The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite contemplation of how transformation occurs in time and how the duration of that time is so varied.
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| Transformation time |
The reading from the Book of Acts describes transformations in people’s lives witnessed by Paul in Corinth.
* [18:2] Aquila…Priscilla: both may already have been Christians at the time of their arrival in Corinth (see Acts 18:26). According to 1 Cor 16:19, their home became a meeting place for Christians. Claudius: the Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome ca. A.D. 49. The Roman historian Suetonius gives as reason for the expulsion disturbances among the Jews “at the instigation of Chrestos,” probably meaning disputes about the messiahship of Jesus.1
Psalm 98 offers praise to the Judge of the World.
* [Psalm 98] A hymn, similar to Ps 96, extolling God for Israel’s victory (Ps 98:1–3). All nations (Ps 98:4–6) and even inanimate nature (Ps 98:7–8) are summoned to welcome God’s coming to rule over the world (Ps 98:9).2
In the Gospel of John, Jesus reassures the disciples that their sorrow will turn into joy.
“while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”3
Chas Kestermeier, S.J., comments that hungering and thirsting for Jesus is not all fun; it calls for our entering the darker places in our lives and dealing with all the nitty gritty of who we have chosen to be, but unless we do that we can never recognize Him when He lets us feel His presence and activity in our lives and in our world.
It actually doesn't matter in some ways. Seeking and finding God is certainly a matter of missed opportunities as we look at our lives, but that is one wonderful thing about God: no matter what we have done or what we have made of ourselves by ignoring Him, He is always right there where we are – and we are at that moment – to help us find Him and to know His compassion and forgiveness. We do not have to meet any requirements for Him to be willing to hear us and to heal us and draw us to Him.
But taking that path is for those who believe in doing things at the last minute, like the imprudent virgins of Matthew 25:1-13.
Maybe we could pray especially hard today to find Him where He is, right now, close to us in His Spirit. And pray that the Good Shepherd might lift us, in our weakness and ignorance, and carry us home to His Father's house.4
Don Schwager asks “How can we be effective witnesses for Christ?”
Jesus told his disciples, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you - and you shall be my witnesses... to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Jesus gives his followers the same power he received when the Holy Spirit came upon him and anointed him at the beginning of his mission (John 1:32-33). The Gospel is the power of God, the power to release people from their burden of sin, guilt, and oppression, and the power to heal, restore, and make us whole. Do you believe in the power of the Gospel to change and transform your life?5
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 16:16-20 asks “So what did the apostles do after Jesus was taken away from them and they could no longer see him?”
Looking forward to the fulfillment of his promise, they prayed. They searched the Scriptures. They cried out, “Come, Holy Spirit!”
Follow their example. From now until Pentecost, dive into Scripture, fix your eyes on Jesus, and try to increase your prayer. Ask for the grace to see Jesus with new eyes, the eyes of the Holy Spirit.
“Come, Holy Spirit! Open the eyes of my heart!”6
Friar Jude Winkler provides details of the meeting of Paul with fellow tent makers in Corinth and the connection to his discussions with Stoic philosophers in the market as the Christian community in Corinth grows. Friar Jude comments that in the Last Supper Discourse, those who refuse to accept Him rejoice in their choice of darkness.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, has often wondered what might compel more Christians to take personal responsibility to mitigate climate change. With all the scientific evidence we’ve been given, it doesn’t seem to be a head issue but a heart one. Scholar Sallie McFague (1933–2019) offers both theological and ethical reasons for us to make some much needed changes at an individual level.
This is a strange “crisis” to face: It does not have the immediacy of a war or plague or tsunami. Rather, it has to do with how we live on a daily basis—the food we eat, the transportation we use . . . the luxuries . . . [and] long-distance air travel we permit ourselves. We are not being called to . . . fight an enemy; rather, the enemy is the very ordinary life we ourselves are leading. . . . Yet, for all its presumed innocence, this way of life lived by well-off North Americans [and prosperous people in other countries —RR] is both unjust to those who cannot attain this lifestyle and destructive of the very planet that supports us all.
What, then, would be [an appropriate] ethic for twenty-first-century people and especially for well-off, religious people? One of the distinguishing characteristics of many . . . religions is some form of self-emptying. Often it takes the form of ego-lessness, the attempt to open the self so that God can enter. . . . In the Christian tradition, kenosis or self-emptying is seen as constitutive of God’s being in creation, the incarnation, and the cross. In creation, God limits the divine self, pulling in, so to speak, to allow space for others to exist. . . . In the incarnation, as Paul writes in Philippians 2:7, God “emptied the divine self, taking the form of a slave,” and in the cross God gives of the divine self without limit. Likewise, one understanding of Christian discipleship is [as] a “cruciform” life, imitating the self-giving of Christ for others. . . .7
The action of the Holy Spirit in our transformation happens in God’s time as we choose to accept the invitation to a deeper relationship.
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