"Holy Spirit" is the proper name of the one whom we adore and glorify with the Father and the Son. The Church has received this name from the Lord and professes it in Baptism of her new children. - Cf. Matthew 28:19 -

The term "Spirit" translates the Hebrew word ruah, which in its primary sense, means breath, air, wind. Jesus indeed uses the sensory image of the wind to suggest to Nicodemus the transcendent newness of him who is personally God's breath, the divine Spirit. On the other hand, "Spirit" and "Holy" are divine attributes common to the three divine persons. By joining the two terms, Scripture, liturgy and theological language designate the inexpressible person of the Holy Spirit, without any possible equivocation with other uses if the terms "spirit" and "holy." - CCC 691 - John 3:5-8 -

When he proclaims and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him the "Paraclete" literally, "he who is called to one's side" ad-vocatus. "Paraclete" is commonly translated by "consoler" and Jesus is the first consoler. The Lord also called the Holy Spirit "the Spirit of truth." - CCC 692 - John 14:16, 26, 15:26, 16:7,13; 1 John 2:1 -

Besides the proper name of  "Holy Spirit" which is most frequently used in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, we also find in Saint Paul the titles: the Spirit of the promise, the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord, and the Spirit of God - and, in Saint Peter, the Spirit of glory. - CCC 693 - 1 Cor. 6:11; 7:40; 2 Cor. 3:17; Romans 8:9,14-15, 15:19; Galatians 3:14, 4:6; Ephesians 1:13; 1 Peter 4:14 -

WATER - The symbolism of water signifies the Holy Spirit's action in Baptism, since after the invocation of the Holy Spirit it becomes the efficacious sacramental sign of new birth: just as the gestation of our first birth took place in water, so the water of Baptism truly signifies that our birth into the divine life is given to us in the Holy Spirit. As "by one Spirit we were all baptized" so we are also "made to drink of one Spirit." Thus the Spirit is also personally the living water up from Christ crucified as its source and welling up in us to eternal life. - CCC 694 - 1 Cor. 10:4, 12:13; John 4:10-14, 7:38, 19:34; 1 John 5:8; Exodus 17:1-6; Isaiah 55:1; Zechariah 14:8; Revelation 21:6, 22:17 -

ANOINTING - The symbolism of anointing with oil also signifies the Holy Spirit, to the point of becoming a synonym for the Holy Spirit. In Christian initiation, anointing is the sacramental sign of Confirmation, called "chrismation" in the Church of the East. Its full force can be grasped only in relation to the primary anointing accomplished by the Holy Spirit, that of Jesus, Christ (in Hebrew "messiah") means the one "anointed" by God's Spirit. There were several anointed ones of the Lord in the Old Covenant, preeminently king David. But Jesus is God's Anointed in a unique way: the humanity the Son assumed was entirely anointed by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit established him as "Christ". The Virgin Mary conceived Christ by the Holy Spirit who, through the angel, proclaimed him the Christ at his birth, and prompted Simeon to come to the temple to see the Christ of the Lord. The Spirit filled Christ and the power of the Spirit went out from him in his acts of healing and of saving. Finally, it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. Now, fully established as "Christ" in his humanity victorious over death, Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly until "the saints" constitute - in their union with the humanity of the Son of God - that perfect man "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ": the whole Christ"; in Saint Augustine's expression. - CCC 695 - 1 John 2:20,27; 2 Corinthians 1:21; Exodus 30:22-32; 1 Samuel 16:13; Isaiah 61:1; Luke 2:11,26-27, 4:1,18-19, 6:19, 8:46; Romans1:4, 8:11; Ephesians 4:13; Acts 2:36 -

FIRE - While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's actions. The prayer of the prophet Elijah, who "arose like fire" and whose "word burned like a torch" brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. This event was a "figure" of the fire of the Holy Spirit, who transform what he touches. John the Baptist, who goes "before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah", proclaims Christ as the one who "will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Jesus will say of the Spirit: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" In the form of tongues "as  of fire" the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself. The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit's actions. "Do not quench the Spirit." - CCC 696 - Sirach 48:1; 1 Kings 18:38-39; Luke 1:17, 3:16, 12:49; Acts 2:3-4; 1 Thessalonians 5:19 -

CLOUD and LIGHT - These two images occur together in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. In the theophany of the Old Testament, the cloud, now obscure, now luminous, reveals the living and saving God, while veiling the transcendence of his glory - with Moses on Mount Sinai, at the tent of meeting, and during the wandering in the desert, and with Solomon at the dedication of the Temple. In the Holy Spirit, Christ fulfills these figures. The Spirit comes upon the Virgin Mary and "overshadows" her, so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus. On the mountain of Transfiguration, the Spirit in the "cloud came and overshadowed" Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John, and "a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" Finally, the cloud took Jesus out of the sight of the disciples on the day of his ascension, and will reveal him as Son of Man in glory on the day of his final coming. - CCC 697 - Exodus 24:15-18, 33:9-10, 40:36-38; 1 Kings 8:10-12; 1 Corinthians 10:1-2; Luke 1:35, 9:34-35, 21:27; Acts 1:9 -

The SEAL is a symbol close to that of anointing. "The Father has set his seal" on Christ and also seals us in him. Because this seal indicates the indelible effect of the anointing with the Holy Spirit in the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders, the image of the seal (sphragis) has been used in some theological traditions to express the indelible "character" imprinted by these three unrepeatable sacraments. - CCC 698 - John 6:27; 2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13, 4:30 -

THE HAND - Jesus heals the sick and blesses little children by laying hands on them. In his name the apostles will do the same. Even more pointedly, it is by the Apostles' imposition of hands that the Holy Spirit is given. The 'Letter to the Hebrews' lists the imposition of hands among the "fundamental elements" of its teaching. The Church has kept this sign of the all-powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in its sacramental epicleses. - CCC 699 - Mark 6:5, 8:23, 10:16, 16:18; Acts 5:12, 8:17-19, 13:3, 14:3, 19:6; Hebrews 6:2 -

THE FINGER - "It is by the finger of God that [Jesus] cast out demons." If God's law was written on tablets of stone "by the finger of God" then the "letter from Christ" entrusted to the care of the apostles, is written "with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts." The hymn Veni Creator Spiritus invokes the Holy Spirit as the "finger of the Father's right hand." - CCC 700 - Luke 11:20; Exodus 31:18; 2 Corinthians 3:3 -

