Life in the Spirit seminars have helped Catholics unleash the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives for more than 50 years. Truth of the Spirit’s “Discovering Life in the Spirit” with Patti Brunner continues that tradition with a series of talks and witness to encourage you to accept what the Holy Spirit offers. This first talk shares the truth of God’s Gift of Love which gave salvation to the world and to you. For Blog of this episode and video and audio links please continue reading below.
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1 John Chapter 4 verse 8 tells us “God is Love”. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches about God’s love on 795 pages. When God created the world, with all its beauty, it was to share it with you. His love for you is greater than anything you can imagine. God’s plan for you is to dwell with Him forever in paradise. God gave Adam and Eve a paradise to live in. He walked with them in the cool of the evening. However, their decision to sin separated them from God’s plan—in God there can be no darkness and sin is dark.
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. I’m your host, Patti Brunner. Today’s episode is part 1 of the series, “Discovering Life in the Spirit”. The series is for those who have never heard of Life in the Spirit or Baptism of the Spirit and it is also for those who need to be reminded of these truths and desire renewal. Today’s topic is God’s Gift of Love and what that means for us.
Throughout history man has continued to separate themselves from God through sin. However, God never stopped loving us. In fact, God loves us so much that he sent his dearly beloved Son to take our sin upon himself and pay the consequences.
Loving earthly fathers choose to do without for themselves to provide for those they love. Love is more than provision. Human parents show their love by relationship, discipline, and gifts beyond basic needs. They imitate God’s love!
God goes farther than that! God so loved the world that he gave his Son to redeem the world. Jesus won victory on the cross—he conquered eternal death caused by sin. When he paid the terrible price of death on the cross, suffering the torment and torturing, he reopened the gate to paradise by becoming the gate himself.
This gift of Salvation is but the first of gifts. St. Paul writes in Romans Chapter 5 verse 5: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” NAB The Father and Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit who is the Giver of Gifts. It is the Holy Spirit who was promised to us by Jesus and the fulfillment of the promises of the Old Testament. It is the Holy Spirit who bestows the gift of salvation that not only sets us free initially but restores us to God through grace in each of the 7 sacraments. As the resurrected Jesus, true God true man, takes his rightful place at the Father’s right hand, he reunites mankind with God the Father through the Holy Spirit. Our Heavenly Father allowed the sacrifice of his son, the Christ, to redeem sinners so that we could be one in the Body of Christ. We can be united to him, to become a part of his glorified body, in Baptism.
As earthly fathers continue to love their children despite difficult circumstances so, too, the Heavenly Father’s love for us is not ‘hinged’ on us. We do not have to earn His love. We do not have to fight for his love. All we have to do is accept the gift of his love. By the gifts of freewill we can reject or accept it. We can choose Baptism or reject it. Our parents can choose Baptism for us; we can renew our baptismal promises[i] by rejecting sin and professing our faith in Christ Jesus. Or, like Adam and Eve, we can choose to reject God’s love by choosing sin.
There is some confusion in our hearts when we struggle with difficult conditions that cause suffering or death. We might ask, “Doesn’t God love me?” or “If God loved me why did He let this happen?” or “Why doesn’t God fix this?” or the sad false statement “I am not worthy enough, not good enough, for God to love me.” None of us are worthy. God loves us because He is worthy.
Would you ever want your own child to struggle with difficult conditions? Of course not! Yet, the condition of the world around us is no longer a perfect paradise because of the sin of Adam; this imperfect world can expose us to deadly disease and disaster. Through freewill your family can make certain choices that cause things to get really tough for you or them. Freewill is given to all; others can misuse that gift and choose to harm you or your child. These things are not chosen by God. The most marvelous and unbelievable thing—is that God can transform pain-filled events that have occurred in your life, as painful as they may be, and make them into something good. (Romans 8:28).
God’s plan is much more.
