THE HOLY SPIRIT AS WE CELEBRATE THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHURCH (PENTECOST; ACTS.2:1-41)

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity (One God but three in personality; Father, Son and Spirit) as the scripture stated ‘Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind (the HOLY SPIRIT) sweeping over the waters’ {Gen.1:2} and “God said, Let there be light and there was light” [Gen.1:3]; Jesus Christ is the word of God made flesh (“Mary said, you see before you the Lord’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said…” Lk.1:38 and the word of God spoken by the angel {“Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son and you must name him Jesus” Lk.1:31} became man that dwelt with us [‘Look the virgin is with child and will give birth to a son whom they will call Immanuel, a name which means God is with us’ Mtt.1:23]) hence Jesus said “do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?...” (Jn.14:10) and ‘still, I am telling you the truth: it is for your own good that I am going, because unless I go the paraclete will not come to you…’ (Jn.16:7).

WHAT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?

The Holy Spirit is a person just like Jesus and the Father hence “…I will send HIM to you” (Jn.16:7). God the Father made himself visible to our forefathers Adam and Eve “Then the Lord God gave the man this command, ‘you are free to eat of all the trees in the garden but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die” (Gen.2:16-17),  ‘the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden’ {Gen.3:8}. He is present in our midst today through his word {‘in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God’ Jn.1:1}, the body and blood of His Son Jesus Christ (‘Then he took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying this is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me, He did the same with the cup after supper and said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for you’ Lk.22:19-20), our encounter with the Holy Spirit (“and when he comes, he will show the world how wrong it was about sin and about who was in the right and about judgment” Jn.16:8) even as he helps us to pray correctly because prayer is a spiritual event, act, behavior, reasoning, perception e.t.c which the weak human person does not know how to undertake properly unless the Spirit comes to our assistance thus ‘and as well as this, the Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words; and ho who can see into all hearts knows what the Spirit means because the prayers that the Spirit makes for God’s holy people are always in accordance with the mind of God’ (Rom.8:26-27).

WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES

When the Holy Spirit comes into the heart of man; he is transferred to a higher union with God.

From paganism to a believer:

Here one encounters God (the real Word of God; Jn.1:1) for the first time in his life via friends, colleague, family relations, preachers e.t.c and is willing to give up the old passions of sin (1 Pet.1:14-16) for a better portion in the life of His Creator (Gen.1:27), the owner of the world and everything that dwells thereof (Ps.24:1) and by whom everything is being preserved (Heb.2:10).

From a believer to a Spirit-lead creature (Gal.5:18):

Here the man who has accepted to follow Christ (‘when he has brought out all those that are his, he goes ahead of them and the sheep follow because they know his voice’ Jn.10:4) will now begin to make efforts to understand and know his master more(James 4:8) by imbibing the fear of God in all his/her activities whether seen by others or not because there is now a new knowledge that one day man will stand to answer for every thought, word, action, desires, intentions e.t.c involved-in within his span in the world (Isaiah 48:22, Gal.6:7) before the judgment throne of God (Mtt.25:31-46), reading and listening to the word of God in order to gain knowledge of God (‘my people perish for want of knowledge…’Hosea 4:6), understanding what prayer is by rephrasing these words(“…Lord teach us to pray as John taught his disciples” Lk.11:1) to God, praying consistently (1Thess.5:17) for clarification (“call on me, I will answer you and I will teach you the secrets you know nothing about” Jer.33:3) as well as putting into practice what was learnt from the Word and the directions from the Spirit through our encounter with him in our prayers. Here the Spirit teaches us about sin, virtue and judgment thus ‘and when he comes he will show the world how wrong it was about sin and about who was right and about judgment: about sin in that they refuse to believe in me; about who was in the right: in that I am going to the Father and you will see me no more; about judgment: in that the prince of this world is already condemned’ {Jn.16:8-11}. It is at this level that we encounter great difficulty because our old passions, friends, family relations, school-mates, office colleagues e.t.c will be put to serious war against the Spirit (Gal.5:16-18) but through endurance which is the power of God in us who believe (‘but to those who did accept him he gave the power to become children of God to those who believed in his name’ Jn.1:12) but His Love for us makes us more than conquerors (‘Can anything cut us off from the love of Christ? can hardships or distress, or persecution, or lack of food and clothing or threats or violence…No; we come through all these things triumphantly victorious by the power of Him who loved us’ Rom.8:35-37). More than conquerors are those who enjoy other people’s effort like the wife, children and relations of a governor share the victory of their loved one who won the elections but they have little or nothing to say about what he underwent to get to that position thus Christ came and died for our sin, taking victory over death then leaving us to enjoy all his riches by the mere mention of his name JESUS (Phil.2:10).

