“As the Spirit Groans”
by Sam Miller
For your might is the
source of righteousness; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.
But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much
lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. You taught
your people, by these deeds, that those who are righteous must be kind; And you
gave your children reason to hope that you would allow them to repent for their
sins. (Wisdom 12:
16-19)
In the same way, the
Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as
we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And
the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit because
He intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will. (Romans 8:26-27)
Jesus proposed
another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who
sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, his enemy came and
sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and
bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to
him and said, master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the
weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to
him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No if you pull up
the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together
until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First
collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning, but gather the wheat
into my barn.”’ (Matthew
13:24-30)
Piety
“Lord, you are good and
forgiving,
most merciful to all who
call on You.
LORD, hear my prayer;
listen to my cry for
help.”
Receive the
inexpressible groanings of the Spirit
from my heart and
interpret His intentions as
being in accord with
Your will.
“You alone are God…
15But You, the Lord, are a
compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding
in kindness and fidelity.
16Turn toward me, and
have pity on me;
give Your strength to
Your servant.”
(Psalm 86:5-6, …10b,
15-16a)
Study
I love our second reading
from Romans. I know for sure that I
don’t know how to pray MOST of the time, so it’s comforting to me to know that
the Holy Spirit is interceding for me with inexpressible groanings, searching
me to decipher and expose the intentions of my heart!!
Being curious about the
beginning of the reading, “In the same way,” I looked at the rest of the
chapter to discover a whole lot of groaning!! Verses 23-25 speak of groaning
“within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not
hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we
wait with endurance.” Now I understand
how the Holy Spirit needs to come to the aid of my weakness, endurance (meaning
patience), and survival!
Hope rings a bell from
our First Reading from the Book of Wisdom. I have faith to be allowed to repent
for my sins. AND I see hope
(expectation) as part of the germination process of the parables in today’s
Gospel reading. The man intentionally sowed
good seed while weeds were sown unintentionally, in the field by the enemy—the
weeds, darnel, a poisonous weed that in its first stage of growth resembles
wheat. The wheat and weeds were allowed
to grow together until the harvest.[i] Hope also means promise. It’s what comes from planting a mustard seed,
smallest of all seeds, which, with patience, turns into the most abundant bush
and yeast when mixed with three measures of wheat flour provides leaven
throughout.
Hope was being patient
and avoiding panic while the Holy Spirit groaned for me to receive inspiration
for this Tripod!! Thank You, Faithful
Father!!
Action
Father, God, I give You
thanks for Your great patience with me.
Thank You for the hope I have, through You, that one day You will gather
me into Your barn! Help me to live my
faith and learn not to babble but rely on the Holy Spirit to pray with
groanings for me! AMEN!
[i] [From a USCCB Bible footnote: “The refusal of the
householder to allow his slaves to separate the wheat from the weeds while they
are still growing is a warning to the disciples not to attempt to anticipate
the final judgment of God by a definitive exclusion of sinners from the
kingdom… The judgment of God alone will eliminate the sinful. Until then there
must be patience and the preaching of repentance.” HOPE!]
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