Imagine being a devoted fan of a football team. You know every player's name, you wear the jersey, you have the mug and the car sticker, and you never miss a match, you scream at the television, and you even try to coach the team from your couch telling them how they should play. But one day someone asks you, perfectly casually, "Did you catch the championship final last month?" And you say, with complete confidence, "What championship? What is it about? That is roughly the situation Paul walks into when he meets those twelve men in Ephesus.
These were not bad people. They were not pagans off the street. They were disciples, sincere, committed, presumably getting up early for prayers and everything. But when Paul, never the one to waste time on pleasantries, asks them point-blank whether they have received the Holy Spirit, they reply with one of the most astonishing sentences in the entire New Testament: "We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." They are not saying, No, we haven't received Him." Not even, like, we're working on it. They had never even heard the name. Its like they were fully signed up members of a club whose main benefit they had no idea existed.
Falling Into a Routine
These men were followers of John the Baptist, who himself pointed beyond himself. John never said, "Follow me." He said, "There is One coming after me whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." He was kind of the trailer for the film. But somewhere between Judea and Ephesus, these twelve men got stuck watching the trailer on repeat and somehow missed that the main feature had already opened, run its entire course, died, risen, and ascended into heaven.
That is a peculiarly human thing to do. We do it all the time. We can become so devoted to the practice of faith, the ritual, the routine, the comfort of the familiar pew. We turn up to Mass the way we turn up to a family dinner: obligated, present, but not entirely sure why it matters, and also hoping it ends before the football match starts.
Paul, asks one question: what baptism did you receive? The question alone changes everything. Because once these twelve men understood that John was the introduction and Jesus was the story, once they grasped that the whole point was the Spirit poured out and alive and moving, they were baptized, Paul laid his hands on them, and they began to prophesy. The same twelve men. Same morning. Completely transformed.
The Holy Spirit, is not a reward for good behavior or a bonus level you unlock after years of faithful church attendance. He is the whole point. He is what Jesus promised, the one who would make them, make us disciples and not just followers of a memory, but participants in a living reality.
Is the Spirit Moving IN You?
So here is the question Paul would ask us, without flinching, if he walked into this chapel today. Not "do you believe in the Holy Spirit?" We all know the answer we are supposed to give to that. But: "Have you really received Him? Have you really really received the fruits of the Holy Spirit, Is anything actually moving in you? Or have you, like those twelve good and sincere men in Ephesus, been faithfully following a signpost and calling it a destination?"
Because the Spirit is not hiding. He is not rationing Himself out to the especially holy. He is, if anything, embarrassingly generous, given to fishermen and tax collectors, to tentmakers and to twelve perfectly ordinary men in a city in Asia Minor who hadn't even heard His name until that morning. The only thing standing between us and that Fire is usually the question we haven't been brave enough to ask ourselves yet. “Have I truly received the Holy Spirit, or only grown comfortable with religion?”
- Today’s Readings
- Father Boby’s inspirational homily was recorded live during Mass at the Father Peyton Center today. You can watch the entire Mass on the Family Rosary Video streams channel on YouTube.
- Join the Rosary (11:30 am ET) and Mass (Noon ET) livestreams on the Family Rosary YouTube or Facebook page, Monday – Friday. Make time for a prayer break in your busy day.
