3rd Advent - Fr. Leo

John the Baptist baptizes with water.  Christ baptizes in the Holy Spirit.

John’s baptism of water is an invitation to become aware of our conscience.  This is the beginning of our natural seeking to know ourselves and to come to know God. To become aware of our conscience, calls us to look within and become aware of all the internal voices that are speaking within us.  In our conscience, we will hear good voices and not so good voices.  We will feel anger and we will know love.

This becoming aware of our interior life, must be aided by the Holy Spirit.  Only God can reveal our true selves to us, and in doing so, reveal his merciful self.  There will be pains and joys as we come to know our inner selves, but in the end, we will come to know our utter dependence on God’s mercy, and at that moment experience the fullness of God’s love.  

Without the Holy Spirit there is no hope in our inner journey, but with the Holy Spirit there is the experience of God’s love; an experience of eternal peace and joy.

Let us continue to pray to know the living God within us through the gift of the Holy Spirit.  As we do, we will discover the mystery of the incarnation alive in us.  Praised be the God who formed us in his image and in us has chosen to dwell through the gift of the Holy Spirt!  Amen. Amen.