The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Jesus cried out and said,
“Whoever believes in me believes not only in me
but also in the one who sent me,
and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.
I came into the world as light,
so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.
And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them,
I do not condemn him,
for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.
Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words
has something to judge him: the word that I spoke,
it will condemn him on the last day,
because I did not speak on my own,
but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak.
And I know that his commandment is eternal life.
So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”
Emphasis mine Jn 12: 44-50
I say as the Father told me. When I read this statement, I knew what we were going to write about.
How many people have you heard say that they only say what God, their Father, told them?
Let’s go a bit deeper: how many people listen to the whisper of The Holy Spirit?
How many people acknowledge God the Father as their only Father and their biological dad as their dad?
When we try to live alone, outside of The Triune God, we get into trouble and lose our Joy and Peace.
As we were driving back from Mass today, the thought that came into my mind, Holy Spirit, was that our problem as Catholics and Christians is that we have never been told what the result of our sin is. We are only told that If our sin is grave, we’ll go to hell.
I believe many think, as I did, “I’m young, and my death is too far down the road to worry about hell.”
But!
When we sin, we lose the Joy and Peace that is only available through the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit refuses to reward your misplaced interpretation of freedom. That being, I can listen to the voice of satan, and rebel against God, and that’s ok.
For example, I go out and get drunk or gamble in excess and lose a lot of money; these are actions your Father would never approve of.
It’s a sin!
How do we know it’s a sin?
The loss of Joy and Peace.
Now the snake was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?” The woman answered the snake: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die.’” But the snake said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know good and evil.” Emphasis mine Gn 3: 1-5
As we all know, physically, they didn’t die, but I believe they suffered an even greater loss: the close relationship with God and the loss of their Joy and Peace. Read the Bible if you think we’re wrong. Genesis Chapter 3
Adam and Eve didn’t listen to God, and this is the sin that was passed down to all of us,
But,
We live in a very different time. We have the advantage of living in the “Spirit World,” listening to the whisper of the Holy Spirit, doing the will of God our Father, being filled with the Joy and Peace of The Holy Spirit, and responding to anyone who asks how we are, that we’re “Fantastic!”
Just as Adam and Eve had a choice, we have a choice, and we pray your choice will be to “say as the Father told you” by listening to the whisper of The Holy Spirit and doing the will of God your Father.
Join Team Jesus:
We suggest starting every day, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.”
Sidebar:
What an interesting day we have had.
Let us go back.
We had a mission at our Church, and Vince, the guest speaker, was Fantastic. The Holy Spirit encouraged me, no, actually told me, to ask Vince and his team, Nancy and Bob, out to lunch. Vince said yes, and I noticed that I, yes I, started planning what we would do instantly.
I couldn’t decide on a restaurant, so Gail and I discussed this. The Holy Spirit suggested a picnic at Fort Williams. I decided to get subs and take them around to the various interesting sites in our two towns. I decided where the picnic would take place at the fort, and I, yes, I decided to try to get extra time.
Have you noticed anything wrong with the last paragraph?
I, I, I, where’s the Holy Spirit who started this whole process?
As I reread the above paragraph I want to vomit!
We were to meet them at Saint Maximilian Kolbe Church at noon. They were late, so the Holy Spirit suggested we go in and see what was happening. When we went into the room where they were working, they were busy at work, and The Holy Spirit suggested we have lunch at the Church in that room.
Vince and his crew appreciated the offer, and I thought this would take a quick fifteen minutes, and we would be out.
After we had set the table, Vince said, “I want to hear what you have to say,” and that was all The Holy Spirit needed.
Off we went.
What did we talk about?
The “Nine,” Throwing out satan, Thanking God the Father for the “Difficulties” Weeeeeeeeee, Thank You Father, I’m Fantastic, the Man on the Middle Cross said I could come, when you receive communion you are touching GOD, and are invited into a dance with them, not on the fringe but in the middle, we didn’t mention the healings start when we touch Jesus by receiving communion (A wonderful priest I know had cancer was prayed for by many prayer lines, and was told his cancer was cured – ON THE DAY HE WAS TO START CHEMO). We had to add this for you who still don’t believe in healings, which, sadly, we also didn’t say at the meeting.
A meeting that I thought would last twenty minutes lasted over an hour.
Remember, our only job in life is to listen to the Holy Spirit and further the Kingdom of God.
Please understand that this was NOT a meeting of one-upmanship. No, it was four people who love God, trying to build God’s Kingdom, and want to learn from each other so we can all grow.
If you’ve read our blogs and tried our suggestions, you’ll know everything we said at our meeting.
The choice is yours.
Joy should be yours. By the way, Vince and his crew were Joyful People living in Peace.
And
Being Fantastic should define you.
Picture:
Shrine of the Red Rocks, Sedona, Arizona. Picture by David Combs
Please keep Snapping!
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed, email me.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, no people, please, because we have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
By submitting a picture, you agree to let us include it in our next God Thoughts 2024 book.
