Today is the Day of Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Easter, the day when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples of Jesus. Two thousand years ago today marked the beginning of a new era, a new way of God’s guiding His people to live in His will. His Holy Spirit is now in us to illuminate us and empower us, and when it is needed, to convict us of our sins. We know God is with us through His Spirit.

We often hear people say, “The Spirit works in a mysterious way.” The word, “mysterious,” simply means that we do not always know what the Holy Spirit does and how He accomplishes something. It is shielded from us not out of malicious intent but because it is not the time for us to know or because we are not ready to accept what is in the will of God for us right there and then. We will know it later.

One such man that did not know what the Holy Spirit was doing and what He purposed to accomplish was Inigo of Spain. He had no plan to be useful in the Kingdom of God, let alone be called to ministry. His chief goal in life was to be famous; that’s all. Consequently, he’s obsessed with his appearance. All that was abruptly upended when he was wounded in a battle, causing him to limp for the rest of his life. It was when he was recovering in Loyola that God called him.

In 1534 along with some friends he founded Companio de Jesus, or the Society of Jesus, known today as the Jesuits, whose mission is to find God in all things. Inigo changed his name to Ignatius, Ignatius of Loyola that is. Glenn Packiam, in The Resilient Pastor, summed it well: He spread a spirituality that does not seek a monastery apart from the world but sees the world as a monastery.” Amen to that!
The Holy Spirit is at work, not only in us, not only in the church, but also in the world. That makes the world in a way, like a big church. In His mysterious ways He calls, He changes, and He uses people.

Pastor Paul