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The Passions

How do I know if I actually have the Holy Spirit?

This is the awesomeness that Christ is trying to convey in this gospel, that we as men have to go against our own pride, our own feelings of being justified, our own sense of right and wrong when somebody does something to wrong us. To turn the other cheek, to bless, to not curse, to love our enemies. St Silouan the Athonite has this awesome saying, that if you want to know if somebody truly has the grace of the Holy Spirit, it is manifested in love for enemies. To crush our own pride, our own insight, and to see somebody as God has created them, and to see who God wants them to become, and to have mercy and compassion on them, and then to cultivate a love and a forgiveness for them. This is to become godlike in the true sense of the word. It doesn't mean that obviously you become God, but in the true sense, to become united with the Holy Spirit, we can only do this in the realm of self-denial. As long as we're trying to protect ourselves, we're always in this defensive posture. But when we're seeing how Christ lived his life, it was non-defensive. In fact, when he was questioned, it says that he answered not a word. And in the gospels he says one day you will go against the rulers of this world who will question you and persecute you. And he says, don't even have a care of thinking what you're going to say. He says, pray, be still, wait on the Lord, and God will give you the right word in the right time, exactly what it is that you need to say.

Edited from his answer on camera. The clip has the full thing.

Matthew 10:19

Watch him answer it (06:21)

From “Why Men Aren't Violent Enough to Take the Kingdom of Heaven

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