Grace to you and Happy Feast of the Pentecost!

​Permit me to begin today's reflection with a famous story about a renowned Geometrician. Plutarch, a Greek Philosopher, narrated it. 
 
At the peak of the discovery of the science of mathematics among the Greeks, a prominent Geometrician of the Pythagorean school bragged of his ability to make any figure, no matter how crooked or twisted, stand at an upright position. All it takes, he claimed, was getting the proper right angel combination (90 degrees) and harmonizing it with gravity. He achieved much success in doing this, until a particular day when a smart student challenged him to make a corpse to stand erect.
 
The great geometrician did not see any difficulty in doing this. He started by trying various balancing schemes, experimenting with different postures, and exploring all possible combinations of angles. Under normal circumstances, these should give 90 degrees; therefore, make the dead body stand erect. He compassed, for example, 45/45, 50/40, 89/1, 70/20, but it was all a failure. He tried again and again, all to no avail. At last, he threw in the towel with the exclamation: "I do not know what is wrong with this figure; there seems to be something missing on the inside."
 
The acknowledgment of this geometrician and his submission of his limitations are didactic. Imagine a human being without a soul—that spiritual principle, which is the subject of our consciousness and freedom. It would be unthinkable, because, without the soul, all we see is a dead body. Hence, even one of the greatest mathematicians of ancient times couldn't make "life" in the dead body. The dead can't stand on their own. Only those alive could stand, walk, choose, and act. We can become the best we are called to be on earth, and as the Psalmist says, "praise God" because we are alive to do so.
 
The French spiritual writer, Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard (1858-1935), wrote his classic, The Soul of the Apostolate. In it, he invites us to take the Interior Life, the life of the Spirit seriously. He was equally alluding to the presence of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, in the Church. The Holy Spirit is the "soul of the apostolate" for good reasons. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ, with God the Father, continues to abide in the Church. One can't imagine a church not being led by the Holy Spirit.   
 
The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was to commission the Church and all members of the Church to become “missionary disciples,” using the phrase of Pope Francis. So we become witnesses of the Risen Lord to all. Hence, on Pentecost Day, the Church was born, a Church whose primary vocation on earth is to evangelize. As Pope Paul VI emphasized, “Evangelizing is, in fact, the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity" (Pope Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14). 
 
The Holy Spirit is the livewire of the Church, the soul of virtuous/spiritual life. And today, we celebrate that memorable birthday of the Church on Pentecost. [For my reflection on the significance of the Pentecost, please read the reflection following this one]. 
 
At Pentecost, souls dead in sin are revived; a new encounter that makes us stand upright as disciples of Jesus Christ is witnessed. At Pentecost, a timid person, like Peter, who denied Jesus three times when his courageous confession was most needed (John 18:25-27), becomes a bold preacher before a multitude. The Holy Spirit breaks the barriers of fear, insecurity, and cowardice.
 
At Pentecost, a withdrawn, insecure, and shy apostolic community, locked up in the upper room (Acts 1:13ff), stood out in eloquence. They spoke in tongues and testified boldly about the wonders of the Risen Lord. They became evangelizers (Acts 2ff). The Holy Spirit makes the Church a bold vanguard of the truth, and believers, audacious emissaries of the Good News.
 
At Pentecost, there were miracles, healing, and deliverance. In the same way, the Holy Spirit goes on to do signs and wonders for those who welcome Him. "Taste and see that the Lord is good."
 
At Pentecost, the fire of love is kindled (Acts 2:3). The Holy Spirit shatters the shackles of hatred, exploitation, and unholy relationships. It promotes genuine love among people. Pure love for God and one another is by the Holy Spirit.
 
At Pentecost, the community is bonded in love, obedience, and eagerness to relive the Christ experience, and the Tower of Babel reality is upturned. No better explanation is given that men and women, from different tongues and nations, could speak one language of love, live in love, share from the same cup and participate at the same table (the Eucharist); if not, by the bonding impact of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit-lead-Church is a church wherein space, locality, or structures aren't a barrier. Rather, all become vehicles of orderliness through which the unity of faith and the bond of love blossom. As the Psalmist says, it's like olive branches around the table of the Lord (Ps 128:3).
 
