"When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit
came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied." — Acts 19:6
(NRSV)
Dear brothers and Sisters, in today's passage we hear about
St. Paul preaching the Word of God to the people in Ephesus. When he reached
there, he came across a few believers. He was asking them a question that
whether they had received the Holy Spirit, when they received the Baptism and they
gave the answer that they had not, because they received the baptism of John
the Baptist, which is that of repentance. So St. Paul was baptizing them again
in the name of the Lord Jesus. The moment St. Paul laid his hands on them they
received the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues and started
prophesying.
We all believe in one true baptism and that is in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Most of us got baptized
when we were small and some of us as adults. It is a true fact that we all
received the Holy Spirit in our Baptism. But most often we don't realize this
fact that God has given us His helper to be with us always. We keep the Holy
Spirit in us very dormant and allow Him to sleep. Meanwhile the evil spirit
starts to dominate us. We don't realize how powerful a helper we have in us is
the Holy spirit who lives in our Souls.
So how can we make the Holy Spirit in us active? What should
we do? It is not such a difficult task. You only need to call out to Him and
ask Him to come and fill yourself. Call out to him with such a great desire and
at the same time when you call out to him make sure that you live a holy life
without sin. He is the Spirit of holiness which makes you holy. The Holy Spirit
can not come to you when your heart, mind and soul is filled with sin, filth
and dirt. So make sure before you call out to Him to clean yourself properly
internally.
Once you fill yourself with the Holy Spirit then there is no
space for the evil spirit to work inside you because you are already filled
with the Holy Spirit. All of your actions will be guided by the Holy Spirit.
Then you will experience the peace in your heart always and will be able to do
everything according to the will of God. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus
who strengthens you and gives you the courage to face the daily challenges of
this life and also helps you to focus on eternal life and not this earthly life
which is temporary. Holy Spirit come
into me.
Reflection on Acts 19:1-10 by Fr. George Joseph SVD
(Listen to the Podcast here)
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