I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
We humans are not like the angels in that our movements, including movement to knowledge, progress through stages. Perhaps some very smart individual might look at a complicated math problem and see the solution at once without working through it. This is a human approximation of the way angelic minds probably work. But for most of us, we would need to go through the proper steps if we were to solve it at all. We take this for granted with solving math problems, or with the development of science. Yet we expect something different from theology. We expect ourselves to be able to perfectly understand the message of Jesus all at once without engaging with it and growing in it. And then we are disappointed, either in ourselves, or in his teaching, when we fail to do so. The teaching of Jesus is a bit like math and science in that we need to engage the material with our own effort and study, but unlike math and science something more than our effort is required for our growth.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
The Spirit is a guide that helps us move to ever deeper understanding of the things Jesus said and taught. He works with us, patiently waiting for life and learning to correspond in us in such a way that previous teachings take hold, moving us to the next level when we are ready for it. He is the best of teachers not only because of his mastery of the subject matter but also because of how deeply he knows each of us who are his students.
The classroom of the Spirit is the word of God, with the Catechism as an important supplemental text. We ought to do our part to ensure this learning happens, that mostly being the fact of showing up. The Spirit will not overload us and then demean us for not getting everything right immediately. He himself knows what we can bear and when.
The promise of the guidance of the Spirit is primarily to the Church as a body as she learns to ever more deeply appreciate the multifaceted reality of the truth she was given once and for all. But we will most definitely not be enjoying our full birthright as members of the Church if we do not avail ourselves of the promise of the Spirit to us as individuals. Just as the Spirit guided the Church on the correct understanding of the Trinity, the human and divine natures of Jesus, the Sacraments, and many other things, so too does he desire to help us as children of the Church to understand. Unlike math and science, these truths are not mere abstractions, but realities that can transform our lives as we come to understand them more. They are primarily interpersonal, focused on relationship. And it is for this reason that the Spirit of truth is also the Spirit of Sonship and of adoption. His desire is not truth for the sake of abstract understanding, but truth empowering us to live as sons and daughters of the Father.
In our reading from Acts we see Paul building on the truths of Greek philosophers and poets with the revelation of Jesus Christ. In this we see that the Spirit himself had been building, and patiently overlooking times of ignorance, waiting for the moment when the listeners would be ready, and then moving them to the next step. From this we can see that the promise of Spirit of truth has an additional layer to the Ecclesial and the individual. There is also the missionary aspect. We are naturally disappointed when our efforts to evangelize don't meet with immediate success. And yet this is only rarely how it happens. We must learn to be patient as the Spirit as patient and to build when the Spirit says to build with the materials the Spirit himself has provided. Some might not be ready today, but perhaps tomorrow they will be able to bear it. The Spirit never gives up on anyone and so neither must we.
When they heard about resurrection of the dead,
some began to scoff, but others said,
"We should like to hear you on this some other time."
And so Paul left them.
But some did join him, and became believers.
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