Listening to the Holy Spirit

    It is difficult to ignore them on the evening television news programs. After an uninterrupted depressing 15 minutes of the day’s news of civil war in Syria, political bickering in Washington and weather disasters, we are treated to scenes of happy people doing cheerful things.
    Couples stroll hand-in-hand down country lanes, grandfathers sit on a dock fishing with grandchildren. None of this would be possible, we are told, were it not for the pharmaceuticals offered by the sponsors. Arthritic joints, inflamed muscles, malfunctioning organs from hearts to livers, all can be remedied. The relief, however, comes at a price: side effects.
    While the screen shows people in states of joy and pleasure, a quiet, reassuring voice points out “side effects” may include dizziness, sleeplessness, nausea, diarrhea and, possibly, death.
    By the time the warning of side effects concludes, it is difficult to recall what ailment the product is meant to overcome. The warnings of side effects so dire make some consider enduring the disease rather than the cure.
    Our son’s brother-in-law, who recently learned he has a malignant tumor, is keeping the family informed by his blogs. Recently he described the side effects he is experiencing as a new patient.
    “The doctor will prescribe a medication for treatment, but the medication causes nausea,” he wrote. “So then you are prescribed something for the nausea, but the anti-nausea medication has side effects, so you are told to get some over-the-counter medications to deal with those. Whew! …    “I think there is a nugget for a good, applicable sermon in these somewhere,” he noted.
    There is a lesson here. It’s about the consequences of actions, unintended or otherwise.
    “For example, what are the side effects on you and others for the choices you make?” the young man asked. “What side effect have you experienced in your life when you’ve drifted away from God?
    “On a more positive note, how does your walk with the Lord affect those around you?”
    Good questions. Insightful points for meditation. It makes us think of the consequences of our actions. Who is comforted, inspired? Who is injured or demoralized? Pope Francis offered an antidote to these side effects several times this month with his repeated emphasis on the Holy Spirit.
    “The poor Holy Spirit is always in last place and doesn’t find a prime place in our life,” the pope said May 13. The Holy Spirit is “God active in us,” the one who “wakes up our memory,” he said.
    Two days later, the pope asked the crowd in St. Peter’s Square whether they pray and are open to the Holy Spirit every day so they can be “more sensitive to the things of God.”
    “Let’s ask ourselves what steps we are taking so that the faith guides our existence” because “there are no part-time Christians, at certain moments, in certain circumstances, in certain choices,” he said. “You can’t be a Christian that way. You are Christians at all times, completely.”
    Later, at the conclusion of an audience, the pope repeated his message: “We have to listen to the Holy Spirit who is inside us!”