Life in the Spirit

“I WILL ask the Father, and he will give you another

Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world

cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him…I will not leave

you orphans…” (Jn 14,16-18)

  

            We should let these words of Christ sink deep in our

consciousness and form the conviction that whatever happens in our

life, God in the Spirit will always be with us. We have to reinforce

this conviction constantly both in good times and especially in bad

times. We are never alone! God is always around!

  

            We have to feel very much at home with this very wonderful

reality and start to correspond to it as we ought. We have to go

beyond our earthly dimensions and enter into the more fascinating

world of the spiritual and the supernatural.

             This does not mean that we escape from our earthly reality

to be in the spiritual and supernatural reality. No. It means that

while deeply immersed in our mundane conditions, we also have to learn

to go beyond them to be with God. This is what the word

‘transcendence’ means.

  

            To be sure, we are enabled to do that, because of our

intelligence and will. These are powerful faculties that would enable

us to know and to love, and eventually to enter in the lives of others

and ultimately to be with God.

  

            But more importantly, we are always given the grace so

that our capacity to be with God is actualized. It’s not enough that

we are enabled to know and love God. That potency has to be put into

act with the grace of God who gives it to us in abundance.

  

            We have to do our part, of course. And the first thing to

do is to be aware there is such a reality as developing a life in the

Spirit, and from there start cultivating the proper attitudes, skills

and virtues.

             This may look like a daunting, overwhelming task, but it

can always be done. Sure, there will be difficult, awkward moments,

but those usually happen in the beginning of the learning curve. As

long as we persist, time will come when living in intimate

relationship with the Spirit becomes second nature to us.

             We need to spread this Good News more widely, because many

of us are still completely ignorant of it. And of those who may

already know about it, a lot of confusion, doubts and misunderstanding

abound.

  

            So more than spreading the Good News, we need a lot of

teachers and models who can clearly show how this life in the Spirit

can be achieved. Let’s hope that we can count on many people,

especially those who are already active in the Church, to serve as

teachers and models for this purpose.

  

            Of special interest in this regard is the crucial role of

parents. They should be the first teachers and models of their

children in living the life in the Spirit. That’s why, parents should

do their best to be very consistent to their faith, because the most

important duty they have toward their children is to make their

offspring children of God, living the life in the Spirit!