THE DOVE - At the end of the flood, whose symbolism refers to Baptism, a dove released by Noah returns with a fresh olive-tree branch in its beak as a sign that the earth was again habitable. When Christ comes up from the water of his baptism, the Holy Spirit, in the form of the dove, comes down upon him and remains with him. The Spirit comes down and remains in the purified hearts of the baptized. In certain Church, the Eucharist is reserved in a metal receptacle in the form of a dove (columbarium) suspended above the altar. Christian iconography traditionally uses a dove to suggest the Spirit. - CCC 701 - Genesis 8:8-12; Matthew 3:16 - "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 - 1 Corinthians 12:2; Galatians 4:6 - Baptism gives us the grace of new birth in God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit. For those who bear God's Spirit are led to the Word, that is, to the Son, and the Son presents them to the Father, and the Father confers incorruptibility on them. And it is impossible to see God's Son without the Spirit, and no one can approach the Father without the Son, for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of God's Son is obtained through the Holy Spirit. - Saint Irenaeus -

Through his grace, the Holy Spirit is the first to awaken faith in us and to communicate to us the new life, which is to "know the Father and the one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ." But the Spirit is the last of the persons of the Holy Trinity to be revealed. - CCC 684 - John 17:3 -

The Old Testament proclaimed the Father clearly, but the Son more obscurely. The New Testament revealed the Son, and gave us a glimpse of the divinity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit dwells among us and grants us a clearer vision of himself. It was not prudent, when the divinity of the Father had not yet been confessed, to proclaim the Son openly and, when the divinity of the Son was not yet admitted, to add the Holy Spirit as an extra burden, to speak somewhat daringly... By advancing and progressing "from the glory," the light of the Trinity will shine in ever more brilliant rays. - Saint Gregory of Nazianzus -

To believe in the Holy Spirit is to profess that the Holy Spirit is one of the persons of the Holy Trinity, consubstantial with the Father and the Son: "with the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified." For this reason, the divine mystery of the Holy Spirit was already treated in the context of Trinitarian "theology". Here, however, we have to do with the Holy Spirit only in the divine "economy." - CCC 685 -

The Holy Spirit is at work with the Father and the Son from the beginning to the completion of the plan for our salvation. But in these "end times" ushered in by the Son's redeeming Incarnation, the Spirit is revealed and given, recognized and welcomed as a person. Now can this divine plan, accomplished in Christ, the firstborn and head of the new creation, be embodied in mankind by the outpouring of the Spirit: as the Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. - CCC 686 -

"No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." Now God's Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself. The Spirit who "has spoken through the prophets" makes us hear the Father's Word, but we do not hear the Spirit himself. We know him only in the movement by which he reveals the Word to us and disposes us to welcome him in faith. The Spirit of truth who "unveils" Christ to us "will not speak on his own." Such properly divine self-effacement explains why "the world cannot receive [him] because it neither sees him nor knows him," while those believe in Christ know the Spirit because he dwells with them. - CCC 687 - 1 Corinthians 2:11; John 16:13; 14:17 -

The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit:

- in the Sacred Scriptures he inspired;
- in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses;
- in the Church's Magisterium, which he assists;
- in the sacramental liturgy, through his words and symbols, in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ;
- in prayer, wherein he intercedes for us;
- in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up;
- in the signs of apostolic and missionary life;
- in the witness of saints through whom he manifests his holiness and continues the work of salvation. - CCC 688 -

The One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of his Son, is truly God. Consubstantial with the Father and the Son, the Spirit is inseparable from them, in both the inner life of the Trinity and his gift of love for the world. In adoring the Holy Trinity, life-giving, consubstantial and indivisible, the Church's faith also professes the distinction of persons. When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him. - CCC 689 - Galatians 4:6 -

Jesus is Christ, "anointed" because the Spirit is his anointing, and everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this fullness. When Christ is finally glorified, he can in turn send the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him: he communicated to them his glory, that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him. From that time on, this joint mission will be manifested in the children adopted by the Father in the Body of his Son: the mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in him: - CCC 690 - John 3:34, 7:39, 17:22, 16:14 -

The notion of anointing suggests... that there is no distance between the Son and the Spirit. Indeed, just as between the surface of the body and the anointing with oil neither reason nor sensation recognizes any intermediary, so the contact of the Son with the Spirit is immediate, so that anyone who make contact with the Son by faith must first encounter the oil by contact. In fact there is no part that is not covered by the Holy Spirit. That is why the confession of the Son's Lordship is made in the Holy Spirit by those who receive him, the Spirit coming from all sides to those who approach the Son in faith. - Saint Gregory of Nyssa - To live in the Spirit is to be born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus said, 'How can a grown man be born? Can he go back into his mother's womb and be born again?' Jesus replied:

'I tell you most solemnly,
unless a man is born through water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God:
what is born of the flesh is flesh;
what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not be surprised when I say:
You must be born from above.
The wind blows wherever it pleases;
you hear its sound,
but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.' - John 3:4-8 -

Most of us have the intellectual life, good moral character, sound behaviour, and amiable qualities of disposition, but sadly, without the new life of the Holy Spirit.

From now onward, therefore, we do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh. Even if we did once know Christ in the flesh, that is not how we know him now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God's work. - 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 -

The Holy Spirit, [Sanctifier] as a divine person, was united with the Father, [Creator] the Lord Jesus Christ [Saviour/Redeemer] - The Holy Trinity - When our soul or heart truly converted to God, yields itself wholly to His love and becomes living Spirit, who dwells in us. Henceforth, our life is spiritual and divine. Therefore, it is not we who live, but the Lord Jesus Christ who lives in us; and we draw life, strength, health, love, joy, peace and all the fruits of the good Spirit from Him through the Holy Spirit.

Let me put it like this: if you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence, since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit, the Spirit is totally against such a thing, and it is precisely because the two are so opposed that you do not always carry out your good intentions. If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you.

When self-indulgences is at work the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility; idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. There can be no law against things like that, of course. You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit. We must stop being conceited, provocative and envious. - Galatians 5:16-26 -

To live in the Spirit is to be Sanctified by the Spirit, to receive the Spirit of holiness, and thus be delivered from the power of sin.

