16TH SUNDAY REFLECTION

16 SUNDAY REFLECTIONS....

HOLY SPIRIT OUR INTERCESSOR...

 

Today we reflect on the letter to the Romans (the second reading of the Sunday Mass) that presents the Holy Spirit as the Intercessor of the Saints. Here the phrase, ‘the Saints,’ stands for ‘Christians’ because all believers in Christ are made saints and holy by virtue of our baptismal consecration. The Holy Spirit as the intercessor prays to God for the saints (us) so that we fully understand the world and its transience. We accept the will of God with courage and confidence that eludes humanity. We consciously and willingly immerse ourselves into redemptive works of mercy. When we are tossed by the worldly values and hesitant to tread the path unravelled, the Holy Spirit prays for us. Moved by the Spirit’s prayer we are led to lead a counter-cultural and prophetical life. Often we become odd in our current milieu as the history bears testimony i.e., Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Mother Teresa. When the Saints are led by the Spirit, the will of God becomes the basis, means and end of the completion of God’s project for the integral and sustainable wellbeing of the inhabitants of the universe. The Holy Spirit helps the saints in our weakness when our memory itself becomes a burden with our past failures. The Bible bears witness to the fact that the saints themselves suffered from their personal weaknesses while they were being led by the Holy Spirit. (Saint Peter and Saint Paul) The Spirit gifted them with the realization that God wins at the end. They were able to experience forgiveness and forgive themselves for their past personal failures. The Spirit prays for the saints when they do not know how to pray as they ought. The spirit’s prayer let our eyes see the greater plan God has for the planet and the universe. The spirit prays for us that our crisis turns into an opportunity. Our sinful life becomes a saintly one. When the spirit prays, God strikes at times hard at the penury of our value system. Then we are pruned in the school of purification as gold is melted in the fire so that our life is only about the glory of God, not about ourselves. When the saints are cowed down by their personal failures and get scattered by the loss of the presence of God, the Holy Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. Darkness in itself during our prayer turns into the presence of God who searches the heart and knows what is in the mind of the Spirit. Gradually the saints learn to befriend the darkness so much that the darkness itself becomes the light and presence of God. For example, Mother Teresa was guided by Father Neuner, sj (her spiritual guide) to accept that the darkness in her life is the presence of the Crucified Lord making her long for the Lord. When she accepted the darkness as the presence of God, it vanished. There was only light, the presence of God. The Holy Spirit, our Intercessor of Saints, never allows us to remain in our own comfortable zones experiencing self-fulfillment. He perennially invites to embrace and experience pastoral fulfillment and God-fulfillment built on God-reliance and God-providence.