Life In The Spirit

A Reflection on the Second Reading for June 5th, 2022:
The Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday

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Romans
8.8-17

Brothers and sisters: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption to sonship. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ — if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
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Living by the Spirit and not by the flesh. A pretty tall order when the flesh is so ever present. The flesh is needy too. It needs to be fed and watered. It needs rest. It is always clamouring for stimuli. God made our flesh and it has such capacity to contain holiness that He chose to take on this same flesh in the plan for Salvation.
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But that capacity also comes with a capacity for unholiness. Seeking my physical needs over others. Seeking gratification. The tug to give in to every impulse, good, bad, and ugly. And we are indeed in a day and age that glorifies being for ourselves; living our best life; taking care of ourselves first.

In a world full of people listening to the call of the flesh first, are we not all surprised by someone who we perceive as seeking the good of others first? People who direct their desires and impulses toward holiness?

This Sunday would have been my mother’s 66th birthday. The last birthday she saw in this world was her 59th. We had her lawn absolutely covered with flamingos – a joyful local tradition she always enjoyed but had never had for herself. My mother was a woman who intrinsically understood the purpose of her physical body. Her hands were always working – at the nursing home serving her patients as a nurse; at home always making some craft; at church serving meals. Her mouth was filled with music, a physical outpouring of her rich internal life. Her arms open, not to receive but to give.

Her final journey with cancer revealed her truest self. A woman of profound faith. A woman of profound humanity. A woman who always carried suffering like a nagging pebble in her shoe, using that suffering as her reminder of her need for the Lord. The lifetime she had spent in constant search of the Lord’s heart in her circumstances prepared her for this final journey.

As we reflect on the words of Saint Paul, it is good to remember that this life in the Spirit is possible. We can see it in the lives of the holy men and women God has surrounded us with. We can see it in the lives of the Saints. Rather than admiring them from afar, they are set as an example of what all of us are capable of if we give our lives over to the Spirit. We are called to be Saints, even in this challenging time! We are called, in a world obsessed with self-assertion, to take every part of our selves and offer them all to the Lord. If we are one with the Spirit, our flesh can become a mighty tool for the Kingdom, instead of just a tool for our own gratification.




Stephanie Potter 
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