Deacon Tom Anthony

 

 

Today we celebrate the Birthday of the Church. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit in the form of fiery tongues down upon his Apostles and disciples. They were commissioned to go out and baptize in the name of The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, to evangelize the Faith, and to build up the Kingdom of God here on this earth. This event marked the beginning of the Apostolic Age and the beginning of the Holy Mother Church. It is through this event that we now commission ourselves as Children of God to ask the Holy Spirit to move us in much the same way to a betterment of our own lives and a new commitment to our faith so as to live our lives to its fullest.

The Holy Spirit is the Love of God. It is through the Spirit that we feel the presence of our God and know that he is with us. The Spirit calls us forth to live our lives with God and recognize him as our Father. There is a oneness with God through the Spirit. He is always with us and has the ability to guide us, protect us, and to love us all the time. We are invited to partake in a beautiful relationship that has the ability to shape our every action, feeling, and emotion. Our relationship with God should be the most important relationship that we should ever have. By acknowledging the presence of the Spirit and letting it transform us with its presence will enable us to be complete. We cannot just rely on society telling us what to do. We need to be guided by God since he is our creator and master.

Each of us has a unique relationship with God. No one's Journey of Faith is the same as another person's. Paul mentions in his Letter to the Corinthians that there is one Spirit but many different spiritual gifts. These gifts are given to all of us and makes us a unique creation. We are all special We have a choice to use these gifts and talents correctly or we can ignore them. If we do in fact ignore them and live our lives without God we will never be truly happy. If we look back at our lives and recall when we made mistakes, a pattern can be seen. It is when we turned away from God or ignored him when things were bad. The challenge is to stay with him and to listen to what he wants us to do.

We have all been given different talents and abilities. These can range from the simplest skill to the most impressive ability that no one else can match. It is part of our personality and make-up. These are what makes us who we are. To use these things correctly is what God wants us to do. It becomes of celebration of God and his creation. To celebrate God is to love God. Our actions become a sort of prayer of thanksgiving and strengthens our relationship with him. Life can be a constant celebration and a new experience every day. It doesn't have to be a life filled with frustration, failure, and struggle. The simpler life is the more beautiful it becomes.

The quicker we acknowledge our sins and shortcomings the quicker we can repair our relationship with God. Once this is done we can then ask the question, “What do you want me to do?” We can take our individual gifts and talents and use them correctly to build a life for ourselves and emulate God through good works and example. Our life becomes a display of God's Creation and beauty. Life is Good. God is Good. We are his children. As the Spirit was present in the Apostles and disciples, so it is present in us. Let us never forget that God loves us.

Deacon Tom