the holy spirit is faithful... 7th week easter saturday

Today we end the Acts of the Apostles.  It is only during the season of Easter that we go through the salient points of the entire book.  For 7 weeks we read from the Acts of the Apostles.  Tomorrow with Pentecost we end the season of Easter and so it is during this last weekday of Easter that we also end the book.  I hope we have paid attention to this book knowing that this part of the New Testament written by Luke narrates to us the early history of Christianity through the two ministries of the two great apostles – Peter and Paul. 

And yet this book is not entirely history.  This book narrates to us the workings of the Holy Spirit in the church, aiding it as it expanded from Jerusalem, to the surrounding areas in Damascus and in Antioch, then slowly expanding until it reached Greece, and then expanding further until it reached Spain, and eventually Rome the capital of the great Roman Empire. This is where the book ends – Rome.  With this narrative Luke is simply saying that the church is not the work of man, its progress from its humble beginnings in Jerusalem until it reached Rome is not the work of Peter and Paul.  No, it is the Holy Spirit at work in the church, it is the Holy Spirit present in the church.

This same Holy Spirit is still with us today.  It has never left the church despite the many crisis and trials and scandals and infidelities that happened throughout its more than 2000 year-history.  The Holy Spirit is still with us, sanctifying us, directing us, guiding us, reproving us, disturbing us as we move along the years.

Many people through the centuries have doubted the Holy Spirit’s presence in the church.  Because of this they established their own religion, they left the true church believing that the Holy Spirit no longer resides in the Catholic Church and that the Catholic Church has deserted the Holy Spirit.

But the Acts of the Apostles is a testament that the Spirit can never desert the church.  It is a commitment as strong as the promise of the Lord that he will be with us until end of time.

It is for this reason that the relationship of the Jesus and the Church, the relationship of God and the church is likened to a husband and wife.  It is sticking it out no matter what.  The Holy Spirit is faithful.  The Holy Spirit is with us and will be with us guiding the church until the end of time.