Bible
Study: Colossians 1:9-14.
/ Luke 5:1-11.
If we were
to summarize the readings we have had since the beginning of this week, it
would be: “The power of God at work in the life of a person who is connected
with God in Spirit.” This is why it I have decided to retain the topic of our
reflection, “Inflamed by the Spirit.”
Just take
the example of Simon as a case study. He goes to church one morning, and hears
Jesus deliver this powerful sermon about the Spirit of God as Isaiah prophesied
about, he too like his colleagues is surprised at the superior wisdom of this
young man who is only known as the carpenter’s son.
Then the
following day, Simon sees this young man casting out a demon from a man with an
unclean spirit. This has never happened before and he joins the crowd to
wonder: “Where did this man get this authority from?” So he decides to play
host to Jesus by inviting him to his home after church. Now, he wants to get
personal with Jesus even though he is yet to fully appreciate his worth.
That evening,
Jesus cures his mother-in-law and he is like: “Wow.” I need this man oh. But
again, he is not convinced that this Jesus is anything more than some cool
spiritual guy richly endowed by God. That same night, he watches with delight
how Jesus attends to the many people who had come to his house on hearing the
news about Jesus, the Wonder Worker. As he cures countless numbers of people
and cast out the demons, Simon is probably thinking to himself, “Wow, I could
make a fortune with this man oh, perhaps I may start charging some gate fee.”
That same
night too, while Jesus was busy curing people in front of his house, Simon goes
in search of his daily bread in company of his workers. The worked all night
long trying to catch fish to be sold the following morning but their efforts
were extremely futile. Not even a single fish they catch.
The following
morning, still feeling depressed, Simon is again in company of Jesus with other
disciples and a large crowd. He listens to Jesus speak but much of this homily
is probably passing through one ear and coming out of the other because he
still can’t comprehend the day’s loss. He is still thinking of his futile
mission at sea that night.
Then all
of a sudden, Jesus stops talking, he looks straight at Simon and says to him, “Put
out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon is like, “You mean
me?” Then he hesitates, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing… But if
you insist, no wahala oh.”
This was
the moment of Simon’s conversion! When he saw the great catch of fish, he couldn’t
believe himself. He was so shocked that instantly it dawned on him that he wasn’t
dealing with just an ordinary son of a carpenter. While others were laughing as
his “luck” or probably thinking the catch was just a “coincidence”, Simon could
see that he was dealing with God here. He went straight to Jesus, knelt down
before him and said: “Leave me alone, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
When we
get to connect with the Holy Spirit, there comes a moment in a lives that God
gives us the privilege of a personal supernatural experience. An experience
that creates such a great impact in us that our whole lives become changed
completely. When we even talk about it to others, they find it difficult to
understand how such an “ordinary” event could affect us so much.
Furthermore,
one of the profound qualities of this experience is a deep awareness of sin in
one’s past life. You become so touched and so moved to tears that you feel like
going back to the day you were born and start undoing your past sins. In fact,
the day you get your experience is the day you became BORN AGAIN. And the life
you live from then on is a life of carefulness and you are conscious of even
the smallest sin.
This is
what you get when you are inflamed by the Holy Spirit and until that happens to
you, you would find yourself unable to overcome certain sins in your life. You would
keep struggling but find yourself falling again and again because you are yet
to understand or be convinced of why God has told us to avoid such and such. You
would be living a life of show while secretly, you would be indulging in sin.
Today, we
remember St. Gregory, he was such a fine Pope, one who for me was truly
converted. He reigned at a time where there was a lot of chaos and lawlessness
in the Catholic Church. He was the just the right Pope for that age. He brought
sanity to the Church and to this day, we continue to benefit from what he did,
hence the title “Great” was added to his name. According to the website, American-Catholic
dot com run by the Franciscan Media, St. Gregory was “direct and firm. He
removed unworthy priests from office, forbade taking money for many services,
emptied the papal treasury to ransom prisoners and care for persecuted Jews and
the victims of plague and famine. He is known for his reform of the liturgy,
for strengthening respect for doctrine.” To this day, we continue to sing the
Gregorian chants. For instance, you see an advert on television beginning with
a latin song, Credo in Deum…., you just know once it is a Catholic advert, such
chants as this were composed at the rather forceful request of St. Gregory. So
imagine what the Catholic Church would have been without this great man?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Let us
pray:
Come Holy
Spirit. Fill me daily with your power, order my steps in your word. Transform
me completely and use me to touch the lives of all those I meet daily that
through your anointing, I may do great things for God. Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you.
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