Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me nurture words, not of power and control according to human nature, but words from the heart of God…

Matthew 16:13-23

 
Peter had just distinguished himself as the only disciple to answer Jesus’ question with words inspired from God,  “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Within minutes, though, Jesus was chastising this same man for merely speaking from his own human nature and even addressed him as Satan – an obstacle in Jesus’ way! How did this happen? “Give a man an inch and he takes a mile,” they say. Peter received an inch of positive feedback from his Master, as well as prophecy about how he would become the rock foundation of the church – and then took a mile of license to try to intervene in Jesus’ passion.  Upon being praised by Jesus, suddenly Peter was powerful and thought that he could control the human condition as he saw fit – according to his human nature. “God forbid it Lord! That must never happen to you!’… According to his newly affirmed power and control, Peter leaned on his human nature to take it upon himself to direct his Master’s life, and so made himself out to be God. How often do I, like Peter, sense God’s gifts to me, and presume that I now have the power and control to call the shots in the social agendas and even family and community situations of our day. ‘No! that is not right. I won’t let that happen!’ I shout out in an email, a conversation or a hot-headed speech. That is when I find myself obstructing the work of the Lord in our own lives and the lives of ‘those we are on earth with’, our nunaqatiit, (Inuktitut). Will I spend my life leaning on my human nature and speaking pride driven foolishness, or will I wait on the Lord and speak his words, his Word, into our world, to bring healing and the Light of the Christ?  Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me nurture words, not of power and control according to human nature, but words from the heart of God.
                                                                                                
I know that I will see the goodness of the Lord in this present life. Wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart.    (Psalm 27:13-14 )
 
If we want to discover the seeds of God’s Kingdom as they manifest themselves in the midst of all the corruption and sinfulness around us, we need to look at this world with the eyes of Jesus.
John Fullenbach, SVD, in Throw Fire
 
Soli ad gloriam
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