I recently stumbled across a post online which began with the quote “It’s hard to hear God’s voice when you’ve already decided what you want him to say.” Reading these words stopped me dead in my tracks, because they are so true. There have been many times in my life where I have convinced myself that something must be God’s plan for me, only to find that in my efforts to make it so, I would encounter obstacles at every turn. This would only lead to increased frustration, as I tried desperately to achieve what I wanted, or thought was right. All the while, God was calling me to a different path: but in my stubbornness, I failed to hear God’s voice calling to me.
It was only when I learned to put aside my own ego, and truly listen to the voice of God given through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that I found the true path God was calling me to follow. While this path hasn’t always been easy, I have continually been amazed at the way in which God has opened doors in my life that I thought were firmly closed, and has continued to lead me, even when I thought that I had surely reached a dead end.
In a way, this reality of our faith is what we celebrate on this Solemnity of Pentecost. As we recall the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into the world, we recall the ways in which the spirit has guided the Church throughout history, we also recognize that the Spirit doesn’t always move in the ways that we would expect it to. Even from the very beginning, the Apostles speaking in tongues was a great surprise to the people in Jerusalem who heard that first proclamation of the Good News. And to this day, the Spirit continues to move in ways that we do not expect!
The movement of the Spirit challenges us to continually move outside of our comfort zones, and embrace God’s will for our lives. If we are going to embrace the guidance of the Spirit, however, we have to be willing to let go of our own ego, and truly listen for the voice of God in true humility. This is something that takes work: but I promise that in the end, our lives become far richer when we cooperate with the Spirit of God, and do not fight against the Spirit to try and accomplish our own will.
This Pentecost, we pray for a deeper outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all the Baptized, so that we can truly seek to discern God’s will, and truly live out our call to be a missionary church that forms disciples of Jesus.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Steven Huber, CSB