“Filled with the Holy Spirit”

Saint Luke’s Gospel is the only Gospel account of the temptation of Christ that uses the words, “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is divine, and of course, He is filled with the Holy Spirit. It is His divinity that enables Him to go into the desert, to go into battle and come out victorious. We, however, are not divine.  Thus, if we go into battle without the divine life, we are not “filled with the Holy Spirit” and we will be defeated. It is only in Christ that we win, and in this victory, we achieve our inner integrity. “The whole of man’s history has been the story of our combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield, man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself, and aided by God’s grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity.” [1]

“We must keep in mind that temptation is brought to fulfillment by three stages: suggestion, delight and consent. And we in temptation we generally fall through delight, and then through consent; for being begotten of the sin of the flesh we bear within us that through which we suffer conflict. But God, Incarnate in the womb of a Virgin, came into the world without sin, and so suffers no conflict within Himself. He could therefore be tempted by suggestion, but the delight of sin could never touch His mind. So all these temptations of the devil were from without not from within Him.” [2] Saint Bernard said, “Thoughts lead to Pleasure, Pleasure leads to Consent, Consent leads to Action, Action leads to Habit, Habit leads to Necessity.” We can begin to feel that we need sin, or that we can’t possibly live any other way, at this point we feel sin is a necessity and we are bound by sin. It is only Christ, who “proclaims liberty to captives” and lets the “oppressed go free”. Jesus spoke these words from the prophet Isaiah just prior to His ministry and it is in the temptation in the desert that He proves His power over, not just the consent to sin, but also the delight of sin.
 
Therefore to conquer both the delight and consent of sin, we must “put on” the One who is divine. We must “put on” Christ who not only conquers sin, but whom sin cannot touch. “As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.” [3] Through the Sacraments our life is transformed by the Holy Spirit into the divine life. The divine life within, enables us to not only conquer the consent to sin, but also the delight of sin. Through the sacraments our life becomes the life of Christ and therefore the victory of sin that Christ experienced in the desert becomes our victory as well. This is why Saint Paul can say, “…yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” [4]

The sacramental life is the divine life and should be our first priority. For example, if for some reason, we are unable to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we should ask ourselves, “What impediment, what obstacle is getting between me and Jesus?” For if we cannot receive Christ now, how can we receive Christ later? Our top priority should be to eliminate any impediment or obstacle between us and Christ. If we are baptized and in mortal sin, we must at once repent, confess, and resolve to sin no more. Until the moment when we are able to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist, we can make a sincere Act of Contrition and spiritual Act of Communion. To receive any sacrament we must be properly disposed - in other words we must be detached from sin, and open to grace. We are reminded during Ash Wednesday at the distribution of ashes to, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel.”

Not only do we block grace when we are not properly disposed to receive the Sacraments, but we also bring judgment upon ourselves. In regards to receiving the Eucharist unworthily, Saint Paul says, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.” [5] Grace is always given in the sacraments, but grace is not always received. The reception of grace is dependent upon the one receiving the grace, not upon the one giving. Imagine a cup that is empty, but a piece of wood or plastic is covering the opening. The water that is poured will be blocked from entering the cup by the piece or wood or plastic. The wood or plastic must first be removed. The wood or plastic in this case is mortal sin.

ACTIVITY – Liturgy of the Hours [Morning Prayer – Saturday, Week IV]
The psalms speak of the reality and seriousness of sin, and the power and victory of grace. Pray the Liturgy of the Hours for Morning Prayer, Saturday, Week IV and keep in mind how the psalms and canticles show the reality of sin and the victory of God. Especially keep in mind references or symbols to the Sacramental life, our life of Grace, in Jesus Christ. If you do not want to pray the full liturgy of the hours, then simply read Psalm 92, Ezekiel 36:24-28, and Psalm 8. You can break the group into three and have each group read a scripture. The temptation of Christ shows us the reality of sin, the victory of Christ, the life of Grace (our life in Christ)

Psalm 92

Reality of Sin
“Though the wicked spring up like grass and all who do evil thrive”
“See how your enemies perish, all doers of evil are scattered”

Victory of Grace
“they [sinners] are doomed to be eternally destroyed. But you, Lord are eternally on high”
“My eyes looked in triumph on my foes; my ears heard gladly of their fall.”
“The just will flourish like the palm-tree and grow like a Lebanon cedar.”
“Still bearing fruit when they are old, still full of sap, still green.”

Sacraments
“To me you give the wild-ox’s strength” - Confirmation is the gift of strength
you anoint me with the purest oil – Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick
“Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God” – Sacraments are given within the context of a Rite or Liturgy, within the Church (the house of the Lord).

Ezekiel 36:24-28

Reality of Sin
“I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the foreign lands”

Victory of Grace
“and bring you back to your own land”
“You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; you shall be my people, and I will be you God.”

Sacraments
“I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities” - Baptism and Confession
“I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you.” - Confirmation
“I will put my spirit within you” - Confirmation

Psalm 8

Reality of Sin
“what is man that you should keep him in mind, moral man that you care for him?”
Victory of Grace / Sacraments

“Yet you have made him little less than a god; with glory and honor you crowned him, gave him power over the works of your hand, put all things under his feet.”

Saint Paul says, “The Father gave Christ lordship of creation and made him head of the Church” [6]. In Genesis, God entrusts creation to man; in the Gospel, Christ entrusts the Church to man. The Sacrament of Matrimony enables man to perpetuate physical life living out God’s command to “be fertile and multiply” The Sacrament of Holy Orders enables man to perpetuate spiritual life living out Christ command, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” [7]

[1] CCC 409
[2] Catena Aurea, Saint Gregory the Great
[3] CCC 1127
[4] Galatians 2:20
[5] 1 Corinthians 11:29
[6] Ephesians 1:22
[7] Matthew 28:19-20