THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE REMISSION OF SIN

The presence of the Holy Spirit and the remission of sins are always mentioned by Christ together. As soon as Christ breathed on His disciplines and said: "Receive the Holy Spirit…" He immediately added, "Whose sins you forgive are given." St. Thomas stated that those who partake of the Holy Spirit receive the remission of their sins. The abiding of the Holy Spirit within us is the sure sign that all our sins are forgiven. And as a consequence, St. John says, we cannot sin again.

So if we find ourselves sinning again and again, that should tell us that we do not have the Holy Spirit and our sins are retained. Christ mentions the Holy Spirit with the remission and retaining of sins. The disciples were worthy to receive the Holy Spirit after they had followed Christ all the way.

As we have seen, we cannot receive the Holy Spirit, the love of God, unless we have loved our neighbor in accordance to the commands of Christ.

Though we must do good even if we have sins, strictly speaking, our good works are not as good as long as we have sins. So, Christ commanded us to repent first, i.e.  stop sinning and be sorry for our past sins before we can take up our cross and follow Him. Then will God send us the Holy Spirit as on Pentecost.

(updated 07-02-02)