IN other words, let’s be zealous,
driven and passionate in
doing good, which can only mean doing things with God, for it is only
with God that we can do good. We have to be clear about this. Doing
good is doing God. Outside of that, the best we can do or achieve is
an apparent good.
We need to disabuse ourselves from the widespread, if not
dominant and mainstream mentality that with our best intentions and
efforts alone, we can manage to do good.
It may happen that objectively we can do something good
without having to refer things to God, but that would not be the ideal
meant and proper to us. We have to be in synch with God as much as
possible, for he is the source of all goodness, truth, beauty, etc.
Nothing would be authentically good, true and beautiful without him.
St. Paul says it clearly. “Whether you eat or drink, or
whatever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) We
need to understand that as persons, we are designed to be always
rooted and oriented toward God, our Creator and Father, who is
actually everything to us.
In other words, we are not meant to be alone or to do
things all by our lonesome. The objective reality about ourselves,
whether we are aware of it or not, is that we are always with God, and
because of that, we are also always with others.
Obviously, the ideal situation is that we aware of this
reality about ourselves, and correspond to it as fully as possible.
And this means that we should try our best to rev ourselves up to do
things with God.
Now that we are approaching the feast of the Holy Spirit
(Pentecost Sunday, June 8), we are precisely reminded of this
beautiful truth of our faith. The readings of these days tell us more
about the Holy Spirit—that he is the spirit of truth who will tell us
everything about truth.
“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have much more to tell
you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of
truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things
that are coming.” (Jn 16,12-14)
It’s quite clear from these divine words that we cannot be
in the truth unless we are with the Holy Spirit. We cannot be guided
in our pursuit for truth, and everything that flows from truth, solely
by our senses and observations, or by simply citing data, facts and
other pieces of information.
We just cannot be exclusively led and directed by our
juridical systems, our philosophies and ideologies, our social,
political or economic trends. All these need the perfecting element of
the Holy Spirit to be able to perceive the truth in its fullness.
Otherwise, the truth can be used and manipulated by us. It
cannot help but be subjective, and be adapted to our designs and
desires rather than be objective. We need to get out of this orbit.
Thus, we have to consciously and actively deal with the
Holy Spirit. He, first of all, does not make himself hard to get. He
is actually very close to us, ever prompting us of what to do and how.
Our problem is that we often are not only deaf and blind, but also
faithless.
We need to exercise the divine gifts of faith, hope and
charity to be able to deal with the Holy Spirit, who is always willing
to give us his gifts and fruits. He it is who makes us have a deeper
insight of divine truths (understanding), properly make judgments
concerns truths of faith (knowledge).
With him, we are enabled to make judgments according to
divine and not simply human norms (wisdom), make decisions regarding
human actions (counsel), develop good relations with God and others
(piety), direct and guide our irascible appetites (fortitude) and our
concupiscible appetites (fear of the Lord).
The fruits of the Holy Spirit, which are the
manifestations of his presence and action in us, are love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness,
modesty, self-control and chastity.
We need to deal with the Holy Spirit as closely as
possible. If we have that attitude, then our life cannot help but be
full of zeal, drive and passion in doing good...the real good which is
to do things with and for God, and for everybody else.
doing good, which can only mean doing things with God, for it is only
with God that we can do good. We have to be clear about this. Doing
good is doing God. Outside of that, the best we can do or achieve is
an apparent good.
We need to disabuse ourselves from the widespread, if not
dominant and mainstream mentality that with our best intentions and
efforts alone, we can manage to do good.
It may happen that objectively we can do something good
without having to refer things to God, but that would not be the ideal
meant and proper to us. We have to be in synch with God as much as
possible, for he is the source of all goodness, truth, beauty, etc.
Nothing would be authentically good, true and beautiful without him.
St. Paul says it clearly. “Whether you eat or drink, or
whatever else you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) We
need to understand that as persons, we are designed to be always
rooted and oriented toward God, our Creator and Father, who is
actually everything to us.
In other words, we are not meant to be alone or to do
things all by our lonesome. The objective reality about ourselves,
whether we are aware of it or not, is that we are always with God, and
because of that, we are also always with others.
Obviously, the ideal situation is that we aware of this
reality about ourselves, and correspond to it as fully as possible.
And this means that we should try our best to rev ourselves up to do
things with God.
Now that we are approaching the feast of the Holy Spirit
(Pentecost Sunday, June 8), we are precisely reminded of this
beautiful truth of our faith. The readings of these days tell us more
about the Holy Spirit—that he is the spirit of truth who will tell us
everything about truth.
“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have much more to tell
you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of
truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things
that are coming.” (Jn 16,12-14)
It’s quite clear from these divine words that we cannot be
in the truth unless we are with the Holy Spirit. We cannot be guided
in our pursuit for truth, and everything that flows from truth, solely
by our senses and observations, or by simply citing data, facts and
other pieces of information.
We just cannot be exclusively led and directed by our
juridical systems, our philosophies and ideologies, our social,
political or economic trends. All these need the perfecting element of
the Holy Spirit to be able to perceive the truth in its fullness.
Otherwise, the truth can be used and manipulated by us. It
cannot help but be subjective, and be adapted to our designs and
desires rather than be objective. We need to get out of this orbit.
Thus, we have to consciously and actively deal with the
Holy Spirit. He, first of all, does not make himself hard to get. He
is actually very close to us, ever prompting us of what to do and how.
Our problem is that we often are not only deaf and blind, but also
faithless.
We need to exercise the divine gifts of faith, hope and
charity to be able to deal with the Holy Spirit, who is always willing
to give us his gifts and fruits. He it is who makes us have a deeper
insight of divine truths (understanding), properly make judgments
concerns truths of faith (knowledge).
With him, we are enabled to make judgments according to
divine and not simply human norms (wisdom), make decisions regarding
human actions (counsel), develop good relations with God and others
(piety), direct and guide our irascible appetites (fortitude) and our
concupiscible appetites (fear of the Lord).
The fruits of the Holy Spirit, which are the
manifestations of his presence and action in us, are love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness,
modesty, self-control and chastity.
We need to deal with the Holy Spirit as closely as
possible. If we have that attitude, then our life cannot help but be
full of zeal, drive and passion in doing good...the real good which is
to do things with and for God, and for everybody else.
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