Bishop Barron on The Holy Spirit

you know what my favorite text in the New Testament is Galatians chapter 5 because people ask you all the time when you're priests how do I know what God wants me to do how do I know what the will of God is how do I know I'm walking the right path and I'll tell them look in Galatians chapter 5 because what you find are two wonderful passages one dealing with the works of the flesh Paul calls it and he lays those out if maybe I'll do a video eventually I met but then he says in contrast to those you find the fruit of the Holy Spirit in other words what are the signs that the Holy Spirit is in you so I'll tell people look at this passage and tell me are these things happening in your life then you're on the right path then you're probably walking the path Holy Spirit if they're not then you're probably not on the right path so it's Galatians chapter 5 and beginning with verse 22 Paul says this Allison in contrast the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness generosity faithfulness gentleness self-control nine fruits of the Holy Spirit who's the Holy Spirit back this up a little bit was it who is the Holy Spirit well we say the Holy Spirit is the love that connects the father in the son so the father from all eternity knows himself in that great act he generates an image in my goal the image of God this perfect image of the father is the son the father and son look at each other and in Fulton sheen put it this way they they sigh their love for each other and that shared breath that shared love is the holy spirit now salvation is all about the father sending the son all the way out to the very limits of God forsaken us so that we might be gathered into the love that the father and son share which we signal every time we do this right you say that God the Father so loved the world he said his only son all the way down that we might be gathered into the Holy Spirit that's when a Christian talks about the spiritual life he's not just using the language vaguely the way a lot of people do today I'm spiritual so here's the question that Paul is asking how do you know that you're in the Holy Spirit well you can't see and control the Holy Spirit you know it's like the wind that blows where he wills right but you can see the fruit of the Holy Spirit the consequences are effects of the Spirit that's why this text is so important so what I want to do is just look at some of the major themes Paul talks about so the first fruit of the Spirit is love now to no one's surprise because that's what the Holy Spirit is so if you have the spirit in you it'll show up as love now love is not a sentiment or feeling primarily love is an act of the will love is to want the good of the other and to do something about it not as I've often said this indirect egotism which is I'll be nice to you that you might be nice to me I'll you know wash your back you wash mine it's not that love is breaking out of this black hole of the ego it's it's getting out of the gravitational pull of the ego and really living for the other if you've got that then you're in the Holy Spirit if your life is characterized by that then the Holy Spirit is breathing through you then Paul talks about joy and peace it's been said I think correctly that the flag of the Holy Spirit is joy someone who's joyful has the Holy Spirit in him or her now make a contrast though we're not talking primarily about giddiness or even psychological satisfaction or stability those are all good I'm all in favor of that but the joy we're talking about here is signaled more by that second word peace right now Paul would have been translating in his mind Shalom that that desire that God had that we experienced well-being Shalom peace what is it I would say it's the connection at the very depth of your soul to the Spirit of God what that gives you is a peace a harmony and a serenity which can endure any of the changes in your life whether you are in a good psychological space or a bad one whether you're healthy or sick whether you're successful or not if you're connected to the Spirit of God you have this sense of peace I think it's fascinating that almost everyone who met mother Teresa of Calcutta commented on her joy that she was a joyful person but yet we know don't we from her Diaries and letters now that she wasn't psychologically always in a good space just the country she suffered from enormous anxiety depression and so on but yet see underneath all that through all that there was joy that's appalled means now as a fruit of the Holy Spirit next he talks about patience I've always like the King James Version is that lovely word long-suffering long-suffering or patient is a mark of the holy spirit now how come because the Holy Spirit is love and love is willing the good of the other see if your life is based on you and your projects your needs your plans what's your attitude toward people who are boring or annoying or getting in your way it's just it's an annoyance it's impatience get out of my way you're blocking what I want to achieve but see if your stance is is that of love you're not trying to get those people out of your way in fact you're seeing them as an occasion for love the perhaps they were put in your place