The reason, therefore, why those who are in Christ Jesus are not condemned, is that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. God has done what the Law because of our unspiritual nature, was unable to do. - Romans 8:1-3 -

If we live and walk in the Spirit, we have to acknowledge that the Spirit is presence and abiding in us, trust Him, depends of Him in the emergencies of life, called upon Him in every time of need or crisis. We must not only believe but unfailingly trusting the Holy Spirit and surely He will respond to our needs. Remember! the Holy Spirit cannot and will not dwell in an unconverted soul or heart, but He can and does work in the hearts of the unconverted, producing conviction and conversion of heart and leading them to a saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Having led the soul to Christ, the Holy Spirit now becomes the personal Sanctifier, Teacher, Comforter of the believer. Our sanctification has been purchased for us through the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ. By virtue of that one single offering, he has achieved the eternal perfection of all whom he is sanctifying. - Hebrews 10:10,14 -

Sanctification is not a mere human experience but it is the reception of Christ as the very substance of our spiritual life. For example, it is not like a person offering assistance or help solving a personal problem or loan us money to pay debts or start a business, of course, in return for a favour. It is Himself assuming it with all its burdens and liabilities, while we become subordinate and receive all our needs from Him.

The Law, of course, as we know, is spiritual; but I am unspiritual; I have been sold as a slave to sin. I cannot understand my own behaviour. I fail to carry out the things I want to do, and I find myself.....

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

In short, it is I who with my reason serve the Law of God, and no less I who serve in my unspiritual self the law of sin. - Romans 7:14-25 -

In conclusion, to live in the Spirit and have the Spirit as a divine person living in us, first and importantly, we need to be baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and for those who already been baptized, he or she must observed and practices all the commands the Lord Jesus Christ gave us. And know that He is with us always; yes, to the end of time, because 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ.' - Matthew 28:16-20 -To live in the Spirit is to be born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus said, 'How can a grown man be born? Can he go back into his mother's womb and be born again?' Jesus replied:

'I tell you most solemnly,
unless a man is born through water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God:
what is born of the flesh is flesh;
what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not be surprised when I say:
You must be born from above.
The wind blows wherever it pleases;
you hear its sound,
but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.' - John 3:4-8 -

Most of us have the intellectual life, good moral character, sound behaviour, and amiable qualities of disposition, but sadly, without the new life of the Holy Spirit.

From now onward, therefore, we do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh. Even if we did once know Christ in the flesh, that is not how we know him now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God's work. - 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 -

The Holy Spirit, [Sanctifier] as a divine person, was united with the Father, [Creator] the Lord Jesus Christ [Saviour/Redeemer] - The Holy Trinity - When our soul or heart truly converted to God, yields itself wholly to His love and becomes living Spirit, who dwells in us. Henceforth, our life is spiritual and divine. Therefore, it is not we who live, but the Lord Jesus Christ who lives in us; and we draw life, strength, health, love, joy, peace and all the fruits of the good Spirit from Him through the Holy Spirit.

Let me put it like this: if you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence, since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit, the Spirit is totally against such a thing, and it is precisely because the two are so opposed that you do not always carry out your good intentions. If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you.

When self-indulgences is at work the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility; idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. There can be no law against things like that, of course. You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit. We must stop being conceited, provocative and envious. - Galatians 5:16-26 -

To live in the Spirit is to be Sanctified by the Spirit, to receive the Spirit of holiness, and thus be delivered from the power of sin.

The reason, therefore, why those who are in Christ Jesus are not condemned, is that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. God has done what the Law because of our unspiritual nature, was unable to do. - Romans 8:1-3 -

If we live and walk in the Spirit, we have to acknowledge that the Spirit is presence and abiding in us, trust Him, depends of Him in the emergencies of life, called upon Him in every time of need or crisis. We must not only believe but unfailingly trusting the Holy Spirit and surely He will respond to our needs. Remember! the Holy Spirit cannot and will not dwell in an unconverted soul or heart, but He can and does work in the hearts of the unconverted, producing conviction and conversion of heart and leading them to a saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Having led the soul to Christ, the Holy Spirit now becomes the personal Sanctifier, Teacher, Comforter of the believer. Our sanctification has been purchased for us through the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ. By virtue of that one single offering, he has achieved the eternal perfection of all whom he is sanctifying. - Hebrews 10:10,14 -

Sanctification is not a mere human experience but it is the reception of Christ as the very substance of our spiritual life. For example, it is not like a person offering assistance or help solving a personal problem or loan us money to pay debts or start a business, of course, in return for a favour. It is Himself assuming it with all its burdens and liabilities, while we become subordinate and receive all our needs from Him.

The Law, of course, as we know, is spiritual; but I am unspiritual; I have been sold as a slave to sin. I cannot understand my own behaviour. I fail to carry out the things I want to do, and I find myself.....

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

In short, it is I who with my reason serve the Law of God, and no less I who serve in my unspiritual self the law of sin. - Romans 7:14-25 -

In conclusion, to live in the Spirit and have the Spirit as a divine person living in us, first and importantly, we need to be baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and for those who already been baptized, he or she must observed and practices all the commands the Lord Jesus Christ gave us. And know that He is with us always; yes, to the end of time, because 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ.' - Matthew 28:16-20 -

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!   

-   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 -If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  

The more real power a person has, the less boasting is needed. The less real power he/she has, the more he/she seeks to complement it by boasting. The real athlete very seldom boasts or even speaks of his/her exploits on the field. Missionaries who have spent two or three years in prisons, very seldom refer to their tortures, lest their fortitude be praised. Saints never speak of their holiness; that is why it is very difficult to portray a truly religious man/woman on the stage. Directors usually think that he/she must go around with his/her hands folded, while assuming pietistic attitudes. The real saints keeps his/her virtues hidden. But the man/woman who would impress others with his/her holiness must cultivate a certain tone of voice and even join his/her fingers in an attitude suggestive of prayerfulness. The man/woman who has a right to boast about anything does not have to boast.

Where power is unreal, boasting is used to give the impression of power. The empty wagon always makes the most noise. A person may boast of the college/university he/she attended, by which he/she seeks to have the college/university reflect on his/her knowledge, rather than allowing his/her knowledge to reflect on the college/university. Also, he/she believes that by telling a person where he/she went to school, one will draw conclusions from the college/university, rather than from his/her knowledge or want of it.

There are also people who boast about being self-made men/women and of possessing power and wealth. Such boasters always prove that they become rich very much to their own surprise. They usually start conversations by telling how they started as a poor boy/girl, without a cent. The only time they even begin to appreciate poverty is when they begin to be rich. The boasting self-made man/woman always confuses "having" something with "being" something.

Human beings in a modern age which knows no humility, strive for a false superiority, either directly or indirectly. Directly, those who have an undue sense of superiority become the dictator type. They are overbearing, loud, critical and proud, and constantly use the pronoun "I". Vain people like to prove themselves right, especially in arguments. What is important is not the truth of things but their being right. Another form of direct superiority is found in those who seek to attract attention by noise, odd mode of dress and the like.

