“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius” – Pietro Aretino

It caused me to wonder if God’s hand isn’t at work in the weather to feed the human soul.  What if the blinding blanket of snow or the thick curtain of intense rain that marks the seasons in most of the world was an invitation to Life within?  Maybe what I find boring (everything is just white) or smothering (I feel trapped by all this snow), is nature’s way of simplifying the stimuli and affording me an opportunity to draw interiorly , to listen in silence to Wisdom.  Benedict XVI said it this way, “Only in silence can the word of God find a home in us, as it did in Mary, woman of the word and, inseparably, woman of silence.”

I have a renewed interest in what winter may bring within by removing the distractions without.

One of my favorite places to take pilgrims when I guide Catholics through the Holy Land is the Brook Elah in the broad valley where the Israelites faced off against the Philistines and their champion, Goliath of Gath (1 Samuel 17).  It is a narrative that has fascinated me since I was a young boy, and it is our first reading in today’s Mass.  As you probably recall, the Israelites were paralyzed with fear, listening to weeks of mocking of their God by their enemy, the Philistines and Goliath, in particular.  Even the hero-king Saul would not face off against the towering warrior from Gath.

Enter young David, bringing lunch to his brothers in battle. His courage is matched by his righteous indignation that God’s name is being shamed and mocked by Israel’s enemies.  Rejecting the offer of armor, David simply picks up five smooth stones from the small brook that ran through the Israelite camp as his weapons.  I had often wondered why he would pick up five stones, when he certainly has a clear sense of his aim.  For many years, I saw the five stones as a helpful metaphor for the five spiritual practices that we can use to fight against the enemy of our soul (e.g. the Eucharist, Rosary, Confession, Lectio Divina, the Daily Examen).  But I want to propose another approach. I think David knew he could take down Goliath with a single shot to the head (which is exactly what he did), so why then the additional four stones?  Later, the Biblical text reveals a subtle answer:  2 Samuel 21:15-22 tells us that David would later take down four more giants that were enemies of God’s people.  We don’t get the exciting details of those stories, the Goliath narrative acts as a “sampling” of David’s courage and prowess with the sling. Each of the five stones met its target.

With that in mind, the story provides some other helpful points of reflection.  Though David was a crack shot, the power behind his pitch was actually the Lord himself.  David admitted as much, “ “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Sam. 17:45). That’s why I love that the Psalm matching today’s first reading proclaims, “Blessed be the LORD, my Rock!” (Psalm 144:1b).  That power helped him systematically eliminate all five of Israel’s greatest enemies.

With that in mind, what are the five biggest enemies to God being glorified in your life?  They may be sins, behaviors, patterns of thinking that are keeping your spiritual life stationary or spiritually paralyzed.  I can look at so many moments in my life when I let sin, fear, laziness, or spiritual apathy keep me from championing God’s power in my world.

So, let this story give us courage!  It’s our trust in God’s power vs. relying only on our own resources that gives us the confidence to systematically eliminate these enemies from our life.  But we must cooperate with God’s grace and power.  Here’s some simple beginning steps:

1) Just reflecting on what your five greatest enemies may be is a great beginning.  We rarely even take that simple step of intentional living.  You may have only one or two, or twenty.  Five is a reasonable quantity to focus on.

2) Next, begin the practice of the Daily Examen to identify more clearly these spiritually defeating patterns. You may discover one’s very different than the one’s you first identified.  This is also a wonderful way to “remember” the faithfulness of the Lord in past battles (1 Sam. 17:34-37). Learn more about the practice of the Daily Examen here: http://goo.gl/C1Rz

3) Take what you learn from the examen to the Lord to prayer and to Confession, and/or a trusted mature Christian or spiritual director in your life.  This is indispensable.  The Devil wants to keep us scattered and shattered (that’s what diabolos means).  Even David didn’t take on all of the giants alone (2 Sam. 21:22).

4) Consecrate yourself to Mary (our Warrior-Queen, Rev. 12), and cultivate a robust relationship with the Saints and Angels – they form a great army of holy ones who can intercede for us that Christ will be fully form and matured in us.  You can learn a wonderful new approach to Marian consecration here: http://amzn.to/ApDe2p

5) Regularly attend Mass.  Scott Hahn says it well in The Lamb’s Supper, “We are fighting spiritual forces: immense, depraved, malevolent forces.  If we had to fight them alone, we’d be trounced. But here’s the good news: there is a way we can hope to overcome.  But the solution has to match the problem, spiritual force for spiritual force: immense beauty for immense ugliness, holiness for depravity, love for malevolence. THE SOLUTION IS THE MASS, where heaven touches down to save an earth under siege.”

There are many important themes that one could explore on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, for my part, I want to turn our attention to an often forgotten element, the presence of the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:10). I don’t think we talk about Him enough!  He is not simply a force, bond or power, but rather a full Divine Person, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son, worthy of our worship and prayer. United with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit is actively at work in every area of the Church’s life:  He acts in our sacraments, bestows the Church with her hierarchical and charismatic gifts, is the source of our life and holiness, compels us towards Christian unity, and even prays for us (Rom. 8:27).  Talk about a Friend in high places!

