by Fr Joseph Mafola
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1st Reading Proverbs: 8:22-31
Responsorial Psalm PS: 8:4-9
2nd Reading Romans: 5:1-5
Gospel John: 16: 12-15
At baptism God brought us into his own family. We must therefore come to know the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the members of that wonderful family to which we belong. Through the Holy Spirit we go on discovering God’s love, wisdom and power day to day, and our hearts are filled with joy at every step in our life.
Human terms fail to express the wonderful life that goes on between the three divine persons. God has willed us to share in that life. We started sharing it at baptism, when Jesus communicated to us the Holy Spirit just as he had sent Him on the apostles on Pentecost day. While in this world we partially share in God’s life: the work of the Spirit within us is to render us fit to share in full that life on reaching heaven.
During our life on earth, the Holy Spirit partially goes on teaching us the way we should love God and our brothers and sisters. We should learn to love the way God loves: never counting the costs.
The spirit goes on training us to gradually become the loving children that we ought to be within God’s family, rather than the quarrelling children that we often are. In his letter to Romans St. Paul clearly highlights three main points;
1. Believing in Jesus we were cleansed of our sins at baptism
2. We were made Gods children
3. We were put on our way to heaven
The spirit gives courage to suffer for Christ if our faith calls us to do. We must work optimistically into our future since at baptism together with the spirit God’s love was poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5). We now form a family with them; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are ready to share with us all that they possess; light, joy, strength and life.
A Christian is one who spends his or her life on earth “in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit and always praises them for their love”. Only in heaven shall we know them perfectly and share in their life fully and praise them as they deserve.