Pray
Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of the faithful. Enkindle in us the fire of your love. Amen.  

God love you. God bless you.

​Fr. Maurice Emelu





[Pentecost Sunday A: Acts 2:1-11; I Cor 12:3B-7; 12-13; Jn 20:19-23]

 Grace to you, and Happy Easter! 
 
I welcome you to Day 2 of our Pentecost Novena. I hope you spent some time dusting your heart of some of those worries that distract from focusing on this special Gift of God to us—the Holy Spirit.
 
Yesterday, we learned how to be open to Jesus Christ. Simply trust him. He is the giver of the gifts. He is not going to force us. He needs us to generously open our hearts so the fountain of His generosity, His promised Gift, the Holy Spirit, will fill our thirsty souls.
 
Consider who the Holy Spirit is and what the Gift means for us. In the prophecy of Isaiah 11:1-3, we hear of the seven traditional gifts of the Holy Spirit—wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, and awe of the Lord.
 
If you meditated on the poem Veni Creator Spiritus, which I recommended we pray yesterday (and every day as this novena evolves), you would have asked for these gifts. These gifts mean so much in our spiritual life, and desiring them is a way to go during this novena. We pray today specifically for knowledge. 
 
Meditation
 
O, Holy Spirit! A friend like no one else, the counselor, and the consoler, I turn to you because I acknowledge I don't know much. Yes, I have read a lot about you, the Father and the Son. I have been through many classes of religious formation to know more about God and deepen my faith. Yet, I still don't seem to connect the dots.
 You are deeper than anything one could fully understand. Nevertheless, you alone can satisfy my yearnings.  
 
I feel that my brain, mind, and intellect are like a filter. I get excited at some information, and then, a few steps away, they seem gone like the wind. I need to be equipped with the gift of knowledge. I believe you want me to know. Such knowledge will help me make informed decisions and choices for your glory and the service of my neighbor.
 
 
Oh, Holy Spirit! This knowledge of yours, from you and for you, will help me too in my life in society, shining the light for everyone to see.
 
Pray: Come, Holy Spirit. Fill my heart with the knowledge of you, the Father, and the Spirit. Let me know as I am known. Amen.
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Continue the novena prayer Come Holy Spirit, Creator Blest, by clicking here.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu
  
[Saturday after Ascension: Acts 18:23-28; Jn 16:23-28]
 
 
 
 

Grace to you!
 
During yesterday’s reflection, I hinted on the need to mirror in our life the gifts of the Holy Spirit we have received. It was an introduction to today’s reflection, the last day of our Pentecost Novena. Hence, today’s theme is on a Spirit-filled lifestyle. We want to pray we receive, not just the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but the fruits as well. 
 
Whatever gifts you and I have received from the Holy Spirit are for service. They should make us better people too. They aren’t meant so we can be mere tools, or actors or unrenewed copycats of Christ. They aren’t meant so we would be acting without inner commitment or lifestyle consistent with the life of the Spirit. 
 
The Holy Spirit doesn’t just come and go as a magical tool. The Spirit isn’t a force invoked in and out at our whims and caprices. We aren’t talking about a man-made god we create and control. The Holy Spirit is God, the Third person of the Trinity, not a human being or some magical deity. The Holy Spirit comes to a willing heart and stays. Like the Lord, the Spirit makes a home in us and transforms us from within. 
 
Hence, when the Spirit blesses us and our community through us, with gifts, we aren’t to see this as a mere functional thing. We aren’t to see it as our creation either. Sometimes we get carried away by our gifts. Believe you me, this happens with more frequently than any child of God would want. So, we had better watch. The glow of our gifts shouldn’t make us ignore inner transformation. We want our lifestyle to align with the expressions of the gifts. We want to become, what His Holiness Pope Francis, following Saint Pauls’ thoughts, describes as “Spirit-filled evangelizers” (The Joy of the Gospel, 259).
 
The gifts, while they build the community, should also open our hearts to a life of gratitude. This life is best lived through the fruits that flow from the gifts we have received. 
 