in your in your way precisely as an opportunity for you to love just think of you'd only wake up in the morning what's your fundamental attitude is it now what can I get out of this day or what occasions for love will present themselves to me today the patient or long-suffering person has that attitude I'd also say this that your patient in regard to your own suffering again if your egotistic that all you want is your projects and plans within your own physical suffering is just getting in the way which is why we get impatient with it and when will I get over this suffering but the patient person might say no maybe this suffering is itself a gift given to me by God to help me grow in some spiritual way and so I'm long suffering even in regard to my own suffering now next Paul talks about generosity and I often will focus on this one when people ask me that what does God want me to do what path should I want I'll say what path makes you most generous what what form of life makes you most generous that's the one God wants you on Holy Spirit is gift right because the Father loves the son the son loves the father the Spirit is the mutual gifting of father and son the Spirit is the divine generosity most of us they'll live like that in Elliott's great poem the love song of jail for prufrock where he laments the end of his days I've measured out my life with coffee spoons that's that's the ungenerous attitudes I just take a little tiny spoon and offer you a little bit because I'm hanging on to my prerogatives and privileges and so on no no if the Holy Spirit's in you then you become gifting you become overflowing generosity is a fruit of the Holy Spirit next Paul talks about faithfulness or fidelity catches support isn't it most of us will make a great commitment of love at some point in life and that's where our our maturity is found really so it's a person becoming a priest it's two people getting married someone deciding that he will give himself to his country or whatever it is when you say I make this great commitment of love good that's of the Holy Spirit fidelity is faithfulness to that commitment just as the spirit see that the father and son can never fall out of love one of the names for the spirit is vinculum amorous it's lovely means the chain of love is the chain of love that binds the father and the son will see when we're faithful in our commitments of love we imitate the holy spirit we have the Holy Spirit in us that's why lack of fidelity it's such a great crisis in our culture you know because it's not a fruit of the Holy Spirit finally he talks about I'm skipping a couple but he talks about self-control and as I said a hundred times this is not Puritanism you know we can mock Christianity easily enough as fussy and it's antibody and it's not it doesn't like sexuality and so sort of control that isn't it Paul is a Jew Jews aren't an T of flesh plate platanus maybe were but Jews weren't Paul's not against the flesh at all but why is self-control important self-control means I'm going to order everything in me according to love that's what it means it means all my energies all my passions all my powers all of them are good but they have to be ordered to love if not then chaos will result and the person who lacks self-control lacks that ordering capacity that's why it's a fruit of the Holy Spirit it's like what what makes me able to direct my life toward love that's what God wants that's a path that you're on you're walking a path where you're losing self-control that ain't it that's not the Holy Spirit I'll close with something I heard from father Hesburgh the legendary former president of Notre Dame University and he said this is about 10 years got him give a howl away he said here's a prayer that always works no matter what's going on your life if you're successful you're unsuccessful you're young you're old you're sick you're healthy no matter where you are this prayer always works I remember I kind of perked up my ears I can't what is that and he said veni sancte spiritus come Holy Spirit and I think first of all he's right about that it's a prayer that works anytime but secondly it's the only way to get the Holy Spirit see again it's fear blows where it wills that you can't control the Holy Spirit if I just do X Y & Z I'll get the Holy Spirit it doesn't work that way or if I follow this program I'll get the Holy Spirit doesn't work that way you have to ask for the Holy Spirit ask come Holy Spirit come renew the hearts of your people come renew the face of the earth and so I'd recommend if you want the fruit of the Holy Spirit in you Galatians 5 ask ask veni sancte spiritus

Channel: Bishop Robert Barron

Views: 755,250

Keywords: Fr. Robert Barron, Word On Fire, Catholicism, Christianity, Catholic, Christian, religion, religious, God, Christ, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Lord, pentecost, St. Paul, Galatians, Mother Teresa, TS Eliot, Fr. Hesburgh, the holy spirit, holy spirit explained, holy spirit catholic, catholic teachings, catholic holy spirit, catholic, word on fire, bishop barron, fruit of the holy spirit, fruits of the spirit, holy ghost, come holy ghost, love joy peace

Id: 1INut0Gi09Q

Length: 12min 2sec (722 seconds)

Published: Wed May 30 2012