the world's spirit or the holy spirit?
"I gave them Your word, and the world has hated them for it." —John 17:14
We Christians don't belong to the world any more than Jesus belonged to the world (Jn 17:14, 16). This is why the world hates us (Jn 15:19). Nonetheless, Jesus did not ask His Father to take us out of the world but to guard us from the evil one (Jn 17:15). Thus, we live "behind enemy lines." We are always in danger but protected as we live in Christ and do not compromise with the world, for "there is One greater" in us "than there is in the world" (1 Jn 4:4).
Jesus promised that we would conquer the world (Jn 16:33; 1 Jn 5:4, 5). This promise is fulfilled by our life in the Spirit, for the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, proves "the world wrong about sin, about justice, about condemnation" (Jn 16:8). The Spirit will take us to the cross where we will be crucified to the world and the world to us (see Gal 6:14). If we are baptized, that is, immersed in the Spirit, we will not be set on the things of the world (see Phil 3:19). Rather, we will "have no love for the world, nor the things that the world affords" (1 Jn 2:15).
This Pentecost, let the Holy Spirit free you from compromise with the world and for victory over the world. Come, Holy Spirit!
Prayer: Father, by the Spirit may I not belong to the world and not die in my sins (Jn 8:23-24).
Promise: "You need to recall the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, Who said, 'There is more happiness in giving than receiving.' " —Acts 20:35
Praise: St. Isidore, a humble peasant farmer, was blessed with visions of heaven to encourage his work of farming. He embodied the Scripture: "If (a man's) seed-ground is the Spirit, he will reap everlasting life. Let us not grow weary of doing good; if we do not relax our efforts, in due time we shall reap our harvest" (Gal 6:8-9).
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Giles H. Pater, November 15, 2001
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, November 16, 2001