Indirect quests for superiority manifest themselves in the dreamers. Unable to achieve superiority in real life, they live in a world of fantasy in which they believe themselves superior. A child who gets sick just before examination time may see that he/she cannot realize his/her fantasy, and thus he/she develops sickness. Without pain, he/she would have been forced to prove the greatness of the smartness of which he/she boasted. Failure to pass would have meant giving up the pretense.

Those have been examples of pride. Pride is an under estimation and an inordinate esteem of one's own excellence. Externals are made substitutes for the internal. The ego is a shell encasing the real self, and the more entrenched we become in our pride, the harder becomes this shell. Pride is at its peak when man/woman cut himself/herself off from any relation to God, and thus makes himself/herself god. He/She elevates his/her relative character into an absolute, very much like a carbon copy calling itself the original. The pendulum of a clock is free to swing as long as it is attached to the mechanism, but once it becomes detached it is no longer free to swing. Man/Woman is free when he/she has a point of suspension to God. When he/she alienates himself/herself in a false independence, he/she eventually grows tired of his false freedom. Eventually he/she looks around for someone to whom he/she can give up his/her freedom, which begins to bore him/her. 

The cure is to be found in the revival of that forgotten virtue of humility. Humility is a virtue by which we recognize ourselves as we really are, not as we would like to be in the eyes of the public; not as our press notices say we are, but as we are in the sight of God when we examine our conscience.

What often passes as religion is nothing but ethics and natural morality. Religion as a Divine force implies something that is non-human; namely, a gift from above/heaven which can be accepted or rejected. God in some way enlightens the mind to see a truth that was never seen before; He strengthens the will to do things about it that were never done before, thus setting before us motives which will persuade the will to accept what is freely given. This gift is called grace, because gratis.

The grace of God is like the light of the sun which is outside the window, If the blinds of our will are down, or if the windows are dirty because of our behaviour, the light will not come in. Human cooperation is, therefore, essential for the entering into a higher and Diviner life that the merely human. All this is a very mysterious and their beautiful vesture, but one cannot see the power of God raising the sap through root and fibre, along stem and branch, and unfolding each bud and blossom.

So it is with the work of salvation. No angels announced that God has commenced His earthly life. He/She who, however, begins to be responsive to the gift, immediately sees that there are tremendous obstacles to be surmounted, mountains of pride and self-righteousness to be laid low, prejudices to be swept away. The consideration that God works in the soul leaves it without either excuse for negligence or ground for despondency.

Anyone with psychological insight can see a kind of interaction going on inside of himself/herself. On the one hand, there is the overcoming and the casting out of evil, and on the other, there is the assimilation and unfolding of good. It is like passing from disease to health. There is a joint working of God and man, man being able to do his part because God works, and God's working requires man's cooperation. The food in our stomach will not avail us for health, unless the organism cooperates. We must at least be able to digest it. God can no more become the spiritual life, light and strength of the soul anymore than undigested bread can become the staff of life.

Most human beings refuse to allow Divine workings in their soul because it requires a change of behaviour. The result is continued mediocrity and ordinariness. Man/Woman without the grace of God is like a body without food. What a starving man/woman is, such is man/woman without God. It would be foolish for a starving man/woman to say: "I cannot take any food until I am stronger." How could he/she expect to be strong without food: One cannot feed on oneself. That is why humanism is insufficient. God is waiting to do His Part; we in secret either cooperate or lose the benefit.

BY  VENERABLE  FULTON  J.  SHEEN 

 - WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -   

                                                             -   EPILOGUE   -

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to make these revelations to you for the sake of the churches, I am of David's line, the root of David and the bright star of the morning. The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come'. Let everyone who listens answer, 'Come'. Then let all who are thirsty come: all who want it may have the water of life, and have it free. This is my solemn warning to all who hear the prophecies in this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him/her every plague mentioned in the book; if anyone cuts anything out of the prophecies in this book, God will cut off his/her share of the tree of life and of the holy city, which are described in the book. The one who guarantees these revelations repeats his promise: I shall indeed be with you soon. Amen; come, Lord Jesus. May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.

Victory over the "prince of this world" - John 14:30 - was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is "cast out." - John 12:31; Revelation 12:11 - "He pursued the woman" - Revelation 12:13-16 - but had no hold on her: the new Eve, "full of grace" of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin and the corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). "Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring." - Revelation 12:17 - Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray: "Come, Lord Jesus," - Revelation 22:17, 20 - since his coming will deliver us from the Evil One. - CCC # 2853 - 490, 972 - 

- CCC  # 2854, 2632, 1041 - When we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all evils, present, past and future of which he is the author or instigator. In this final petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ's return. By praying in this way, she anticipates in humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who has "the keys of Death and Hades" who "is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." - Revelation 1:8, 18; Cf. Revelation 1:4; Ephesians 1:10 - 

Deliver us, Lord, we beseech you, from every evil and grant us peace in our day, so that aided by your mercy we might be ever free from sin and protected from all anxiety, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. - Missale Romanum, Embolism after the Lord's prayer, 126: Libera nos, qucesumus, Domine, ab omnibus malis, da propitius pacem in diebus nostris, ut, ope misericordice tuce adiuti, et a peccato simus semper liberi, et ab omni perturbatione securi: expectantes beatam spem et Salvatoris nostri Iesu Christi.   

                                                  -  THE  FINAL  DOXOLOGY  -

- CCC # 2855, 2760 - The final doxology, "For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever," takes up again, by inclusion, the first three petitions to our Father: the glorification of his name, the coming of his reign and the power of his saving will. But these prayers are now proclaimed as adoration and thanksgiving, as in the liturgy of heaven. - Cf. Revelation 1:6; 4:11; 5:13 - The ruler of this world has mendaciously attributed to himself the three titles of kingship, power and glory. - Cf. Luke 4:5-6 - Christ, the Lord, restores them to his Father and our Father, until he hands over the kingdom to him when the mystery of salvation will be brought to its completion and God will be all in all. - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 - 

- CCC # 2856, 1061-1065 - "Then, after the prayer is over you say 'Amen', which means 'So be it', thus ratifying with our 'Amen' what is contained in the prayer that God has taught us." - Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechism mystery 5, 18: PG 33, 1124; Cf. Luke 1:38 -

IN  BRIEF

In the Our Father, the object of the first three petitions is glory of the Father: the sanctification of his name, the coming of the kingdom and the fulfillment of his will. The four others present our wants to him: they ask that our lives be nourished, healed of sin and made victorious in the struggle of good over evil. -CCC # 2857 -