You recall the first and second days of our Pentecost Novena, I emphasized that our priority should be to pray that the Holy Spirit dwell within us. The Holy Spirit is the Gift. This Gift of the Father and the Son, then gifts us differently. 
 
Hence, the fruits are those virtuous qualities that flow from our life as those being led by the Spirit. They do not make us mere actors. They make us real. They make us become what our giftings express. Virtuous people. 
 
His Holiness, Pope Paul VI in his classic Evangelii Nuntiandi, while describing authentic popular devotions (piety), exhorts us to seriously consider these “interior attitudes” from the Spirit. They include “patience, the sense of the cross in daily life, detachment, openness to others and devotion” (EG, 74, 48). 
 
Saint Paul gives us a list of some of those fruits. They include “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23). I see them as a crown and grace to our charismatic gifts.
 
A few last words: It’s one thing to receive numerous gifts. It’s another to allow the Holy Spirit to renew us from within. It's also crucial to be responsible and  accountable to the Lord, the giver of the gifts. We want to be sure we aren’t distracted because our gifts are influencing lives. We want to make sure, every day, we ask how we’re living the life of which the gifts of the Spirit are pointers. As the Lord discouraged Peter from getting distracted, we have to be focused in following the Lord (Jn 21:22). Remember, the Holy Spirit isn’t going to force us into renewal. Our cooperation is needed.
 
To conclude, if one would ask me to suggest a model to look up to in being dynamic Christians who use their gifts well and live out the fruits of the Spirit, I would say without hesitation to learn from the Mother of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary. With her as your mentor, you will never go wrong. Mary, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, be my mentor. Amen. 
 
Pray: Lord, as I welcome your Holy Spirit in my heart today, make me totally yours in service and in glory. Amen. 
 
[Pray the Novena, Come Holy Spirit]
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
 
[Saturday Easter Week 7: Acts 28:16-20, 30-31; Jn 21:20-25]
 

Grace to you!
 
Today’s reflection focuses on the kind of commitment required in living the life of the Spirit. 
 
I read with keen interest the Lord’s conversation with Simon Peter as recorded in the Gospel of John 21:15-19. There, the Lord clearly demonstrated the primacy of the authority of Peter as the leader of his Church. For three times, the Lord asked Peter about his love for him. For three times, Peter affirmed his love. Some suggest this is a response to counter the three times Peter denied the Lord during his arrest as recorded in the Gospel of Luke 22:54-62.  
 
It could also be that the Lord wanted the broken and contrite Peter to reclaim his confidence. Being humbled and disappointed for his past, he is given an opportunity, by the one he had denied, to reestablish commitment to fidelity. This is one thing with God in dealing with us. God’s mercy endures forever. The Lord is ever present to pull us up and offer us more opportunities to witness his grace and glory. 
 
I’m particularly touched by the Lord’s invitation to Peter— “Follow me” (Jn 21:19). It is an invitation to leave behind previous shame of betrayal and follow the new path of righteousness the Lord has opened. Sometimes, we get stuck in the past and lose site of the new way the Lord has opened. We’ve got to press on and walk in that new way. 
 
Another way I see the “follow me” is an invitation to take up the cross and follow in the Lord’s footsteps. Yes, this is clear from the context of the text. The Lord goes on to let Peter know the kind of death he would have. His future as the leader of the Universal Church would demand him dying to self and being led to where he would rather not want to go. Martyrdom is implied. 
 
By way of application to us as we continue our Pentecost Novena, not all will have the grace of martyrdom. But every true believer witnesses daily sacrifices and commitments that take a lot from us. Sometimes they become miniature martyrdom—sort of “white martyrdom” (Saint Jerome). This occurs, in part, when we give in to the Lord and not be led by our ego and self-interest. Even in using our gifts, it isn’t always a pleasant experience. The holy way of using our gifts takes a lot from us. It takes us out of our comfort zone. Since the charismatic gifts are for service to others, it requires selflessness to serve in a holy way. 
 
