On this Day the Spirit Came.......

On this Day the Spirit Came……..

In the words of the hymn; “On this day, the first of days, God the Father’s name we praise;” each one of us should be ready to address this stanza as a personal call to hear and follow the Son of Man who came to reach you and me as officially his prophets.

He didn’t decide to try this new way of reaching sinners because of their stubbornness towards the earlier prophets that were ignored; no, he came because from the earliest moment before he created man he already saw and heard the cries of each of us while the evil of sin was reaching into the holiness that Christ already was endowing us with.  Like a jealous child who had wanted what we had, Satan was already preparing his own apostles to attack and remove any semblance of grace that would keep us close to the Son of God. 

Think back to every instance we felt the Spirit’s touch, be it a word spoken, an image we viewed of the Sacred Heart, or the constant interruption of our secular business that always left us empty for satisfaction of something we didn’t understand.  That’s what I experienced and believe most of the ministers of his gospel were and are going through as the Holy Spirit took this sign as a willingness to search out the full meaning of our call.

What did those earlier prophets learn from the call that Almighty God used to direct their faith and begin a journey none of them understood, were reluctant to accept, and fought the many obstacles that would confront them, every step of their mission.

Abraham did not have a bullet-proof vehicle to protect him from wild beasts or evil men.  What he did have was the word of God;  “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you;  I will  make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.  All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.” (Gn 12:2 - 3).

“Moses! Moses!”  “Come no nearer!  Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”  “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know what they are suffering. “Come, now!  I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”  If they ask me, what is his name, who has sent me, what am I to tell them?”  God replied, “I am who am.”  Then he added, “I AM sent me to you.”  (Ex 3: 4b - 5, 10, 14).  With the same instructions as Abraham, Moses did not have an entourage of soldiers or guards to protect him; he had the grace of God as his strength to accompany him.  

How about you or I?  What circumstances might have arisen as our quest towards maybe an unknown presence that would become another statement that said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14: 6).  If you are following your call, realize your acceptance is being written by the Holy Spirit of God in your heart and with or without any second type of assurance you are on your way.  I found this and pray you will as well.

The word “catholic” means “universal,” in the sense of “according to the totality” or “in keeping with the whole.”  (CCC 830).

The Catholic Church is catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race:  All men are called to belong to the new People of God.  This People, therefore, while remaining one and only one, is to be spread throughout the whole world and to all ages in order that the design of God’s will may be fulfilled: he made human nature one in the beginning and has decreed that all his children who were scattered should be finally gathered together as one…The character of universality which adorns the People of God is a gift from the Lord himself whereby the Catholic Church ceaselessly and efficaciously seeks the return of all humanity and all the goods, under Christ the Head in the unity of his Spirit.  (CCC 831).

This is our position and ministry in some fashion of our call to also go forth as our mission to reach those who yet are not completely willing to answer Yes to God.

Ralph B.Hathaway