Where is that Spirit who dwells within me?

Where is that Spirit who dwells within me?

The question we all may invoke is what is this need that may elude us unless our heart is seeking his presence.  The I AM that God told Moses to remind the people he was about to free from slavery in Egypt became the mantra for all who believe in God.  It isn’t just another term that we hang on a wall or on some bookshelf, it is the absolute truth that goes beyond hyper-bole.  

The idea that too many people today adhere to is that people who do wrong are evil by their very nature.  Nothing could be further from the truth than to believe God must have created this in some people.  As I have written before, God cannot contradict himself and for our Creator to make some people with an evil intent would be a contradiction to his Omnipotence.  So where has this evil content come from and how about the Holy Spirit who dwells within each of us?  What then is his role in the actions of so many people who have gone wrong?  

“No one can say Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.”  “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba Father!”  This knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit: To be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit.  He comes to meet us and kindles faith in us.  By virtue of our Baptism, the first sacrament of the faith, the Holy Spirit in the Church communicates to us, intimately and personally, the life that originates in the Father and is offered to us in the Son.”  (CCC 683).

Let’s back up a little and consider just who this Spirit is that dwells in the souls of every person who is chosen by God.  Jesus, when he walked the earth and ministered to human beings, could not  be omnipresent because of his humanity.  However, the Spirit of God is omnipresent.  It means his divine presence encompasses the whole of the universe.   With this in mind we must know that it is not impossible for the Holy Spirit to live within each person simultaneously and guide each one in their own needs and guidance.  

When God said I AM he meant that he IS and always will Be.  If God created the world and all there is in it, he also created man and all that he can become.  It is no mystery what God can do even when we doubt because of our finiteness in eternity.  

The Church is holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace.  If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins  and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity.  That's why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  (From Pope Paul VI).  

One final note;  When the bishop anoints the head of a confirmandi he says receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; not the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Once we accept by amen we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit throughout eternity.  

Ralph B.Hathaw