By asking "hallowed be thy name" we enter into God's plan, the sanctification of his name - revealed first to Moses and then in Jesus - by us and in us, in every nation and in each man. - CCC # 2858 -

By the second petition, the Church looks first to Christ's return and the final coming of the Reign of God. It also prays for the growth of the Kingdom of God in the "today" of our own lives. - CCC # 2859 -

In the third petition, we ask our Father to unite our will to that of his Son, so as to fulfill his plan of salvation in the life of the world. - CCC # 2860 -

In the fourth petition, by saying "give us," we express in communion with our brethren our filial trust in our heavenly Father. "Our daily bread" refers to the earthly nourishment necessary to everyone for subsistence, and also to the Bread of Life: the Word of God and the Body of Christ. It is received in God's "today," as the indispensable, (super-) essential nourishment of the feast of the coming Kingdom anticipated in the Eucharist. - CCC # 2861 -

The fifth petition begs God's mercy for our offences, mercy which can penetrate our hearts only if we have learned to forgive our enemies, with the example and help of Christ. - CCC # 2862 -

When we say "lead us not into temptation" we are asking God not to allow us to take the path that leads to sin. This petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength; it requests the grace of vigilance and final perseverance. - CCC # 2863 -

In the last petition, "but deliver us from evil," Christians pray to God with the Church to show forth the victory, already won by Christ, over the "ruler of this world," Satan, the angel personally opposed to God and to his plan of salvation. CCC # 2864 -

By the final "Amen" we express our "fiat" concerning the seven petitions: "So be it." 

-   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Just as God originally inspired the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, He has used this means to preserve His Word for future generations. But behind the writing lay periods of time when these messages were circulated in spoken form. [Oral Tradition] The stories of the patriarchs were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth before they were written. [Written Tradition] The messages of the prophets were delivered orally before they were fixed in writing. Narratives of the life and ministry of Christ Jesus were repeated orally for two or three decades before they were given written form.

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

It is in the background of solidarity that we must understand sin and love. Sin destroys the whole Creation as love builds it up. Sin cannot be spoken of without placing it in the context of love and of solidarity.

                                                               -       LOVE       -

As I have explained; God is Love and Creation is the result of God sharing His love. We are created through and for Love. It is love that creates. I have also explained what true love is for Christians. It is the power to empty myself of my own world, enter into the world of the other, see and feel the need of the other and come to his/her aid even to the point of laying down my life. Love is not a feeling. Feeling of love is important. It is an outward expression of a deeper reality. Love in its depths need not be a feeling. It is something deeper. It is a state of being which acts upon my attitudes which in turn flow into acts of creativity: of helping people, of building up. Thus Saint John says, "... Let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth". - 1 John 3:8 - 

If there is no love in me, how can I empty myself of love for others? I cannot empty myself of what I do not have, or I cannot give what I do not have. Hence, Christian teaching insists on God's Love being poured into us through the Holy Spirit that enables us to love - Romans 5:5; 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:10 - God takes the initiative - 1 John 4:19 - How do we know this? We know from human reasoning that it is through His Creation. We know this also from "Revelations" in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. We know this especially when God became Man in Jesus Christ. When Mankind sinned, God in His infinite Love did not abandon us but sent His son to save us from sin and gave His life for us. "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, so that we might live through him. In this Love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His son to be the expiation for our sins." - 1 John 4:9-10 - 

Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God's infinite love not only by His becoming Man but also by His dying on the Cross for us - Galatians 2:20; John 3:16 - It is impossible for the human mind to grasp this. How can the infinite be finite? And how can God, the all powerful, die on the Cross? Hence for a number of non-Christians, Jesus Christ, who claimed divinity, is a "stumbling block". Yet, God is God. If God cannot do what the finite human mind thinks impossible, He would no longer be God because He would be limited by our small human mind. God being Infinite and all powerful (omnipotent), did what was impossible for the human mind. By this, He proves that He is God - doing the impossible. It is God's infinite love that makes him do the impossible - John 3:6 - as Man sees it.

God's love equals His infinity. He produces another impossibility. He gives himself to us as food in the Eucharist. Again this is mind-boggling. Yet He does it each time in the Eucharist because He is all powerful. Nothing is impossible to God. It is here that we differ from many Protestants-Christians. We  believe in the true presence of Christ, the Son of God, in the Eucharist. Many Protestants believe only in its symbolic nature. ( More of this later. ) Our Catholic understanding of God as revealed to us by God Himself is in perfect harmony with the nature of God. He is infinite. Therefore He can do anything, even the impossible. He is Love. Therefore His Love is expressed for us to the limit beyond which there is nothing He became like us to teach us how to live as He created us. He died for us. "Greater love has no Man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." - John 15:13 - And He gave Himself to us as food in the Eucharist to strengthen us so that we can live in accordance with our created nature. Beyond this expression of Love, nothing is left.

I believe that our Catholic understanding of Jesus Christ as God's manifestation of His unlimited Love for us, His creatures, is the most reasonable. It is in tune with our logic argument of what God is. It is consonant with God's nature as He is and consistent with the need of us poor humans. God supplies the need in us in a tangible form, the only way through which we can grasp His unconditional Love.

Rightly, then, Saint Paul says, "Love is the fulfilling of all laws." - Romans 13:10 - It is creative. It builds up the Christian community - 1 Corinthians 8:1 - Love unites all virtues - Colossians 3:14 -  It inspires Christians to labour - 1 Thessalonians 1:3 - it bears with inconvenience in order not to hurt his fellow Christians - Romans 14:15 - it helps the poor - 2 Corinthians 8:7f - it welcomes back a repentant sinner - 2 Corinthians 2:8-10 - Saint Paul sums this up in his beautiful hymn to love - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 - Nothing is of value without love. Although Saint Paul speaks of love most of the time in the context of the Christian community, he does not confine it only to the Christian community. Like Saint John, he extends it to all.

Saint John sees love as coming from the love that the Father has for His Son and vice versa. This love is the Spirit. God is Love. This love creates so that "he (any person) who loves, God lives in him/her" - 1 John 4:16 - Love, as Saint John sees it, is One. There is no separation between love of God and love of others. "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother (any person) he is a liar" - 1 John 4:20 - This is an echo of Jesus' new commandment: "Love one another as I have loved you."

