Now, when the multitude had all eaten and drunk, behold, they were filled with the Spirit; and they did cry out with one voice, and gave glory to Jesus, whom they both saw and heard.
The end result of our partaking of the sacrament should be a filling by the Holy Spirit. If we make the covenants of the sacrament with sincerity, full purpose of heart, and real intent, we are promised to have Christ's Spirit. The Holy Ghost is the manifestation of the Spirit of Christ. It can come to us immediately, even as it did for the multitude who were in Christ's very presence.
According to the words of the sacramental prayer, we only have to be willing to make and keep the covenants. If we are willing at that moment, then in that moment we can be filled with his Spirit.
Now, the vicissitudes of life and the realities of mortality may break down our wills and thwart our desires, and chances are that we won't make it through the day without stumbling in our determination, and we may find ourselves withdrawn from the Spirit by degrees. We know we are going to fall from grace again, and God knows it. Nevertheless, in that precious moment, we can be filled.
The Lord will take whatever opportunity we give him, however brief and fleeting, to give us a taste of the spiritual banquet he has in store for us, in the hope that his gift will taste sweeter than the worldly satisfactions of the natural man. He is anxious for us to break the cycle of habit, weakness, and temptation and to turn to him. For every tiny step we take in his direction, he runs to us and takes us in his arms and cheers us on. He weeps for us when we lose our grip and stumble in the wrong direction, but if our heart is right, he knows we'll be back soon. And so he waits anxiously while we grope our way back to the sacrament table again and start over. He is so pleased when we try, even though we both know we will fail. The victory of mortality is in the trying. God blesses us when we try.
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