From a Spirit-lead creature to a drunk in the Spirit (Eph.5:17):

Here a Spirit-lead child of God moves out of his/her personal practice of Christian virtue within himself to the love and desire of making others come to the knowledge of God (Mtt.28:20, Col.4:5) as well as helping them maintain this new phase of life as much as possible with every sense of humility, wisdom and patience. Here the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit begin to manifest whether in the extrinsic or intrinsic mode (1 Cor.12:1-11). At this level all decisions, actions, thoughts, desires are made after consultations with the Holy Spirit through prayers (Jer.33:3) and others whom the Spirit may lead you to for further clarification and direction (Mal.2:7; “the lips of priest contains knowledge and in their mouths should the law be sought”. Acts.9:10-18; the encounter of Ananias with Saul at his conversion).

From a drunk in the Spirit to a consistent child of God (Isaiah 40:31, Isaiah 11:5):

The man whose desire to make others maintain their integrity with God (Job.27:5) puts in all at his beck and call to maintain his own union with God through feeding on the body and Blood of Christ (Our Righteousness, Savior and Keeper; 1 Cor.1:30), fasting and praying with sincerity of purpose (Acts.13:2, 1 Cor.13:1-13) since the scripture noted “but those who hope on the Lord will regain their strength, they will sprout wings like eagles, though they run they will not grow weary though they walk they will never tire” [Isaiah 40:31] and ‘uprightness will be the belt around his waist and constancy the belt about his hips’ (Isaiah 11:5) as we know that it is only those who persevere to the end will be saved (Mtt.24:13).

From a consistent child of God to a son awaiting the crown of Heavens Glory (2 Tim.4:6-8):

Having consistently obeyed the Holy Spirit in all humility, patience, love and joy (Rom.14:17-19), one can then begin to see the fruits of his labor in those he has nurtured to carry on in this great and wonderful task for replacement as the first apostles did to close up the vacancy of Judas by ordaining Mathias (Acts.1:15-26) also this function is performed by the legally ordained as well as obedient Bishops of the Church of Christ (Mtt.16:18-19) who today ordain our  brothers after long years of formation in the seminary to take their place for continuity because Christ is the foundation of the church (Mtt.16:18) who is the same today, yesterday and forever (Heb.13:8). This is what gave Paul great joy in his son Timothy when he told him to fan into flame the Spirit he received from God through him at the laying on of his hands (2 Tim.1:6) as he awaits the crown of glory which Christ will give him and all those who remained steadfast under the direction of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim.4:6-8) which is the Spirit that will raise (‘and suddenly there was a violent earthquake, for the angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat on it’ Mtt.28:2) those who obeyed (“he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross” Phil.2:8)till the end like Jesus from the dead and take them to the right hand of God as Jesus was ascended after forty days of being with his apostles (Lk.24:50-53)

CHOOSING TO FOLLOW THE ULTIMATE GOOD (MAINTENANCE CULTURE)

