Third Sunday of Advent St. Austin Church December 13, 2020
“Brothers and
sisters: Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is
the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” So begins our
second reading today from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the
Thessalonians. Very nice. Very positive. Uplifting.
It would make a great Christmas or Get-Well card: “Rejoice
always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is
the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”
Then St. Paul
says something interesting: “Do not quench the Spirit.” The NRSV, the NAB and the Greek Bible all
translate this statement exactly the same.
The Jerusalem Bible gives “never try to suppress the Spirit..”
What does St.
Paul mean? “Do not quench the
Spirit.”
Do you quench the Spirit?
Do you suppress the Spirit? How
do we do that? In what ways to we
stifle, smother, extinguish the Spirit?
Well, the Holy
Spirit can be a consolation and a great source of peace, But at other times the Holy Spirit is a
bother, an unwanted interruption, a pain.
The Spirit invites and nudges us to things we don’t want to be bothered
with, don’t want to have to face, don’t want to do.
Sometimes the
Holy Spirit prompts us to be more generous when we want to be stingy and
selfish. Or prompts us to reach out in
forgiveness to someone who hurt us.
Maybe the Holy Spirit urges us to take action, to reach out to a lonely
person, or the Holy Spirit pushes us to refrain from a caustic remark, or
passing on gossip, or visiting that porn site.
Maybe the Holy Spirit is urging us to take a risk at a new job, of
joining a ministry at church, at investigating a vocation to priesthood or
religious life, or examine our hidden racial and other prejudices.
One of the
ways I think the Holy Spirit helps us to grow is by doubt. People come to me in confession and confess
doubts about Church teachings, or their understanding of Church teaching.
There is a way
in which persuing and fostering doubts about our faith can be destructive to
our spiritual life, but many times I think doubts are an invitation from the
Holy Spirit to deepen our faith life, to come to a more mature faith that is solidly
our own and not borrowed from parents or teachers or priests.
The teachings
of the Church document, Humanae Vitae, on birth control and the
regulation of birth, have caused many people to think more deeply and pray more
fervently over this issue, to investigate and learn natural family planning, and
come to a more firm personal faith stance on these issues, sometimes in keeping
with church teaching and sometimes not. But now, their own faith.
The terrible
and horrible mis-management of the on-going clergy sexual abuse, with yet again
more horrible revelations about former Cardinal Terrance McCarrick and politics
in the Church, and clerical blindness, have shown many of us that we cannot
just pass off to the bishops and priests responsibility for our faith, but must
do the hard work to make it our own, not dependent on any church official.
The deepening understanding of homosexuality, with an increase in knowledge over the last fifty years that is far greater than what we had learned in the previous 500 years, and our personal experiences of
same sex couples, can cause us to question and then
interiorize church teaching on love and sexuality, making it more authentically
our belief, and not just something we wear because we are Catholic.
In these and
other ways the Holy Spirit leads us to a deeper appreciation of, and adherence
to, Church teaching and the Gospel.
“Do not
quench the Spirit” St Paul instructs us.
It is so much easier, and more comfortable, to quench the Spirit, to
just accept what we are told, and wear our belief as something on the outside
of us, not penetrating deeply into our hearts.
Making faith
our own, deep in our hearts and spirits, is hard work. St. Paul is telling us it is worth the
effort, worth the work, the confusion, the doubt, the groping, the search to
truly follow the lead of the Holy Spirit and make faith authentically our own.
Do not
quench the Spirit!
Stay thirsty, my friend!
AMEN
