With the fire of the Spirit<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
The first Christian communities\u00a0took\u00a0care to distinguish between the baptism<\/b> of John, who immersed people in the waters of the Jordan, and the baptism of Jesus, who gave his Spirit to wash, renew and transform the hearts of his followers.\u00a0 Without this Spirit, the Church burns out and is extinguished.<\/p>\n
Only the Spirit of Jesus can put more truth in Christianity today.<\/b>\u00a0 Only his Spirit can lead us to recover our true identity and abandon the paths that have time and again lead us astray from the Gospel.\u00a0 Only the Spirit can give us the light and strength to undertake the renewal that the Church needs today.<\/p>\n
Pope Francis knows well that spiritual mediocrity is the major obstacle to the new phase of evangelization being put in motion.<\/b>\u00a0 He says so firmly.\u00a0 His wish is to promote with all his strength \u201ca new chapter of evangelization full of fervor, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction!\u201d\u00a0 Yet everything will be insufiicient \u201cunless the fire of the Holy Spirit burns in our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hence, he is seeking for today\u2019s Church \u201cSpirit-filled evangelizers,\u201d<\/b> who will open themselves without fear to the action of the Spirit and find in this Spirit of Jesus the \u201cthe courage to proclaim the newness of the Gospel with boldness (parrhes\u00eda<\/i>) in every time and place, even when it meets with opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n
The renewal the Pope wants to promote in Christianity today is not possible when the \u201clack of deep spirituality \u2026 \u00a0turns into pessimism, fatalism, and mistrust,\u201d or when we \u201cthink that nothing will change and that it is useless to make the effort,\u201d or when we lower our arms \u201cfor good, overcome by chronic discontent and by a listlessness<\/b> that parches the soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
Francis warns us that \u201csometimes we lose our enthusiasm for mission because we forget that the Gospel responds to our deepest needs.\u201d\u00a0 But it should not be so.\u00a0 The Pope expresses strongly his conviction:\u00a0 \u201cIt is not the same thing to have known Jesus as not to have known him, not the same thing to walk with him as to walk blindly, not the same thing to hear his word as not to know it \u2026. It is not the same thing to try to build the world with his Gospel as to try to do so by our own lights.\u201d<\/p>\n
We have to disover all this through our personal experience of Jesus.<\/b>\u00a0 \u201cUnless we see him present \u2026, we will lack vigor and passion.\u00a0 A person who is not convinced, enthusiastic, certain and in love, will convince nobody.\u201d\u00a0 Here lies one of the main obstacles to promoting the renewal that Pope Francis wants, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9 Antonio Pagola<\/b><\/p>\n
January 19, 2014
\n2 Ordinary Time (A)
\nJohn 1, 29-34<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"