                                                                   -       Sin        -

If God is Love, and if all is created through and for love, sin must be its opposite. As love creates, sin destroys. Saint John says, "No one born of God commits sin; for God's nature abides in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God." - 1 John 3:9 - By this, Saint John does not mean that we have no sins. He says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves..." - 1 John 1:18 - Obviously, he is talking here of a principle. If God's nature, the fullness of love, is in us, surely we cannot sin. If we sin, then we do not have the fullness of love. Sin, as Saint John sees it, is the opposite of Love. Saint John sees sin first as state of lack of love in Man. From this, all acts of sins and sins of omission come. Because I do not have enough love, I do not help others (omission), I speak badly about others, and do all sorts of evil to them (sinful acts). So Jesus, who came to save us, goes to the root of the problem: He takes away our state of lack love by pouring into us His love. Saint John makes John the Baptist say, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin (singular) of the world!" - John 1:29 - In the Synoptic Gospels, sin is generally used in the plural (sins). John prefers the singular (13 times in the singular and 3 times in plural). This itself is significant. The use of the singular is appropriate because John sees sin as the denial of love - a state of being in Man. All sins come from this state of lack of love (sin). This is profound biblical understanding of sin. It goes beyond what most people define sin as "doing what I know is wrong". The latter is only the consequence of a state of sinfulness. If sin is "doing what I know is wrong" there must be long periods when I am sinless. Yet the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible tells us that we are always sinful before God. And now about the times when I fail to help others? Strictly I have "done nothing." Yet it is a sin because I have not enough love to impel me to help others. Sin, the opposite of love, therefore is a state of a lack of love in my being from which comes acts of sins and non-action due to the lack of love (sins of omission).

The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible use a number of words which express the state. I will mention only the two most commonly used words and therefore, the most important. Anomia (Greek) Matthew 7:23; 13:41; 24:12; 1 John 3:4; Romans 6:19; 1 Corinthians 9:21; etc. Nomos, in Greek, is Law. Anomia means lawlessness. It is a state of rebellion against the law of God. In the Old Testament it is the Jewish Torah. In the New Testament, it is the law of Christ to love, as explained.

Harmatia. This word is the most frequently employed word in Saint Paul for sin (62 times, of which 48 times are found in his letter to the Romans). It has the same root meaning with the Hebrew word of the Old Testament het'hattat. It signifies "to miss the mark". It is a word taken from hunting. When a man has missed his prey in shooting, he has missed the mark (harmatia). And what is "the mark" that Man has been created by God; for love, as we have seen. Hence for Saint Paul, harmatia or sin is not an act but something internal and stable in Man, almost a personal force that is open rebellion against God.

It is a state of rebellion that brings chaos (anomia). Harmatia has entered into mankind through Adam's sin and exercises its deadly works (which brings death) through the Torah. All acts of sin come from this state. It permeates the whole human race (universal) - Romans 5; 3:22-23 - Adam is seen by Saint Paul as the sum total of humanity in sin - Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:22 - the idea of "corporate personality" or solidarity. Just as love builds or creates community, sin destroys community. Love and sin affect, for good or evil the universe, others and death (the total destruction) - Romans 6:23 - This is the solidarity aspect of sin that we spoke in chapter one.

Original sin is this state of lack of love into which everyone is born. It permeates not only the social sinful environment but it affects the depth of my being as a human (in the fullest sense explained above). Adam, who sinned and brought on sin into humanity, is regarded by Saint Paul as the sum total of this fallen humanity. Christ came to take away this state of lack of love by pouring into us His love: "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world". This is why Christ Jesus is called the second Adam - 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45-47 - Just as the first Adam brought sin into humanity by disobedience, the second Adam brought salvation through obedience - Romans 5:19 - Just as the first Adam is considered as the sum total of fallen humanity, Christ is the sum total of the redeemed humanity. Just as the sin of Adam penetrates into the being of Man, the love of Christ enters into the being of Man and removes this state of sinfulness, that is if Man freely allows Christ to do so and cooperates with His grace or love. God's love or grace never destroys Man's freedom. Since as I have said, freedom and love are two sides of the same coin, if love were to take away freedom, love would also be destroyed. In other words "Love would not be love if it were not free." But if love is accepted freely and grows in a person, freedom will also grow. This is why Saint Paul says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" - 2 Corinthians 3:17 -  

Thus, Love and sin can only be fully grasped if one has understood the notion of solidarity. Amen!

By His Grace Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing, S.J.   -   Straight to Catholics   - 

-   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Just as God originally inspired the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, He has used this means to preserve His Word for future generations. But behind the writing lay periods of time when these messages were circulated in spoken form. [Oral Tradition] The stories of the patriarchs were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth before they were written. [Written Tradition] The messages of the prophets were delivered orally before they were fixed in writing. Narratives of the life and ministry of Christ Jesus were repeated orally for two or three decades before they were given written form.

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -       

              -       MYSYERY       -       TURNING FROM THE ROAD OF EVIL INTENT        - 

Every human being at his/her birth has everything to learn. His/Her mind is a kind of blank slate on which truths can be written. How much he/she will learn will depend upon: (1) how clean he/she keeps his/her slate. (2) the nobility and wisdom of his/her teachers. The cleanliness of the slate is dependent upon the way he/she lives. It is too often assumed that ignorance is due solely to a want of learning. Actually, an evil life prevents the accumulation of wisdom. No bank robber wants to have a searchlight turned upon him as he rifles a safe. In a equal way, no one who is leading an immoral life wants to have the light of moral truth shining upon his foulness. That is why Our Blessed Lord said of many: "You will not come to Me because your lives are evil."

The second condition of learning depends upon the nobility and wisdom of the teachers. These teachers exist on three levels: man/woman may learn from nature alone which makes him/her a scientist; or from men, women, which makes him/her a humanist; or he/she may learn from God, Who alone can give him/her wisdom.

Almost all are willing to learn, either from the book of nature or from the lips of men/women, but many are unwilling to accept the revelation of God. This is because what God reveals very often transcends both the power of nature and the learning of men/women. For that reason, it is called a "mystery". A mystery does not mean an idea which is opposed to reason, but one which transcends reason. Mystery is like a telescope to the eye: the instrument does not destroy vision, but rather opens it to new worlds hitherto unrevealed. A proud man/woman might ask why should he/she believe that there is anything else in the world to see or know, except that which he/she touches or sees. Such an egotistic view precludes the knowledge of other worlds.

G. K. Chesterton once said that God has put a tremendous mystery in nature itself and that is the sun. In the light of that one thing which we cannot see because of its brightness, everything else is made clear. Likewise, though we cannot comprehend the nature of God completely in this life, nevertheless, in the light of the truths which He reveals, everything else is made clear, such as the mystery of pain, suffering, death, life and birth. But we can see the moon and we can see things under the moon, from which Chesterton wisely deduces: "But the moon is the mother of lunatics."

