July 15, 2019

Their esteemed readers, I welcome you to the June Edition of The Light Newsletter! This edition is a special one, because its editorial tells us what to do to go to heaven in our journey through life.  The earthly life of each one of us has a beginning, and that life is always moving towards an end.  Indeed, whatever has a beginning must equally have an end.  We are all running a race in this life, and that race is geared toward heaven, our true home, our final dwelling place, where we all hope to be with God eternally to behold the Beatific Vision.

 

It is good news for us to know that, we can attain heaven only when we follow the direction of the Holy Spirit.  Indeed, throughout our earthly life, we need the direction of the Holy Spirit; otherwise, we would go astray.  The true Christian or Muslim is controlled by the Holy Spirit.  Whoever is controlled by a contrary Spirit can never be a child of God, and such a person is sure to go astray.

 

We have decided to reflect on the Holy Spirit, because throughout the Season of Easter, precisely beginning from Easter till His Ascension—a period of forty days, Jesus has been talking about the Holy Spirit.  Particularly during the Ascension, he has often told his disciples and all Christians of the benefits of the Ascension to himself and to all his followers; and these benefits are necessarily connected with the action of the Holy Spirit in his life and in the lives of his followers.

 

At this juncture, we shall examine the significance of the Holy Spirit to both Jesus and his followers, especially regarding his Ascension.  After a brief description of the scene of the Ascension, we shall enumerate some reasons for His Ascension: Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus and his disciples went to the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem.  There, he promised his followers that they would soon receive the Holy Spirit, and instructed them to remain in Jerusalem until the Spirit comes.  He blessed them; and as he was blessing them, he began to ascend into heaven (Lk. 24:50-51; Acts 1:9-11). Why the Ascension? The Ascension was necessary because it marks the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It signifies the success of His earthly work. He accomplished all that God the Father had given him to do. It shows the continuation of Jesus’ work as Lord and Messiah (Acts 1:1-2). Indeed, Jesus continues to work even after His Ascension.  St. Luke’s second book is all about the “Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus,” which he works from heaven, through his people, by the Holy Spirit, for the accomplishment of God’s purposes. The Ascension marks the return of His heavenly glory. Christ’s glory had been hidden during his earthly life, except at the Transfiguration (Mt. 17:1-9) and the Cana Incident (Acts 2:1-11), where he changed water into wine. These two events revealed his glory.  Christ’s Ascension allows him to prepare a place for us (John 14:2). That was why he promised to send us the Holy Spirit to lead us to the place he had gone to prepare for us. The Ascension of our Lord is his return to the Father. He has frequently told his hearers that he had come from the Father and that he would return to his Father (John 16:28; 20:17, etc.). Christ is the Head of the Church (Col.1:18). Where he, the Head has gone, we, the body, the Church, shall follow. This shall be possible if and only if we follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. The Lord ascended in order to send us the Holy Spirit (Lk. 24:49, emphasis mine). God promised in Joel 2:28, saying, “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh”; this promise is fulfilled by Jesus at his Ascension.  The Holy Spirit is present with his people (John 14:16) to empower them for universal mission of evangelization (Acts 1:8; 4:31) and to transform believers to live new lives. St. Luke reports Jesus as saying, “…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 (Acts 1:8). It is the Holy Spirit that continues to direct the Christians in their mission of evangelization.

 

Here are some of the implications or benefits of Christ’s Ascension for us Christians. To begin with, the reign of Jesus as King of Heaven and earth means that Jesus is active in our lives and in our world through the actions of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, Christ’s Ascension enjoins us to live courageously, boldly and confidently as children of the exalted king of heaven. So, we must not be afraid. The Holy Spirit sent to us by Christ is not a spirit of timidity, but that of courage and boldness.  It makes us not to be afraid to carry out the mission entrusted to us by Christ, no matter the difficulties involved. Christ ascended to God the Father in order to intercede for us, so that through the power of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Comforter, we might be comforted in our sorrows. Jesus is not indifferent to our sufferings. Since he himself has experienced sufferings and pains, he is sympathetic with us.  This is “good news” for all sufferers. They should be consoled! Therefore, all who experience various degrees of sufferings and pains, those who find themselves in very desperate situations—no money, no food, in sickness, victims of injustice and other similar situations—should take their cares and worries to our Ascended Lord who hears our prayers and can respond with heaven’s authority. Christ’s Ascension is our hope in a glorious future. He will destroy death and all death situations in our lives; and set up a kingdom of truth, righteousness, justice and love.