Many have decreed, desired, yearned and longed to follow the path way that leads to GOD (the Ultimate Good ‘Gen.1:31’) Our Righteousness (1 Cor.1:30) and His Blessings (Gen.12:3, Ex.19:5, Num.6:24-26, Deut.28:1-14) but all to no avail because we fail to understand the steps towards HIM within this Heavenly Pathway (The One Church of Christ; Mtt.16:18-19) as

Knowledge of GOD (‘my people suffer for lack of knowledge…’ Hosea 4:6) i.e one needs to have an in-clew (“Show me the way of your precepts that I may reflect on your wonders” Ps.119:27) of what is being desired through reading the Holy Bible and imploring the Spirit to open the eyes of our mind (“open my eyes and I shall fix my gaze on the wonders of your Law” Ps.119:18) to understand what His Words holds for us or through the guidance of a wise but humble contemporary (‘…seek advice of every wise person…’ Tobit 4:5)

Accepting Jesus (‘Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened and I will give you rest…’ Mtt.11:28-29) as our personal Lord and Savior via baptism whether infant (Mtt.19:14-14) or adult (Mtt.28:18-20) lest we return to the old path “the unbelievers whose minds have been blinded by the god of this world, so that they cannot see shining the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of GOD” [2 Cor.4:4] and be like the seed that fell on patches of rock which later withered away (Mtt.13:5-6) but we should pull of our old passions (“Do not allow yourselves to be shaped by the passions of your old ignorance” 1Pet.1:14) by submitting our Will-Power to the dictates, direction and control of the Holy Spirit; who alone can give us the GRACE to resist and renounce Devil and evil will flee from us hence we draw closer to GOD and He will take hold of our soul (James 4:7-8) because the salvation of our soul is more important to us than having a refreshed body parts (‘I shall wear myself out for your salvation… My eyes too are worn out waiting for your promise’ Ps.119:81-82)

Communion with GOD (“Come let us talk this over…” Isaiah 1:18)

This entails having a special quiet time/moment with THE ALONE BUT COMPLETE BEING (‘I am the Alpha and Omega’ Rev.22:13) within the early hours of the day ([at midnight, I rise to praise you Oh GOD for your just judgment ‘Ps.119:62’ ]midnight till 5AM) via contemplative prayers and reflection on THE WORD as it affects the submission of our WILL-POWER to the Holy Spirit (James 4:7) before Holy Mass in order to draft a special prayer intention for the day, the consciousness of which helps us to flee from sin and its environment (“with so many witnesses in great cloud all around us, we too then should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely and with perseverance keep running in the race which lies ahead of us” Heb.12:1)

in order to ascertain how we stand with our GOD (‘…but the people who know their GOD will stand firm and take action’ Dan. 11:32)i.e getting to know our weak and strong points, thrashing out our weak points and reinforcing our strong points through a firm resolve (Joshua 24:15) on channeling the WILL- POWER towards what is good, pleasing and perfect to GOD (Rom.12:1-2) and the strength to carry out this strong but easy (Phil.4:13) task is often renewed (Isaiah 40:31) by a conscious awareness of the fact that we have the indwelling of the TRIUNE BUT ONE GOD of all possibilities (‘for nothing is impossible to GOD’Lk.1:37) in us when we worthily receive the Body and Blood of Christ (“for my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink” Jn.6:55)

and is only found in the Church of Christ because she alone has maintained the apostolic succession of the first twelve apostles who were given the authority to offer same sacrifice in HIS remembrance (Lk.22:19-20) for the life of the world (Jn.6:51) hence the world cannot exist in a day without a single Holy Mass (THE SUPREME SACRIFICE) which is the highest event that takes place in the whole world but we who have this privileged rarely partake consciously (both priests and the faithful) in it not to mention the issue of unworthy reception of the Holy Eucharist which has strangled the souls of many as it lead Judas to suicide that is why we have an arithmetic increase in the number of those who receive the Holy Eucharist with a corresponding Geometric increase in the number of atrocities in our world though not all who receive are guilty of this charge but a higher percentage as well as those who have disintegrated from this Heavenly nourishment due to sins like faction (Heresy; [Gal.5:21]), immorality (in all forms; Gal.5:19, Rom.1:28-32), unrepentant hearts (Acts.7:51) e.t.c .

COMMUNION WITH OTHERS AND ENVIRONMNENT (Jn.6:51, Ps.34:13-14)

The worthy reception of the Holy Eucharist spurs one into genuine love (1 Pet.4:8) for others as well as our environment not by giving up on a truth (‘Do not be led astray by all sorts of strange doctrines…’Heb.13:9) rather get rid of every form of deceit (Eph.4:31) in order to build strong, robust and flexible relationship/environment where injustice and wickedness will give way for genuine peace, love, justice, joy e.t.c (Ps.34:13-14) hence ‘the peace I give is not like the one the world gives’ but the Spirit of perseverance on the truth (“never give up on what is right” 2 Thess.3:13) because ‘you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free (Jn.8:32) since the fundamental purpose of our existence on earth is to bear witness to the truth (‘…I was born for this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth…’ Jn.18:37) by helping ourselves to know when we are rejecting the Holy Spirit (Acts.7:51) through commission/omission (“others you must save by snatching them from fire; to others again you must be compassionate but wary, hating even the lust of their dressing” Jude 1:23) lest we submit to cowardice which purports us as people heading for the lake that burns with sulphur and brimstone (Hell; Rev.21:8) as we are aware that nothing unclean or defiled will enter the city (‘But what you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living GOD, the Heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival’ Heb.12:22)but only those who by their steadfastness (‘far from admitting you to be right, I shall maintain my integrity to my dying day’ Job 27:5) to what is right, pleasing and perfect in the sight of GOD will have their names scribbled on the Lambs book of life (Rev.21:27).   

FEAR NOT (Isaiah 43:1)

“…Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1) hence we should not be moved even when it seems all efforts to maintain our integrity with GOD (Job 27:5) is not yielding the expected results but we have to continually return to HIM (‘but those who hope in GOD will regain their strength, they will sprout wings like eagles, though they run they will not grow weary, though they walk they will never tire’ Isaiah 40:31) through the sacrament of reconciliation (“Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive have been forgiven and whose sins you retain have been retained” Jn.20:22-23)because He does not spurn a humble contrite heart (Ps.51:17) but one with haughty looks, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood (abortion inclusive [Lev.17:11]), a heart that weaves wicked plots, feet that hurry to do evil, a false witness who lies with every breath and one who sows dissension among brothers (Prov.6:16-19). The authority to forgive sins through the sacrament of reconciliation lies only within the ministerial priesthood of the Catholic church who are the only people with the apostolic succession of the first twelve apostles of Christ (Mtt.10:2-4) with Simon Peter as the head (Mtt.16:18-19), the shepherd who will feed His lamb after He is gone (Jn.21:15-17) and the spokesman of all his brethren on the day of Pentecost (“Men of Judaea, and all you who live in Jerusalem make no mistake about this, but listen carefully to what I say: These men are not drunk as you imagine…” Acts.2:14-36) hence ‘…the Church of the living GOD, pillar and support of the truth’ (1 Tim.3:15). Those who are outside the sheepfold trying to enter through some other way (Jn.10:1) are being invited by Christ the head of the BODY; the Church (Eph.6:23, Mtt.16:18) and Our Mother Mary (‘Mother behold thy Son, Son behold thy Mother…’ Jn.19:26) and all the members of the body (the branches of the True Vine []Jn.15:4-5) to follow the gate (Jn.10:2) begin the race and sustain it till the end since only those who persevere till the end will be giving the crown of unfading glory (2 Tim.4:8) and to make the journey light He gave us his Body and Blood so that those who receive HIM worthily will not die (Jn.6:50; give up their strength on the way) rather they will live forever (Jn.6:51; keep the fire burning till the end).

THE WILL OF MAN (The Energy to choose between goodness and evil; Joshua 24:15)

The fundamental problem of man who is developmental being with Soul, Mind and Body presently is that we have channeled our will power and priority towards developing the mind (Intellect, fame, Carrier-pursuit) and body (fashion, glamour, wealth) with its ironical end; Death. Here the developed mind (brain) is left to the mercies of maggot and the wealth is transferred to next of kin or ‘an enemy’  confirming the words of St.Paul “what I am saying, brothers is that mere human nature cannot inherit the kingdom of GOD: what is perishable cannot inherit what is imperishable” (1 Cor.1:50) and with this we stand the risk of losing our soul to Devil who did blind the eyes of minds while on earth with affluence and fame lest we see the light of the gospel (2 Cor.4:4). Those who misuse their will power for evil the scripture tagged cowards (Rev.21:8) and their place is the lake that burns with sulphur and brimstone which is the second death.

We need to redirect our will power towards GOD from whom all Good things comes(Gen.1:31) by feeding our soul with HIS Words and cleansing our soul with prayers (Highest is the Holy Mass “without shedding of the blood there will be no forgiveness” Heb.9:22)so that we can overcome the temptations of our world and the darts of the enemy the devil. This re-alignment of the will of man will avail us of the opportunity of being his Special Treasure as he promised in Exodus 19:5 ‘If therefore, you obey my commandments and maintain my covenant I shall make of you a special treasure unto me of all the people on the earth, for the whole earth is mine’ hence “I shall bless those who bless you and shall curse those who curse you and all clans on earth will bless themselves by you” (Gen.12:3). A move in this direction debays us from giving what is sacred (Our Bodies [1 Cor.3:16-17]) to dogs (Devil [Rev.12:2]) as the scripture admonished us (Mtt.7:6).

UNWILLING TO COMMUNICATE WITH GOD (‘Come; let us talk this over…’ Isaiah 1:18)

Because of sin, ill-health, fear, anxieties, worries, problems, seemingly unanswered prayers (1 Sam.16:7 ‘my ways are different from yours’) e.t.c we are being admonished by Our Lord not to give up hence “Pray always and do not lose heart” LK.18:1 because “…the Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness, for when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words and He who can see into all hearts knows what the Spirit means because the prayers that the Spirit makes for God’s holy people are always in accordance with the mind of GOD” (Rom.8:26-27)i.e whether the environment is conducive or not, we ought to glorify GOD through Whom everything is being preserved (Heb.2:10), Who is supreme over nations and the whole world (Ps.46:10), the Master and Lord of the Universe (Sirach 36:1) and the One from whom everything derived its good origin (Gen.1:31)

If we fail to maintain our communication link (Prayer) with the Complete Being (Alpha and Omega; Rev.22:13) then we definitely begin to walk towards despair (Rev.21:8) which is a factor that makes us susceptible to the accusations of satan before our GOD (Rev.12:10) hence providing obstacles to the solution of our problems/weakness as the prince of Persia did towards Daniel prayers (Dan.10:9-14) but insisting on prayers (the Highest of which is the HOLY MASS [Lk.22:19-20, Jn.6:51,53-58, Lk.24:35]),  meditating, sharing as well as living on His Holy Words which gives us vantage over our enemies, teachers, elders including restraining from evil paths(Ps.119:97-101).

MAN A TRANSCENDENTAL BEING (Gen.1:26-28)

Man was brought forth into the world thus ‘The Lord God shaped man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils and man became a living being’ {Gen.2:7} hence we are earth-bound (living in the flesh; Gal.5:19-21) and must return to earth (dust you are and to dust you must return) but the breath of life giving to us by God makes us heaven bound where God dwells (‘our God is in heaven and He does whatever he wills’ Ps.115:3 & “but our homeland is in heaven and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” Phil.3:20) as well as a composite of two warring parties (‘the desires of self-indulgence are always in opposition to the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are in opposition to the self-indulgence: they are opposites, one against the other; that is how you are prevented from doing the things that you want to’ Gal.5:17) but by the shedding of His Blood (Heb.9:22, Rev.12:11) on the cross of calvary for the whole human race (‘after Jesus had taken the wine he said, It is fulfilled and bowing his head he gave up his spirit’ Jn.19:30), he transfigured the wretched body of ours into the mould of his glorious body through the working of the power which he has, even to bring all things under his mastery (Phil.3:21) hence Christ has made us masters of everything in the world (Gen.1:26), righteous people for Christ our Redeemer is our Righteousness (1 Cor.1:30) who replaced our old life of sin with his own thus “so Christ too, having offered himself only once to bear the sin of many will manifest himself a second time, sin being no more to those who are waiting for him, to bring them salvation” [Heb.9:28] and people who are trained to be on the alert (‘so stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow or dawn’ Mk.12:35) and conscious (“who else is there for me in heaven? And with you, I lack nothing on earth” Ps.73:25) of our home where we belong as firstborn sons and daughters (Heb.12:22-24) having being sent into the world to testify to this truth (‘…I was born for this; I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth…’ Jn.18:37).

The question we should ask ourselves today is; are we actually the masters of our world and its events (family principles and rules, office behaviors, fashion demeanors, market regulations, state laws, church doctrines, entertainment ideals, laws of institutions, relationship between individuals e.t.c)? or are they masters over us hence subjecting our personality to mockery thus ‘righteousness exalts a nation while sin is a reproach to the people’ (Prov.14:34) and this is cowardice “but the legacy for cowards, for those who break their word or worship obscenities for murderers and the sexually immoral and for sorcerers, worshippers of false gods or any other sort of liars is the second death in the burning lake of sulphur” (Rev.21:8).

Brethren, we need to be conscious of our home in whatever we are doing lest we give up our heritage to the enemy who is ever on the prowl to destroy souls (1 Pet.5:7-8)pulling us away from the glory we share with God as the scripture stated ‘ye are gods’. If we are therefore matching towards heaven we need to maintain our integrity with HIM (job.27:5) by letting the law of the Spirit to be the rule of our lives (Gal.5:25) thus ‘be lead by the Spirit’ (Gal.5:18), “be drunk of the Spirit” {Eph.5:17} so that our imperishable being will be able to inherit the imperishable(1 Cor.15:50) of our Father’s home (Mtt.6:9) since it is only what is born of human nature is human; what is born of the Spirit is spirit (Jn.3:6).

This consciousness for our home will be more visible in our environment when we begin to clothe ourselves for the glory of God (Rom.8:13) even those around us; giving out those decent clothes, shoes, jewelleries e.t.c  we leave out on our wardrobe from January to December as decorating materials to those who are naked including our houseboys, house-maid and friends for a prayer of blessing on our behalf.

Thinking home; most of us have migrated from one rural areas to the city which was designed and developed by other peoples effort but find it very difficult to attend to the fundamental needs of our nuclear families, kindred, village, towns problem which lead to the migration rather we choose to wallow in affluence in these areas hence at the break of the book-haram many who had multiple duplex were forced to squat in their brothers house who they initially refer to as a peasant farmer and refused to contribute to their children’s school fees as well as partake in the meals prepared by their brothers wife or mother who was formally nicknamed a witch. The friends and relations we easily forget when we get to the city now provides the mania job used to make little money for feeding the family as well as opting to carter for our well being including the school fees of our children. Those initially called village boys and girls are now the only succor you have. The Lord owns the world and all that dwells therein (Ps.24:1), “The Lord makes poor and rich, he humbles and also exalts” (1 Sam.2:7). Let us begin to use our high positions and offices to better the lifestyle, carrier and behavior of our people both in our place of residence as well as nuclear home in a balanced manner for this is real faith (how does it help, when someone who has never done a single good act claims to have faith? Will that faith bring salvation? James 2:14)

HOLY SPIRIT (ACTS.2:1-13)

LET US AVAIL OURSELVES THE OPPORTUNITY OF RENEWING THE EVER-PRESENT COMPANION OF OUR LIFE WHICH HAS BEEN MADE LATENT (INACTIVE) BY OUR SINFUL LIFESTYLES (EPH.4:30) VIA ATTENDING THE PENTECOST WEEK PROGRAM IN OUR DIFFERENT DIOCESAN SECREATARIATS

TALKS , SEMINARS, PRAYERS AND PENTECOST MIDNIGHT MASS
FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT ATTEND;
DRAFT A SPECIAL PRAYER PROGRAM FOR MIDNIGHT PRAYER (12:00AM-3:00AM; 'AT MIDNIGHT I RISE TO PRAISE YOU OH GOD FOR YOUR JUST JUDGMENT' PS.119:62) THIS MID-NIGHT PRAYER PROGRAM SHOULD BE GEARED TOWARDS REVOLUTION FROM SIN-CONTOLLED LIFE TO SPIRIT LEAD LIFE (GAL.5:18, EPH.5:17) FOR BETTER THINGS TO BEGIN HAPPENING IN OUR LIVES ("SO FOR ANYONE WHO IS IN CHRIST, THERE IS A NEW CREATION: THE OLD ORDER IS GONE AND A NEW BEING IS THERE TO SEE" 2COR.5:17).

'SINCE WE ARE LIVING BY THE SPIRIT, LET OUR BEHAVIOR BE GUIDED BY THE SPIRIT' (GAL.5:25).AMEN.

THE FEAR OF GOD

In a world where the vast majority of people are purportedly followers of Christ (including myself) who came and died for us that we may have life in abundance (Jn.10:10) hence “consumatum est” (it is fulfilled/finished; Jn.19:30) was finally declared by the Son of God, he breathed his last and to confirm that He was truly the Son of GOD nature applauded his brevity (only those who persevere to the end will be saved) thus ‘and suddenly, the veil of the Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth quaked, the rocks were split, the tombs opened and the bodies of many people rose from the dead and these after his resurrection came out of the tombs entered the holy city and appeared to a number of people’ {Mtt.27:51-53}. Then what is the reason for man’s inhumanity on the other?

Majority of the parents, priests, preachers, teachers, friends, colleagues e.t.c go ahead bombarding us with every other teaching about GOD (Deut.11:18-21) while leaving out the most important and the basic building block for true followership; THE FEAR OF GOD (“The fear of The Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools spurn wisdom and discipline” Prov.1:7) as well as the retributive justice of GOD (‘No sinner will go unpunished’) rather we blame, magnify and glorify satan for accidents, problems, our misbehaviors e.t.c from a subtle snake (Gen.3:1) to a dragon (Rev.12:3) hence accruing glory to the fear of the devil than the FEAR OF GOD which makes people believe satan can take away human life while the scripture stated “The Lord gives death and life, brings down to sheol and draws up” (1 Sam.2:6).

It is the GOD of Justice (‘we are well aware that people who behave like that are justly condemned by God’ Rom.2:2) whose temple (1 Cor.3:16) we are that punishes us (“There is no peace for the wicked” Isaiah 48:22) when we defile our bodies (‘if anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy that person because God’s temple is holy and you are that temple’ 1 Cor.3:17) hence we suffer the beatings from the conscience and deduce the mishaps of our present predicaments as the results of our past lifestyles that were in opposition to GOD’s glory (1 Cor.10:31).

The opposition to GOD’s glory is evil (the devil [1 Pet.5:8-9]) and evil is real on earth (“…but for you earth and sea, disaster is coming because the devil has gone down to you in a rage knowing that he has little time left” Rev.12:12) but to them that fear GOD, evil forces are negligible because “they have triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word to which they bore witness, because even in the face of death they did not cling to life” {Rev.12:11}. The fear of GOD in a man/woman makes a person ever consistent in righteousness even in the face of death (trials and tribulations) since Jesus Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor.1:30) who said ‘I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have hardship but be courageous I have conquered the world’ [Jn.16:33] and he is the Jesus Christ of yesterday, today and forever (Heb.13:8) hence whether we are in the office, inside our room, on the road, in the school, on top of the mountain, in the darkest part of the night/earth e.t.c where someone is watching or not (“where shall I go to escape your spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence...?” Ps.139:7-12); we continue to maintain our integrity with GOD (Job 27:5) bearing in mind that there is a penalty for every act, thought and desire of man (‘I, the Lord search the heart, test the motives to give each person what his conduct and his actions deserve’ Jer.17:10, Gal.6:7) and “righteousness exalts a nation while sin is a reproach to the people” {Prov.14:34}, ‘for those who aimed for glory, honor and immortality by persevering in doing good, there will be eternal life’ [Rom.2:7]. The stubborn act of disobeying God will bring us great distress and retribution some time, somewhere in the future thus “your stubborn refusal to repent is only storing up retribution for yourself on that day of retribution when God’s just verdicts will be made known” (Rom.2:5) and this referral ‘but for those who out of jealousy have taken for their guide not truth but injustice, there will be fury of retribution. Trouble and distress will come to every human being who does evil…’ Rom.2:9.

Some people misconstrue grace which was brought to our weak human nature through the death and resurrection of Christ as license to disobeying God hence let me go and commit fornication after I will go and confess my sins forgetting that pain and calamity will visit any human being who deliberately does evil (Rom.2:9) after we have been given knowledge of the truth (Heb.10:26-27) since the scripture noted “Don’t delude yourself: God is not to be fooled; whatever someone sows, that is what he will reap” {Gal.6:7}. The sacrament of reconciliation relieves us from the punishment of entering the pit of hell for disobeying GOD (Jn.20:22-23) but the justice of God we will pay with our blood to make amendment for treating with disdain the blood of the covenant which was used to sanctify mankind (Heb.10:29) via almsgiving, restitution, mortification, fasting, indulgence e.t.c

The presence of Holy Spirit in man is therefore wholly ascertained by consistency in righteousness (‘be holy as He is holy’ 1Pet.1:16 and “those who wait on the Lord will have their strength renewed, their wings sprout like an eagle’s; though they run they will not be weary, though they walk they will not get tired” Is.40:31) not via miracles, prophecy, signs and wonders, speaking in tongues though they are good attributes of God’s children (1Cor.12:4-11). Consistency in righteousness is brought about by the conscious awareness of the GOD of justice in us (activation of the Fear of God in our conscious and sub-conscious nature) which is made possible by drawing closer to GOD (James 4:7-8) via partaking in the Holy Mass everyday (Heb.9:22), visit to the Blessed Sacrament (Mtt.11:28-29), imploring the intercession of the saints whose prayers ascend the throne of God like pleasing incense (Rev.5:4, 8:4) via saying the Holy rosary and reflecting on the virtues they practiced while on earth, creating a personal time for God in silent prayer to understand Him better (‘call on me, I will answer you and I will teach you the secrets you know nothing about’ Jer.33:3), reading and sharing the Word of God with yourself and others (Col.4:5), having a prayer intention for each day which reflects in all your activities for the day (Lk.18:1) hence you keep watch over your heart with Godly thoughts since in it lies the wellsprings of life.

The sooner we start the process of activating the spirit of the FEAR OF GOD in us, the better for our soul (‘but now declare the Lord come back to me with your heart fasting, weeping, mourning. Tear your hearts and not your clothes and come back to the lord your God… who knows if he will not come back, relent and leave a blessing behind him’ Joel 2:12-14) because no one knows the time, place or moment when the Son of man will come. To those who are already standing by the grace of GOD “I am coming soon: hold firmly to what you already have and let no one take your victor’s crown away from you” {Rev.3:11}  because it is only those that persevere to the end that will receive the crown of unfading glory [2 Tim.4:8].