“Never be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord,” this was the key theme in our second reading today, from the second letter to Timothy. St Paul is reminding Timothy and us as well, ‘to fan into a flame, the gift that God has given to you.” The image here is like a coal fire, coals that have been covered with ashes and need to be stirred and fanned into a flame.
St John Chrysostom comments on this by saying, ‘It takes much zeal to stir up the gift of God, but it is in our power to either kindle or extinguish His loving grace. For by sloth and carelessness grace is extinguished, or by watchfulness and diligence grace is kept alive.’
We have received this grace through the ‘laying on of hands’, at our Baptism and Confirmation, also through the Sacrament of the Sick, and for some people like myself by Priestly Ordination. The ‘laying on of hands’ is the formal method of invoking the Holy Spirit. For those who received my 1st blessings last month, I laid my hands on your heads, invoking the Holy Spirit to come down upon you in a special way.
St Paul continues by saying, this grace is not a spirit of timidity, but the spirit of power, and love, and self-control. We should never be ashamed to be a witness to the Lord. By embracing the many hardships for the sake of the Good News, we rely on the power of God to be with us as we bear witness to him.
Through the ‘laying on of hands’ especially at Confirmation, we receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The bishop and the con-celebrating priests raises their hands and prayers over the confirmandi.
The bishop says: “Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought these your servants to new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, freeing them from sin: send upon them, O Lord, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete; give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety; fill them with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.’
We have been given these seven gifts through the Holy Spirit, and we should use them and treasure them, like looking after something holy and precious.
In the Gospel reading the apostles felt that their faith was lacking and weak, asking the Lord to increase their faith. Jesus replied if your faith is the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree to be uprooted and plant itself in the sea. Or another verse in Matthew’s Gospel refers to asking a mountain to move into the sea and the mountain will obey you. Jesus is explaining if you have faith, even if it is small like a mustard seed, you can do the impossible. Since everything is possible for God.
So let us, stir up our flames, enkindle our loving kindness through watchfulness and diligence. Stand up straight with confidence, radiating with the power of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, proclaiming the Good News. We are merely servants of the Lord, his disciples. We have a duty to perform spreading love and mercy, pronouncing the Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ. We are his people, chosen by God before we were born, to be his many parts in the One Body of Christ. Strong in faith, he will never leave us, place your trust in him always, because we are not ashamed to be witnesses of the Lord God Our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Rev. Fr Philip Wrigley's Blog 