Our Mission Series, The Coming of Jesus is the Good News of Joy and Hope/Chapter 5: The Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of the Holy Spirit

(Balik Sa Panginoon: Turn Our Ways Back to the Lord)

Balik Sa Panginoon (Back With God)

Luke 4:16-21

Jesus went back to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as usual he went to the meeting place on the Sabbath. When he stood up to read from the Scriptures, he was given the book of Isaiah the prophet. He opened it and read,

"The Lord's Spirit has come to me, because he has chosen me to tell the good news to the poor. The Lord has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners, to give sight to the blind, to free everyone who suffers, and to say, THIS IS THE YEAR THE LORD HAS CHOSEN."

Jesus closed the book, then handed it back to the man in charge and sat down. Everyone in the meeting place looked straight at Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, "What you have just heard me read has come true today."

Chapter 5: The Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of the Holy Spirit

What did Jesus say is the Holy Spirit's role?  What is our life in the Spirit?  How does the Spirit reign in the Kingdom?

Main treatment about the Holy Spirit, Part I:

The Lord Jesus, before He ascended to Heaven promised to send the Holy Spirit. It was during His last supper with His apostles when He said to them: "... But I tell you that I am going to do what is best for you.... I am going away. The Holy Spirit cannot come to help you until I leave. But after I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you." John 16:7 Early on before the formal establishing of His Church, Jesus predicted the Spirit's verifying upon them the truths about sin, God's justice, and judgment. Jesus said: "... The Spirit will come and show the people of this world the truth about sin and God's justice and the judgment. The Spirit will show them that they are wrong about sin because they didn't have faith in me. They are wrong about God's justice because I am going to the Father and you won't see me again. And they are wrong about the judgment because God has already judged the ruler of this world."

The above are the threefold mission of the Holy Spirit upon being sent by Jesus Christ to the world.

Show the People the Truth about Sin 

In this prolonged era of the Holy Spirit one prevalent internal experience of mankind is the encounter of the many faces of sins. The Holy Spirit uncovers for every one almost all human acts that easily fall to this category of sin. In the first place, more than ever each and every man does experience the encumbering delimitation thrown upon himself by Adam's original sin. With the multiplication and variegation of all manners of temptation to sin, especially in the modern day ambiances, human concupiscence stays lurking at every chance of corrupting all human activities and decisions. For the believers appropriately aided by the sacraments the constricting effect of concupiscence is offset. Jesus said, "I have overcome the world. Do not be afraid." Saint Paul, on the other hand, writes: "The flesh is weak, but grace is sufficient." In other words, men and women because of their faith and because of their baptism and their reception of the other sacraments are spared some of the entrapping elements of concupiscence; (the same thing about sins, which we shall explain in a little while). With grace equipped believers the human faculties, especially the sight and touch are still prone to corrupted perceptions but the mind and the will are restored the freedom to refuse entertaining concupiscent suggestions. But pity the unbelievers who have to be hampered by this human weakening concupiscence without the relief of grace.

Grace is not permitted by God to operate in an individual if the individual’s human freedom opts to refuse or oppose it. Persisting sinfulness, in terms of the essential hardened abdication of uniting with God’s will via a stubborn heart, cannot be touched by grace. The fact is sin and grace just cannot mix together. (We are talking here in reference to sanctifying grace, not actual grace.) And when the individual does permanently choose sin; he is thus considered to be in the state of mortal sinfulness, and is therefore for practical purposes dead. In such a state the individual is a fallen soul or person, and is fallen out of the Church. If the individual dies physically under this condition the individual is said to be condemned to hell. In other words he does not go to the realm/state of salvation; he is not among the saved in so far as he has fallen out of God’s fold. That is why it could be said his name is not in the Book of Life. And he, thus, cannot be found among the living. That is why it matters very precariously that an individual in the state of mortal sin go right away to confession of his mortal sin. This confession reconciles him back to God; and literally thus places his name back in the Book of Life via the power of sacramental grace of Christ by the Spirit. Individuals who stuck up to a sin could only try to hide the nefariously corrupting influence of concupiscence in their everyday acts and wills. Hiding or faking the effects of concupiscence however does not lessen by any means its corrupting effect in the non-believing or unbelieving individuals. Consequences of this predicament in them show up by way of abusive relating with others, deceptive dealing on contracts or agreements, and even on the negotiating itself, unabashed cheating in exams, unashamed crudities vis a vis sexual behaving, etc...(All forms of ulterior motive influenced thoughts, imaginations, acts, schemes, and especially many imprudent judgment making.)

In the second place, as stated at the beginning of the paragraph, the world precisely because it is in need of salvation is full of men and women committing almost all varieties of sins. In the discussion of the Kingdom of the World, or The City of the World we have amply elaborated on how people of the world openly live lifestyles of worldliness or sinfulness. We have enumerated men's many grievous offenses. We have explained which characterize sins committed by people of the world. Our later discussion right here in this sequel on the contrast between the spiritual and unspiritual or 'of-the-flesh' points us to this further dichotomy between the sinfulness and holiness. But whether we're talking about concupiscence or the myriads of individual acts of sin, it is the Holy Spirit that confronts us about this human predicament, and our need to deal with it. It is also the Holy Spirit that convicts the sinners of the evil of their sins. When the Holy Spirit convicts the sinning believers, the effect of convicting is guilt and remorse, and by grace sincere and firm purpose of amendment not to commit the sin. With unbelievers however, the effect of the convicting of their sins by the Holy Spirit is that of either an ultra- liberal excusing of their sins because of this or that apology, or an extreme reaction of defeatism and cynicism whereby they just shrug off their sins in so far as they believe there's nothing they can do to stop the sin, aside from the fact that they enjoy committing the sin.

Show the People the Truth about God's Justice 

The beautiful thing about this second special mission of the Holy Spirit according to Jesus is that it manifests the Holy Spirit in His truer personality as the Divine Spirit whose business is that of proving to the believers that righteousness is rewarding. To believe and to live by faith with sincerity and firmness is destined to be just. Persevering believers are certain of receiving the recompense of justice in God's Kingdom, specifically in Heaven.

The first one, however, to be primordially rewarded with justice for Supreme Righteousness is our Lord Jesus Christ. He said so Himself those sinners or unbelievers "... were wrong about God's justice because I am going to the Father...” This means those that did not believe in His suffering and death will be proven wrong by the glorification the Lord Jesus receives after serving as the most pitiable and unfortunate bloody ransom for the sins of men. For Jesus' resurrection, ascension, and sitting at His throne in Heaven are His exoneration of His highest act of sacrificial pain and humiliation, and the fulfillment of the Father's plan that He be honored and worshipped for His salvific work and mission for mankind.

In the Kingdom of God on earth, the Holy Spirit is busy at reassuring and inspiring believers to really believe and persevere. By grace the Spirit confirms the believers in their struggling, surviving, and hurdling through all tests of pain, suffering and even persecution. If not through direct locution miracles, ordinary manifestation of intervening by the Spirit on behalf of the believers in each and every instance of serious life tricks and crashes, whether literally physical or non-physical. The Holy Spirit is the ever-ready agent to the rescue in whatever form. And he comes when all logical and natural ways have usually become meaninglessly inefficient. Testimonies of believers abound to illustrate concrete cases of such Spirit interventions. And these cases run the gamut from the extraordinary to the most ordinary problems solved extraordinarily.

Show the People the Truth about Judgment 

We have touched this issue under the Sequel about the Kingdom & Holiness. In essence, however, we repeat the stating of the irrevocableness of the fate of judgment upon unbelievers for stubborn unbelief. And we have quoted that it is the Spirit that hands down to unbelievers or sinners their fate or state of being judged already in their unbelief, in their persistent state of sinfulness. Essentially, again, this fact consists in the Spirit's causing the sinner to feel, and to be guilty of his sin. Essentially, it is the Spirit in the conscience of the sinning individual which troubles the individual into asking himself question as to what he had done to feel the guilt of remorse, or whose perturbing warning on the sinner is refused by the sinner by continually covering up for sins repeatedly in complete dishonesty to himself.

But this accusatory role of the Holy Spirit is precisely in and during the era of the Kingdom of God on earth. Because in the End-Times, it shall be the Mighty and Glorious Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ who will be the Judge of every one that has lived, or that has received existence from the Almighty. Judgment thus includes ultimate casting away of the Evil One that roams around in the world. Actually he had already been judged even before this final judgment time.

Back to this topic of judgment right here and now upon the Ruler of this World, namely the Evil One, throughout the life of the pilgrim Church the designation of the Evil One as the enemy of God, and of the people of God is to be recurrent again and again. (Again this issue has already been touched and explained under the Sequel about the Kingdom of the World, or the City of the World.) The number one reality about this is the fact that even before the time of man's history with God, the Evil One and his cohorts had already been thrown out of Heaven, and cast to damnation. They were made outcasts of Heaven precisely because they were the first to rebel against the goodness and power of God. And so they were damned and banned. But in so far as they are condemned everyone who follows and professes allegiance to this Power of Evil in the world are equally condemned together with him. As sinners comfortably conform to his evil ways, the Evil One also easily tugs each and every subject-follower who in heart has loved the ways of darkness and lies the Evil One has propagated.

The Holy Spirit is Christ's Messenger-Teacher, Counselor, Comforter, Implementer and Keeper of Christ's promises, Church Builder, Safe Keeper, & Enforcer, Grace Dispenser, Life Giver, & Sanctifier, and all other things to the Church and individual believers. Through time and history and up until the end of the world the Holy Spirit is to be present over the Church and every single believing faithful. This is to say that the dual grace function and effect of guiding the believers as well as giving peace to them as they execute their individual or community obligations and as they go through their tribulations in living.

Corollary Roles Treatment about the Holy Spirit, Part II:

Having said the above threefold Scriptural specifications of the role of the Holy Spirit upon God's mission and work of salvation, we can now turn to the more generic but all encompassing reason why the Holy Spirit has to be sent by God with the ascension of the risen Jesus into heaven.  The Lord Jesus said when he promised the coming down of the Holy Spirit declared this reason for his ascending into heaven: so the Holy Spirit could come down upon his Church, the New People of God.  With Jesus, thus, appropriately back to his perfect seat and glory of and in heaven it has been given to the Holy Spirit the responsibility of the care and maintaining of the Church which Jesus established on earth.  It is most proper when some Priest preaches this is the Age of the Holy Spirit, or when he states this is now the reign or Kingdom of the Holy Spirit.  Let us remember what the Lord stipulated the Holy Spirit will do when he comes when sent down to the Church.  He said the Holy Spirit will teach us, and recall to us all that Jesus has taught his disciples.  After all, the Lord declared we will never know Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.  And so let us now attempt to break down the different and unique functions and working of and by the Holy Spirit in and among the people of God in the world.  

Messenger-Teacher as well as Counselor-Comforter 

During His last moments on earth when He gave the Apostles the great commission to baptize and preach to all peoples He, thus, pronounced this promise of sending of the Holy Spirit. "I send down upon you the promise of my Father. Remain here in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."John 24:49 Also from Acts 1:8, "... But the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power." Thus, Jesus spoke of the Spirit's role on His behalf upon the believers/followers. He said: "The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit does not speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you." John 16:13-15 Because Jesus, the Teacher, as was said, is gone to His just throne in Heaven, He made sure Someone shall cover for us as we travel through the earthly pilgrimage on the way to Heaven. Jesus sent us the Counselor, the Holy Spirit. And in so far as it is the Spirit that "... shows the truth", the same Spirit, according to Jesus, "... will come and guide you into the full truth." Thus, Jesus said the Spirit "... will tell you only what he has heard from me, and  ... will let you know what is going to happen... ", and will take "... my message  ..." and will tell "... you" because He, Himself Jesus is the Truth. The Holy Spirit, therefore, is our virtual new Teacher. He tells us how to stay by the safe way to salvation according to the teachings left by Jesus. Chiefly, inside us or in our conscience the Spirit speaks to us about doing what is right, and avoiding what is wrong. And when because of our human frailty we fail and err, it is the same Spirit who convicts of our guilt, and solicits remorse in us not to sin again as well to make amends for whatever offense we might have committed. As Counselor and Comforter to the people the Holy Spirit delivers Christ's messages of counsel and comfort to lead the faithful to their unwavering and persevering real life living of their faith in God...

Implementer and Keeper of Christ's Promises, and Enforcer of Church's Leaders 

On Pentecost Sunday as promised by the Lord the Holy Spirit came down and rested upon the first Church assembly, which Saint Peter presided. The Bible tells us the following events and story of that day of coming of the Holy Spirit.

"On the day of Pentecost all the Lord's followers were together in one place. Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak. Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised because they were hearing everything in their own languages. They were excited and amazed, and said: 'Don't all these who are speaking come from Galilee? Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam..... from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome, Crete, and Arabia. Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews. Everyone was excited and confused. Some of them even kept asking each other, 'What does all this mean?' Others made fun of the Lord's followers and said, 'They are drunk.' Peter stood with the eleven apostles and spoke in a loud and clear voice to the crowd: Friends and everyone else living in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I have to say! You are wrong to think that these people are drunk. After all, it is only nine o'clock in the morning."

Peter made the above statement to dispute claims of them being drunk, and to prove to them how sober they are. And then he began, apparently now under the power of the Holy Spirit, to boldly recount and prove to the people both the story, the teachings, and the facts about the Savior Jesus Christ how it was all true and to be believed. He began with reference to the prophet Joel. Peter said, "But this is what God had the prophet Joel say, when the last days come, I will give my Spirit to everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams. In those days I will give my Spirit to my servants, both men and women, and they will prophesy...."

The Prophet Joel's prediction was now beginning its fulfillment as Peter was now preaching to them at that moment with conviction and power, and complete credibility. In Peter power was already being given by the Spirit with the manner he was now preaching about the Lord Jesus. (The same could be said of the other Apostles who were similarly talking of visions and in tongues at the time after the overshadowing by the Spirit.) And Peter summed up the story of Christ's finished and successful coming and redeeming of the sinful mankind beginning from Jesus' becoming a man, living, and up to His  death, and resurrection from the death, and to His ascension to His throne at the right hand of the Father. He proceeded with his bold preaching saying: "Now listen to what I have to say about Jesus from Nazareth. God proved that he sent Jesus to you by having him work miracles, wonders, and signs. All of you know this. God had already planned and decided that Jesus would be handed over to you. So you took him and had evil men put him to death on a cross. But God set him free from death and raised him to life. Death could not hold him in its power. What David said are really words of Jesus, 'I always see the Lord near me, and I will not be afraid with HIM at my right side. Because of this my heart will be glad, my words will be joyful, and I will live in hope. The Lord won't leave me in the grave. I am HIS holy one, and HE won't let my body decay. HE has shown me the path to life, and he makes me glad by being near me.'

Peter was making reference here to the gloriousness of Jesus rising from the dead, and his later ascent to Heaven to be in equal glory with the Father as He sits on His throne at the right side of the Father. He marks the fact that Jesus body did not stay long under the earth and did not therefore get corrupted; and he marks the fact of Jesus assuming His place in Heaven by the side of the Father. Just as spoken before by David. Thus Peter said: "David knew that (Someone from his own family would someday be KING...) this would happen, and so he told us that Christ would be raised to life. He said that God would not leave HIM in the grave or let his body decay. ALL OF US CAN TELL YOU THAT GOD HAS RAISED JESUS TO LIFE! Jesus was taken up to sit at the right side of God, and HE was given the Holy Spirit, just as the Father had promised. Jesus is also the one who has given the Spirit to us, and that is what you are now seeing and hearing...... Everyone in Israel should then know for certain that God has made Jesus both LORD and CHRIST, even though you put HIM to death on a cross ...."

Sanctifier, Grace Dispenser, and Church Builder 

And as the people felt having to respond to what was happening, they asked Peter and the other Apostles: "... What shall we do?" And Peter advised them: "Turn back to God! Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven. Then you will be given the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and for your children. It is for everyone our Lord God will choose, no matter where they live." And the Lord responded even more so that: ".... On that day about three thousand believed HIS message and were baptized. They spent their time learning from the apostles, and they were like family to each other. They also broke bread and prayed together."Acts. 2:1-42 With the first communities of Christians uniting together through the breaking of the bread, and faith fellowship, as well as by mutually sharing with each other their material resources we see how through the working of the Holy Spirit the believers/followers of Christ were in particular ways now a comfort to each other. The Holy Spirit empowered each one in the assembly and their assembly with the overshadowing by the Holy Spirit. These first leaders or missionaries of the Church proclaimed, and later spread the Message of Salvation the Lord Jesus has taught them while He was on earth. They effectively thus began and established the work of "evangelization". And from that Pentecost Sunday up to this day the Church had and has been alive, dynamically carrying on "the great commission" the Lord Jesus has handed to His first follower’s right before He ascended to His glory in Heaven. And so the Church was established and was and is continually being built up with the baptizing of new believers. They incorporated the Church. They received and handed over the message of salvation in Jesus Christ. But as Jesus has ascended to Heaven, His natural throne and repose, the work of the continuous building, and growing of the Church of Jesus Christ has been relegated to the Holy Spirit. And just like during the Pentecost Sunday the Holy Spirit vivifies, strengthens, and sustains by grace the lives of each and every member of Christ's Church from the time of Pentecost through the years up to the present, and until Judgment Time.

Church Safe-Keeper and Christ's Enforcer 

The one single proof of this ever alive presence and supervision by the Holy Spirit upon Christ's Church is the Church's very survival and existence from the time of the first Christians up to the present day. Mere human and natural elements of leadership in the Church did not enable its proper being, longevity, and ITS eternal destination notwithstanding having precisely human elements, including its top human leader the Pope. Besides, it was Jesus' promise that no power not even the power of Hell can crush or be victorious over the Church He founded because the Holy Spirit For its existence shall be always being under the guidance, supervision, and empowerment by the Holy Spirit. Because of the Holy Spirit this Church of Christ was, is, and shall be ever united, universal or catholic, apostolic, and holy or unadulterated in the following of Christ, and teaching about Christ.

Essential Specific Functions of the Holy Spirit within the Mission of Christ, Part III:

The Holy Spirit as the Sign & Power for Church's Unity 

It is united in doctrine, in leadership, and claim to authenticity as the Church of Christ.

The Holy Spirit as the Sign & Power for Church's Universality 

It is catholic as it is offered to all people who will believe, and it shall be preached to all generations in every corner of the world. No other 'church' could ever equal the true Church's scope of mission and membership in time and space.

The Holy Spirit as the Sign & Power for Church's Apostolicity 

It is apostolic as it shall ultimately be traced as the one which Peter has continually turned over through the ages up to the present Pope John Paul II.

The Holy Spirit as the Sign & Power for Church's Holiness 

And it is holy as it is the only Church which claims to be the principal channel of the life of grace of the Lord Jesus to the believers mainly through the non-bloody Sacrifice of the Mass/Calvary and all the sacraments; and because it is the only one which lay claims to its fruits of people-turned-Saints who are now in Heaven; and because it is the only Church that will continually mandate, teach, and constitute unto its own holy or sanctifying member- believers. It is also holy as it is never to teach or accept any unholy doctrine or human behavior.

No other earthly institutions can lay claim to these attributes of the Church of Christ. No other body politic or body of worship has the guaranteed presence of the Holy Spirit but the Church founded by Christ: the Roman Catholic Church.

Church Sanctifier, Grace Dispenser, Life-Giver 

Because of this characteristic Divine Presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church, the Church as it is operating right now, or the Kingdom of Christ is referred to as the Kingdom of the Reign of the Holy Spirit. The business of guaranteeing security and integrity by and within the Church for its faithful from the Pope down to the very last believing soul is the business of and by the Holy Spirit. From the beginning of the Church, therefore, until the end- times, it is the Holy Spirit who works on the Church's members or believers/followers. Specifically by means of the sacraments the Holy Spirit provides the members of the Church the initial incardination to the community through baptism, restores each wandering lost 'soul' back to the fold through confession, enriches the members' lives of grace through the nourishment from the Eucharist, and re-enforces the life of sanctifying grace through the believers' reception of the appropriate sacraments according to their state of life or vocation in the community. He bestows graces of family fruitfulness through matrimony, graces of fruitful ministering to the ordained religious through the Holy Orders, graces of health, physical and spiritual, to the infirmed and the aged, and graces of perseverance to everyone through confirmation.

Sanctifier of Believers and Strength of Evangelizers 

Via the sacraments, the believers/followers of Christ receive the faith, profess the faith, and share or impart the faith to non-believers and un-believers through manifold ways of anointment by the Spirit. Such anointment by the Spirit is effected within and through the believers/followers by way of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. This fruitfulness of the Spirit is manifested in lives lived in virtues demonstrating the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The seven ways by which these fruits are made manifest are the virtues of the fear of the Lord, piety, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, fortitude, and counsel.

Fear of the Lord per the Holy Spirit 

A true believer is most afraid to offend God he therefore thinks twice lest his action will cut him off from his union with God.

Piety per the Holy Spirit 

It is said he believes much who prays much. Lex orandi est lex credendi. Howsoever one prays is howsoever he believes. Prayer is the umbilical cord of the child of God to the source of his life, God.

Knowledge per the Holy Spirit 

The believer also is distinctly a being of reason. He will not ignore self evident principles of correct living. Someone who recklessly endangers his life and spiritual lifestyle is one who is not using his reason.

Understanding per the Holy Spirit 

Next to rationality, a related gift of understanding marks the believer. Understanding makes man aware, and realize at all times how he depends in every moment upon the grace of God. Without paying attention to the working of grace in him, the supposed believer is prone to make mistakes by relying in his faculties alone. He is made forgetful how no amount of human smartness and intelligence suffice to figure the maze of living, and to make it work when it matters when he is at the end of his ropes.

Wisdom per the Holy Spirit 

Then, finally, another rationally related Spiritual gift is the gift of wisdom. Only the believer acknowledges the fleetingness and vanity of the goods of the world. The believer is attuning to the great truth of Divine Splendor as spoken of by Saint Augustine. "Our soul is restless until it rests in you" oh God.

Fortitude per the Holy Spirit 

By progressive co-relation, as the Christian is gifted with the previously mentioned first gifts of the Holy Spirit, they make him/her bold in the possession of or rather in being under the possession/influence of the Holy Spirit. Thus, he feels, and thinks, acts like nothing is daunting to him in testifying about the Spiritual indwelling within him by the Divine. This is fortitude; the courage to face all odds and all oppositions in proclaiming what he has received from God. He is brave and happy to say: "Look at me, listen to me, and see how good it is to be with God. And I am telling you there's no stopping my testimony for it and about it."

Counsel per the Holy Spirit 

Finally, as the laborer is now readied by the Spirit, the next gift is the gift of counsel. The believer is able by grace to penetrate the spiritual condition of his neighbor, of a needy soul; and is able by grace to impart to him the kind of evangelization he needs.

The Holy Spirit as the Sanctifier and Source of Charity 

In a more generic but more intrinsic characteristic the Holy Spirit is at work in every believer/follower by virtue of his getting to be pliable at receiving the faith, and his getting to be malleable at conforming his body and soul to the will of the Father. In other words, it is by the Holy Spirit that the individual believer is most correctly living his life of holiness, his life of grace, his life of membership in the Kingdom of God. By the Spirit he is able to direct his freedom to the will of the Father, while simultaneously able to follow and abide by the corporate demands and needs of his fellow members of the Church. He is virtuous; but he is charitably virtuous. And being charitable is foremost of his virtues. He champions God's every single commandment; but he does not abandon, nor sacrifices every single needy neighbor that comes his way as he proclaims of God's commandments or teachings. This is the paradox of living. You are alone to face God's judgment if you go hay ward; yet your judgment of reward or punishment will depend on whether you have been faithfully a keeper and a steward of your brother or sister or neighbor. "If you did not do it to the least of my brother or sister, you did not do it to me." This was Jesus' warning on how those shall be judged accountable about how they did not supposedly clothe Him when He was naked, did not feed Him when He was hungry, did not give Him drink when He was thirsty, did not give Him shelter when He was homeless, did not visit Him when He was sick or in prison, did not lift a finger for Him when He was downtrodden. Only by the light of the Holy Spirit shall we recognize Christ in the needy ones around us.

The Holy Spirit as the Source of Holiness: the Maker of Saints

 Then, the fundamental paradox of holiness: he who loses his life shall save it; but he who saves his life shall lose it. Only by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit can the believer appreciate, and embrace in faith this condition of salvation which Jesus spelled out for everyone who truly wants to follow Him. Complete self-denial and total carrying of the cross is necessary if we want to be saved. And de facto it is indeed only by the unconditional surrender to the working of the Holy Spirit that any human being who wants to believe and follow Christ can really uncover the depths and heights of the wisdom in total emptying of oneself in order to be filled by the genuine life and most truly satisfying union with the Divine Incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In all counts, the Saints in Heaven, the near Saints in Purgatory, and the persevering living saints on earth are miraculous positive proofs of the reality of living divinely. As we said in our previous explanations, the Saints of the Kingdom of God are or have become Saints or saintly because they receive the Divine Life of Grace. They have been initiated in grace on earth; and they have blossomed in grace in Heaven. All this time it has been dispensed by the Holy Spirit.

Per all of the above descriptions and invocations of the varied and subtle roles and functions the Holy Spirit performs, thus, do we ascribe to, and specially believe, revere, worship & adore the Holy Spirit as the chief Agent that sanctifies every believing, trusting, and loving follower of Christ into an adopted child of God, and a welcome citizen/Saint of Heaven.

But we warn of the following "ultimate caveat" re the Holy Spirit: It is Most Grieving To and Most Appalling To the Holy Spirit for Men and Women To Be Carnal or Of the Flesh, Which Endangers Them Into Actually Tempting/Disavowing the Holy Spirit

How important and critical it is then that believers/followers live in and by the Spirit? And how wise should we be never to act, and to live UN-SPIRITUAL, or against the Holy Spirit? As an appendix of our discussion here, what should we watch out as being "un-spiritual" or being against the Holy Spirit? How are they contrasted with being of the Spirit?

Being un-spiritual means being of the flesh, being carnal. Saint Paul said, "Those who live according to the flesh are intent on the things of the flesh...The tendency of the flesh is toward death ...The flesh in its tendency is at enmity with God; it is not subject to God's law. Indeed it cannot be; those who are in the flesh cannot please God....." Earlier in this letter to the Romans Saint Paul further alluded to how unbelievers are prone to being slaves of the flesh. He said those that do hinder the truth are delivered by God "... up in their lusts to unclean practices; women no longer wanted to have sex in a natural way, and they did things with each other that were not natural. Men behaved in the same way. They stopped wanting to have sex with women and had strong desires for sex with other men. They did shameful things with each other, and what has happened to them is punishment for their foolish deeds. Since these people refused even to think about God, he let their useless minds rule over them. That's why they do all sorts of indecent things. They are evil, wicked, and greedy, as well as mean in every possible way. They want what others have, and they murder, argue, cheat, and are hard to get along with. They gossip, say cruel things about others, and hate God. They are proud, conceited, and boastful, always thinking up new ways to do evil." Romans 1:26-32

Also in the letter to the Galatians, Saint Paul one more time contrasted what is being spiritual versus being of the flesh. ".. My point is that you should live in accord with the spirit and you will not yield to the cravings of the flesh. The flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. The two are directly opposed........ It is obvious what proceeds from the flesh: lewd conduct, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, bickering, jealousy, outburst of rage, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you as I have warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.... In contrast, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness and chastity.... Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires...” Galatians 6:16-24 Saint John makes reference to being of the flesh as loving the world: “Carnal allurements, enticements for the eye, the life of empty show -- all these are from the world." John 2:16 

Finally, here's Saint Paul's warning about being of the flesh and promise about being of the spirit. “Make no mistake about it; no one makes a fool of God! A man will reap only what he sows. If he sows in the field of the flesh, he will reap a harvest of corruption; but if his seed-ground is the spirit, he will reap everlasting life." Galatians 6:7-8 Saint Paul is trying to tell us here that we cannot proclaim and profess our faith in Christ while at the same time unashamedly and openly live a sinful lifestyle. John equally gave this warning about the lack of integrity in believing when he said: “But if we claim to know him and don't obey him we are lying and the truth is not in our hearts. We truly love God only when we obey him as we should, and then we know that we belong to him. If we say we are his we must follow the example of Christ." John 2:4-6

Clearly, and categorically Saint Paul has spelled out for us unequivocally how or when we could see the Spirit as the one leading the lives of the Saints; and how or when a soul or a person is devoid of the presence of the Holy Spirit. He who is devoid of the Holy Spirit cannot say Jesus is Lord, or does not really know the Lord. For it is said it is only by the Spirit that a man can thus profess Jesus’ Lordship over him or his belonging to Jesus. It is on account of this fact that again it matters very seriously that the Spirit be in us; otherwise our claim of salvation is in vain, and our claim for wisdom is sheer folly. Woe to us if we stay under such pretenses.

In the Church at large, thus, the Indwelling by the Holy Spirit is the unmistakable mark of the Kingdom of God, particularly the Kingdom of God in the world. We repeat an above beginning paragraph on this last aspect of this sequel about the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God with reference to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This indwelling is demonstrated by the 'Saints' who have passed on to Heaven, by the other 'would-be-Saints in Purgatory just finishing their term of purgation, and by the 'saints' on earth living the life of grace, and therefore of holiness. These are the believers/followers who as believers/followers have been dead to the allure of the flesh, and are alive and vibrant in the Spirit of God. Thus, the Spirit is in them, and lives in them. The Spirit reigns in them.