Pentecost Sunday 23.5.21 Potential
This is a day of renewal, a day of transformation. From potential to actual.
An object will be stationary unless some force acts on it, and then it will move.
In the realm of faith we can be stationary, not going anywhere much, and then receive the force of the Holy Spirit to stir us into life.
Pentecost Sunday is the most famous example of this motivating force.
The apostles were still somewhat timid in their faith, even after the Resurrection. They needed another boost, one huge infusion of energy and so it happened.
They came out of the upper room and began to preach fearlessly; not caring if it cost them their lives, which eventually it would do.
It was the whole Church being renewed at that time, and so it has been ever since.
We are always, individually and collectively, in need of the Holy Spirit.
The problems are still there but now we have something that looks a lot more like a solution.
God wants to fill every person with His presence. “And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2,28-29)
God is central; He is not to be pushed to the margins.
We learn this, and eventually it sinks in. The Holy Spirit can work slowly as well as quickly. He can deal with each person as required.
He will give us an increase of understanding and of desire simultaneously. We understand God's intentions more clearly, and we come to want what He wants, to accept His will in preference to our own.
We live in a very imperfect world; we can be perfect, or at least less imperfect.
And we pray that others will have the same experience. Many are tying to avoid God, when they really need to know Him. They are too busy doing their own will to welcome any knowledge of His will.
We, the believers, need conversion too. We are not yet calling on the full power available to us.
Who knows how many potential saints are hiding somewhere and we need them as they need conversion for themselves?
Unbelievers believe; weaker disciples become stronger. Wrong beliefs are set right; bad people become good. This is activating the potential.
It takes more than one day for most purposes. A lot of working on it. Some sins and errors are hard to dislodge. It needs patient application, lots of graces and mercies.
God gives us time to make progress. If we turn to Him we will make much faster progress. We can break free, to live ordered lives.
We have the freedom to choose how we respond. This freedom is a privilege but also a burden.
A privilege because it means we can cooperate with the will of God, and be partakers in His work of salvation.
A burden because when we use our free will wrongly we make a lot of trouble.
We have to get it right more often, till it becomes a habit; till our instinctive reaction to every situation is Christ-like. Hence virtue - a habit for doing good.
The Church has been launched but it has not been an easy flight. It needs a lot of disciples applying themselves to the task, and we usually do not have as many as we need, but we can still do some serious good with what we have.
Come, Holy Ghost.
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