Today’s “world of expertise” Needs Invocation of Holy Spirit: Catholic Priest in Namibia

Windhoek, 27 May, 2022 / 8:57 PM

There is need to involve the Holy Spirit in every decision in today’s “world of expertise” in order to avoid making unnecessary mistakes, a Catholic Priest in Namibia’s Catholic Archdiocese of Windhoek has said.

In his homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter published on YouTube on May 21 by Namibia’s center of formation for future Priests, St. Charles Lwanga Major Seminary, Fr. Benny Karuvelil said that the Holy Spirit exists to guide human beings especially at the time when serious decisions are to be made.

“Today’s world is the world of expertise; we want experts in every field; we want committees; we want discussions and decisions… But hardly we turn to the Holy Spirit and ask him for help; that's why many times things go wrong,” Fr. Karuvelil said.

The Indian-born member of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI) said that the Holy Spirit guides the people of God, and that every person needs to seek His guidance and invoke Him for help.

Fr. Karuvelil who serves as the Secretary General of the Namibia Catholic Bishops’ Conference (NCBC) said that those who have involved the Holy Spirit in the past in decision making have experienced changes in their lives due to various suggestions as provided by the third person of the Holy Trinity.

Recognizing the Holy Spirit within each believer, people of God need to become sources of energy, life and inspiration to others and not cultivate a culture of death or destruction, he said.

“Our words, our actions should give life to people; they should feel encouraged to carry on in their lives, then we express that we are the temples of the holy trinity,” Fr. Karuvelil said in his homily for May 22 posted on YouTube on May 21.

He added, “We change according to the external circumstances. Why so many people lose their faith in difficult situations when somebody else comes to pursue them, when they are trying to argue with them, they lose their faith because there is no conviction that comes from within this, everything is external.”

The NCBC Secretary General said that Jesus wanted the church to be led by weak human beings under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

“One may wonder why did Jesus not prepare an exact blueprint of the church, the kingdom on earth and told the disciples you just follow this, so everything is pre-planned by God, no false, no limitations, no weaknesses, a perfect kingdom, a perfect church; but that's not what Jesus did,” Fr. Karuvelil said.

The CMI member added in reference to Jesus, “He wanted weak human beings to lead the church so that it remains a reality where everyone can approach the sinful, the weak and he wanted it to be led by a weak wavering fisherman, Peter, and his followers.”