Dear Friends,
As you have heard me frequently say, you do not need to be perfect to follow Jesus nor do we need to have everything in our lives in perfect order to be a disciple of Jesus. If we wait until our lives are perfect before becoming disciples of Jesus Christ, none of us ever would. Jesus meets each of us where we are right now as long as we are willing to let Jesus show us the way.
The gospels make a clear point that the apostles and other followers of Jesus were far from perfect. Peter vowed that he would never leave Jesus and then denied him three times. Thomas had to have proof that the man standing before him was really Jesus. Only John was willing to stand at the foot of the cross along with a small group of women and Jesus’ mother. Most of the disciples went into hiding the moment Jesus was arrested. Even after the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples at Pentecost, they still doubted, argued with each other, and hid when the going got tough.
This past week as we celebrated All Saints and All Souls Days, we remembered loved ones who have gone before us who, while not perfect people, helped guide us to be followers of Jesus. I hope you had a chance this week to think about those deceased loved ones who had a great influence on you and to say thanks. They were likely people you unconsciously imitated simply because you spent so much time observing them while you were growing up. Others you may have deliberately chose to observe and emulate, by watching them or hearing them speak. Perhaps you deliberately tried to act like them by calling to mind what they would have done in certain situations. Either way, you were molded by how they acted and how they lived. You knew, that if you could be like them, then all would be well in your life.
One of the more surprising things that happened in the early Church was that when the Holy Spirit entered the followers of Jesus at Pentecost, that it entered into all of them, not just the apostles or a few specially chosen. That inclusiveness of the Holy Spirit was clearly evident as we remembered our deceased loved ones on the feasts of All Saints and All Souls. Perhaps, they were never noticed by the broader community, but the Holy Spirit led them in such a way that their life touched your life and is still bearing fruit through you.
That same Holy Spirit is present in you. If you are open to it, the Holy Spirit will work through you in all parts of your day. Each of us may experience the Holy Spirit in a unique way, shaped by our personalities and experiences. However, there are some common characteristics of being Spirit-filled. We know from scripture that those who have the Spirit display the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those fruits, while challenging to maintain on our own, come flowing forth abundantly from those who let the Spirit work in them. Wouldn’t the world be lovely if those gifts of the Spirit were present in the people we meet each day rather than the exception. We may not be able to change those we meet, but we can choose to let the fruits of the Spirit flow through us and change us.
May our remembrances of loved ones during the month of November encourage each of us to be more open to the presence of the Spirit and enlarge our hearts with the Spirit’s gifts.
Peace,
Fr. Damian