 

Permit me to cite some examples from the Holy Scriptures and from real life stories of how the Holy Spirit actually directed some Christians, especially St. Paul and his companions, in their mission of evangelization. The Acts of the Apostles, for instance, reports that: ‘Paul travelled on to Derbe and then to Lystra.  A disciple named Timothy lived there, whose mother was a believer of Jewish origin and whose father was a Greek.  As the brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him, Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him. So he took him and, because of the Jews of that place who all knew that his father was a Greek, he had him circumcised. As they travelled from town to town, they delivered the decisions of the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem (decisions on the issue of circumcision) for the people to obey….They travelled through Phrygia and Galatia, because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia (Emphasis mine).  When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this (Emphasis mine). So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.  One night Paul had a vision: A Macedonian stood before him and begged him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us!’ When he awoke, he told us this vision and we understood that the Lord was calling us to give the Good News to the Macedonian people. So we put out to sea from Troas and sailed straight across to Samothrace Island, and the next day to Neapolis.  From there we went inland to Philippi, the leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.  We spent some days in that city’ (Acts 16:1-12).

 

In those days: Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple, by what means  this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well….And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:8-12).

 

In those days: An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”  This is a desert road.  And he rose and went.  And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister of Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.  And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go and join this chariot.”  So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”….Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news of Jesus. And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught up Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:26-39). The above examples are few, out of the innumerable events in scriptures where the Holy Spirit directs our ancestors in the faith.

 

This is a real life story, from which everyone should learn a very important lesson:  A Catholic Bishop was planning to attend a plenary meeting of Catholic Bishops’ Conference, which was to last for a week.  Few weeks to the time, he started preparing seriously towards it.  A significant part of his preparations was to put his vehicle in good order, in order to avoid any breakdown of the car or similar disappointment during the journey. He told his driver to take the vehicle to the mechanic for servicing and repair. On his instruction, his driver continued to visit the mechanic workshop almost every other day to ensure that all minor repairs were taken care of. Two days to the D-Day, the Bishop was deliberately sending his driver on errands, mandating him to use the car, so that if any further problems were discovered—these could be resolved before the journey.  This continued till the very night before the journey—the vehicle was still in perfect condition.  Could anyone believe that on the very day of the journey, the engine of the car could not start?  For more than one hour, Bishop’s driver was struggling with the ignition!  Alas! All his efforts proved futile! The car refused to obey the driver.  Obviously, being led by the Holy Spirit, the Bishop cancelled the journey, saying, “The Lord does not want us to make this journey!”  He then directed that his luggage be removed from the vehicle back to the house.

 

How I wish the adherents of the two great religions—Christianity and Islam—allow themselves to be directed by the Holy Spirit as the above examples show!  How I wish all the leaders of these religions seek the direction of the Holy Spirit, and follow that direction when they find it!  How I wish our political leaders allow the Holy Spirit to direct them, so that they can in turn direct aright the citizenry entrusted to their care! Regrettably, the situation is such that, some of the people mentioned above do not merely refuse to pay attention to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in their lives and ministries, but that they have even deviated completely from the way of God. Some religious leaders who are supposed to be light to our political leaders have also joined the bandwagon—all because of material benefits. We are in a mess today, especially in this State, because we have refused to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit.  Not until we follow the way of God as pointed out to us by Jesus (Jn. 14:6) and the Holy Spirit, we shall continue to grope in darkness; and whoever works in darkness cannot be saved. O God, come to our aid!  O Lord, make haste to help us!

 

By Rev. Fr. Mark Ajiga