Wuerzburg. On the high feast of Pentecost, Bishop Dr. Franz Jung is asked to reflect on the Holy Spirit of God in the conflicts and disputes of life, in church, politics and economy. “Only looking at the whole picture, on truth and truthfulness, only moderation and non-violence, only striving for a good life for all will in the long term lead to the new world that we pray for at Pentecost,” explained the bishop at the pontifical service on Pentecost Sunday in the Würzburg Kiliansdom.
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In his sermon, Bishop Jung referred to a passage from the gospel in which Jesus’ opponents accuse him of driving out demons with the ruler of demons after he had been exorcised. “What we are currently experiencing in global politics, Russia’s fight against Ukraine, is like a great visual example of what happens when you drive out the devil with Beelzebul and the good, the Holy Spirit falls by the wayside,” said the bishop . The evil comes through uncontrolled emotions, such as anger at Ukraine and Europe, the feeling of being humiliated. “Uncontrolled emotion gives rise to evil deeds. The good spirit knows the emotions in people’s hearts without letting themselves be carried away to uncontrolled acts.” In order to assert their own interests, the evil spirit twists the truth, portrays the opponent in the worst colors and argues: I have to fight it, and I have the right to do so.” The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, prevents the other person from being tied to one image. “He knows there’s always more than one option.”
The evil spirit aims only at its own benefit and uses unfair means to do so, the bishop continued. In this case, these are “the most brutal use of force, in the belief that power alone can achieve something in life. But experience has shown that violence generates counter-violence.” The Holy Spirit knows that everything that is not done out of love and truthfulness will take revenge at some point in life. The evil spirit also relies on quick success, the blitzkrieg, which should lead to the goal. “Everything is destroyed in a moment, but it takes days, weeks, months, years until an evil word or an evil deed is eliminated from the world.” The evil spirit also lacks the feeling for complicated connections, explained Bishop Jung. “We’re experiencing it now. A local conflict plunges the whole world into a serious crisis because the interactions have not been considered.” The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, always looks at the whole: “Everything I do affects many others and I have to put myself in their shoes, to walk a path together that leads everyone to prosperity and doesn’t tear them down.” If the evil spirit doesn’t reach its goal at the first attempt, it becomes more and more immoderate. “The more hopeless it becomes, the more brutal, the more ruthless the fight will be.” This leads to a spiral of violence. The Holy Spirit preserves the freedom of repentance: A step backwards can also be a step forward in order to approach things anew and admit one’s own mistakes in life.
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“The terrible war on our doorstep is a visual example of the evil spirit and the Holy Spirit,” said Bishop Jung. But what you see so vividly on television night after night also plays out in everyday life – in relationships and relationship crises, in discussions about the future of the church, in politics and the economy. At Pentecost the church asks for the Holy Spirit in this world: “We ask that we as a church become an instrument of reconciliation, that we as a church and as Christians in our daily life do not cast out the devil with Beelzebul, but with demons and evil spirits fight against the Holy Spirit, the spirit of unity, love and peace.” pow
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