POWER OF THE SPIRIT

THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT

“For those that have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged as they are brought together in love, to have all the richness of fully assured understanding, for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”(Col 2: 1-3)

In this letter, Paul expresses his concern for the people of Laodicea who have embraced the Good News but to whom he has been unable to minister.  He expresses his wishes that they will persevere in faith and be given the gifts of the Spirit, which includes the richness of fully assured understanding.

I’m not sure any human has come to a full understanding of the Good News but that isn’t what Paul is saying.  He says fully assured understanding.  In other words, that they do not doubt the rightness of their decision to accept the message of Christ and to acknowledge that He is truly the expected Messiah.  This was a huge step for them, raised as they were in the Judaic tradition.

It raises a valid question for us.  Are we fully assured that the spirit of God is always with us?  If you need proof of the power of the Holy Spirit you have only to read the letters of St. Paul.  From his conception, God had his eye on Paul. God took his intellectual brilliance and super-confident personality and then added the constant presence of the Holy Spirit to teach Paul the mysteries of the Redemption and how to spread the Good News.  Go to the letter to the Philippians, Chapter 2, Verses 6-11.  How could he possibly have understood so well the mission of Christ without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?  The fact that Paul was able to go from rigid adherence to the Jewish law to a full understanding of Christ may be the only demonstrable case of a leopard actually changing its spots. 

The Spirit, however, did not stop with Paul and the fledgling Church.  The Spirit is ever-present in the world.  Take a good look at the response of the country to the hurricane disasters.  God has commanded that we love another.  There is that love being played out on the rivers that used to be streets in Houston. People who were interviewed repeated over and over again that were no political, ethnic or religious distinctions during the rescue effort.  Let us pray that remains the case and this love for one another does not fade.

Most people have no idea that the inclination to put aside their own issues to help someone else comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit in the world, but we do.

We are fully assured that is the case.  We are duty-bound to express that belief so that others may enjoy the full assurance that the love of God is alive and working in the hearts of all humans.  

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA