Holy Spirit, the Origin of Faith

14/7/2020

No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit. This knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit: to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit. By virtue of our Baptism, the first sacrament of the faith, the Holy Spirit in the Church communicates to us, intimately and personally, the life that originates in the Father and is offered to us in the Son.
— CCC 683

This week's lectures on the Holy Spirit didn't just meet my expectations of really getting to know the third person of the Trinity, it absolutely blew away all expectations. It wasn't just the teachings that made an impact, it was really God who was so real and present throughout. I could choose to write down all that I've learnt in this post but I think more than that is really reflecting on how it has changed my relationship with God and how it has changed me personally.

Before this, I really relied on definitions, scripture, catechism, and teachings from religious people to understand (intellectually) who this God is. I was on a constant search for knowledge and yet as much as I seemed to know God more, I didn't actually know Him (emotionally and spiritually). That was why whenever people asked how my relationship with God was going, I would always say it's fine. There wasn't any issue, it was just stagnant. But like what our guest speaker told us two weeks ago, being stagnant in our faith is really a deterioration. It's not possible to remain in this contented space because we will slowly grow distant from God.

This week was really an invitation to just 'be', to first understand this God personally and then being able to connect with Him in order to rest in His presence. It is a continuous process of becoming a child of God (cf. John 1:12) by receiving and responding to His love.

Okay, so why I titled the post this way is because the Holy Spirit really is the first to awaken faith in us and communicate new life which is "to know the Father and the one whom He has sent, Jesus Christ" (CCC 684). The knowing here isn't just theoretical knowledge that God exists but really drawing us into the experience of God.

St. Paul wrote that "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). As creation, we are utterly dependent on our Creator for everything. Our first movement itself is one of receiving ― spirit, mind, body. That is why loving God isn't something we choose or resolve to do, but it's as simple as a natural response. As written by St. John in his letter 1 John 4:19, "We love God because He first loved us."

Here's something to understand: some of us, perhaps many, don't have the capacity to receive God's love not because God chooses who to love (that is an absolute lie because He is love itself), it is because of brokenness. In order to receive and then later on being able to give, we first need healing ― just like the man with a shriveled hand who can do nothing until he was healed by Jesus (cf. Mark 3:1-5). This love that has been poured into our hearts is really the foundation of everything. Until we have that, nothing much will make sense.

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