More in the “follow me” experience is the readiness to willingly give up legitimate pleasure for a higher good of service of God and one another. Sometimes, what we want could differ from what the Lord desires of us. Sometimes, the demand of love for one another and true charity requires we leave behind our own interests. This is hard. Not easy for me to do. I guess it may not be easy for you. 
 
So, we need the Spirit that helps us do this. Following the Lord is actually living the life of the Spirit. One passes from just using one’s gifts to “being” the life of one’s gift. The “using” is an activity. The “living,” “being” is a lifestyle. This lifestyle becomes, by the grace of the giver, fruits of what we live because we have become what we do. 
 
Hence, as we focus on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we better know that those gifts are to aid us in becoming true disciples of the Lord. We aren’t mere actors of the Lord’s story in the world’s theater. We are living testimonials of the Risen Lord. Led by the Holy Spirit, we should be the Christ people see today. 
 
Pray: Lord, I welcome the Holy Spirit so I would be totally devoted to you and live in my life what my gifts point to. Amen.
 
God love you. God bless you. 
 
Keep praying the Novena to the Holy Spirit. 
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu
 
 
[Friday Easter Week 7: Acts 25:13-21; Jn 21:15-19]
 
 
 

Grace to you!
 
In preparation for the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit this Sunday, we have been prayerfully reflecting on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Our particular focus this year is on the charismatic gifts. Today, I will provide a list of gifts so as to jumpstart your prayerful considerations in identifying your own gifts and hopefully in using them for the glory of God and for service.
 
If we understand that the gifts, especially the charismatics gifts, are given by the Lord for service, we have to know that the list below isn’t exhaustive. God gifts, depending on the need of each time, hence the commonly known gifts, don’t exhaust what God gives. God gives more than we know. 
 
Here is a spiritual principle you have to bear in mind. In terms of charismatic gifts, God gifts willing human instruments when the need for a particular gift arises. Are you ready to be that willing instrument the Lord would use to provide for your church and community? Are you going to be like Saint Paul, for instance, who applied the gifts of discernment, wisdom and elocution in testifying to the power of the resurrection before a heated up and antagonistic audience (Acts 23:6-11)? Are you going to be that person through whom God’s glory and gifts shine in the community? It’s joy to say yes to God. 
 
You may use an economics analogy of demand and supply to elucidate this idea. When need arises, the Lord, the provident God, supplies “according to his richness in Christ” (Phil 4:19). No one outdoes God in generous provision. 
 
The list below is drawn from Scripture and magisterial writings. Namely, Is 11:1-2; 1 Cor. 12; Rom 12:6; Eph. 4:11; Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium nn. 4and 12; Catechism of the Catholic Church nn.767-801;851, 2003-2004;2702-2703. As you go through the list, see if you can identify some of your particular gifts. I won’t explain each of the gifts or give a detailed theological treatment on the nature and structure. This is a project for another work in the making. 
 
You may want to keep an inventory of how you have been putting the gifts to work in service of God and your neighbor. Remember that gifts given are not to be hidden. They are generously given by the Lord to be used to serve. 
 
I would begin with the seven traditional gifts of the Holy Spirit—wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear or awe of the Lord. In the previous year, I had reflected on these traditional gifts. Other gifts include administration, teaching, preaching, evangelization, leadership, discernment, power of reading souls, faith, healings, miracles, exorcism, deliverance, prophecy, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, giving or almsgiving, mercy (compassion), service or ministry, exhortation, elocution, holy levitation, bilocation, helping, intercession, encouragement, and numerous others which arise depending on the need situation. 
 
A word of encouragement as you pray for the renewing and gifting presence of the Holy Spirit. One of the things you have to avoid is allowing fear in your mind. Entertaining fear could discourage you from using your gifts. Learn from the saints and great men and women who have led the way in this matter. No need to second guess yourself when you know the gifts you have received. Every gift comes with a hazard. Don’t be deterred because of the hazards. Get to work. Serve the Lord and one another with your gifts. 
 
Pray: Lord Jesus Christ, give me the grace to identify my gifts and the willingness and courage to use them for your glory and for service. Amen. 
 
