On True Health, Love, and Freedom pt. 3 - J. Powell SJ

For Part I and Part II please go to: https://www.thegrenchusfoundation.org/spirituality-1

Part III by J. Powell SJ:

“In the first words of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, the Spirit of God is depicted as bringing the order of creation out of the primordial chaos. ~In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void (chaos); there was darkness over the deep, and God’s spirit hovered over the water (Gen 1:1-2)

It is by this Spirit that confusion and chaos are transformed into the loveliness of creation. Eight chapters later, in the narration of the Flood, it is the same Spirit of God that causes the waters of the flood to subside. Again he restores the order of creation out of the watery confusion and chaos. Through the prophet, Joel, God promises that ‘It will come to pass that I will pour out my Spirit upon all mankind,’ (Joel 3:1; quoted in Acts 2:17).

It is the same Spirit of God who comes on the day of Pentecost to transform the disciples of Jesus from cowardly and confused men into clear-headed and convinced apostles. The chaos of their confusion is replaced by great clarity of purpose. It is the Spirit of God who directs the Christians in the early church. His action appoints leaders, heals the sick, melts the hearts, enable people to love one another in an overwhelming release of power that will renew the face of the earth.

This touch of the Spirit transforms everything in a person and in his world. The person is indeed a new creation. The revelation of God, which might otherwise seem to be a fiction, is clearly a fact: a vision of reality. The touch of the Spirit results in deep harmony, peace and order, replacing the kind of primordial chaos in a human being’s inner vision of reality. Consequently, all the emotional and behavioral patters of the person touched by the Spirit are deeply affected. There is a new sense of integration and wholeness. The person experiences that ‘unity which has the Spirit as its foundation and peace as its binding force.’ (Eph 4:3) As a new creation, this man or woman is enabled by the Spirit to walk into the beautiful world of God and into the fullness of life to which God has called his children.”

Powell SJ concludes this part with:

God’s Grandeur

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out , like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs-

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings,

Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.

My thoughts: To have true health, love and freedom is to be full of the gift of the Holy Spirit, and allowing the Holy Spirit to flood your life with God’s grace, love, and mercy. This is true freedom and this true freedom brings true health and true love into your midst. It is this piece that empowers you to live out the vision of reality of who Christ was and to be loving, merciful, gentle, compassionate, and peaceful within yourself, as well as to others. This same spirit is the spirit that gives you the power to stand up for what is right and to stand against injustice. We also see this permeate our surroundings through nature. We are drawn more deeply to Christ and being Christlike through nature as well and working in harmony with nature….taking care of that which God has created - including our loved ones, families, fellow human beings, as well as nature. By doing so, we create more harmony, good, and peace in the world. It is through respecting what God has created, as well as honoring it, valuing it, and cherishing it, that we are able to overcome great obstacles that stand in our midst. When we honor and cherish that which God has created, we as human beings are brought more in accord with each other as well as with nature, we create a form of the sacred for life to exist, flourish, and grow. We also fill the space with more peace, love, and joy. Additionally, to have true love of someone else, you are filled with the Holy Spirit, so that you are able to love them the way they need to be loved… so your love for them continues to grow and multiply and so you experience God’s greatness here on earth. When you are truly in love with someone, you fall more in love with them everyday - in different ways, and all of the world speaks to you, in different ways, about their goodness (even on their worst days). You see the good in them despite whatever faults of flaws they have and despite the trials and tribulations they have been through or that come up along the way, or that you have been through together.

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