Come Holy Spirit

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, Come, Holy Spirit, Come
Reflection for Pentecost Sunday by Rev. Robert Johnnene OFA Mission Sts. Sergius and Bacchus
www.missionstsergius.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EverlastingLoveOfChristMinistry
Acts 2:1-11; Galatians 5:16-25; Psalm 103, John14:23-31;

“Come, Holy Spirit, come! And from your celestial home shed a ray of light divine!” with these words the beautiful prayer to the Holy Spirit, VENI, SANCTE SPIRITUS, begins. The feast of Pentecost which is also referred to as the Birthday of the church because it celebrates the decent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. After the Holy Spirit descended upon them in tongues of fire after which when they spoke they were heard the people of every race and nationality proclaiming the truth of Jesus teachings in the language of the nationality of those listeners present.
The word of God needs to be proclaimed in the language of the listener so that they will fully comprehend His teachings but it must be translated carefully into that language preserving the meaning of the original writings in accord with what those words meant at the time they were written and not, as has been done with Holy Scripture and other church documents, into the meaning the words have taken on throughout history. The intent of having the liturgy of the Eucharist, commonly called the Mass, translated from the Latin into English and other languages under Vatican II was to make the liturgy more understandable and reverent to all participating, unfortunately the translations failed to meet the original meaning of the Latin and became less than a spiritual experience and more a modernized prayer service and theatrical experience in some cases.
God’s word was not meant for a chosen few but for all of the human race. The Apostles were told to preach the word to all nations even unto the ends of the earth. In order to do this and faithfully proclaim the truth one has to know the meaning of the original Greek and Aramaic words of the first writings.
A perfect case in point is the word “homosexual” being found in translations. That word was not even created until 1869 and any references where it is being used in scripture were not referring to that orientation but to the use of group sex or sexual excesses as a form of worship to false Gods or for humiliation of a human being which would be a grave sin.
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us “No one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit” It is in this letter that one of the most redeeming passages of scripture can be found. Paul informs us “everyone has different gifts bestowed on them by God through the Holy Spirit.” He goes on to affirm that there are “Different forms of service, but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces them all. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit” “For in one Spirit we were all Baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek, slave of free person, we were all given to drink of the one Spirit”

The Gospel admonishes us to “Live by the Spirit”, it goes further to confirm that the desires of the flesh we can cause a breakdown of the graces provided to us. Some of the “Desires of the flesh” Paul mentions besides the obvious one of indiscriminate sexual pleasure are: immorality (using sex or sexually provoking images to excite one to engage in sexual activity for purposes other than that which God intended) , lust ( desiring after someone or something that belongs to another or craving for self gratification) idolatry ( the worship of false gods which would also include placing money or wealth or power above love of and worship of God), hatred, rivalry, jealousy, anger or fury, selfishness, and drunkenness. To elaborate on each of these today and how we might possibly cause ourselves to be separated from God, and the Gifts He freely gives us through the Holy Spirit, would take more time than we have. I will however, point to the fact that hatred, jealousy, rivalry, anger , fury, and selfishness are among those Paul mentions and often times cause more pain and hurt toward others than partaking in those that involve sexual pleasure.
It is some of those “Desires of the Flesh” that have caused the separations that exist within the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church just as giving in to those personal pleasure desires have caused the scandal that has disgraced so many. So many of the “rules” that churches enforce and claim are necessary for salvation have nothing at all to do with our salvation but with the churches maintaining their financial income and to prevent people from searching for the truth of God’s teachings and researching the history of the church.
Each of these “Desires of the Flesh” affords us many ways of sinning. They are human faults that every individual has; our task is to try our best to resist their lure to partake of their pleasures.
One thing that I personally can attest to is that, if we call upon God daily, or as many times as we need to in order to resist the temptations that plague us every day and ask God to send us the Holy Spirit, God will oblige.
One of my daily prayers begins with “Come, Holy Spirit, fill my heart and kindle in in me the fire of your love so that I might be renewed”
In John 16: we are promised, “The Spirit will guide you to all truth. The spirit will not speak on its own, but will speak what he hears from me and declare it to you” The spirit speaks within us always with God’s will and teachings, we need to hearken to what we hear, even when it is opposite what popular thinking is proclaiming and be steadfast in proclaiming what our inner voice is telling us.
The truth is that God, the almighty creator and father of Jesus Christ, is a loving, forgiving, compassionate God. Jesus proclaimed this and by his example so often during his earthly existence and showed it to us by His actions in relating to all who came to him regardless of their race, creed or sexual orientation.
God is always there awaiting your call to Him. He does not have an answering machine, voice mail, or a secretary. You are not asked to press (1)if you need healing, press (2) for forgiveness, press (3) to seek a favor and so on.
You will not receive a message “Sorry God is busy taking a call from another special customer, please remain on the line and your call will be answered in the order in which it was received”. God is always listening to what we are saying and will respond to us according to what He feels is best for us. God always answers our prayers, just not always in the way we want, but in what will be best for us.
Many times God actually comes to us and speaks to us in our dreams, or quiet times and even sometimes while driving a car, listening to the I pod, watching TV or playing ball.
Unfortunately, we are often too preoccupied to listen to what he is telling us through the Holy Spirit.
I suggest that the time is NOW for us to begin to be more receptive to those calls from God. Don’t put Him on hold, but take a break from what ever we are engaged in and listen with an open and receptive heart.
We need to allow ourselves to “Receive The Holy Spirit” so that we can begin to develop a deeper and closer relationship with Almighty God and thereby begin the elimination of the “Desires of the Flesh” that have prevented us from receiving all the gifts of The Spirit, Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
May God grant us the wisdom and understanding and the ability to hear Him when He speaks to us and then go out and live in accordance with His will.
AMEN