And, I love that the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord always falls so close to the beginning of a new year because it reminds me that the Holy Spirit is always present when God is accomplishing something new and wonderful. The Holy Spirit was present at the creation of the world (Gen. 1:2), the Incarnation (Luke 1:35), the birth of the Church (Acts 2) and is intimately involved in our salvation and new creation in Christ (Rom. 8:11). His presence at the Baptism of our Lord, signified in part, that God was doing something new and exciting in the world. And now at the beginning of this new year, let’s make an act of faith and hope that the Holy Spirit is going to do wonderful and marvelous things in our lives too!  Let’s ask for the grace to cooperate with all the Holy Spirit wishes to accomplish in us and through us.

I like to think of the Holy Spirit as the Divine Iconographer, writing the face of Christ on our souls, transforming us into living icons of Christ for a world desperately looking for Him.  And, in God’s economy (how the Trinity works in the world and in our lives, sharing spiritual goods), Mary is intimately united to this work, too!  I love how Pope Paul VI put it in his Apostolic Exhortation, Marialis Cultus, “It is sometimes said that many spiritual writings today do not sufficiently reflect the whole doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit…Such a study will bring out in particular the hidden relationship between the Spirit of God and the Virgin of Nazareth, and show the influence they exert on the Church. From a more profound meditation on the truths of the Faith will flow a more vital piety” (MC, No. 27). As the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, and the singular soul that shaped Christ in her physical womb, she continues her maternal soul-shaping work in us, until the full measure of Christ is revealed in us (Eph 4:13).  It’s a triple threat to the devil when our human will cooperates with Mary’s powerful intercession and the Spirit’s divine work – something new and wonderful is revealed!

My new year’s prayer for all of us, is that 2012 will represent a substantial and sustained transformation, a new level of appreciation and cooperation with the Holy Spirit and Our Mother.  Come Holy Spirit! Welcome Blessed Mother! My soul is open for business and I, like St. Paul, am confident that the Dynamic Duo which begins this good work in us, will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6).

861. Particular examen: remains the same; namely, to unite myself with the Merciful Christ (that is; what would Christ do in such and such a case?) and, in spirit, to embrace the whole world, especially Russia and Spain

I. Strict observance of silence – interior silence.

II. To see the image of God in every sister; all love of neighbor must flow from this motive.

III. To do the will of God faithfully at every moment of my life and to live by this.

IV. To give a faithful account of everything to the spiritual director and not to undertake anything of importance without a clear
understanding with him. I shall try to clearly lay bare to him the most secret depths of my soul, bearing in mind that I am dealing
with God himself, and that His representative is just a human being, and so I must pray daily that he be given light.

V. During the evening examination of conscience, I am to ask myself the question: What if He were to call me today?

VI. Not to look for God far away, but within my own being to abide with Him alone.

VII. In sufferings and torments, to take refuge in the tabernacle and to be silent.

VIII. To join all sufferings, prayers, works and mortifications to the merits of Jesus in order to obtain mercy for the world.

IX. To use free moments, however short, for prayers for the dying.

X. There must not be a day in my life when I do not recommend to the Lord the works of our Congregation. Never have regard for what others think of you [for human respect].

XI. Have no familiar relationships with anyone. Gentle firmness toward the girls, boundless patience; punish them severely but with such punishments as these: prayer and self-sacrifice. The strength that is in the emptying of myself for their sake is for them a [source of] constant remorse and the softening of their obdurate hearts.

XII. The presence of God is the basis of all my thoughts, words and deeds.

XIII. To take advantage of all spiritual help. To always put self-love in its proper place; namely, the
last. To perform my spiritual exercises as though I were doing them for the last time in my life, and in like manner to carry out all my duties.

Paul reminds us that Christ is calling us to a new and transformative kind of freedom (Gal 5:1). It is not simply a freedom “from” the old Mosaic Law. Rather, it is freedom “for” a new kind of Law. We are free, precisely to love and serve one another (Gal 5:13). Loving service, empowered by the Holy Spirit, therefore, is one of the “markers” of the new Israel of God in Christ. Paul goes on to describe the characteristics of this “freedom-for” kind of life,

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

They are NOT feelings (spiritual subjectivity) nor simply functions (spiritual utilitarianism), but FRUIT!

I love his choice of metaphors (and not just because I am an amateur gardener). It is a helpful reminder that these characteristics aren’t made or manufactured but the beautiful end-product in an organic process of being connected to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the vine, we are the branches (John 15). If we are connected to the Source of life, and cooperating with that life, these characteristics will be part of our “freedom-for” life. But like regular fruit, these too are perishable, and susceptible to spoilage. They are a living reality, not wax fruit in a bowl. These realities must be consumed (integrated into our daily walk) and most importantly shared with a world desperate to experience these characteristics concretely in word and deed. When they experience our fruit, they will be led to the Root! (Rom. 15:12).

You can learn more about our 10-part Bible Study here: http://goo.gl/r63Ic

Enjoy!