Building Christian Community

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to seek the guidance of the Spirit to be open to the call to use our talents to build gentleness, humility, and patience in the community in which we live.

Building Community

The reading from Ephesians is a plea for Unity in the Body of Christ.

* [4:1–16] A general plea for unity in the church. Christians have been fashioned through the Spirit into a single harmonious religious community (one body, Eph 4:4, 12; cf. Eph 4:16), belonging to a single Lord (in contrast to the many gods of the pagan world), and by one way of salvation through faith, brought out especially by the significance of baptism (Eph 4:1–6; cf. Rom 6:1–11). But Christian unity is more than adherence to a common belief. It is manifested in the exalted Christ’s gifts to individuals to serve so as to make the community more Christlike (Eph 4:11–16). This teaching on Christ as the source of the gifts is introduced in Eph 4:8 by a citation of Ps 68:18, which depicts Yahweh triumphantly leading Israel to salvation in Jerusalem. It is here understood of Christ, ascending above all the heavens, the head of the church; through his redemptive death, resurrection, and ascension he has become the source of the church’s spiritual gifts. The “descent” of Christ (Eph 4:9–10) refers more probably to the incarnation (cf. Phil 2:6–8) than to Christ’s presence after his death in the world of the dead (cf. 1 Pt 3:19).

* [4:4–6] The “seven unities” (church, Spirit, hope; Lord, faith in Christ [Eph 1:13], baptism; one God) reflect the triune structure of later creeds in reverse. (Ephesians, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 19 praises God’s Glory in Creation and the Law.

* [Psalm 19] The heavenly elements of the world, now beautifully arranged, bespeak the power and wisdom of their creator (Ps 19:2–7). The creator’s wisdom is available to human beings in the law (Ps 19:8–11), toward which the psalmist prays to be open (Ps 19:12–14). The themes of light and speech unify the poem.

* [19:4] No speech, no words: the regular functioning of the heavens and the alternation of day and night inform human beings without words of the creator’s power and wisdom. (Psalms, PSALM 19 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Matthew describes the Calling of Matthew.

* [9:9] A man named Matthew: Mark names this tax collector Levi (Mk 2:14). No such name appears in the four lists of the twelve who were the closest companions of Jesus (Mt 10:2–4; Mk 3:16–19; Lk 6:14–16; Acts 1:13 [eleven, because of the defection of Judas Iscariot]), whereas all four list a Matthew, designated in Mt 10:3 as “the tax collector.” The evangelist may have changed the “Levi” of his source to Matthew so that this man, whose call is given special notice, like that of the first four disciples (Mt 4:18–22), might be included among the twelve. Another reason for the change may be that the disciple Matthew was the source of traditions peculiar to the church for which the evangelist was writing.

* [9:10] His house: it is not clear whether his refers to Jesus or Matthew. Tax collectors: see note on Mt 5:46. Table association with such persons would cause ritual impurity.

* [9:11] Teacher: see note on Mt 8:19.

* [9:12] See note on Mk 2:17.

* [9:13] Go and learn…not sacrifice: Matthew adds the prophetic statement of Hos 6:6 to the Marcan account (see also Mt 12:7). If mercy is superior to the temple sacrifices, how much more to the laws of ritual impurity. (Matthew, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)

Ed Morse comments that we might see something of ourselves in those tax collectors, who were physically comfortable but spiritually needy. We might also see ourselves in the Pharisees, who sealed themselves off from those who needed God’s love the most. We would do well to ponder Jesus’ instruction to them: “Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”

Is this desire for mercy to be realized on a human level by showing mercy to others? Or is the desire for mercy satisfied by God’s own efforts to extend mercy to sinners like us? I think both senses of this desire for mercy are true, particularly if we take Paul’s instructions for worthy living to heart.

Lord, help us to ponder how we might show mercy. Help us to become vessels to transmit the grace we have received to others in humility, showing gratitude for your generous mercy. Thanks be to God. (Morse, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Matthew did not delay when called by Jesus,” by Chromatius (died 406 AD).

"The Lord, about to give salvation to all sinners believing in him, willingly chose Matthew the former publican. The gift of his esteem for Matthew stands as an example for our salvation. Every sinner must be chosen by God and can receive the grace of eternal salvation if one is not without a religious mind and a devout heart. So Matthew was chosen willingly by God. And though he is immersed in worldly affairs, because of his sincere religious devotion he is judged worthy to be called forth by the Lord ("Follow me"), who by virtue of his divine nature knows the hidden recesses of the heart. From what follows, we know that Matthew was accepted by the Lord not by reason of his status but of his faith and devotion. As soon as the Lord says to him, "Follow me," he does not linger or delay, but thereupon "he arose and followed him." (excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 45.1)

[Note: Chromatius was an early Christian scholar and bishop of Aquileia, Italy. He was a close friend of John Chrysostom and Jerome. He died in 406 AD. Jerome described him as a "most learned and most holy man."] (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 9:9-13 comments that just as he did for Matthew, Jesus calls people before their lives are changed. As he told the Pharisees who objected that day, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).

