Immersed in Christ: Seventh Sunday of Easter: May 16, 2021

"Our hearts will be regenerated. And you will renew the face of the earth"

This is the fundamental hope of Christians living in this world. We believe God will in fact "send forth his Spirit"—and continue to send him. We believe our hearts can be regenerated. And will be. We believe the Spirit actually will "renew the face of the earth."

That hope takes a lot of faith.

So we keep professing our faith and our hope with the prayer "Come, Holy Spirit…" We say this prayer to remind ourselves that Jesus has "overcome the world" (John 16:33) and will "come again in glory" to reign over "a new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1). As faithful stewards of his kingship, we keep working to establish his reign over family and social life, Church, business and politics.

But to achieve this, "our hearts must be regenerated." The Scriptural word (Psalm 104:30) is "created," as in Psalm 51: "Create in me a clean heart"; Ephesians 4:24: "Clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God"; 2Corinthians 5:17: "In Christ, there is a new creation."

Reform begins in individuals. Before we can establish a kingdom of peace and justice, each one of us is called to a conversion: to change our way both of living and of thinking. To "sanctify creation to the full," God first gives us "a new heart and a new spirit" (Ezekiel 36:26).

Then, when our "hearts are re-created," we believe the Spirit will "renew the face of the earth."