Great spiritual gifts

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today connect us to an appreciation of spiritual gifts that we exercise as disciples of Christ.

Gifts for our spirit

The First letter of Paul to the Corinthians enumerates some of the gifts that the One Body of Christ expresses in people for the good of the Body.

* [12:27–30] Paul now applies the image again to the church as a whole and its members (1 Cor 12:27). The lists in 1 Cor 12:28–30 spell out the parallelism by specifying the diversity of functions found in the church (cf. Rom 12:6–8; Eph 4:11).

In the Gospel from Luke, Jesus compassion for the widow of Nain is a template for our suffering with those in the Body who are struggling with life.

* [7:11–17] In the previous incident Jesus’ power was displayed for a Gentile whose servant was dying; in this episode it is displayed toward a widowed mother whose only son has already died. Jesus’ power over death prepares for his reply to John’s disciples in Lk 7:22: “the dead are raised.” This resuscitation in alluding to the prophet Elijah’s resurrection of the only son of a widow of Zarephath (1 Kgs 7:17–24) leads to the reaction of the crowd: “A great prophet has arisen in our midst” (Lk 7:16).

Cindy Costanzo quotes a wonderful Jesuit priest who recently passed said ….I believe I am in the presence of God daily here on earth.  My family, friends, colleagues, the gardens, the seasons…all are signs that God is here on earth with me everyday. A simple but profound statement.

I want to believe that I am in the presence of God daily. My evidence includes the following. I have a wonderful Father who just turned 89 and is in good health. He lives close to me and calls me daily.  I just spent a wonderful week with my sister and daughter on vacation. We laughed, told stories, read books and reconnected. My son is coming to visit this week and I am excited to see him.

Don Schwager’s meditation asks how do we respond to the misfortunes of others?

In a number of places the Gospel records that Jesus was "moved to the depths of his heart" when he met with individuals and with groups of people. Our modern use of the word "compassion" doesn't fully convey the deeper meaning of the original Hebrew word which expresses heart-felt "sympathy" and personal identification with the suffering person's grief and physical condition. Why was Jesus so moved on this occasion when he met a widow and a crowded funeral procession on their way to the cemetery? Jesus not only grieved the untimely death of a young man, but he showed the depth of his concern for the woman who lost not only her husband, but her only child as well. The only secure means of welfare in biblical times was one's family. This woman had lost not only her loved ones, but her future security and livelihood as well.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Psalm 100:1-5 reminds us that our worship is never routine.

Mass is never meant to be routine. How can it be when the body of Christ gathers and the angels and saints join in worship? With a little bit of imagination and a lively faith, you can be caught up in this beautiful prayer. You can be caught up to heaven, where Jesus, your great high priest, is offering himself to you.

Friar Jude Winkler finds connection to those Stoic and Gnostic members of the community in the letter of Paul to the Corinthians. There are experiences that cannot be expressed in words so that speaking in tongues is intended to be a sense of being overcome by the Spirit. Friar Jude comments that the focus of Luke on Jesus compassion reinforces our expectation that he was a physician.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, explains learning the terms “True Self” and “false self” in connection with earlier parts of the Tradition and throughout time in the experience of the great mystics, [are] about the self-in-God, and God-in-self, which may be called the Scriptural Model of Spirituality.

I learned the terms “True Self” and “false self” from Thomas Merton—words he used to clarify what Jesus surely meant when he said that we must die to ourselves or we must “lose ourselves to find ourselves” (see Mark 8:35). Merton rightly recognized that it was not the body that had to “die” but the “false self” that we do not need anyway. The false self is simply a substitute for our deeper and deepest truth. It is a useful and even needed part of ourselves, but it is not all; the danger is when we think we are only our false, separate, small self. Our attachment to false self must die to allow True Self—our basic and unchangeable identity in God—to live fully and freely.

Some of the pitfalls in Christian community have come from over emphasis on difference and preference for our doctrine and charisms within the Body of Christ. A Scriptural Model of Spirituality where we are living sacraments of the Presence of God is a focus that takes us “out into the deep”.

References


(n.d.). 1 Corinthians 12. Retrieved September 18, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/1corinthians12.htm
(n.d.). Luke chapter 7 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved September 18, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/luke/7:31
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved September 18, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved September 18, 2018, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
(n.d.). Meditations - The Word Among Us. Retrieved September 18, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations/
(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archives - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved September 18, 2018, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/