“THE HOLY GHOST IN YOU”
Saint John 15.26 - 16.4
EXAUDI: 5 June Anno Domini 2011
Fr J. Wm. Watson SSP
There are no uncertainties with the Lord. Christ is good. He loves you and will always take care of you in all ways that you need caring!
Jesus' words are Jesus. He is "The" Truth and speaks only truth.
Note: He does not say "if" but rather "When!" "When the Comforter is come, Whom I will send…" is a promise which had always been accomplished in the Old Testament, was accomplished at the first post-Resurrection Pentecost, and was subsequently made real for you in your Holy + Baptism.
This morning's discourse from the Lord also beautifully bespeaks the Blessed Trinity.
Per the correct Scriptural teaching of the Western Church, AND, the proper inclusion against all heresies (Arianism) which demean the Son's total Godhood, the Nicene Creed truthfully confesses that the Spirit eternally proceeds (spirates-breathes) from BOTH The Father and the Eternally Begotten Son! To be sure, in an "economic" and Earthly setting bound by time, place, and visible physical surroundings, yes Jesus sends you the 3rd Person of the Godhead from the Father. It's as if The Beloved (2nd Person) sends to you from the Lover (1st Person): Love (3rd Person)!
You need the Holy Ghost because you were never ever meant to subsist and rely only on your emotions, feelings, and memories of past distant events-no matter how true they are!
Faith believes that the Holy Spirit is what He is: Holy, that is-God, and Spirit, that is-invisible and incorporeal. The Holy Ghost bears witness not of Himself, nor even of the Father (as Father), but of the Son, the Incarnate God/Man. The Spirit testifies-TELLS about Jesus.
If the sermon, the "Bible Class," the one-on-one conversation, the curricula, the VBS, the Ladies-Aid session, or the Men's early morning pancake feed, doesn't trumpet the Christ Who obeyed the Commandments which you've so blatantly broken this past week; the Christ Who suffered and died at Calvary so that your crimes would be fully paid for and satisfied; then it "ain't" the Holy Ghost talking. If Jesus' Person and Work is not front and center, "lit-up" by the fiery brilliance of those "dancing tongues of flame" then it's either Satan or your own indigestion grumbling inanities into your head.
But because the Spirit is invisible and behind the scenes (behind Jesus) just how does He testify?
"And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning."
The answer is found in the Apostolate. The answer is found in Christ's Holy, Catholic, and APOSTOLIC Church (capital "C"). And by that I mean that the Truth is only found in Christ the Truth and where He has placed it-His inscripturated Word, Preached and Absolving Word, and Sacramental Word.
He told the "12" that they would bear martyrdom because they had been with Him from the start; and they did. And while you are not the "12," the Apostles of our Lord, you are the Church, the very Bride of Christ the Groom. As His Holy beloved, and also His Royal Priests, you too martyr to Him and His work.
How do you witness (martyr) your Lord? You are His brethren so the family resemblance will always be recognizable. You are branches to His vine so to the extremities, the body parts, always lead to the trunk, to the Heart of Christ, and the Head of the Savior. You are satellites of Salvation placed in everlasting orbit around the Son, so you naturally radiate and reflect His Light-which is the Life of all men.
The Holy Ghost's activity is to be active in all of you through the Word that is preached to you, absolved to you, and consumed by you.
Your daily good works are not yours but the Spirit's. The Spirit has you testify to Jesus when you are assembled by Him at this parish. You can resist, by why would your New Creation want to? The Spirit has you testify to Jesus when you profess the pure Gospel of the Creed, and it's "heart & center" section about the Christ of God. The Spirit has you testify to Jesus when you are carried not only to the font, but when you are transported by angels to the Communion Rail to proclaim all that He has both done and continues to do for you! For as "often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup; ye do show the Lord's death till He come!"
Your Lord speaks to you once again this morning: "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended."
Why would the old-Adam of the "12" be offended? Because they were given a message, a Gospel, not of power and conquest, not of war and empire, not of revenge and killing, not of bigness and success, AND not of sight and demonstrable scientific proofs-BUT of the One small Word of Jesus. For them, for you, to testify, or witness, or far better yet, to MARTYR your dear Lord is to be who He has made you to be: "Little Christ's" shaped in the cruciform shape.
You speak the Truth always in love because that is what you do. You boldly confess all the articles of the Faith and jealously guard and preserve the traditions which the Apostles handed down through their words because that is what you do. You forgive your neighbors their sins against you and yours over and over and over again, and you forgive your enemies and adversaries and do good to them and pray for them because that is what you do. You receive all the Redeemer's blood-bought gifts at His Altar of Ascension every Lord's Day and on special Mass Days because that is what you do.
You are not offended at the Lord's servanthood or at yours. You are not ashamed of the Lord's seeming weakness and poverty or at yours. You gladly suffer all pain and sadness which comes from a life of battle and struggle under the Shadow of the Tree. The Holy Ghost has made you all not just temples of the Spirit but also Fortresses of Faith.
In the Name of The + Father and of The Son and of The Holy Ghost