By Father Edlefsen

A new monkey was discovered in Myanmar.  The snub-nosed monkey.  It has two nostrils but no nose.  In rain, it bows its head between its legs.  When water gets in, it snorts.  

There’s no telling what the Holy Spirit, “the Lord and giver of life,” will come up with next.  I’m not just talking about monkeys.  Nor am I excluding them.  Existence, in all its beauty and absurdity, springs forth from the Creator.  Existence invites wonder.  The Book of Revelation compares the Holy Spirit’s works to gems, not monkeys.  When you were baptized, the Holy Spirit empowered you to put precious “gems” into the golden walls and streets of the Heavenly City (Revelation 21-22).

“The wall was constructed of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass.

The foundations of the city wall were decorated with every precious stone; the first course of stones was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh hyacinth, and the twelfth amethyst” (Revelation 21:18-20).

You never know what the Holy Spirit will come up with next.  Everything new and fresh – like a baby conceived, born, and baptized – is an unrepeatable “gem,” a living stone to be imbedded in the Heavenly City (Revelation 2:17).  The Spirit’s works cannot be caged by finite minds.  Something fresh and mind-opening is always in the offing.  

However, one thing doesn’t change: the moral law.  Though the Holy Spirit’s creativity is boundless, human freedom and intelligence – by which we are in God’s images and likeness – have limits. Consider the possibility of intelligent life in outer space.  If discovered, it would be bound to the same morals in the Ten Commandments. “Thou shalt not steal.”  “Thou shall not kill”.  We don’t need extraterrestrial intelligence to demonstrate this.  Just look at animals.  Steal a fruit or a baby from a snub-nosed monkey and see what happens. Some boundaries must never be crossed.  

But look on the bright side. Every “no” implies a greater “yes.”  “I will not steal your fruit (no!) because I want to be your friend (yes!).”  The Holy Spirit reject evil and proposes love.  Truth is immutable.  And that’s no monkey business.