The Promise of the Holy Spirit

Before his death on the cross. Jesus had his last supper with his disciples. It was
during their meal together that He promised them the Holy Spirit. Jesus said” I
will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper to stay with you forever.
He is the spirit who reveals the truth about God. Many in the world do not know
the Holy Spirit. But you know him because the spirit is in you and will remain in
you. So even if I go. I will not leave you all alone. I will come back to you.
Jesus also said” The Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my
name, will teach you everything. The spirit will make you remember all that I have
told you.” We believe that God is always with us through the Holy spirit that is in
our hearts. It is the Holy spirit who makes us know God more and more each day.
It is the same spirit who teaches us how to pray from the heart. It is the Spirit of
the Risen Lord Jesus who fulfilled His promise that He will be with us always.
We can always pray to the Holy Spirit to help us choose to love., to be kind, to be
generous, to forgive, and to do what is pleasing to God. We can also pray with
others to the Holy Spirit to make us listen more attentively to God. We can pray
for guidance on what God wants for us in our family and in the larger community-
in our school, in our neighborhood, in our country. The Holy Spirit is our Divine
Friend and Helper who guides us everyday to follow our Lord Jesus more closely
as true Christians.

The Early Church

After the apostles had received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they continued doing
Jesus mission. Peter was first to bravely preach to the people about Jesus. The
people asked. What are we to do?” Peter replied” You must be sorry for your sins
and be baptized. Then you will be forgiven in the name of Jesus Christ and ypu
will receive the Holy Spirit”. Many people accepted the message of the apostles
and they were baptized so as to belong to the church. As time went on, the
apostles visited many places. The church grew. Many of those who heard the
apostles speak wanted to be baptized by them. The Holy Spirit built up the Church
so that the people would continue to obey God everyday. The people who belong
to the Church also suffered because others still did not believe in Jesus as the
Savior and the Son of God. There were people who wanted them to stop teaching
about Jesus. That is why they had to gather secretly in their homes. It was the
Holy Spirit who filled their hearts who filled their hearts with joy because of their
love for God and for one another.
We are all part of the big community of believers called to be gathered together
as one People of God. Each one of us belongs to the universal church. The
universal Church to which we belong is made up of different peoples with
different languages and cultures. It is through the Holy Spirit that we become of
one heart and one soul in the church. Because of the action of the Holy spirit our
church is present In many different places at all times. It is through the Holy Spirit
that we remain connected to one another. Within our universal church, we have
many diocese with the bishop as the head of each diocese. In each diocese we
have many parishes and each parish is headed by a parish priest. We belong to
our own parish where we can actively participate to serve one another. In our
parish, we have a church where we are invited to gather and celebrate together
the eucharist. Each church is usually named and dedicated to a sain or to a
particular devotion to our Lord such as the Sacred Herat of Jesus or the Divine
Mercy. Every day the Eucharist is being celebrated in different churches at
different times all over the world. Each time we celebrate the Eucharist , we are
united with our universal church. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, our
celebration of the Eucharist makes us all connected to our Lord Jesus and to one
another.

The Breaking of Bread in the Early Church

The apostles continued Jesus mission of teaching people about the love of God to
all. Many were amazed at their message. But others did not like what they heard
and they said” They are just drunk and that’s why they are saying those
things.”Some people refus could ed to believe and understand the Good News
that the apostles were saying. They not accept the apostle followers s teaching
about Jesus Christ who died buut rose from the dead to save us from sin and gave
us new life. These people were angry at the of Jesus and they started to persecute
the Christians. But there were many other people who came to believe in Jesus
because of the teaching of the apostles. They lived with other Christians in a
community. They encouraged and supported one another. They shared whatever
material things they had with one another so that no one was in need. They
listened to the apostles. They also prayed every day. They especially gathered
together to remember Jesus love for them in the “breaking of the bread”. This
was to fulfill Jesus’s word when he said.”Do this in remembrance of me.”
The Holy Spirit makes us live together in our community. As we live together, we
learn to be responsible for one another and to take care especially of the needy. It
is the spirit of Love that leads us to share what we have with others. It is also the
Holy Spirit who leads us to come together and celebrate God’s love. The
Christians in the early church always found time to celebrate God’s love. They
prayed together each day. They would gather even secretly in house especially on
the first day of the week for the breaking of the bread.
The breaking of the bread is the Eucharist. The Eucharist is a thanksgiving of Jesus
self offering out of love and in obedience to the Father. Jesus’s whole life on earth
was always for others. We are all called to imitate Him in his concern for others.
In the celebration of the Eucharist we remember Jesus who was obedient to the
Father. Jesus showed his great love when he died on the cross for all of us to be
saved from sin but on the third day, rose from death to give us new life.