There are two kinds of wisdom: the wisdom of the flesh and the wisdom of which God gives. One is very often opposed to the other. The first would say: "This is the only life there is; therefore, we should get all we can out of it." The other sees that this life is a kind of scaffolding up through which we climb to eternal happiness. But the Divine Wisdom comes only to those who have qualifications for receiving it, and as was pointed out above, one of the first conditions is good behaviour. As Our Blessed Lord said: "If any man/woman will do My Will, he/she will know My doctrine."

Vices produce a hardened spiritual feeling which hinders understanding. Men/Women do not understand what they do not like or what would demand a change in their lives. All the training of the university will not make  certain persons mathematicians. If a man/woman does not love truth and honesty, he/she cannot be made truthful and honesty, he/she cannot be made truthful and honest by expounding the definitions of these virtues. One must begin by creating within being him/her conduct along the lines of these virtues. Then he/she can be taught the meaning of truth and honesty. One can cure a bad passion only by producing a good one; one can expel an evil affection only by the Spirit of God. Here is the answer to the question of why some people who are otherwise learned do not attain to the wisdom which is revealed by God.

Pontius Pilate was a philosopher and belonged to the school of the pragmatists. He talked with Our Lord Jesus about His Kingdom and about truth, but Pilate's corrupt selfishness and his political interests permitted him to sentence Innocence to the Cross. There was a moral blindness in close conjunction with philosophical intelligence. This higher wisdom is faith, and faith is not a blind willingness to believe that something will happen. Faith is the acceptance of a truth on the authority of God revealing it, and this is the wisdom which sometimes children possess and learned men/women lack. That is why Divine Wisdom said that only as we became like little children, could we enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Forgiveness meets us more than halfway. The kiss of welcome is extended before one word of penitence or request had been spoken. - Why Am I Tempted?  - The question is not why do we sin, because there is a distinction between temptation and sin. Temptation is merely a solicitation, an invitation, a suggestion to do wrong/evil. Sin is the voluntary doing of that wrong/evil thing. Sacred Scripture says - "Blessed is the man/woman who suffers temptation." In this context, temptation, means trial. The sixth petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Lead us not unto temptation" is a petition to escape trials which we cannot master.

When Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible states that God tempted Abraham, it merely means God tried Abraham's faith as a goldsmith tries gold in the fire; there is a world of difference between God trying His people and inciting their corruption.

Coming more precisely to the subject of temptation, here are a few basic principles: 

1. - Temptation comes from the duality or complexity of our nature. We are not simple creatures like crystals, but rather a compound of body and soul, matter and spirit. The human personality is like a driver in a headstrong steeds: one is the animal urge with us, and the other the spirit. The charioteer, or the driver, has great difficulty to get both steeds headed in the same direction.

Though modern psychology has done much to develop the nature of this tension, it must not be thought that the tension inside man/woman was not known in the past. The greatest of Greek dramatists, Sophocles, wrote of the great primeval disharmony that it was "grave with age and infected all men". Ovid, the Latin poet, wrote: "I see and approve the better things of life, but the worse things in life I follow."

Every human being in the world can bear witness to the civil war which goes on inside his being. Good people sometimes act like bad people; very bad people, in certain circumstances, will act like good people. Goethe regretted that God had made him only one man. There was enough material in him for both a saint and a villain.

2. - It must not be thought that the origin of temptation is solely to be sought in the individual human personality. If the origin were wholly within the person, it is conceivable that some would be without temptation; but there is no one in the world who is not tempted - absolutely no one. The nature of the temptation may vary with age. Confucius divided temptations into three different stages of human life: in youth man/woman is tempted to lust, in middle age to pride and power, and in old age to avarice or greed. No one tells the full story of temptation by seeking its origin in a grandfather or a grandmother, or too much love for a father or too little love for a mother, crowded tenements, low calorie diet or insufficient education.

3. - The true origin of the conflict is not to be found in the individual exclusively but in human nature. This assumes there is a difference between "nature" and "person". Nature answers to the question, "What is it?" A person answers to the question, "Who is it?" A pencil is not a person. An atom is not a person. John Jones is a person. Something has happened to disturb the original human nature so that it is now neither an angel nor a devil. Human nature is not intrinsically corrupt (as some theologians claimed 400 years ago); nor is it intrinsically divine (as philosophers began saying fifty years ago). Rather, human nature has aspirations for good which it sometimes finds impossible to realize completely by itself; at the same time, human nature has inclinations to evil which solicit it away from these ideas.

It is like a man/woman who is down a well of his/her own stupidity. He/She knows that he/she ought not to be there, but he/she is like a clock whose mainspring is broken. He needs to be fixed on the inside, but repairs must be supplied from without. He/She is a creature who can run well again, but only if Someone outside has the kindness to repair him/her. This Someone is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God and the Redeemer of human nature. He came to heal the breach caused by false freedom.

BY  VENERABLE  FULTON  J.  SHEEN    

-   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Just as God originally inspired the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, He has used this means to preserve His Word for future generations. But behind the writing lay periods of time when these messages were circulated in spoken form. [Oral Tradition] The stories of the patriarchs were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth before they were written. [Written Tradition] The messages of the prophets were delivered orally before they were fixed in writing. Narratives of the life and ministry of Christ Jesus were repeated orally for two or three decades before they were given written form.

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -          

This brings us back to the Lord's words about seeing and not seeing, hearing and not understanding. For Jesus is not trying to convey to us some sort of abstract knowledge that does not concern us profoundly. The Lord Jesus Christ has to lead us to the mystery of God - to the light that our eyes cannot bear and that we therefore try to escape. In order to make it accessible to us, he shows how the divine light shines through in the things of this world and in the realities of our everyday life. Through every events, he wants to show us the real ground of all things and thus the true direction we have to take in our day-to-day lives if we want to go the right way. He shows us God: not an abstract God, but the God who acts, who intervenes in our lives, and wants to take us by the hand. He shows us through everyday things who we are and what we we must therefore do. He conveys knowledge that makes demands upon us; it not only or even primarily adds to what we know, but it changes our lives. It is a knowledge that enriches us with a gift: "God is on the way to you." But equally it is an exacting knowledge: "Have faith, and let faith be your guide." The possibility of refusal is very real, for the parable lacks the necessary proof.

