Sunday Readings for January 19th, 2020.

My oldest daughter is quite the cook. I’m blessed to every now and again come home to dinner already started and little left for me to do. The way to learn to cook well is like a lot of things – practice. With practice comes mistakes. Most of the time the mistakes are small and usually just result in a bigger mess. Other times the mistakes are cataclysmic.

One time my daughter insisted upon making brownies all by her self. She was going to make brownies from scratch. After mixing, pouring, and baking, she pulled them out of the oven to find a pan of still gooey, syrupy chocolate sludge. I’m not really sure how to explain what these brownies were like. 

After a quick review we discovered that instead of 1/2 cup of oil, she added 1 1/2 cups. Also, she forgot the the baking powder completely. Even though it was such a small amount, 1/4 of a teaspoon, missing the backing powder made a huge difference in the brownies. Maybe nothing would have saved them from an extra cup of oil, but at least they would have risen. 

Missing the rising agent in baked goods significantly effects what we are trying to bake. The same is true our faith. If we forget to include the Holy Spirit in our faith lives, we are missing a major component in our growth with God.

How important is the Holy Spirit? When John the baptists describes Jesus’ baptism in this Sunday’s gospel, that Holy Spirit descending on Jesus and remaining with him is the very way that John knows that Jesus is the Messiah. For John, it is the Holy Spirit that indicates who Jesus really is and what Jesus has come to do.

If we want to know who we really are, if we want to discover our deepest identity, we need to invite the Holy Spirit into our lives. If we want to know what our purpose or our mission in this life, we must rely on the Holy Spirit. 

LIVE IT: Want the Holy Spirit to be a more powerful factor in your life? Trying saying this prayer each morning when you wake up. 

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. 

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.