God promises his inheritance, because you are his beloved child. God wants the best for you, because you are his child and heir. NAB Romans 8:17a reminds us: “And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I testify to you today that as we truly become one in the Body of Christ, through the love of God our Father, we have the rights of an heir to the kingdom before us. Truly, as Jesus stepped to the side of God the Father in heaven, all humans, who have become one with the Body of Christ, inherited the kingdom of God with all its benefits and duties. It is the Great Love of God that gave this most generous gift. You are an heir of all the divine treasures.
God gives us freewill so we can choose to love Him. All throughout history mankind has chosen to reject God’s love to do their ‘own thing’. When this happens bad decisions are followed by worse actions and soon the decay and suffering seem to overtake the world. We don’t have to look very far to see wars and persecutions and unnatural disasters.
As is clear in the story of Adam and Eve, our sin affects others sometimes for generation upon generation. The Good News is that the love of God is triumphant over sin, over suffering and death. In the resurrection, Jesus was victorious over sin and death. As we join Him at his side in heaven, there will be no sting of suffering and death but the glory of God will fill us with everlasting joy.
His joy is available now, too. As we surrender, as we become docile to the Holy Spirit, we use our gift of freewill to accept God’s love and as His love enters our heart our life is transformed by his love. We’ll talk more about this in Talk #2.
God does not love because you are good, but rather because He is good and because you are his child. God himself promised us in Isaiah 49:15 “Can a mother forget her baby at the breast, feel no pity, [be without tenderness] for the child she has borne? Even if these were to forget, I shall not forget you”.
God always loves us. God loves you and cannot stop loving you, because God is love. The first thing He asks of you is not asking you to love him, but to allow your whole self to be loved by him. God loves you in a personal, steadfast and unconditional manner. Life in the Holy Spirit allows us to be aware of God’s love and experience God’s love in a deeper and unique way. It’s like we start out recognizing God’s love in black and white and afterwards we recognize it in Technicolor!
So how do we Discover Life in the Spirit? How do we start living Life in the Spirit? It really starts by remembering that God loves us no matter what. Catechism paragraph #733 reminds us: “‘God is Love’ and love is his first gift, containing all others.”
We don’t have to be “good” for God to love us. Our righteousness only comes from Christ dwelling within us. God wants the best for you—and does not want you to remain in sin, separated from Him. Our true goodness comes from receiving the gift of God’s grace; His grace gives us the strength to follow the Way of Jesus thus living a life in the Spirit. How do we know God loves us? NAB Romans 5:8 says, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
We Catholics cherish icons of the crucifixion. We have crucifixes on our rosaries, we hang them on our walls, and we put them in our churches. Let them remind you of John 3:16 NAB “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” God’s love can conquer all things even death – and so it has through the Son’s love for you on the cross. Remember, “while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
By the grace of that redemption, through the sanctification of Baptism, the Spirit is one with us, within our hearts. The Spirit of the Living God is God’s love—pure and ‘simple’. To invite God’s love into your heart is to invite the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is love and life. Galatians 2:20 NAB says, “It is not I that live but Christ that lives in me.” Life comes to us through the Spirit to spirit connection gained through salvation. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the purpose of the coming of Christ. The Spirit to spirit connection is the purpose of salvation!
The whole reason Christ died for us was to reconnect our spirit with the Holy Spirit that had been severed by sin. Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes that relationship towards a new depth that was intended by God from the beginning of creation. Catechism of the Catholic Church #686 says, “The Holy Spirit is at work with the Father and the Son from the beginning to the completion of the plan for our salvation…..”
As salvation cleared the way for the Spirit of God to take up “his rest” within man’s heart the Spirit set into motion special graces known as charisms. The charisms of the Holy Spirit are part of our inheritance of the Kingdom of God. We’ll talk more about these later.
We can have the Father or the Son in us, but until we accept and unleash the power of the Holy Spirit we are missing the kingdom. We have a blank check and a million billion dollars in our account and we’re starving.