Continue praying the Novena, Come Holy Spirit. 
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu
 
[Thursday Easter Week 7: Acts 22:30; 23:6-11; Jn 17:20-26]

Grace to you!
 
Previously, I reflected on the prophetic role of evangelization. In today’s reflection, I share some thoughts on the sanctifying role of the Holy Spirit as we are consecrated in the truth of the Gospel. 
 
Did you open your heart to the prayer of the Lord Jesus for the Church as recorded in John 17? There, the Lord prays for the Church, for the unity of believers as a sign to the world of his messiahship. He also prays for the Church and members to be consecrated in the truth, which he is (Jn 14:6). 
 
This consecration, synonym—sanctification, means being set apart as God’s own. In such a case, one becomes totally devoted to the Lord and the Lord’s ways as a willing, faithful disciple. In another sense, it could mean being devoted to the Holy Lord and therefore pure from falsehood or worldly deceit. God is the person’s highest and greatest treasure and priority. 
 
The Lord is praying that we be set apart from the worldly and be sanctified in him as God’s Word. We become anointed by his Spirit and are guided to believe what is true and reject falsehood and heretical insinuations in all its forms. Christ is the truth. In our Christian understanding, opposition to Christ is a kiss to falsehood. This daring claim is core to our faith as Christians. 
 
The Lord prays for us. He prays regarding what he knows the Church would experience. He knew that many from within and outside of the Church would try to deceive his children. Some from within the Church would try to undermine the faith. He prays that we be consecrated in the truth, immersed in the truth and be rooted in such a way that falsehood will not destroy what we have received from him. 
 
No one is consecrated in the truth of the Gospel of Christ outside of Christ’s body, the Church. It is in this body we are shielded from falsehood. It is in this body we are made holy for God. It is in this body that the Holy Spirit continues to heal, renew and build us together in truth. It isn’t surprising that the first coming of the Holy Spirit as the Lord promised was when this body gathered in worship (Acts 2:1-4). Little surprise what the devil does, if it wants to lead believers into all sorts of heretical doctrines, is to push them away from the body of Christ. Or it instills in them hatred for the body of Christ. It could also sow the seed of division so as to conquer. 
 
The Apostle Paul, in the footsteps of the Lord, prays also for the Church of Ephesus (Acts 20:28-38), especially for the ordained ministers. He was particularly concerned that they be vigilant and not allow the spirit of deceit to creep in (Acts 20:30-31). He wanted them to watch over this body, the Church, as those who have been commissioned by the Holy Spirit as its guardians (vs 28). In doing so, they are to be led by the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of truth. 
 
Nonetheless, to believe and hold onto this faith is grace and our cooperation with the Spirit. One needs the power from above to hold onto this truth. One needs the Holy Spirit to be set apart. One needs the Holy Spirit to be sanctified, as well as withstand the pummeling persecutions of opposition to the truth of the gospel. It really takes swimming against the current to hold onto this truth. Yet, swimming against the current is possible by the Holy Spirit whose force is itself against the currents of the worldly. 
 
Pray with me, that we be consecrated in the truth of the gospel and that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide us in our daily choices for truth against falsehood and heresy. Amen. 
 
Continue to pray the Novena, Come Holy Spirit. 
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
[Wednesday Easter Week 7: Acts 20:28-38; Jn 17:11-19]

Grace to you!
 
Yesterday, I shared with you the incredible blessings we receive from the Lord at Confirmation. Today, I reflect specifically on the gifts that relate to the role of prophecy and evangelization. 
 
When you read Saint Paul’s address to the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus (Acts 20:17-27), you would notice his obvious loyalty to the Holy Spirit. You would also observe his courageous commitment to bearing witness to the Gospel amidst the Spirit’s insight that he would face so many persecutions. Among the seven traditional gifs of the Holy Spirit is fortitude (courage). Saint Paul sure had an amazing gift of fortitude. 
 
