Feel the Peace of God as His Spirit surrounds Us!

Feel the Peace of God as His Spirit surrounds Us!

As if a sign of the promise of God could touch us in ways we could understand without doubts of fear, then our mind would comprehend what Elijah experienced as he stood at the entrance of a cave on Mt Horeb.

It was not in an earthquake, fire, or ferocious wind that Elijah felt the power of God.  It was in the gentle breeze of peace that always comes through the Holy Spirit.  There have been times when the presence of the Holy Spirit has gone beyond a serene experience.  At the beginning of a resurgence of the Charismatic movement a group of students from Duquesne University were at a prayer meeting in a retreat center located at the entrance to North Park of Pittsburgh.  While in prayer a mighty wind was felt and as if an earthquake had occurred they knew the Spirit of God was present.  This happened in 1967 and spread like wildfire across the United States.  It was time to release His power and it was exemplified in a way that got the attention of the Church, as well.

To be certain that any manner of feeling or just knowing you have been touched by the Holy Spirit, it is not for your own sense like a vacation you’d love to keep repeating.  It is for one purpose only; to take this experience and hand it on to others, personally or as a movement that will become God’s children through believing the gospel of Christ.

When candidates for priestly ordination are anointed it is not a personal event, but the issuance of a mandate to forgive sin.  Sin is forgiven through reconciliation, anointing of the sick, but most especially through the Transubstantiation of the Most Holy Eucharist.  

The very moment Elijah felt the tiny breeze at the entrance of the cave on Mt Horeb he was sent on a mission at God’s bidding.  Here the Holy Spirit was guiding him to complete the Will of God.  (1 Kgs 19: 9 -12).  

As we are baptized the grace of the Holy Spirit will accomplish this same will more often than just one day.  As an infant that grace will unfold as he/she matures as long as his parents or guardians continue the spiritual growth of that new Christian.  If the newly baptized is an adult or a child who has reached the age of reason, hands upon their head as an anointing will also send them into the world to pass on the gospel through word, example, and the strength of the Spirit of God. 

Jesus told Nicodemus; “Amen, amen, I say to you no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”  “What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.”  “Do not be amazed that I told you, You must be born from above. The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;  so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  (Jn. 3: 3, 6-8).

As a celebrant of baptism, he should place his hands upon the newly baptized and send this person with the grace of his ordination, continuing the line of God’s Grace one to another.  

Ralph B. Hathaway