January 2024
MY EXPERIENCE OF AN EPIPHANY, THE MANIFESTATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT A few months ago, on a Thursday at about 5 in the morning, I had an epiphany; the Holy Spirit came to me. I must share with you, my brothers, and sisters in the Faith the revelation since it became clear that, if I do what I was presented with that morning, we can fully experience what we have been called to do by God. That day, I woke up feeling that I had already slept for about 10 hours but in reality it had been less than 5; I asked myself what was happening to me; I began seeing images of my family, work, apostolate, and myself; where was all this coming from? I eventually understood that what I experienced was sent to me by the Holy Spirit; a few hours after the revelation began I understood what it meant. My reflection on these events resulted in three meaningful words emerging, words with a meaning not only to me but to anyone desiring to have a broader perspective on life, keys to reaching higher levels of life beginning with the spiritual and then the human and eventually the social aspects of life. The first word was ORDER, which means to arrange, organize. How could I attach the word “order” to the images I saw? The answer was simple and became apparent. If you looked at your image as a photo; is your relationship with God in order or are there still things that are not orderly? What about your personal life? Are you taking care of your body, which is the 'Temple of the Holy Spirit' as St. Paul said. Here are the answers, your body will be in order if you take care of it, if you feed it, and exercise, even if just walking enough so that it does not weaken. If you neglect these areas, instead of order you will have a mess in your life. I understood that you pay a high price when things are messy in your life. I understood that I should seek order in all the areas of my life, work, parish service, marriage, children, parents; the entirety of my family and friends. To achieve order, you must first identify what is messy, including sin which is a clear manifestation of disorder. Once we identify the areas that we must improve, we should ask the Lord for wisdom and discernment, just like King Solomon did. Our acceptance of the offer of Conversion is a sign that we have a mess and need reconciliation. And as soon as we encounter God, we must repent and go to Him like so many who approached Jesus seeking forgiveness did during His earthly ministry. John the Baptist baptized the repentant and incorporated them into the ORDER of the New Life planned by God for them to live here on earth. I will not be able to discuss all three words in this letter,…