When the Lord instructed the disciples to wait until they received the Holy Spirit, he was to equip them to be effective witnesses of the Gospel (Acts 1:4-8). Effective bearing witness to the Risen Lord results from life inspired and renewed from within through the power of the Holy Spirit. Such a life, having been transformed from within, becomes a sort of Godly, holy music to the ears of others. Such a life shines the light of Christ, lighting up the darkness of the worldly, wherever they are found. 
 
As the principal agent of evangelisation (Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 75), the Holy Spirit gifts us to become dynamic evangelizers. Pope John Paul II teaches us that it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that the evangelizer, the witness, could fulfil the work of evangelisation (Catechesi Tradendae, 1). 
 
Renewed from within through the Holy Spirit, the witness’ words and actions and even silence become a channel through which God is lived and communicated. The prophetic gifts are speech expressions of the gifts of God. The preacher, the teacher or the catechist who lives and communicates God’s Word is living this role of the prophetic ministry. Though ordained ministers live this call as part of their primary roles in Church leadership (hierarchic gift), every believer through Baptism is blessed to lead as prophets too. So, the Holy Spirit makes this prophetic role come alive in the believer. 
 
On some occasions, as the need may arise, God gifts individuals with unique charisms of prophecy also. In such a case, they have an insight into things and speak in a manner in which God is glorified. This religious experience is for real. On rare occasions, it could be a unique charism of speech in terms of speaking in tongues that requires interpretations (1 Cor 14:27-33). Orderliness and proper interpretation were two guidelines Saint Paul provides to guide the use of this gift in the community of faith (see I Cor 14:30-33). 
 
There is also what is called the gift of praying in tongues that I would like to highlight here too. Though many people look at this intercessory gift with suspicion, sometimes the Holy Spirit inspires such prayer of intercessions within the soul with groans we may not put into words. Scripture hints on how the Holy Spirit helps us in prayer. “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words” (Rm 8:26). 
 
These expressions are not prophetic. They don’t belong to the gift of prophecy. Rather, they are intercessory, to aid the believer in their private prayer life. They are personal interventions of the Spirit, enabling a person with such gift in his or her prayer life. 
 
How about during today’s Pentecost Novena, we pray that the Holy Spirit revive our commitments to be authentic witnesses of the Gospel through our actions and words. May the prophetic spirit and gift we received as baptized Christians come alive. May we also be gifted with the fervor of deep prayer life. Amen. 
 
Pray: Come Holy Spirit, renew in me the apostolic zeal of bearing witness to Christ. Amen.  Continue praying the Novena Come Holy Spirit.
 
God love you. God bless you. 
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
 
[Tuesday Easter Week 7: Acts 20:17-27; Jn 17:1-11]

Grace to you!
 
On this Day 3 of our Novena to the Holy Spirit, I reflect on the blessings we receive when we are confirmed. 
 
If you’ve been confirmed, remember that time the bishop or his delegate anointed you with the oil of Chrism. He also laid hands on you and pronounced the words—"I sign thee with the sign of the cross and confirm thee with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” 
 
You may not be quite clear of what happened at that moment. Perhaps, you were a high school kid. Maybe you saw it as a mere rite of passage. Actually, it is a big deal that leaves in your soul and spirit an indelible imprint of the Holy Spirit. You’ve been endowed with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
 
You were confirmed in the faith which you received through Baptism. You were blessed to become a dynamic, courageous and intentional disciple of the Lord. The Holy Spirit grants you the gifts to live the Gospel and be a witness of the good things you’ve received in the Lord. By so doing, you join the league of numerous other soldiers of Christ who are equipped to lead the gospel.
 
Let me walk you back to the Scripture. You will see a couple of examples in the early Church and how the first believers witnessed this power of the Spirit. Take for instance Acts 8:14-17. After hearing that some people in Samaria had received the Gospel and had been baptized, Peter and John paid them a visit. They laid hands on them and the people received the Holy Spirit. By so doing, Samarian believers were confirmed in the faith they received through Baptism. 
 
Another instance was with St. Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19:1-8). Paul baptized the people in the name of the Lord Jesus and then laid hands on them so they would receive the Holy Spirit and they did. They spoke in tongues and prophesied. Recall that on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, Scripture says they “spoke in tongues as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). 
 
