May 12, 2015 Tuesday: 6th Week in Easter
May 12, 2015 Tuesday: 6th Week in Easter
In a few days, we shall be celebrating the Ascension of Jesus to heaven. And in today’s gospel, He says: “Unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you,” (v. 7). He continues to say: “And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation,” (v. 8). The original word for convince is convict. And so the work of the Holy Spirit is to convince the world about sin, righteousness and of condemnation or judgment. But Jesus said these words before His passion, death and resurrection. Therefore He is already referring to His final departure from earth. Eight days after Jesus ascended to heaven, the promised Advocate, the Holy Spirit, came who descended upon the gathered disciples on Pentecost.
It's good to reflect on the words of St. Augustine in his, The Confessions of St. Augustine, about sin that sin arises when things that are a minor good are pursued as though they were the most important goals in life. If money or affection or power is sought in disproportionate, obsessive ways, then sin occurs. And that sin is magnified when, for these lesser goals, we fail to pursue the highest good and the finest goals. So when we ask ourselves why, in a given situation, we committed a sin, the answer is usually one of two things. Either we wanted to obtain something we didn’t have, or we feared losing something we had.
Do we allow the Holy Spirit to have free reign in our lives that He may set us free from the grip of sin and set us ablaze with the fire of God’s love?
- Fr. Joseph Benitez
https://justmehomely.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/tuesday-of-the-6th-week-of-easter/
In a few days, we shall be celebrating the Ascension of Jesus to heaven. And in today’s gospel, He says: “Unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you,” (v. 7). He continues to say: “And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation,” (v. 8). The original word for convince is convict. And so the work of the Holy Spirit is to convince the world about sin, righteousness and of condemnation or judgment. But Jesus said these words before His passion, death and resurrection. Therefore He is already referring to His final departure from earth. Eight days after Jesus ascended to heaven, the promised Advocate, the Holy Spirit, came who descended upon the gathered disciples on Pentecost.
It's good to reflect on the words of St. Augustine in his, The Confessions of St. Augustine, about sin that sin arises when things that are a minor good are pursued as though they were the most important goals in life. If money or affection or power is sought in disproportionate, obsessive ways, then sin occurs. And that sin is magnified when, for these lesser goals, we fail to pursue the highest good and the finest goals. So when we ask ourselves why, in a given situation, we committed a sin, the answer is usually one of two things. Either we wanted to obtain something we didn’t have, or we feared losing something we had.
Do we allow the Holy Spirit to have free reign in our lives that He may set us free from the grip of sin and set us ablaze with the fire of God’s love?
- Fr. Joseph Benitez
https://justmehomely.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/tuesday-of-the-6th-week-of-easter/
