And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained."
This gift is first to his Church, giving her life. It is not just any life. Only God can forgive sins after all. Jesus gives his own life, divine life, to his Church. But it is not too the priests alone that his divine life is given. The manifestations are different in each of us but it is for everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for some benefit.
Without the Spirit we have no power. We have no life. We are like Adam before God breathes Spirit into him. We are inanimate clay without the Spirit. We can say the words "Jesus is Lord" but only the Holy Spirit gives life to those words and makes them true in us.
We must not try to live the Christian life without the manifestations of the Spirit that God desires each of us to have. Otherwise we end up with a body missing a hand, a foot, or an ear. No one is inconsequential. We all have a part to play.
Even if we've allowed the Spirit into our lives he always he more for us. He is always calling us deeper. He wants to manifests more and more as we become more willing to surrender to him and trust him. Let us invite him to enter our hearts afresh today.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
We need to welcome him or else our proclamations of the Lordship of Christ will be lifeless. We won't have the Spirit confirming our words with signs and wonders as he is meant to do, as he, in fact, desires to do.
If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
Come Holy Spirit, give us to drink of the water of life!
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