There can be a thousand rational objections - not only in Jesus' generation, but through all generations and today maybe more than ever. For we have developed a concept of reality that excludes reality's  translucence to God. The only thing that counts as real is what can be experimentally proven. God cannot be constrained into experimentation. That is exactly the reproach he made to the Israelites in the desert: "There your fathers tested me [tried to constrain me into experimentation], and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work" (Psalms 95:9). God cannot be seen through the world - that is what the modern concept of reality says. And so there is even less reason to accept the demand he places on us: To believe in him as God and to live accordingly seems like a totally unreasonable requirement. In this situation, the parables really do lead to non-seeing and non-understanding, to "hardening of heart."

This means, though, that the parables are ultimately an expression of God's hiddenness in this world and of the fact that knowledge of God always lays claim to the whole person - that such knowledge is one with life itself, and that it cannot exist without "repentance." For this world, marked by sin, the gravitational pull of our lives is weighted by the chains of the "I" and the "self." These chains must be broken to free us for a new love that places us in another gravitational field where we can enter new life. In this sense, knowledge of God is possible only through the gift of God's love becoming visible but this gift too has to be accepted. In this sense, the parables manifest the essence of Jesus' message and the mystery of the Cross is inscribed right at the heart of the parables.

"Three Major Parables From The Gospel Of Luke" - To attempt an exposition of even a significant portion of Jesus' parables would far exceed the scope of this book. I would therefore like to limit myself to the three major parable narratives in Luke's Gospel, whose beauty and depth spontaneously touch believer and non-believer alike again and again: the story of the Good Samaritan, the parable of the Prodigal Son, and the tale of the rich man and Lazarus. 

- (1) The Good Samaritan ( Luke 10:25-37 ) - We can safely ignore the individual details of the allegory which change from Church Father to Church Father. But the great vision that sees man lying alienated and helpless by the roadside of history and God himself becoming man's neighbor in Jesus Christ is one that we can happily retain, as a deeper dimension of the parable that is of concern to us. For the mighty imperative expressed in the parable is not thereby weakened but only now emerges in its full grandeur. The great theme of love, which is the real thrust of the text, is only now given its full breadth. For now we realize that we are all "alienated" in need of redemption. Now we realize that we are all in need of the gift of God's redeeming love that we are all in need of the gift of God's redeeming love ourselves, so that we too can become "lovers" in our turn. Now we realize that we always need God, who makes himself our neighbor so that we can become neighbors.

The two characters in this story are relevant to every single human being. Everyone is "alienated," especially from love (which, after all, is the essence of the "supernatural splendor" of which we have been despoiled); everyone must first be healed and filled with God's gifts. But the everyone is also called to become a Samaritan - to follow Christ and become like him. When we do that, we live rightly. We love rightly when we become like him, who loved all of us first (cf. 1 John 4:19).    

- (2) The Parable of the Two Brothers (the Prodigal Son and the Son Who Remained at Home) and the Good Father ( Luke 15:11-32 ) - While we may regard this application of the parable of the two brothers to Israel and the Gentiles as one dimension of the text, there are other dimensions as well. After all, what Jesus says about the older brother is aimed not simply at Israel (the sinners who came to him were Jews, too), but at the specific temptation of the righteous, of those who are "en regle," at rights with God, as Grelot puts it (page 229). In this connection, Grelot places emphasis on the sentence "I never disobeyed one of your commandments." For them, more than anything else God is Law; they see themselves in a juridical relationship with God and in that relationship they are at rights with him. But God is greater: They need to convert from the Law-God to the greater God, the God of love. This will not mean giving up their disobedience, but rather that this obedience will flow from deeper wellsprings and will therefore be bigger, more open and purer, but above all more humble.

Let us add a further aspect that has already been touched upon: Their bitterness toward God's goodness reveals an inward bitterness regarding their own obedience, a bitterness that indicates the limitation of this obedience. In their heart of hearts, they would have gladly journeyed out into that great "freedom" as well. There is an unspoken envy of what others have been able to get away with. They have not gone through the pilgrimage that purified the younger brother and made him realize what it means to be free and what it means to be a son. They actually carry their freedom as if it were slavery and they have not matured to real sonship. They, too, are still in need of a path; they can find it if they simply admit that God is right and accept his feast as their own. In this parable, then, the Father through Christ Jesus is addressing us, the ones who never left home, encouraging us too to convert truly and to find joy in our faith. 

-  (3) The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus ( Luke 16:19-31 ) - .... Some of the Church Fathers also classed this parable as an example of the two-brother pattern and applied it to the relationship between Israel (the rich man) and the Church (the poor man, Lazarus), but in so doing they mistook the very different typology that is involved here. This is evident already in the very different ending. Whereas the two-brother texts remain open, ending as a question and an invitation....... The suffering just man who sees all this is in danger of doubting his faith. Does God really not see? Does he not hear? Does he not care about men's fate? ....... The turning point comes when the suffering just man in the Sanctuary looks toward God and, as he does so, his perspective becomes broader.

In the description of the next life that now follows in the parable, Jesus uses ideas that were current in the Judaism of his time. Hence we must not force our interpretation of this part of the text. Jesus adopts existing images, without formally incorporating them into his teaching about the next life. Nevertheless, Jesus does unequivocally affirm the substance of the images. In this sense, it is important to note that Jesus invokes here the idea of the intermediate state between death and the resurrection which by then had become part of the universal patrimony of Jewish faith. The rich man is in Hades, conceived here as a temporary place, and not in "Gehenna" (hell) which is the name of the final state (Jeremias, p. 185). Jesus says nothing about a "resurrection in death" here. But as we saw earlier, this is not the principal message that the Lord Jesus wants to convey in this parable.............

We do not need to analyze here the differences between these two versions. One thing is clear: God's sign for men is the Son of Man; it is Jesus himself. And at the deepest level, he is this sign in his Pascal Mystery, in the mystery of his death and Resurrection. He himself is "the sign of Jonah." He, crucified and risen, is the true Lazarus. The parable is inviting us to believe and follow him, God's great sign. But it is more than a parable. It speaks of reality, of the most decisive reality in all history.  -  PAGE  TWO  -         

BY  HIS  HOLINESS  POPE  BENEDICT  XVI   -   JESUS of NAZARETH   -

-   WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY   - 

Just as God originally inspired the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, He has used this means to preserve His Word for future generations. But behind the writing lay periods of time when these messages were circulated in spoken form. [Oral Tradition] The stories of the patriarchs were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth before they were written. [Written Tradition] The messages of the prophets were delivered orally before they were fixed in writing. Narratives of the life and ministry of Christ Jesus were repeated orally for two or three decades before they were given written form.

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -