AletheiAnveshana: God’s Spirit Works Mysteriously: Num 11:25-29; Js 5:1-6; Mk 9:38-43,45,47-48 (26 B)

Saturday, 28 September 2024

God’s Spirit Works Mysteriously: Num 11:25-29; Js 5:1-6; Mk 9:38-43,45,47-48 (26 B)

 


God’s Spirit Works Mysteriously


Num 11:25-29; Js 5:1-6; Mk 9:38-43,45,47-48 (26 B)

“…you are saved by grace, … but by the will of God through Jesus Christ” (Divine Office)

 

The Catholic Church is the original Christian Church that has been faithful to Christ for two thousand twenty-four years. But we also see how God works in other faiths too. Many determined faith-filled people who do not confess Jesus Christ, live for God, serve him in the poor, sick and destitute of all faiths. There are also various spiritual leaders such as Dietrich Boenhaffer, a Lutheran, Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu, and Martin Buber, a Jew, Billy Graham, and R.R. K. Murthy in whom the Spirit of God works. The Spirit of God is still alive in the universal Church even the churches that do not share in the seven sacraments.


Eldad and Medad were not in the tent. They weren’t present with the 70 who received the Spirit of God in the days of Moses. Yet, Eldad and Medad received the Spirit. “Stop them,” Joshua said. Moses answered, “I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (Num 11:29). During the ministry of Jesus, particular man baptized in the name of Jesus. He was not one of the Twelve. Perhaps he heard Jesus speak and wanted to spread the Gospel. And - “Stop him,” John said. Jesus replied, “Do not stop him…Whoever is not against us is for us” (Mk 9:40).


Gregory of Nyssa (330-395 AD) wrote, “God never asks his servants to do what is impossible. The love and goodness of his Godhead is revealed as richly available. It is poured out like water upon all. God furnishes each person according to his will the ability to do something good”. Do we rejoice in the good that others do? Jesus reprimands his disciples for their jealousy and suspicion. They were upset that someone who was not of their company was performing a good work in the name of Jesus. Are we like disciples when we get upset at the good deeds of others who seem to shine more than us? Paul says, “love is not jealous... but rejoices in the right” (1 Cor 13:4,6).


We are graced to live in the age of the Spirit of God. He transforms the world by working in the hearts of all good people. And thus, “The Church in the Modern World” (Vatican II), declared that all who are open to God, who are following their consciences, are themselves, in fact, members of the Church, saved by Jesus Christ. Eldad and Medad may not have been in the tent, and the one who was baptizing in the name of Jesus may not have been one of the disciples, but, still, the Spirit of God empowered them. What do we learn from this? The Spirit empowers people who had been away from the Church for years, inspiring them to return to the Church. Because the spirit of God works in them who continually ask forgiveness for the time they were away. Now the Spirit gives them meaning and purpose in life. Like Augustine they grieve, “Late have I loved thee” and learn that God never stop loving them.  They become the channel of the grace of God.


“..God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished in the Day of Christ..” (Divine Office)

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