So imagine Jesus passing by your home, classroom, or work site today. He stops and calls you to follow him. Don’t worry if you think you aren’t worthy to be his disciple; recommit yourself to him just as you are. Then trust that Jesus will give you all that you need to be his faithful follower.

“Jesus, I say yes to your call today.” (Meditation on Matthew 9:9-13, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler notes that the author of Ephesians calls for the community to live in gentleness, humility, and patience. The role of tax collector was seen by the Jewish community as collaboration with the occupying Romans. Jesus shared table fellowship with tax collectors even as the Pharisees feared contagion of sin in such encounters.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Franciscan scholar Ilia Delio, for whom compassion stems from knowing that we belong to one another. Delio stresses that compassion nourishes our interconnectedness with each other and the earth.

We must seek to unite—in all aspects of our lives—with one another and with the creatures of the earth. Such union calls us out of isolated existences into community. We must slow down, discover our essential relatedness, be patient and compassionate toward all living creatures, and realize that it is a shared planet with finite resources. We are called to see and love in solidarity with all creation. Only in this way can the earth enjoy justice and peace which means right, loving relations with the natural world of God’s good creation.   

Compassion requires a depth of soul, a connectedness of soul to earth, an earthiness of person to person, and a flow of love from heart to heart. [2] (Rohr, 2023)

Got Questions?

The Alpha Group at Holy Trinity Parish in Lower Sackville invites us to join them as they explore our relationship to Christ in the small group presentations and discussions of the Alpha Course. This is a link to more information.

We are nudged by the Spirit to use the talents and gifts we have received to build up the community of followers of Christ.

References

Ephesians, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 21, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/ephesians/4?1 

Matthew, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 21, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/9?9 

Meditation on Matthew 9:9-13. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved September 21, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/09/21/788956/ 

Morse, E. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved September 21, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/092123.html 

Psalms, PSALM 19 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 21, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/19?2 

Rohr, R. (2023, September 21). Compassion through Connection — Center for Action and Contemplation. CAC Daily Meditations 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/compassion-through-connection-2023-09-21/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). I Desire Mercy - Not Sacrifice. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved September 21, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=sep21a 

Receive the Holy Spirit

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate how the Love between the Father and the Son becomes active in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

Come Holy Spirit

 

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the coming of the Holy Spirit.

 

* [2:3] Tongues as of fire: see Ex 19:18 where fire symbolizes the presence of God to initiate the covenant on Sinai. Here the holy Spirit acts upon the apostles, preparing them to proclaim the new covenant with its unique gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:38).1

Psalm 104 praises God as the Creator and Provider.

 * [104:29–30] On one level, the spirit (or wind) of God is the fall and winter rains that provide food for all creatures. On another, it is the breath (or spirit) of God that makes beings live.2

The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians describes One Body with many members.

 * [12:12–26] The image of a body is introduced to explain Christ’s relationship with believers (1 Cor 12:12). 1 Cor 12:13 applies this model to the church: by baptism all, despite diversity of ethnic or social origins, are integrated into one organism. 1 Cor 12:14–26 then develop the need for diversity of function among the parts of a body without threat to its unity.3

In the Gospel of John, Jesus proclaims peace as He appears to the Disciples.

 

* [20:19] The disciples: by implication from Jn 20:24 this means ten of the Twelve, presumably in Jerusalem. Peace be with you: although this could be an ordinary greeting, John intends here to echo Jn 14:27. The theme of rejoicing in Jn 20:20 echoes Jn 16:22.4

Rev. Richard Gabuzda comments that to speak about what one has seen and heard, to testify and to give witness. This is the fire that lies at the heart of all the gifts the Spirit lavishes on the Church. The gifts themselves, the ordinary as well as the more extraordinary, testify to the Risen Jesus who lives through the Church, in the lives of those who “have seen and heard,” who have experienced his presence.

 

On this Pentecost Sunday, let us implore the Holy Spirit to awaken our slumbering hearts and remove the blindness from our eyes, so that we may see and hear Jesus, Risen Lord, and that we might be given, through the Spirit’s manifold gifts, the grace to more boldly proclaim him.5

Don Schwager quotes “The Holy Spirit at Pentecost,” by Leo the Great, 400-461 A.D.

