“To put it simply: the Holy Spirit bothers us. Because he moves us, he makes us walk, he pushes the Church to go forward. And we are like Peter at the Transfiguration: ‘Ah, how wonderful it is to be here like this, all together!’ ... But don’t bother us. We want the Holy Spirit to doze off ... we want to domesticate the Holy Spirit. And that’s no good. because he is God, he is that wind which comes and goes and you don’t know where. He is the power of God, he is the one who gives us consolation and strength to move forward. But: to move forward! And this bothers us. It’s so much nicer to be comfortable.”That's the story of my life: "It's so much nicer to be comfortable."
Pope Francis, Encountering Truth: Meeting God in the Everyday
You know there is that excitement and fervor of the new encounter with Christ, with the Holy Spirit. And one knows what one must do, one promises and means it. Then comes the daily efforts of carrying out one's promises. We don't always have that excitement and to move forward seems so much effort.
Yes, Pope Francis nails it on the head. That's the faith the saints have, I suppose, they listen and move forward no matter what. I must allow myself to be bothered, to move forward.
I'm really enjoying this book, by the way, which will come out June 16. It's making a heckuva daily devotional. Every time I think I know where Pope Francis is going, he throws a little twist in there. We may still go to the destination I expected, but with a heightened understanding.
So the Church is made up of all of us, we are the ones who must do the changing. All of us. One person at a time, He does the stirring, or the bothering to goad us along because truly most of us, myself included, would like to just leave things alone, stay in our own little part of the world and wish everyone else would just get their happy on. Lest I forget, and the Holy Spirit must keep reminding me that I am also part of that stuck in the mud crowd who grumbles and gripes and lets negativity into my life. Rats, how did that happen again? If we don’t move forward or do some changing we become like stagnant water, smelly, rotten and undrinkable. We must continually be stirred to stay fresh and clean and attract those who are thirsty and show them the Lord. It is that way with the Church and it is that way with us as individuals in the Body of Christ.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder, Julie!
Nice Post!
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