In our Epistle Saint James reminds us that we must not only hear the word, but we must also be doers of the word. Therefore we can conclude that it is not enough to carry around a checkoff list and go through the proper outward motions of faith. Rather, we must allow what our faith teaches us to be integrated into both our outward and inward motions.
Some come to Mass each Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation. They have fulfilled their obligation to assist at Mass. Here they have come to be nourished at our Lord’s altar by Christ’s Body and Blood. Despite this great gift that has been extended unto them they go back into the world as if unchanged. They do not allow their hearts to become open to grace and the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Again it is not enough to only hear the word, but we must also become doers of the word. The promptings of the Holy Spirit send us into the world to live out our faith. From the nourishment that we receive from the Eucharist we are sent into the world to live out the beatitudes. Some reflect that they know of nothing that they need to confess in the Sacrament of Confession. Maybe they should reflect upon their sins of omission and thus the ways in which they have failed to live out the beatitudes.
Very soon our Lord will ascend to His Father in Heaven. The apostles will then go onto gather in prayer and the Holy Spirit will descend upon them. From this gift they take what they heard from the lips of Christ and begin to become doers of the word. The apostles extend this same invitation to us to follow after them and to become true heralds of the Gospel. Not only in word, but also in deed.
So many fear this invitation for they worry that they have not the strength to become a herald of the Gospel. We must remember that not only did the Holy Spirt descend down upon the apostles, but the Holy Spirit came down upon us when we received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Through the reception of this sacrament we were infused with grace and received the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.
