GREAT PRIVILEGES AND GREAT COMMITMENTS

Glenshee Conference, June 2012, Talk 2,

GREAT PRIVILEGES

ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel

and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God came down

upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his

Church, sending the Advocate from heaven into all the world into which, according to his own words, the devil

too had been cast down like lightning.

VICTORYNow thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every

place 2 Corinthians 2:14

LOVE“As the Father loved Me, I also have

loved you; abide in My love. Jn 15:9

 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that

the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as

You have loved Me. Jn 17:23 This is My commandment, that you

love one another as I have loved you. Jn 15:12

NO CONDEMNATION

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,

who do not walk according to the flesh, but

according to the Spirit.Rom 8:1

ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS

When the Lord told his disciples to go and teach all nations and baptize them in

the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he conferred on them the power of giving men new

life in God.

OVERFLOW

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his

heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy

Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet

glorified. Jn 7:38,39

ETERNAL LIFE

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also

give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit

who dwells in you. Rom 8:11

ST. BASIL THE GREAT The Spirit restores paradise to us and the way to heaven and adoption as children of God; he instils confidence that we may call God truly Father and grants us the grace of

Christ to be children of the light and to enjoy eternal glory. In a word, he bestows the fullness of blessings in this world and the next; for we may contemplate now in the mirror of faith the promised things we

shall someday enjoy.  If this is the foretaste, what must

the reality be? If these are the first fruits, what must be the harvest?” 

GREAT COMMITMENTS

OBEDIENCE

And we are His witnesses to these

things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom

God has given to those who obey Him.”

Acts 5:32

SANCTIFICATION

elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification

of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:

1 Pet 1:2

LIFE OF UNITY

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—

and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. ”

1Corinthians 12:13

PASSIONATE LOVE

“Now hope does not disappoint, because the

love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who

was given to us.” Romans 5:5

DO NOT GRIEVE

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of

God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Eph 4:30

DO NOT QUENCH

Do not quench the

Spirit.1 Thess 5:19

ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS

And so the Lord in his pity for man, who had fallen into the hands of

brigands, having himself bound up his wounds and left for his care two coins

bearing the royal image, entrusted him to the Holy Spirit. Now, through the

Spirit, the image and inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us, and it is our duty to use the coin committed to our charge and make it yield a rich profit for the Lord.