit, and any time we ask for it, the “baptism, if you will, that Jesus
spoke of that we all must likewise receive, the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
asking for the full release of countless auxiliary gifts, like our own private
prayer language to God, then when we encounter anyone and everyone in our day
we can give them the peace, hope and joy of God, his consolations, his
blessings, his forgiveness and his love as we give them a helping hand or a
willing ear!
Have a great day in this
Pentecost Season – building up the kingdom of God everywhere you go – “praying
in the spirit” all the while!
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