The Goose is Loose

Dear Our Lady of Ransom Family,

Today is the anniversary of my confirmation. I confess that I wasn’t thinking much about the Holy Spirit when I was confirmed. In fact, I wasn’t thinking much about God at all. That wouldn’t come until I was in my mid-20’s, when the pride of a scientist was broken enough as to be open to a truth beyond himself. The grace of that sacrament dwelt dormant in my soul for years, waiting for me to move past a spiritual immaturity that had nothing to do with my age. 

I remember this gift that I received when I have the rare opportunity of offering that sacrament to someone else. While the ordinary minister of Confirmation is a bishop, there are certain situations where a priest can confer it. So far, one of my greatest joys as a pastor was the opportunity to do so with one of our parishioners. Some of you might have been there - it happened at our 7:30a Sunday Mass. After a special prayer calling down the Holy Spirit upon him, he was anointed with a (very) lavish amount of Sacred Chrism as those special words were proclaimed: “Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” It’s nice to know that, while I may have been clueless when I received that great sacrament, I can share it with others who are far more appreciative of its value.

While I have been much more attentive to the presence of the Holy Spirit since my re-version to the faith, I get the suspicion that He is working extra hard to make up for lost time with me. Over the past several years, the Holy Spirit has been unexpectedly appearing all over the place, calling me into situations that would be unbelievable if I hadn’t experienced them myself.

In my prayer and reflections, I am consistently drawn to ponder the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the earthly ministry of Jesus. We know that Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave” (Phil 2:6-7a). Or, put another way, while Jesus was always fully God and fully man, we can say that He didn’t depend on His Godliness for His ministry. Stop for a moment and reread that. That’s crazy! The implications are unfathomable. That means that all of the signs and wonders Jesus performed cannot be fully attributed to the fact that He is God.

What, then, was the source of those great signs? Of the curing of lepers and the multiplications of loaves; of the healing of the paralytic and the driving out of demons; of the bringing sight to the blind and raising the dead? Think about what happened at the inauguration of the earthly ministry of the Lord. In the words of witness from John the Baptist: “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and  remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit’” (John 1:32-33). The ministry of Jesus that involved so many signs and wonders began only when the Holy Spirit descended and remained with Christ. Christ, we know, means the anointed one. What was He anointed with? The Holy Spirit.

It is because Jesus actively yielded to the Holy Spirit that He was able to perform such great wonders, to live a life of the supernatural in the world of nature. And even more amazingly, this is how Jesus can say a sentence that should leave us aghast: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these” (John 14:12). Jesus cured the sick, drove out demons, and raised the dead ... and He is saying that we can do the same things! Brothers and sisters, we are temples of the Holy Spirit, and it is through His power that those things happen. In the Acts of the Apostles, the Spirit-filled followers of Jesus performed the same signs and wonders as the Christ. For we who are temples of the Holy Spirit, the supernatural should be normal.

We live in a world that is entombed to the natural. Nature itself seems to have turned against us as a virus sets the world on edge. The systems of finance and government have taken dreadful wounds that will have incalculable long-term consequences. Our own human nature is challenged and stressed as we feel powerless and isolated. If we are a people that just live in the natural, then we are in a dreadful state indeed.

We are beloved children of our Most High Father, and we must lay claim to our heavenly inheritance, the treasure that has been promised us, the gift that has been purchased by the Blood of the Lamb - the life and power of the Holy Spirit. Once we truly become people who actively yield to the Holy Spirit, we will find the miraculous becomes commonplace and the supernatural infuses our every waking moment. If we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus in his earthly ministry, then all around us we will find signs and wonders that point to God’s loving providence.

We know that Lent is a time of preparation for Easter. And yet, we tend to lose sight of the fact that the season of Easter is a preparation for Pentecost. The great celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit in the upper room is the third most important celebration of our year. As the apostles were hold up in the upper room, uncertain and isolated, the Holy Spirit rushed upon them, giving them the joyful boldness to proclaim Christ crucified to a world enslaved by natural powers. We can let this time of shelter-in-place be for us a new upper room, one where the Holy Spirit rushes upon us in a new and powerful way. But we must be intentional for that to happen, we must actively yield to that Holy Spirit. As a tool to help you do that, I’d like to point you to a well produced series called, “The Wild Goose,” (watch the short clip below to find out why it’s called that). It is a great introduction to a lived relationship with the Holy Spirit. The entire series can be found for free on YouTube. The Holy Spirit is alive and well, and looking to enliven and empower our lives. Why? Because …

He is Risen!
He is Risen indeed!

Fr. Matt Bozovsky
Pastor
Our Lady of Ransom