30 August 2022
Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Again, the first reading in today’s mass is one of the most consoling tracts of Paul’s teaching: God the Father, who sent his Son to save us, now sends us the Spirit to sanctify and to give us the knowledge and strength to carry on the work of Jesus as his collaborators in the world today.
Paul distinguishes between learning that there is a God and knowing who God is. The former comes from philosophical, natural reasoning; the latter by the teaching of the Spirit, teaching which is “foolishness” for the natural person.
The Spirit, who is God, is the essential means for knowing God, our Father, Jesus, our Savior and Himself, who dwells within us, provided mortal sin does not drive him away.
So, our meditation today should begin with questions: How well do I know the Spirit? He dwells within me, do I ever pray to him, have recourse to him to teach me more about the Father; a deeper personal understanding of what Jesus tells me in the scripture, of how I can better fulfill the singular vocation he has given me?
Resolve: As a prelude to conversing with the Holy Spirit who dwells within me, I’ll spend some quiet, prayerful time reading, meditating, and praying over St. Paul’s reflections in the first reading of today’s mass.