Pentecost Sunday

(Gal 5:16-25)

Galatians 5:16 Therefore I say to you, walk by the Spirit, and you will not be led to satisfy the desires of the flesh;

"Walk. Life is a journey; we have not arrived. Man is not simply what he is, but what he becomes, and he becomes according to the end he sets out to do, and if you take away his end and his walk, you take away the meaning of his life, that is, he does not know what to do, he does not know what the meaning of life is. So it is important to walk and to have an end to walk towards. Jesus Christ sets himself up as a shepherd, and man, likened to a sheep, always follows someone. Man inevitably follows someone, he seeks something outside himself; and walking is a discipline, it is a toil, it is a leaving behind of things, and going towards others - it is a growing up.

"Walk according to the Spirit" means to follow the truth of the gospel, to put the law of the New Covenant into practice. Walking according to the Spirit also has another meaning. It means to follow the motion of the Holy Spirit, to allow oneself to be led by Him, to be moved by Him in the fulfilment of God's will. He moves so that we obey God, so that our every action is a perfect fulfilment of God's will. There is a walking according to the Spirit and a walking according to the flesh; if one walks according to the Spirit, he does not fulfil the 'desires of the flesh'.

The 'flesh' is the man who walks without God, decides without God, wants to be without God; works without God, deals with himself and others without God, in total ignorance of Him. Without God means without God's will, without God's wisdom, without God's truth, without the comfort of His love and grace. For without God man can do no good, he walks in the flesh and follows the passions and lusts of the flesh. This is the reality of man walking without the Spirit.

Here are two antithetical models of existence, that according to the Spirit of God and that based on the 'flesh', which in St Paul's language does not mean the physical body, but the unregenerate, unbelieving man who lives according to the principle of sin.

One can satisfy his desires through possession: the flesh tells me what I lack and I take it; food I lack, I am hungry and I take it; people I lack and I take them; God I lack and I take Him. This is living the relationship according to the flesh, that is, living it according to the selfishness of the old man, where at the centre is me and my needs, and others are all according to my needs. To live according to the Spirit, on the other hand, is to live myself, things and others, as a gift from God, therefore as a relationship, which is something else entirely, because the gift of God is a gift, not a possession.

What was the mistake of the first man, Adam? That what was given to him, instead of living it as a gift - his divine likeness - he abducted it as a possession; and living in possession - of things, of persons, of God - is exactly living according to the flesh, that is, putting one's self, egoism, as the principle of life.

Man is essentially lack, he is need: the problem is how he satisfies his needs. The same realities can be experienced in two opposite ways. There are not two different realities, reality is one, and we can live the same thing selfishly according to the desires of the flesh, or according to the Spirit. Clearly, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the Spirit are always intertwined in us, but we must learn to distinguish between them, even if we often pretend not to.

It is not a matter of submitting to a law, but to the Spirit, in the freedom in which Christ has placed us. It is not a question of laying down rules to be conformed to in one's conduct, but, instructed by the word of God, letting God guide our lives, by the Spirit, because the Spirit does not act automatically in the heart of a believer, but waits for the believer to depend on him.

It is by the Spirit of God that we can overcome our passions and lusts. He who wants to gain perfect freedom from his flesh knows that he must live and walk in the Spirit. Where there is no Spirit of God, there is no supernatural life. There is an animal life, that is, life according to the flesh, where there is no truth but concupiscence, no love but instinct, no hope but immersion in the immediate and in that moment in which we make our whole life consist. This is the situation of every man who is without the Spirit of the Lord. This is also the situation of that Church that has thought and thinks that one no longer needs the Holy Spirit, because everything has become and must become a matter between men.

If the Spirit is necessary for man to walk according to God and not follow the flesh in its desires, it is evident that the Church must do everything possible to teach how to follow and walk according to the Holy Spirit. But the individual believer must also make every effort to invoke the Holy Spirit through prayer, committing all of himself to grow in virtue.

Let me add one thing: man becomes what he desires, desires what he takes into consideration, and takes into consideration what he proposes or is proposed to him. Now, among the many proposals that there may be, and that there are in fact in daily life, that come to us from society and the mass media, I believe that it is necessary, that is, indispensable, to propose a word that shows God's project: man becomes what he desires, desires what he takes into consideration, takes into consideration what is proposed or is proposed to him; well, then, let the word of God be proposed: that man will consider, that he will desire and that he will become.

Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books

- Revelation - exegetical commentary

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

(Buyable on Amazon)

53 Last modified on Tuesday, 14 May 2024 00:11

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don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

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