{"id":111224,"date":"2015-01-09T00:15:48","date_gmt":"2015-01-08T23:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vincentians.com\/?p=111224"},"modified":"2016-07-10T15:08:15","modified_gmt":"2016-07-10T13:08:15","slug":"baptism-of-the-lord-rosalino-reyes-dizon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/vincentians.com\/en\/baptism-of-the-lord-rosalino-reyes-dizon\/","title":{"rendered":"Baptism of the Lord (Rosalino Reyes Dizon)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Listen to what the Spirit says<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
The early Christians were convinced that, in order to follow Jesus, baptism by water or a similar rite is not enough. \u00a0Their lives must be imbued with the Holy Spirit. That is why these words of the Baptist are recorded in the gospels in many different ways: \u00a0I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit<\/em>.<\/p>\n
No wonder they especially remembered in moments of crisis the need to live guided, sustained, strengthened by his Spirit.\u00a0 The Book of Revelation, written at a critical time when the Church lived under the emperor Domitian, repeats time and again to those Christians: \u00a0Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches<\/em>.<\/p>\n
The unprecedented cultural change in which we are experiencing is asking of us Christians today an unprecedented faithfulness to Jesus\u2019 Spirit. \u00a0Before we think of strategies and pastoral prescriptions in the face of this crisis, we need to ask ourselves how we are welcoming Jesus\u2019 Spirit.<\/p>\n
Instead of lamenting again and again the secularization that keeps growing, we need to ask ourselves what new paths God keeps looking for today in order to meet the men and women of our time, how we need to renew our way of thinking, speaking and living the faith so that God\u2019s Word can reach out to the questions, doubts, fears that arise in their hearts.<\/p>\n
Before designing projects thought out down to their last detail, we need to transform our outlook, our attitude, our relationship with today\u2019s world.\u00a0 We need to look more like Jesus, to let the Spirit work in us. \u00a0Only Jesus can give the Church a new face.<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 Spirit also continues to be alive and well today in the hearts of people, though we may not even ask ourselves how the Spirit relates to those who have drifted away definitively from the Church. The time has come to learn to be the \u201cChurch of Jesus\u201d for all, and only he can teach this.<\/p>\n
We do not have to speak only in critical terms. \u00a0Conditions are also being created in which what is essential in the Gospel can resonate in a new way. \u00a0A Church that is more fragile, weak and humble can make Jesus\u2019 Spirit be more truly understood and welcomed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"