THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME…IS HE REALLY?
Scripture: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me.” – Luke 4:18
Catechism: “In the Christian life, the Holy Spirit Himself accomplishes His work by mobilizing the whole being (person), with all its sorrows, fears and sadness, as is visible
in the Lord’s agony and passion…Moral perfection consists in mankind’s being moved to the good not by their will alone, but also by their sensitive appetite, as in the words
of the psalm: ‘My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God’.” – CCC #1769-1770
Brothers and sisters, last Thursday at weekday mass, we had this reading from Luke: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me;” as spoken by Jesus. And it
got me thinking, can I say that of myself? Can any of us honestly say that about ourselves? The truth is that He is not, if we do not and cannot love
others as Jesus loves. If we refuse to love as God wants us to.
When we are charged by God (in the Book of Leviticus), and by His Son (in Matthew, Mark, Luke) to love our neighbor as ourself (in John, Jesus
commands us to love others as He has loved us), the command is to love not just those that we like or like us back. The command is to also love
those who we don’t like, those who don’t behave like we want them to, and those who are different from us. Jesus’ command is to love ALL
neighbors, ALL people.
However, brothers and sisters, is that something that we can do? Are we willing to make the effort – even if it is going to be difficult? Just because
something is tough, is difficult, it is not the reason to stop trying. I see behavior like this every day – sadly, it happens in most families. Someone we
love doesn’t act, behave like we expect them to, then we get angry and “write them off.” This behavior has become more prevalent over the last few
years, based solely on politics.
Brothers and sisters, I can assure you that God does not judge us based on our political affiliation. He judges on what we hold in our hearts (I can’t
say this enough times, or any plainer). In the words of Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, “The heavenly banquet table is open to everyone, who is ready to sit
down with everyone.” Therefore, if we want to be invited to sit at the table when we leave this world, we should alter our lives and hearts here to
ensure we will sit when we arrive.
As a reminder, our relationship with the Lord is vertical. And, our relationships with one another is horizontal, because we are all equal in God’s
eyes. It is important for us to remember that when we bring these two directions together, they form a cross. And the One Who hung on the Cross
charged us all with one thing: “Love one another as I have loved you.”
Brothers and sisters, let us all strive to overcome our animosities, our sense of entitlement, our need to always be the “winner” over others, especially
those that we don’t care for. Let us overcome these weaknesses so that we may then be overcome by the Spirit of the Lord. As scripture tells us, “I
can do all things in Him Who strengthens me.”
Let us find the strength to love when it is difficult; to care for others when we don’t want to be bothered; to share our blessings rather than hoard
them for ourselves. When we can do these things, brothers and sisters, we will then be able to repeat the words of Jesus, “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me.”
“From our neighbor are life and death. If we do good to our neighbor, we do good to God.
If we do not care for our neighbor, we are not following Christ.”
-St. Anthony the Great
