READY … STEADY … GO

These three words remind me of my childhood days, when we used to participate in athletics, all ready for the 100-metre race. I used to calm down, control my nerves, brace up with determination for the way ahead. I had full confidence in myself, looking back at all the training I had undergone.

Thinking about the Apostles, who received their ‘Ready, steady, go’, only after the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. They became men of determination, they knew what they had to do after their three-year preparation under the tutorship of Jesus personally. They recalled what the Prophet Joel had prophesied years before: ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.’

The Holy Spirit enables believers to understand the mystery of Christ and His teachings. As the Spirit was active in the initial stages  of the Church, so now He is at work in each and every preacher, teacher of the Gospel, once he is open to His guidance. The Spirit suggests to the minds of the teachers or preachers such words as He alone can inspire, at the same time disposing the hearts of their hearers to accept the Gospel message and the Proclamation of the Kingdom.

No preacher, not even the very best, can be a substitute for the hidden working of the Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit no amount of preparation and study on the side of the preacher is of any avail, and the clearest reasoning is powerless to persuade the human heart unless the Spirit has prompted it. All expertise and study is worthless if the power of the Spirit does not accompany them.

As we can see the initiative in spreading the Gospel belongs to the Holy Spirit. It is He who prompts and prepares the listeners’ heart to understand and accept the Word of Salvation. The Spirit brings the new creation into being. He alone fashions that new humanity which must be the aim of all evangelization. Once you are READY in your preparation, and STEADY in your belief, you will GO a long way with the help of the HOLY SPIRIT.