The Holy Spirit and the Word

We know that Jesus is the Word of God, as St John tells us at the beginning of his Gospel, and the Holy Spirit makes him known to us, He opens our hearts to Him as we read or listen to the scriptures. St Paul tells us that all scripture is God breathed 2 Tim 3 v 16, and one of the titles of the Holy Spirit is  The Breath of God. After Jesus resurrection when He appeared to His apostles in the upper room He said "Peace be with you! as the Father has sent me , so I Am sending you" and with that He Breathed on them and said "Receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive anyones sins they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them they are not forgiven" John 20 v 21-22.  To know Jesus we need to read about Him, however we also need to keep His Word and put it into action it is only then that we begin to know Him,and know that He is " The Way the Truth and the the Life" John 14 v 6. In one of the New Testament letters James said "Do not merely listen to the word and deceive yourselves, do what it says anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at himself in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like,but the man who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it will be blessed in what he does".

The Hound of Heaven

I would like to say that the Lords goodness to me resulted in my bearing fruit for Him, but like many young people I rebelled by trying to take charge of my own life by becoming independant. It was not that I disbelieved so much as I placed other things and people before Him. Several times I felt the pull of the Holy Spirit and to my shame ignored it. However he never lets go of us. Psalm 138 (9) has been called  The Hound of Heaven here are a few verses from it. "O where can I go from your Spirit, or where can I flee from your face?  If I climb to the heavens you are there if I lie in the grave you are there" It is worth reading through this psalm and pondering its meaning. It was not until I was married with small children that I came back to " The shepherd and guardian of my soul "  1 Peter 2 v 23. One Sunday at the Eucharist while reciting the Nicene creed which is our statement of belief. " I found myself thinking " Do I really believe all this?" It was at this moment that evangelical Christians would say that I was saved, because I accepted in faith in

all that we were reciting. In Romans 10 v v 8- 10 St Paul says " If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved" Of course it is better that we never stray, but sooner or later we need to make a decision to accept the faith for ourselves, Catholics have the  opportunity to do this every Easter when we renew our baptismal vows. If we make them with sincerity of heart it will make a great difference to our spiritual lives.