Faith In The Life-Giving Spirit

𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝟏𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐜 𝟗:𝟑𝟏-𝟒𝟐

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟏𝟔:𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟕 “𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞?”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟔:𝟔𝟎-𝟔𝟗

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.” (𝒗.63) 

          I am sure many of you will agree with me that life today is not as easy as it may seem to be. Despite what our government tells us, the level of poverty or those who live below the poverty line remained high with the gap between the rich and poor getting wider and wider as the days go by.

        The common rationale that we hear is that the poor remains poor because they chose to remain poor, preferring to live from dole outs such as those coming from the government itself like AKAP, TUPAD and AICS.

        To a certain extent that may be true since these financial relief measures are merely temporary. We see all forms of poverty around us and it’s not because people choose to be poor but because there aren’t enough opportunities that the poor can avail of for them to find life. This is where the government must come in, but rather than use its resources to provide livelihood projects, the Marcos Administration at the behest of its graft-ridden co-equal branch of government decided to adopt these monetary dole outs that only led to the high incidence of human barrenness and mendicancy.

         And what I believe to be the worst kind of poverty is the poverty of spirit to which many people have succumbed into including those who are blessed materially. With this kind of poverty it is because they were not provided with the opportunities to experience that it is the Spirit that gives life (𝐯.𝟔𝟑) and not the material possessions that perish. 

        We will realize that as we wade through the myriads of trials and challenges, we face in life there will be times when we will wilt from the pressures we face each day.

         When these times come our natural tendency is to draw on our own strength, talent and skill or, on our own resources. And our world comes crashing down on us when all our efforts prove futile or are not enough to deliver us from our problems. Why? Because our human abilities are merely palliatives and have no power on its own.

         Again, this was what Jesus was trying to tell the Jews but they had difficulty accepting and believing what he was saying. There was a dichotomy in the way the Jews were relating to Jesus as they were drawn to him for what he offered in visible terms meaning the healing and the miracles he had performed but that was as far as they went.

         They witnessed how the lame walked. The blind were able to see. Those stricken with evil spirits were delivered from demonic possessions. Some 5,000 men, women and children were fed with Jesus multiplying five pieces of barley loaves and two pieces of small fish.  

         But when Jesus started talking of discipleship that was anchored on a deep and intimate relationship with him, most of the Jews balked and faltered. In fact, even some of his disciples left his company when Jesus started talking of the need for them to eat his flesh and drink his blood (𝐉𝐧 𝟔:𝟓𝟏-𝟓𝟗).        

         Jesus claimed to be the bread of heaven, the very life of God he was prepared to give to the Jews and to us as spiritual food to help sustain us in our journey to the promised land of heaven but the Jews either could not grasp what Jesus was saying or they simply did not want to bother to understand because it will create a paradigm shift in the practice of their faith.

         This is also not new to us as there were times in our lives when we also refused to believe in what Jesus was saying. As Catholics we go to Church on Sundays and we go through the entire process in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist without really understanding the depth and meaning of the Mass.

         We all saw how our churches were filled to the rafters during the Lenten Season, especially on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The lay faithful took a break on Black Saturday and took a festive air again on Easter Sunday. The same is true with the so-called charismatic communities where the Baptism in the Spirit is the cornerstone of their encounter with the Lord and yet we hear of divisions and splits. What is worse is when these differences are being fanned by the leaders themselves who have become subjective and who took sides rather than take the middle road and restore harmony and unity in their ranks. 

         Pardon me but this has become a big farce for me. I could understand the disciples who ran and hid after Jesus was arrested except for John who was with Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the foot of the cross. I could feel the fear of the disciples who probably thought they were next in line to be arrested following the death of Jesus. But they were clothed with power and authority when Jesus rose from his grave to become the banner of Christians all over the world.

         What I could not understand was how today’s Christians were there when Jesus went through his passion and death but were seemingly nowhere to be found when he resurrected and this was supposed to be the defining moment for us Christians. And this was very evident when our churches looked deserted on Monday right after the resurrection of Our Lord.

         Let it be known that there is no compromise when it comes to the practice of our faith. It’s either we are with Jesus by believing everything that he says or we are not. We must either accept his word as divine or reject it as the claim of an impostor.

         It may have been hard for the Jews and his disciples to accept and abide by what Jesus was saying in those days because what he said was something new and was a radical departure from what they have believed in for the longest time. But we should not find it hard to believe the Gospel because of the advent of information that makes it easy for us to understand.

         The reality is that it was not hard for the Jews then to accept what Jesus was saying but what proved difficult was in admitting what he was saying to be true. Jesus promised his disciples nothing less than the full blessing of eternal life and union with God and he is also telling us now that only in him can we find eternal life and this is available to everyone who has faith.

         This is where the difference lies and communities, organizations, ministries and apostolates fall victim to divisions and splits because of the superficiality in the practice of their faith. What we see is not what they seem to be which means that attendance in prayer meetings, Eucharistic celebrations, ministry work, leadership roles do not a disciple make.

         People may have been introduced to the Lord in an encounter program like the Marriage Encounter, Singles Encounter, Solo Parents Encounter and have encountered him in a more personal way in an Life in the Spirit Seminar yet that is not where it ends for unless the self gives way to the personhood of Jesus Christ (Jn 3:30) that encounter amounts to nothing and this lack of faith and yieldedness becomes evident in our actions and practice of our faith.

         True faith is not blind nor ignorant, but an authentic faith is a disposition of the heart that seeks to understand and yield to the life-giving Spirit. For those who find it difficult to understand the whys and the wherefores of true discipleship we can always rely on the Holy Spirit to not only open our hearts to his truth and wisdom (𝐄𝐩𝐡 𝟏:𝟏𝟕-𝟏𝟖) but the power to believe in faith.

         It is so heartwarming to read the story of Cardinal Robert Prevost who wasn’t even one of the five Papabile Cardinals. But God sees what is hidden from man and the man from Chicago, United States with unshakeable faith in God gave up his admission to Harvard Law School to live in utmost poverty in the Peruvian mountains who can pray in the Quechua dialect and speak five other languages has been chosen by God to be our Pope Leo XIV.  

         Faith is our response to God’s revelation of himself to us. It is the key that unlocks our minds that we may understand and experience God’s plan for us. At the end of the day, we will find out we have no other choice but to abide in him for he is what life is all about. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘔𝘢𝘺 10, 2025)