“You are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. . . .
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit that dwells in you.” Romans 8: 9,11
Does the Spirit of God dwell in you and in me? Of course, She does. Jesus tells us this is so. But each of us has to consciously decide to let the Spirit of God “give life to our mortal bodies.”
Instead of letting this happen we may be blocking this by focusing our attention on other endeavors. As the Redemptorist retreat master Fr. Vincent Youngberg observes, too often we choose our actions based upon furthering or hiding two false images we have or want to have of ourselves: the “me” I want others to think that I am and the “me” that I think that I am. I am neither of these! Instead, I am who God knows me to be. How do I come to know that “me” unless I allow myself to sit quietly in God’s presence and let the Spirit “give life to my mortal body”?
Our culture seems to be leading us to believe that we have to be the ones who are “in charge” and “giving life to our mortal bodies” and to our souls. Are we? How foolish it is to waste our lives thinking and acting upon this belief. How much of my day is spent acting as if this is so? And the Spirit – within us – is patiently awaiting us to . . . !
+++++
“Jesus exclaimed, ‘No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.’” Matthew 11: 27
Likewise, no one knows you or me except God, our Father.
And no one knows the Father except Jesus and we who let Jesus reveal the Father to us so that in knowing the Father, we will be drawn into the realm of this Triune God and let God’s love pour out into all the world.
As small and insignificant as we sometimes may think we are in the midst of a vastly unbelieving world, we are the ones God chooses to reveal God’s Light to the nations. In the midst of our busyness about a whole lot of things that matter less than this, let us take time to “sit quietly in God’s presence and let the Spirit “give life to my mortal body” and soul. Romans 8:11
Sister Loretta
