Runnin' with the Spirit

Keeping pace with the Holy Spirit throughout life

Acts of the Apostles 7:51-55

Stephen said to the people, the elders, and the scribes: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit;you are just like your ancestors. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.” When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and Stephen said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

            One of my bucket list items was to run a marathon and I did.  But I gotta tell you, there really is no good reason to go out and run 26.2 miles.  Now the key to a successful marathon is your pace – don’t run too fast and don’t run too slow.  All official marathons even have people they designate as “pacers” who carry a long stick with a time on it: 5:00, 4:30, 4:00, 3:30, etc.  If you run with them, you’ll finish the marathon at that time.  But what do all rookies do?  They come out too fast and later end up walking or quit and don’t finish.  That’s exactly what I did.  As I was walking the last 6 miles a lady passed me who had written on the back of her shirt, “you’ve just been passed by a mom of eight.”  And then her eight children passed me!

            The Christian life is analogous to running a marathon, and Jesus has sent us an official “pacer,” namely, the Holy Spirit.  The key to successfully running the race of the Christian life is to keep pace with the Spirit: not running ahead, and not lagging behind.  This is exactly what’s happening in the first reading from Acts of the Apostles.  Stephen accuses the Jewish Sanhedrin, “You are always opposing the Holy Spirit.”  The Jews either ran too fast or too slow.  But Stephen, Acts reads, “is filled with the Holy Spirit.”  In other words, Stephen kept pace and finished the race well earning the crown of victory.

            My friends, it’s not easy to run a marathon, and it’s not easy to run the race of the Christian life.  I think of very talented men like Fr. John Corapi and Fr. Alberto Cutie, both of whom left the priesthood.  They ran ahead of the Holy Spirit and couldn't finish the race.  That’s why I needed 3 months with the Carmelites: to learn to listen to the Spirit and recalibrate my pace, to come along side the Holy Spirit.  Ask yourself today: who is pacing you?  Listen to the Holy Spirit in your heart.  You’ll hear him saying gently either, “Speed up” – get to Sunday Mass, go to confession, pray the rosary, read the Bible – or he’ll say “ease off the pedal” – take a vacation, spend time with your family and friends, relax.  If you don’t listen to the Holy Spirit, you might find yourself getting passed by a mom of eight and her eight children, because she is DEFINITELY keeping pace with the Holy Spirit.

            Praised be Jesus Christ!