 

"To the Hebrew people, now freed from Egypt, the law was given on Mount Sinai fifty days after the immolation of the paschal lamb. Similarly, after the passion of Christ in which the true Lamb of God was killed, just fifty days after his resurrection, the Holy Spirit fell upon the apostles and the whole group of believers. Thus the earnest Christian may easily perceive that the beginnings of the Old Covenant were at the service of the beginnings of the gospel and that the same Spirit who instituted the first established the Second Covenant." (excerpt from Sermon 75.1)6

The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 2:1-11 notes that Luke tells us that they all received the same gift of the Holy Spirit. They all began speaking in tongues. And they all found new courage and boldness to speak “of the mighty acts of God” (Acts 2:11).

 

You know where this is going, right? God gives the same Spirit that filled Peter and the apostles to everyone who asks. That includes you, your family, your friends, even your enemies. God doesn’t restrict his blessings to a chosen few. He wants to fill everyone! Try something different at Mass today. Whether you’re gathered with fellow parishioners in your church or joining others online, imagine what it would be like if the Spirit fell on all of you during the liturgy. What would it look like for all of those present—including you—to experience the Holy Spirit in the same way the disciples did? Or to be so filled with joy that all burst out in praise of the Lord? Or to experience God’s love in a deep, intimate way? In fact, don’t just imagine it. Pray for it! “Come, Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of your people!”7

Nicky Gumbel speaks about the Holy Spirit in a You Tube ( https://youtu.be/qsSc2qljZSU ) portion of the Alpha Course.

 

James Hanvey SJ, Secretary for the Service of the Faith for the Society of Jesus, comments that Covid-19 has exposed the fragilities and the illusions, the inequalities and the failures of our systems. It has also revealed the many faces of generosity; humble and heroic faces of service and self-sacrifice even to the point of death. Lives put at the service of others barely known except in their desperation and need. The forgotten, the aging, the disabled and marginalised, those who are exposed to violence whether domestic or state, those who have no ‘place to shelter’. Every day they appear in the statistics and in the news. But in Christ anonymous numbers become faces. In them He shows His face.

 Our work is to look upon the faces of sorrow and hope, and to make them even more visible. So that the faces to which we have become blind shine more urgently and radiantly. They are Christ’s testimony to us and to our world of another way of being: to see each other again through His eyes in compassion and in service; in communion beyond division. With simple faith we ask that the life of the Holy Spirit will carry us beyond the virus to the communion, the koinonia, in which we celebrate the sharing of our goods for the good of these vulnerable ones who have nothing to give us in return but their blessing.8

Friar Jude Winkler looks at the Jewish agricultural feast of Pentecost and the “fifties” wind in Jerusalem. Paul confronted Gnostic rejection of the material in the relationship between the Spirit and the Body of Christ. Friar Jude reminds us of the connection in the Gospel between receiving the Holy Spirit and renewing Creation.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that unity is not the same as uniformity. Unity, in fact, is the reconciliation of differences, and those differences must be maintained. We must actually distinguish things and separate them, usually at a cost to ourselves, before we can spiritually unite them (Ephesians 2:14‒16). Perhaps if we had made that simple distinction between uniformity and true unity, many of our problems, especially those of overemphasized, separate identities, could have been overcome. The great wisdom of Pentecost is the recognition through the Spirit of an underlying unity amidst the many differences!

 

What has been “unveiled,” especially this past year with the pandemic, is that we really are one. We are one in both suffering and resurrection. Jesus’ final prayer is that we can consciously perceive and live this radical union now (John 17:21‒26). Our job is not to discover or even prove this, but only to retrieve what has already been discovered—and rediscovered—again and again, by the mystics, prophets, and saints of all religions. Until then we are all lost in separation—while grace and necessary suffering gradually “fill in every valley and level every mountain” to make a “straight highway to God” (Isaiah 40:3–4).9

We pray today “Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of your faithful.”

 

References

 

1	(n.d.). Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB. Retrieved May 23, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/2
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 104 | USCCB. Retrieved May 23, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/104
3	(n.d.). 1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 12 | USCCB. Retrieved May 23, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/12
4	(n.d.). John, CHAPTER 20 | USCCB. Retrieved May 23, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/20
5	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online Ministries - Creighton University. Retrieved May 23, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/052321.html
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved May 23, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/
7	(n.d.). Pentecost (Solemnity) - The Word Among Us. Retrieved May 23, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/05/23/189209/
8	(2020, May 28). In times of darkness | Thinking Faith: The online journal of the .... Retrieved May 23, 2021, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/times-darkness
9	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: 2021 - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved May 23, 2021, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2021/