Prayer + the Holy Spirit vs. Jesus on Earth

Published by Published on


Is it truly better that you go Lord?

Jesus called His apostles, and thus ourselves, to welcome the Holy Spirit (John 16:7 _RSVCE_). Further, He said it would be “better that He goes”, that the Holy Spirit might be available to us. How can anything be better than being able to physically encounter God? While on Earth, He wouldn’t be in more place than one, the Holy Spirit provides us with what we need at any given moment and brings the rest of the Most Holy Trinity with Him wherever He goes. 

While He was on Earth, Christ was locationally finite in His earthly state and chose to be so (Philippians 2:6-8). The Holy Spirit can be in many places at the same time, ministering to the many at the same time. Although of course God is merciful and sends His Spirit wherever there is need, we, His Church receive Him most fully. God can journey with us, guides us as we need at any given moment.

He can communicate to us, not only Christ but also the divine life. He builds us up to be what we were created to be, divinized humans who become the adopted Sons and Daughters of God. In such adoption, we are brought into the very interplay of love, which is the Holy Trinity already, and let alone once we exist fully in heaven. On earth, we are brought into the kingdom which is already among us, and become a part of Christ’s body.

In conclusion, the Holy Spirit is our Emmanuel at the present, and wherever He is there also is the other two persons of the Most Holy Trinity. To understate: indeed it is better for us to not be disturbed regarding God’s presence with us (because Jesus would only be in one place at a time in His earthly state) when He becomes “more inward to me than [our] most inward part”.[1]

FN:

^1^ Augustine of Hippo, _Confessions_, 3.6.11, trans. J.G. Pilkington, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: First Series, ed. by Philip Schaff & Kevin Knight, vol. 1, (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature, 1887).

O Holy Spirit who is made by love
Come Who bore us from above
With every grace Thee send
Bring me to repentance.

O fire of divine love help me now and always
That I may praise God in all ways
O Who came for the sick
Help us Who are broke that we may be fixed

Let us your beloved, uncontrollably love Thee
From Whose love we were brought to be
Bring thus your infinity
The we may be what we were created to be.
I am a Theology major attending Holy Apostles College and Seminary. I am a Knight of Columbus and a Newman Ambassador for Pius XII Newman Center.

Most Viewed Posts

Psychological Therapies and Catholic Anthropology: A Comparative Analysis

Published by Published on
Image
Psychological therapy often faces stigma, to the point are some people are skeptical about its value or concerned it contradicts their faith. However, therapy is a powerful tool for addressing mental and emotional struggles, offering healing that goes beyond just the mind. While secular therapies, such as Freud's psychoanalysis, Adlerian therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy, can provide practical solutions, they often do not fully align with the Christian understanding of the human person. Catholic anthropology, which views humanity as a unified being of body, soul, and spirit in relationship with God, provides a more complete framework for healing. Secular therapies may help with emotional pain, but they typically overlook the spiritual and redemptive dimensions of human life. True healing, from a Catholic perspective, involves recognizing both our current struggles and our ultimate destination in communion with God. As Scripture teaches, authentic freedom is intertwined with...
Click Here to Continue Reading This Post

Law & Virtue: Freedom Refined for True Goodness

Published by Published on
Image
The Seven Virtues, Piero and Antonio Pollaiuolo and Botticelli Depicted from left-to-right: Fortitude ~ Temperance ~ Faith ~ Charity ~ Hope ~ Justice ~ Prudence If you have ever observed a significant amount of rhetoric on any contentious issue, then you would have observed an attempt to frame an objective reality subjectively, some ad hominem attacks, and even some conclusions/premises posed without evidence. This comes largely from the cultural inability to either form arguments or a disbelief in objective reality. However, more fundamentally, there is hardly ever a common definition of freedom. What is freedom, and do we have it? True freedom is the aspect of rational man to choose the good (according to the nature of a thing, in that it is some way desirable and that it has its essence in completeness or in that an action contributes or derives from the completeness of an act, thus an act not completely good is evil and it correspond to an imperfection in the actor and lacks being ...
Click Here to Continue Reading This Post

The Deeply Biblical Celebration: Part 1-The Start of Mass

Published by Published on
Image
The Mass is as old as the Eucharist itself. Extending back arguably to the feeding of the thousands, but definitely and sacramentally, to the Last Supper which is intimately united with Our Lord's Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Therefore/Thereby, the Mass is not only Biblical but is a living and perpetual extenuating of the essential/substantial nature of what scripture is and does. The next few posts will discuss not only the significance of the parts of the Mass and the words they use but also their intensely Biblical roots. In this post, let us look specifically at the first parts of the Mass. The Introductory Rites, as we call them, draw us to be one i.e the One Church, but most importantly one with God, and this movement is deeply scriptural. NOTE: the point of posts like this is to give you a guide to enter in Biblically into this mystery not so much to reveal a mystery but point toward it in a way that will allow the reader to be able to intentionally enter into it in a n...
Click Here to Continue Reading This Post