March 1, 2023 at 4:04 p.m.
Trust in the Holy Spirit
Trust in the Holy Spirit
Last Sunday we heard from the Gospel of St. Matthew how the Spirit led Jesus into the desert for a fast of 40 days and 40 nights, after which he was tempted by Satan. St. Mark uses even stronger language, saying the Spirit “drove” or pushed Jesus into the desert to be tempted, more than hinting the temptations occurred throughout.
Recall that this is the same Holy Spirit who affirmed Jesus as the beloved Son of God, descending in the form of a dove after Jesus emerged from the waters of the Jordan submitting to John’s baptism of repentance. What is going on here? Jesus the sinless one being tempted and undergoing the baptism for sinners?
Both these experiences in the early days of Christ’s public ministry are setting the stage for what will be revealed as a total immersion into our fallen human condition throughout which even the demons will recognize him as “the Holy One of God.” The extent to which Jesus descended into the depths of our humanity, without sinning or losing his divinity, should give us great hope and much to reflect on.
For one thing, it confirms that the Incarnation, which began at the moment of his conception in the virginal womb of Mary, was more than just a single miraculous event, but is a reality that fundamentally changed not only the destiny of the Eternal Word of God but our human destiny itself! Not just something that happened to Jesus and Mary, but to us all as well.
Contemplate this. Once the Word was made flesh, an inseparable bond between divinity and humanity was created. This not only affects Christian believers but rather all of Creation. God enters Creation in an inseparable and irrevocable way that lifts humanity up in a way only prefigured in Genesis.
There it is revealed that humanity is made in the image and likeness of God. In the Incarnation it happens that the Father will forever see and love in us what he sees and loves in Christ. In other words, in our humanity we remind God of his Son!
This of course is exactly what Satan hates. In his pride he cannot stand that God has chosen to send his incarnate Son, born of a woman no less, to be elevated as superior to him. The Word of God did not take upon himself the form of an angel but of a human being, conceived by the Holy Spirit. In fact, everything Jesus does is “conceived” — created, invented, led, inspired — by the Holy Spirit of God.
Can we see what this means? We are all made for heaven, destined for a life of divine encounter as the true goal and fulfillment of our humanity. In a word, each of us is called to be a saint. This is God’s will. This is God’s plan. And the same Holy Spirit, that personal love between the Father and the Son, living in Mary and Jesus, is infused in us at Baptism and nourished by the sacramental life of the Church.
Even those not baptized or not accepting the graces of the Incarnate Word are affected, that is, blessed by it. This may not be evident to many in today’s world where weeds of hate are sown among the seeds of grace. Jesus warns us of this, counseling patience. God will surely harvest the good wheat, those who allow God’s grace to sustain them in virtue and in love.
God only desires that we grow daily into the image of his Son. Satan, on the contrary, has a different plan for us: to make us into his image and likeness, which is to fall into a pattern of vice, built on lies, ugly as sin. As with Adam and Eve, he attempts to delude us with visions of power, only to enslave us in his own misery.
That Christ himself was subjected to such temptations should assure us that he understands our weakness and our struggles. He not only endures them, but he confronts them, encouraging us in our spiritual warfare and sending his Holy Spirit as another Advocate (Jn 14:16).
Throughout his life on earth, much of the glory of God was hidden from even those closest to Jesus. The occasional miracles and brilliance of his teaching often surprised those who thought they knew him as “just Jesus,” the carpenter’s son. The temptations of Christ and the unspectacular character of much of his life should give us much courage and joy in our daily lives where routine and familiarity can blind us from the extraordinary action of God’s providential presence and grace. Here, too, invoking the Holy Spirit as often as we can enables us to “practice the presence of God,” opening our minds and hearts to discover “things into which angels longed to look” (1 Peter 1:12).
Lent is in many ways a paradigm of our entire life, a journey, a pilgrimage from the vanities that lead to death to real food that gives and sustains life. We struggle with our temptations to sensuosity, avarice and power, just as Jesus was subjected to, and we trust in the Holy Spirit to be our protector and enabler on the road to holiness. As humans, this is our promise. As baptized Christians, it is our birthright.
Follow Bishop Ed on Twitter @AlbBishopEd.
250 X 250 AD
250 X 250 AD
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250 X 250 AD
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