When people turn to the other spirit (alcohol) and grieve the Holy Spirit

  This writer was a witness to these incidents:

* The occasion was first Holy Communion of the neighbour’s daughter. After the Mass, everyone gathered at a restaurant for the celebrations. Sticking to the tradition, a cake was cut and wine was served in a small glass. So far so good. 

 The real celebration started later. Liquor bottles came out in quick succession. Liquor started flowing – whisky, rum, brandy etc – and most people (males) helped  themselves. Then everyone had a sumptuous lunch and went home sozzled.

*  The second occasion was a friend’s son’s baptism. It was done in a solemn manner in the church. After the service, everyone came to their home for celebrations. Liquor bottles were opened. Then an argument started on a trivial issue which ended up in a ugly verbal spat.

*  The same kind of celebrations can be seen during church feasts. The three-day grandiose festival in a church went on superficially smooth. However, what happened covertly on the sidelines left much to be desired. Liquor started flowing after the Feast Mass and the procession. What started on the pavement finally shifted to the church complex with many guys, in a false sense of bravado, showing the gumption to gulp the spirit inside the church complex.

 * A Christian friend held a reception for celebrating his daughter’s marriage. Sorry to say, here also liquor was flowing.   

  One wonders how grieved the Holy Spirit was on all these occasions. These are just some real life incidents of how Christians “celebrate” some of the special occasions. Such occasions should ideally have been spiritual and solemn. But sorry to say, by turning to alcoholic spirit, people are inviting Satan into their lives. 
 Holy communion, baptism and marriage are sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. You are inviting Jesus through these sacraments. But alcohol makes these occasions topsy-turvy. Pray, how can you offer a feast to Jesus and Devil from the same table? 

  Do you think God’s spirit would be present when you resort to such alcoholic shows? This is what Vatican calls "Christian mediocrity”. As Pope Francis said, when the presence God is not felt among men, you lose the sense of sin, and you and others end up paying the price for this "Christian mediocrity."

  This can happen to any of us, the Pope says, “when the Kingdom of God diminishes, one of the signs is that you lose the sense of sin." Conversely, you also lose the "sense of the Kingdom of God" and in its place, there emerges an “all-powerful anthropological vision," that leads us to believe we “can do anything.”

   I wonder about the life of the boy/ girl taking the first Holy Communion and the young couple tying the knots when you celebrate these occasions with a cocktail party. The Bible clearly talks against such cocktail parties and denounces drunkenness saying it leads to other moral lapses, such as sexual immorality and laziness. It also clouds the mind and makes it impossible to worship God and act in a respectable and upright manner.
 A commitment to daily prayer, as Pope says, can counter the injustices perpetrated out of human pride and stop so many from falling victim to “Christian mediocrity” and our “unrecognized sins.”