Tuesday, September 4, 2018

4 September 2018 - faithful in all his words



We have not received the spirit of the world
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.

Because God gives us his Spirit we can receive and understand his word that gives life. The crowds may leave Jesus but we know that he alone has the words of everlasting life. They are words with authority, unlike any other words. Other words don't affect what they signify. But the word of God has power.

What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and they come out.

What is there about his word? We who receive the Spirit understand.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (See Isaiah 55:11).

When Jesus tells us that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood we cannot understand it by our natural abilities or by the spirit of the world. His word itself gives us the ability to understand, beginning with faith, enduring in hope, and resulting in fervent charity. Only this kind of word could cause a miracle like the Eucharist. Only this kind of word can make us understand it.

The words of Jesus are not restricted to the Eucharist. He wants to transform, not just the bread and wine, but the whole world into an offering acceptable to God. We will find this similarly impossible unless his word gives us the power to believe. The world is full of things that seem to us to be like demonic possessions. Jesus wants us to trust that there is no demon he can't cast out. There is no heart he can't set free.

The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.

We who believe cannot be judged by the old and hopeless paradigms. They will always misrepresent what is possible. Let us remember, when others try to judge us, that only what Jesus thinks should matter.

The one who is spiritual, however, can judge everything
but is not subject to judgment by anyone.


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