There are numerous other examples in the early Church. Many fathers of the Church, such as Theophilus of Antioch,Tertullian,Cyprian,Cyril of Jerusalem, Jerome, Ambrose,
Gregory of Nyssa,Augustine and Cyril of Alexandria, emphasize the distinction between Baptism and Confirmation in the Holy Spirit. Many of them correlate it to the practice in the early Church. So, this is a great treasure and blessings we enjoy in the Lord being confirmed in the Spirit. 
 
I know, some may wonder, why then didn’t I speak in tongues and prophesy when I was confirmed? 
 
Fair question to ask. The immediate burst into tongues and prophesy is a sign expressing the power of the Holy Spirit within. All need not speak in tongues to confirm they have received the Spirit. The speaking in tongues and prophesying are two of the numerous manifestations of the Gift of the Holy Spirit. 
 
You may want to read Saint Paul’s treatment of this matter in 1 Cor 12;27-31; 14:1-25. I will discuss more about these and make further clarifications in tomorrow’s reflection. 
 
In the meantime, here are my thoughts for today’s prayerful experience. Pray that the Lord would grant you the grace to fan into flame the blessings and gifts you received when you were Confirmed. Or better still, pray to discover what you received that you didn’t know was already in there and needed to bloom. Pray that the Holy Spirit will come afresh in you and revive your drooping spirit. 
 
Pray with me: Come Holy Spirit, renew in me the blessings of your presence. Amen. Continue praying the Novena Come Holy Spirit.
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
 
[Monday Easter Week 7: Acts 19:1-8; Jn 16:29-33]
 
 

Grace to you!
 
Previously, I shared how God’s love is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel of John 17, the Lord Jesus prayed for us, the members of his body the Church. My heart was filled with joy as I read the Lord’s prayer and blessings of God’s abiding love upon us. “I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them" (Jn 17:26). Today, our prayerful reflection centers on the special gift of perception—faith. 
 
One of the special favors the Lord grants to the believer through the Holy Spirit is the gift of faith. When you became a believer, born anew in the waters of Baptism, you received this grace, the gift of faith. 
 
With this grace, one perceives things in Godly manner. One also believes God’s plan of salvation in Christ. If you keep this faith alive by abiding in that grace you have received, you will see how all things hold together in Christ. 
 
While faith is another theological virtue—a virtue infused in the heart of the believer by the Lord himself—, it is also a gift of perception too. The Swiss theologian, Hans Ur von Balthasar, calls faith a “theological act of perception” (von Balthasar, Seeing the Form, p. 150). With this perception, we can see the glory and can live being inspired by what we see. No one who truly has a glimpse of this glory lives without being impacted by it. That simply can’t happen, unless one hasn’t seen. 
 
We read a beautiful story about Saint Stephen, the first Christian Martyr. Scripture says Stephen, “full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55-56). 
 
The Holy Spirit grants us the favor to see what the physical senses cannot see or perceive. The one who created us with physical sense of sight blesses us with much more holy spiritual sight to see the glory with the eye of faith. In his famous adoration hymn “Tantum Ergo”, the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas, emphasizes that the gift of faith affords us what the physical senses cannot perceive. 
 
With the grace and theological virtue of faith, comes other sorts of giftings as the Lord deems fit for each individual or circumstances that call for it. Though these charisms are not the same with the theological virtues and are not comparable to them in the order of importance, they do help build one’s faith-life and the community. This is so because the gifts of the Holy Spirit sustain the moral life of the believer (CCC, 1830). 
 
The Holy Spirit grants to some special charisms of faith (1 Cor 12:9), the kind that can move mountains (Mt 17:20), metaphorically speaking. The Spirit also grants other forms of giftings that relate to perception. While I am not keen on strict grouping of these charisms, since biblical teachings from Saint Paul (1 Cor 12; Gal 5:22-23) to Saint Peter (1 Pet 4:10-11) provide us with only singular list of examples of the gifts, one could relate them to the roles they play in the body of Christ. So, I can talk of those other giftings that relate to perception and, therefore, to the grace of faith. 
 
