Are you aware of the spiritual warfare that’s going on in your heart and in the world around you? Do you cling to the Holy Spirit to resist temptations? - Daily Reflections September 2,2014

THE EVIL SPIRIT AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

When Jesus is confronted by Satan in the form of a possessed man, it’s interesting that He does not discuss things with the devil. He just commands, “Be quiet! Come out of him!”

       The devil is still a reality today. He does not approach us in a possessed person, or with horns and tail. No, “the devil wears Prada,” meaning he has adjusted to the modern world and disguises himself as a nice person. Jesus has come to liberate us. He will set the world free from the presence of Satan forever, as the Book of Revelation says. Satan may still win a few battles, but he has already lost the war. We must not fear him; instead let us reject him when we feel he is tempting us.

       But we should not forget that there is another powerful Spirit — the Holy Spirit. St. Paul, in today’s First Reading, speaks of two kinds of people: those who cannot “see” yet the things of God, such as His plan of salvation, because they don’t know how to use a spiritual microscope, and those who can see all those wonderful realities using a spiritual microscope.

       St. Paul spontaneously refers to this spiritual microscope as the Holy Spirit, the natural mediator communicating God’s revelation to us. Paul explains that just as we alone know our innermost thoughts by the work of our mind, so also only the Spirit of God can know His deepest secrets and communicate them to us.

       We cannot see the Holy Spirit, but we can see its effects through its spiritual gifts. It is like the wind which we cannot see. We sense the wind only by its effects: feeling its coolness or seeing leaves on the trees moving.

       But one of the most important effects of the Holy Spirit is to make us focus on Jesus and the Father. That is why Jesus was so keen on sending His Spirit — so that we might finally come to understand who Jesus is.

       If we want to progress rapidly in our spiritual journey, let us offer ourselves to the Holy Spirit and, as a side effect, we will also be able to resist the temptations of that dark spirit, the devil. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Are you aware of the spiritual warfare that’s going on in your heart and in the world around you? Do you cling to the Holy Spirit to resist temptations?

 

Lord, send Your powerful Holy Spirit so that I may never give in to the temptations of the evil one.