Fr Matthew Reese

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.”
—1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

Dear Friends in Christ,

“Do not quench the spirit”—It’s an arresting turn of phrase and it is improbably consistent across translations. There are a handful of versions (for instance, the Douay–Rheims Bible) which use the word “extinguish,” but overwhelmingly the English rendering is “to quench.” So, what does that mean? Surely nothing in heaven or on earth could extinguish the Holy Spirit—put it out like a fire.

But how many faithful Christians try to “quench” it… to suppress, to restrict, to direct the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians this morning is a word of caution and a word of encouragement. And it has something valuable to tell us about discerning the Holy Spirit as we go about our own daily work:

Rejoicing in the Good News of Christ crucified, praying “without ceasing,” and giving thanks—these are the things which bring us into closer, more attentive, relationship with the Holy Spirit. When we pause to give thanks for the presence of God in our lives, for the wonder of his creation, we have taken the first step towards actually listening to the spirit, not quenching it.

It is not easy work. To quote the late Archbishop Michael Ramsey, “if in sincerity you cannot say that you want God you can perhaps tell him that you want to want him; and if you cannot say even that perhaps you can say that you want to want to want him!”

But the act of sitting in silence and listening, the act of coming to God in prayer, this is the start.

Amen.  

—Fr Matthew