With the fire of the spirit - Rev. Fr. Valentine de Souza SJ

Rev. Fr.Valentine 

Baptism of the Lord (A) 12-01-14

Mt 3: 13-17

With the fire of the spirit

José Antonio Pagola
translated by
Rev. Fr. Valentine de Souza SJ

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The first communities of Christians were careful to distinguish carefully the baptism of John which immersed people in the waters of the Jordan and the baptism of Jesus which communicated his Spirit to cleanse, renew and transform the hearts of his followers. Without this Spirit of Jesus, the Church comes to an end and dies out.

The Spirit of Jesus alone can make present day Christianity more authentic. Only his Spirit can lead us to recover our true identity by abandoning trends that draw us away time and again from the Gospel. Only this Spirit can give us light and strength to undertake the renewal the Church needs today.

Pope Francis knows very well that the greatest obstacle to launching a new era of evangelization is spiritual mediocrity. He does not mince his words. He wants to encourage as strongly as he can a more ardent, joyful, generous and bold stage full of unlimited love, an infectious life.” But it will all fall short, if the fire of the Spirit does not burn in our hearts.”

So he seeks for the Church today “evangelizers full of the Spirit who open themselves to its action without fear and find in that Holy Spirit of Jesus “the strength to proclaim the truth of the Gospel fearlessly for all to hear in every time and place, even going against the current.”

The renewal the Pope wishes to encourage in Christianity today is not possible “when the lack of a deep spirituality translates into pessimism, fatalism, and mistrust”, or when it leads us to think that “nothing can change”, and therefore “it is useless to make an effort”, or when we definitively let our arms down, “overcome by a chronic discontent or bitterness that dries up the soul.”

Francis warns us that “at times we lose enthusiasm on forgetting that the Gospel responds to the deepest needs of people.” That, however, is not the case. The Pope expresses his conviction forcefully: “it is not the same to have known Jesus or not to have known him; it is not the same to journey with him or fumble around, it is not the same to be able to listen to him or ignore his Word… it is not the same to build the world with his Gospel or to do it only with one’s own thinking.

We have to discover all this through personal experience in Jesus. Otherwise, whoever does not discover it, will soon lose strength and passion; and someone who is not convinced, enthusiastic, secure, and in love, convinces nobody.” Do we not have here one of the chief obstacles to impede the renewal Pope Francis wants?

Are we burning with the fire of the Spirit?

- By  Rev. Fr. Valentine de Souza SJ