St. Paul wrote in Ephesians Chapter 3: “14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” NAB
The Catechism of the Catholic Church #687 says, quoting 1st Corinthians Chapter 2, “No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Cor 2:11) Now God’s Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself. The Spirit who “has spoken through the prophets” makes us hear the Father’s Word, but we do not hear the Spirit himself. We know him only in the movement by which he reveals the Word to us and disposes us to welcome him in faith. The Spirit of truth who “unveils” Christ to us “will not speak on his own.” (Jn 16:13) Such properly divine self-effacement explains why “the world cannot receive [him], because it neither sees him nor knows him,” while those who believe in Christ know the Spirit because he dwells with them. (Jn 14:17)”
The Holy Spirit is God connected to man. The Holy Spirit is the power source that connects man to God. This is known as Life in the Spirit. We experience that initial power source connection through the sacrament of Baptism. Salvation clears the way for the Spirit of God to ‘take up his rest’ within man’s heart by the grace of the redemption of the cross.
Why do we need the Holy Spirit? What does God expect us to do with his gift? Jesus also said in Acts 1:8, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” NAB
Jesus told us we would receive the power to be a witness when the Holy Spirit came upon us. I share this series with you only because I have received the power to witness from the Holy Spirit. Anything the Lord has done for me He can do for you.
Whatever path in life you take, God loves you. But think about this: He has prepared a better way. The Father sent Jesus to show the Way and to clear the obstacles. Then they sent the Holy Spirit to provide untold riches of the kingdom of God. Mankind who respond, “Come Holy Spirit” “Vene Sancte Spiritus” thus choose to allow God to make present His love. Give it a try!
Before you listen to Discovering Life in the Spirit #2 Conversion of Heart and New Life, we invite you to read Chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles to see how the Holy Spirit manifests in the Church. Then read 1st Corinthians Chapters 12-14 to be reminded of the great manifestation gifts of the Spirit. Paul writes that the greatest of these gifts is love. God is love.
If you are doing a group study, Truth of the Spirit invites you to go to PatriarchMinistries.com/154 for other suggestions including discussion questions for this topic.
And then come back for more. With the Holy Spirit there’s always more!
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Suggestions for Group Study Session One of Discovering Life in the Spirit Seminar- God’s Gift of Love:
- Start with the Prayer to the Holy Spirit
- Have a praise song
- Watch or listen to “Discovering Life in the Spirit #1”
- Have a personal testimony (witness talk)
- In small groups share the following questions
- Close with the “Glory Be” prayer
Questions For Group Study
1. Please briefly introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself. (How long have you lived in the area? Which service do you regularly attend?)
2. Please tell why you came tonight and what you hope to gain from this Life in the Spirit.
3. How has relationship with God affected your life?
4. Have you ever had a moment that you wondered if God really loved you or that you were sure God loved you?
5. What did you hear in the talk that impressed you the most?
[i] Renewal of Baptismal Vows
- My dear brothers and sisters, God used the sacrament of water to give his divine life to those who believe in him. Let us turn to Him, and ask Him to pour his gift of life as we renew our baptismal vows.
- Father, you give us grace through sacramental signs, which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power. In baptism we use your gift of water, which you have made a rich symbol of the grace you give us in this sacrament.
- At the very dawn of creation your Spirit breathed on the waters, making them the well-spring of all holiness.
- Renew now the vows of your own baptism. Reject sin; profess your faith in Christ Jesus. This is the faith of the Church. This is the faith in which you were baptized.
Renunciation of Sin and Profession of Faith
- Do you reject sin, so as to live in the freedom of God’s children? All: I do.
- Do you reject the glamour of evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin? All: I do.
- Do you reject Satan, the father of sin and prince of darkness? All: I do.
Threefold profession of faith
- Do you believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth? All: I do.
- Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father? All: I do.
- Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting? All: I do.
Assent to faith
- This is our faith. This is the faith of the Church. We are proud to profess it, in Christ Jesus our Lord. All: Amen.
- You have been enlightened by Christ. Walk always as a child of the light. Keep the flame of faith alive in your heart.
Blessing
- By God’s gift, through water and the Holy Spirit, we are reborn to everlasting life. In his goodness, may he continue to pour out his blessings upon you sons and daughters of his.
- May he make you always, wherever you may be, faithful members of his holy people.
- May he send his peace upon all who are gather here, in Christ Jesus our Lord..
- May almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, bless you.
All: Amen.
