Saturday of Easter Week

A rainy day at
Mount Saint Francis

Observing the boldness of Peter and John

and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men,
the leaders, elders, and scribes were amazed,
and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus.

If the government were arresting and prosecuting Christians, would they have enough evidence to convict you?

They certainly had the goods on Peter and John. Not only were they preaching in the name of Jesus, they healed a crippled man who then demonstrated the miracle by dancing in the temple.

In our multicultural, politically-correct society Christianity is often compared to other religions. It is a religion after all, and lends itself to comparison. That being said, Christians then have to demonstrate what gives our religion the right to evangelize the others.

I have written earlier (see Wednesday of 4^th week of Lent) of our doctrine of the Trinity. On that occasion I wrote about Jesus, the second person of the Trinity; and how this doctrine sets us apart from other monotheistic religions. As we have entered the Easter Season, we will now hear of God the Holy Spirit.

We know God the Father as the One God of the Jews. The Letter to the Hebrews summarizes that story with its first words:

In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets;

He goes on to say:

in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe…. (Hebrews 1: 1-2)

These two stages of history – the ancient past of the Father and the recent experience of the Son – now give way to the unfolding revelation of the Holy Spirit. These doctrines of Jesus the Son of God and the Holy Spirit of God are revealed to us! If we had made them up they would be easier to explain.

How do we know the Holy Spirit? We might expect the appearance of a dove or rushing winds or flames of tongue, but the actual demonstration of God the Holy Spirit is the lively, creative dauntless courage of Jesus’ disciples. Although his disciples are clearly and undeniably human, they are filled with inexplicable energy and confidence and wisdom.

(The Acts of the Apostles even relates one humorous story when the apostles were mistaken for gods.)

Some Christian religions have pared the doctrine severely by ascribing odd things like glossolalia and paranormal incidents to the “Holy Ghost.” They suppose if you don’t have the gift of tongues you don’t have the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul’s words should have put the kibosh on that a long time ago:

Therefore I want you to understand that... no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 12:3)

There are as many ways to experience the Spirit of God as there are people on earth, and more. And it is extraordinarily difficult to say with assurance that something is not of the Holy Spirit. The New Testament is laden with thorny discussions about how to determine if this or that impulse is from the Holy Spirit. Eventually the Church will teach us that God cannot urge us to immoral acts. And she will insists that we should “test every spirit.”

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (I John 4:1)

We also find lists of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11: 2-3) 

But even these lists only suggest the infinite graces of God superabundant generosity. The real proof of God’s Holy Spirit is the whole new person who appears when one has given her life over to Jesus Christ. She is recognizably the same person and yet there is an extraordinary difference.

I think of the Samaritan Woman who rushed into her village to tell about the Messiah she met at the village cistern. Because this apparently despised woman spoke with such courage and joy the whole village went up to meet Jesus, and came to believe in him:

…and they said to the woman, "We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world." (John 4: 42)

The real proof of the Holy Spirit is also in the extraordinary works of the Church, too many to be enumerated. We have built everything from universities to hospitals to cities in God’s name. All, of course, are flawed by our human weakness and in constant need of further direction but in toto they reveal the presence of God in our world.

There may not be enough evidence to arrest you or me, but clearly the Spirit of God is alive in our world. It is refreshing where other religions stagnate.