So I'm basically finished with the Exercises, except for some make-up sessions I might go back and do. I'm not so big-headed as to call this "Step 33," even if I think of it as continuing to keep the discipline of the Exercises going for at least a while longer.
I think it makes sense to start off with the "other side" of the scripture passage of a recent session, which dealt with the Ascension but also talked about the Holy Spirit. Having looked at the Ascension aspect, it makes sense to see what it reveals about the Spirit.
Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." - Jn 16:7-11
The bold phrase above is why I don't put much faith in the opinions of those who don't follow Christ, no matter how convinced they are of the rightness of their thinking. Those who are not following the Holy Spirit have an incomplete view of sin, righteousness and judgment, rooted in a short-term perspective that fails to consider the most important realities. The most vociferous atheists have taken the view that everyone who believes in God is stupid. I don't hold them in the same disdain, mind you: there is a real danger in thinking that everyone who disagrees with you about the nature of the universe is less of a person for it. But that doesn't mean I should take directions from someone who doesn't know where I'm going.
The world has no idea about sin and righteousness and judgment. It isn't that I don't sin, but when I do, I at least generally know I'm sinning, or will come to see that when it's pointed out to me. Not so the world.
"I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ” - Jn 16:12-15
Only the Holy Spirit can guide us in truth, because God is the truth (and the way, and the life), and God is so far beyond us that only God can reveal God to us. Nobody has figured out God on their own. The other day I was alluding over lunch to an idea that Fr. Dave shared some time past, that I'm pretty sure is from St. Augustine of Hippo, concerning the limitless nature of God and our finite mind. I'm sure I've written it before, but can't find it now. But the point of it is: when you reach a point at which you think you understand God, what you understand is not God.
We are hopeless, then, if we set as our goal to know God as we do the field of endeavor in which we are best versed. But he purpose of our relationship with God is no more to know about him, to understand him, than our relationship with our spouse is. The purpose of knowing the things we know about someone we love is so that we can love them. But it is possible for our focus on knowing about them to interfere with our love for them, becoming more about our knowing than about our being together.
The Holy Spirit does teach us about God, but by being in relationship with us, and bringing us into relationship with the entire Triune Godhead.
I don't always know why my wife does the things she does, and sometimes I judge her because of that. How often do we approach our relationship with God in a similar way? The Holy Spirit helps us to know that God is immeasurably beyond us and yet desires nothing more than to be in relationship with us. As we yield to the Spirit, under the guidance of what the Word and the Church have taught us about God, we find that we are able to draw closer to God even in those areas we don't fully understand.
Oh, I'm not saying this well, but I'm so glad to be in relationship with God rather than trying to approach him like the mother of all final exams.
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