Imaging, for instance, being gifted with the special favor of discernment. Think of a situation where you are blessed by the Holy Spirit to have deeper insight into things, experiencing some word of wisdom or knowledge. Or you can imagine being gifted with what spiritual writers call power of reading souls, as was the case of Saints Pio and Catherine of Siena. In any of these instances, you have a heightened sense of discerning things properly. You may also receive the gift of vision, to see God’s plans in things current or even into the future. You become a prophetic instrument in the unveiling of God’s will for God’s people. Such charismatic giftings, when used in charity, are a blessing to the community. They build up. 
 
Pray with me today, for the gift of this kind of holy perception. Pray that our hearts may be fertile to receive whatever gifts the Lord has in store for you and me.
 
Come Holy Spirit, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear. Amen. Be sure to continue the Novena Prayer, Come Holy Spirit.
 
God love you. God bless you. 
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
 
[Seventh Sunday Easter C: Acts 7:55-60; Rev 22:12-14, 18-17, 20; Jn 17:20-26]

Grace to you and Happy Ascension Thursday!
 
In today’s reflection, I share the need to wait in order to receive the graces to lead God’s way. I draw inspiration from the last words of the Lord Jesus Christ as he ascended to heaven (Luke24:50-53). 
 
The Gospel of Luke reports: “Then he led them [the disciples] out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God” (Lk 24:50-53).
 
The Lord never ceases blessing us. When he calls, he blesses. When he commissions us to do something, he blesses us with the graces to perform those roles effectively.
 
As the Lord blesses us, he also asks us to wait on him all the way. We don’t run faster than the Lord. We don’t assume it is our doing. We don’t want to lead the Lord. We want the Lord to lead us. 
 
With the Lord’s calling, there is a constant exhortation to trust in providence. This trust holds us back from excessive zeal or growing impatient because we want to see immediate outcome. I know we want to see results right away. But the Lord’s path isn’t simply about results. It is about fidelity. As one of the famous lines of Saint (Mother) Teresa Calcutta suggests, it isn’t “about your success but about your faithfulness.” 
 
We could learn from the early disciples how to respond when the Lord says, wait. Their response was worship. Their heart was full of joy. The blessings of God and our response in worship fill us with immeasurable joy. 
 
To wait is to live the life of worship. We don’t wait aimlessly; nor allow our minds to be preoccupied with empty and vain thoughts. We wait in worship. 
 
In worship we wait on the Lord and we revere his complex plans and providence. In worship, we allow ourselves to be drawn into the divine way of being. We live in the now of divine providence. That is why many times in worship, we lose the sense of time, having been drawn into timelessness in a brief moment. To wait on the Lord is to be at his service in worship. It is to trust in divine providence. 
 
We wait to see, to encounter the glory. We wait for the fulfillment of the promise and the maturation of the blessing of which the Lord has given. 
 
The waiting is the story of the Christian spiritual life, pilgrims, in a nutshell. Our blessings don’t take on a mere icing on the cake experience. Our blessings mature and produce much joy as we wait on the Lord. They flourish as we do exactly what the Lord asks. They blossom as we respond in worship. 
 
In our blessings are what we have received and what is yet to come. The Lord does not give us mere perishable things. Whatever the Lord gives us— shelter, food, friends, family, faith, etc.—they are all geared towards the glory to come. In divine blessing is provident hope. We wait with the blessings we have received in hope for many more blessings to come. 
 
Ascension feast is a celebration of this hope in Christ. Henceforth, we wait. We wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit descends in the waiting heart, the heart attuned to worship. We who have received the Spirit wait in anticipation of many more of the graces of this Spirit as we experience the fullness of glory to come. 
 
Therefore, we wait in hope in Christ. This hope does not fail us (Rm 5:5). We know for sure, the Lord whom we love and worship, ascended so we can be welcomed in the home of the Father. We wait. We worship. 
 
Praying for the grace of living hope. Amen. 
 
God love you. God bless you. 
 
[Ascension Thursday C: Acts 1: 1-11; Eph 1:17-23; Lk 24:46-53]