Promises of the Spirit

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

The Trinity

ANT. 1 The Lord says: “Turn away from sin and open your heart to the Gospel.”

16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;

John 14:16 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

God’s Plan in Action

God’s Plan

How wonderful it is my brothers and sisters that Jesus’s main concern for us was to promise yet another part of Himself to come to be with us once his mission was concluded. Here we are given the instruction which is the Trinity; the Father (God – Our Creator), Son ( Jesus – Our Savior & Teacher), and the Holy Spirit (Spirit of Truth – Our Helper, Comforter, Advocate, and Intercessor). For Jesus promised the Spirit of Truth, to dwell within us all the days of our lives. Jesus goes on and promises to never leave us fatherless (John 14:18) and therefore we are eternally one with Him. All of these things lead to a specific plan for our personal salvation, but for this plan to work God knew that we would all need His constant reminder, we would need to be empowered, equipped, and filled with His Holy presence for the entire length of our lives. God did this because He knows we are sinners, weak, impressionable, and are in need of His Divine Fruits. So, through Jesus Christ, God sent the Holy Spirit; The Spirit of Truth.

Spirit of Truth

12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.

1 Corinthians 2:12 New Revised Standard Version, Anglicized Catholic Edition (NRSVACE)

I remember as a child in Bible School on Sunday mornings one of the first ideas presented was the Trinity. At the time I was totally blown away of the idea that God is three beings all rolled up in one. I was told then that God had three distinct parts to Himself and this was first illustrated in the very first pages of the Old Testament (Genesis 1:26) “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Though the word ‘Trinity’ is not found within the Holy Bible it is constantly eluded to and when Jesus promised a Helper, Comforter, Advocate, and Intercessor, (depending which Bible you read), he was referring to the third part of God – The Holy Spirit. So, I say to you my brothers and sisters if indeed God is truth then the Holy Spirit which comes from God must also be the truth. Thus, as a teacher and a parent myself, I can see clearly that God in the delivery of His message through the mission and life of His son Jesus Christ, that in order to set the record straight the only place He, (being GOD), could have started and ended was through the Holy Spirit of Truth. Using this as your foundation let us explore the Gifts of the Holy Spirit whom God gave to mankind as a Holy Guide (John 16:13).

The Fruits of the Spirit

Fruit Of The Spirit is a painting by Amber Hadden 

16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.

Galatians 5:16-17 (NRSVACE)

We live in conflict with ourselves every day and apart from this conflict, Jesus gave us hope through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In no short order is this a promise unkempt because if you look hard enough, peer through the haze of sin that envelopes our modern world, and are not afraid to lift up your faith as if it where a beckon of light I promise you that you will see the fruits of the spirit working in your life. So, what are these fruits? (Galatians 6:22) lists them in this order: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, and Self-Control. How wonderful these gifts are and how much they are modeled after Christ’s own attributes. Therefore, my brothers and sisters if you walk in the Spirit of Truth, live your life according to God’s plan, desiring nothing but the hidden wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:7) then you will have the benefit of knowing God’s truth. You by design will have a ‘Helper’ that will stand beside you, guiding every footfall, fighting against the works of the flesh (Galatians 6:19-21), and a ‘Comforter’ which again will guide you to all the gifts of the Spirit. Remember always the promise of (Acts 1:8) “Here’s the knowledge you need: you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” ~ The Voice (Voice)

The Diversity of the Holy Spirit


Unity In Diversity

There are various gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. There are various operations, but it is the same God who operates all of them in all people.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 (MEV)

Have you ever wondered why some people can sing while you couldn’t hold a tune in a bucket? Or why it is so that some people can write so beautifully making it look effortless but you couldn’t put two thoughts on a page? How about this, some people have the ability to talk up a storm, tell exciting stories, and hold everyone’s attention for hours on end and you couldn’t say a word that sounded intelligent enough to hold a conversation with fidelity? Why some people are funny and others aren’t? Why some are smart and others are not as smart? I think you get the idea… the point is that God gave every single person a set of gifts that belong solely to that individual alone. Some gifts may look similar but the application could be completely different. Trust me that is no accident. The shire diversity of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as aligned to the list found in (Galatians 6:22) they are also uniquely distributed for the common good of all mankind. “For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the many parts of that one body are one body, so also is Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12). Therefore, I say to you my brothers and sisters, do not envy, covet, or allow jealousy into your hearts nor find yourself wanting what others have. Rather, live according to the plan God has laid out for you abiding in His will and in His Holy Spirit, sharing your gifts with the world as He intended for you to do. For always allow His best to be glorified through what you do for your brethern as diversity is the path to unity and I again promise you will see clearly the fruits of the Spirit work throughout your life. In this way, we are filled with the Holy Spirit which is gratifying, giving us purpose, and in this, we become closer to God Himself.

For more religious content I invite you to visit LF-BLOG.COM. Oh and of course don’t forget to Subscribe and leave a reply below. I look forward to hearing from you all soon! Peace Be With You!

A Poem for Teachers

When I look out upon my class I wonder,
When my students look back I wonder even more,
When I plan and deliver my lessons I can only pray,
When my students take their notes I can only pray harder,
When I give my class a test I often hope they studied,
When my class gets their results I often see a new lesson has been taught,
When I introduce a new concept I like to ask lots of questions, 
When my students finally understand that concept their eyes light up,
When the semester ends I am the most nervous for them, 
When my students finally prove successful I give it to God.

Authors Comments:

I thank God for constantly giving me the right words, the most powerful examples, and the truth of my subject area in an ever-evolving changing and exciting way. The very act of teaching is an affirmation of my relationship with God, my trust in God, and by serving God in the most sacred of ways that positively affect those I have the honor to teach. ~ Brother Brian March 23, 2019 P.S. Let me know what you think below.

