YOU ARE ALWAYS RESISTING THE HOLY SPIRIT

PRAYER PAUSE

Tuesday 17 April 2018

YOU ARE ALWAYS RESISTING THE HOLY SPIRIT

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: Stephen said to the members of the Sanhedrin, “You stubborn people, … you are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.” (Acts 7:51-8:1)

Reflection. Stepehn wasn’t known for his tact.  On the contrary he seemed to be looking for trouble.  But the passage today gives us a sharp picture of the issue that runs through Acts: the early Church is led by the Spirit and yet there are many who resist. You, who are reading this, are one who is NOT resisting the Spirit!  If you were you would not bother with this! So we can rejoice that we are people who try to listen and understand and follow the Spirit. And Easter is a time of rejoicing.  At the same time we see in Acts that it was not easy. Peter struggled to discover what the Spirit wanted him to do with Cornelius (chap. 10) and later Paul had quite a battle to convice the Jerusalem Church not to insist of circumcision for  pagan converts. So, while we rejoice at Easter, we still have the challenge of discerning what the Spirit is saying to us in the here and now.  We should not be too quick to say we know!   

Prayer. Lord, open our hearts and minds to understand what the Spirit is saying to us today. Amen