Horizontal dimension too

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary offer some consideration of the body and Spirit as elements with which we Love and serve. The Acts of the Apostles tells of the journey of Paul to Athens where he uses the environment of scholarly philosophy to frame his presentation of the Good News to the people he encounters. Frair Jude Winkler comments that the worship of one God from Whom the plan of Creation exists in a spiritual manner free from the corruption of the body would be attractive to the Stoic thinking which was developing many adherents in the Greece of the first century. Scholars, business people and faithful Catholics have considered the Stoic influence on Christianity in the writing of Paul, Luke and others. Father Robert Barron reminds us of the deep need as Catholics to have the body as an essential means for being Christ in the world. The passage today from the Gospel of John continues Jesus declaration of the nature of Love and His union with the Father. The Paraclete is promised to invite us into the relationship of Love between the Father and Son and through that relationship we will exercise what Frair Jude calls the “horizontal dimension” of our faith, deep self giving love of others as our body is the Body of Christ in compassion and forgiveness in the world