Let Us Pray

Praying With Faith


ANT. 2 “I, the Lord, am coming to save you; ready I am near; soon I will free you from your sins.”

Lord Jesus, Word of God, surrendering the brightness of your glory you became man so that we may be raised from the dust to share your very being. May there be innumerable children of the Church to offer homage to your name from the rising of the sun to its setting.

May the Lord bless you, protect you from all evil and bring you to everlasting life.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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The Cross which Saves us.

Saint Joseph, Pray for us. ~ Sancte Ioseph – ‘ora pro nobis,’

NOW GO SPREAD THE WORD!!


Brother Brian – Knights of Columbus

Copyright © 2019 by Brian K. Stark. All rights reserved.

Permission to print for personal use only.

Therefore, I have Come…

To Affirm and to Clarify the Natural Moral Law

CANTICLE of ZECHARIAH

Ant. ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus said: “I do will it; you are made clean.'”

The human mind plans the way,
    but the Lord directs the steps. Proverbs 16:9 (NRSVACE)

Guiding Questions: What is the Natural Moral Law? Who gave it to mankind? How does it affect us today?

REFLECTION

Brothers and sisters, I say to you that our God gave every human being on Earth intelligence! For we are born with an innate ability to know good from evil. For example, we know such things as murder to be a sinful act, we know that racism is a baseless and demeaning evil belief that often results in an unholy prejudice, and we also know gender inequality is an affront to our more deeper moral consciences. None of these things were first found in a book or written on a stone tablet. Rather, inherently as human beings from the very beginning, we have always known what was moral, what was good, and what was evil. We have always been able to tell the difference between a wicked man from the labor of a righteous person. More to the point, we know that treating our brothers and sisters in a way that discriminates against them for whatever reason is wrong! Yet, we continue to persecute each other based upon the color of each other’s skin, what we believe in, and the various cultures we may come from. Persecution of our brothers and sisters in all its forms is a sin against God! But we humans excel exceedingly at this mundane and cruel state of being with remarkable ease. We are Masters at bringing pain, heartache, and discomfort to one another be it through our words or physical actions. No one is completely innocent of this mass sin. So, I say again my brothers and sisters we human beings are born sinners, we are born with a blot upon our soul, and it’s that sin we fight against every day we breathe. It is sin of every sort which makes us susceptible to ignoring what we know to be right and ignoring that internal moral code, or the Natural Moral Law, that is written into every fiber of our being. Therefore, knowing this, having the knowledge and understanding of the evil which makes the human race fall over and over again to temptation is where we as children of God can begin to understand why Jesus Christ became human, why He died on the cross, and in that hour freed us from this horrible affliction. We can begin to understand His perfect love and desire to cleanse us and to restore our free-will so that we may choose with a clean heart and conscience the path He reaffirmed during His life here on Earth.

God Came To Us…

Mary, Jesus, and the Angels

So, my brothers and sisters, I say to you that God came to us in the form of a living breathing human being, perfect and born without sin. He came to save us and to also wipe away our confusion that our internal sin had on our hearts, minds, and soul. Jesus took the Commandments of God given to Moses on Mount Sinai and doubled down on them. For He knew that to find the truth we must first have a clean conscience, the freedom to seek, and the intelligence to tell the difference. So the rigor had to be raised, the consequences had to be real ones, and our mission as a human race had to become Christ centered. For all people have the God-given right to know the truth and that truth fulfills Jesus’s mission of saving souls and setting us free. Jesus set about educating the whole person by offering an invitation, a re-writing if you will of our morality, beliefs, and religious focus which previously had been prohibitive. An example of this begins with the Sermon on the Mount;

Jesus Preaching the Sermon on the Mount Gustave Dore

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ (NRSVACE)

Here we see the rigor moved from simply being humble to being called to seek out God! For being poor in spirit in the eyes of God is a valuable thing indeed. But to be in this condition we must also use our intelligence and hear God, not for the sake of the act, but so that we put into action His will he has for us. This is best represented in James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” In this way, we become instruments of God bringing more of His children into His salvation. I say to you my brothers and sisters anyone who is not authentically poor in spirit will not be able to see the truth as Christ presents it! For from crisis of conscience brings the hardest of hearts to repent.

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (NRSVACE)

Here again, we see that Jesus raises the rigor in how we are to help one another, for if you comfort those who mourn, you, in turn, are showing compassion, kindness, and love for your fellow human being which is obeying Jesus’s commandment to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Moreover, in the words of Paul, 2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (NKJV)  In this way, we also see how the poor in spirit and those who mourn become elevated in the eyes of God as they begin a journey with Him through their strife and suffering and because of their real-world struggles they become authentic being given the gift of true Godly conviction.

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For more on this topic, I invite you to come back and visit next Sunday, February 24, 2019 for part two… and to also visit LF-BLOG.COM

Today we celebrate the Lenten Commemoration of Seven Founders of the Order of Servites

Seven men, born in Florence, began life on Monte Senario with particular veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Later they preached throughout Tuscany and founded the Order of Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, approved by the Holy See in 1304. Alexis Falconieri, one of the seven, died on this day in 1310.

ANT. See how good and delightful it is for brothers to live in unity.

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS NOVENA

LET US PRAY

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Pray to the Lord

Lord, fill us with love which inspired the seven holy brothers to honor the mother of God with special devotion and to lead your people to you. We ask this in through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

May the Lord bless you, protect you from all evil and bring you to everlasting life.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Saint Joseph, Pray for us. ~ Sancte Ioseph – ‘ora pro nobis,’

NOW GO SPREAD THE WORD!!

Brother Brian – Knights of Columbus

Listening Faithfully Blog written by Brian K. Stark, M.S.Ed.

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