Spirit of Peace in the Body

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today exhort us to claim our relationship to the Holy Spirit in our work of understanding and peace making.

The fire of the Spirit

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

* [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). (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2, n.d.)

Psalm 104 praises God the Creator and Provider.

* [Psalm 104] A hymn praising God who easily and skillfully made rampaging waters and primordial night into a world vibrant with life. The psalmist describes God’s splendor in the heavens (Ps 104:1–4), how the chaotic waters were tamed to fertilize and feed the world (Ps 104:5–18), and how primordial night was made into a gentle time of refreshment (Ps 104:19–23). The picture is like Gn 1:1–2: a dark and watery chaos is made dry and lighted so that creatures might live. The psalmist reacts to the beauty of creation with awe (Ps 104:24–34). May sin not deface God’s work (Ps 104:35)! (Psalms, PSALM 104, n.d.)

The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians declares we are one Body with many members. 

* [12:4–6] There are some features common to all charisms, despite their diversity: all are gifts (charismata), grace from outside ourselves; all are forms of service (diakoniai), an expression of their purpose and effect; and all are workings (energēmata), in which God is at work. Paul associates each of these aspects with what later theology will call one of the persons of the Trinity, an early example of “appropriation.” (1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 12, n.d.)

The alternate reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans declares that we are children of God through adoption.

* [8:1–13] After his warning in Rom 7 against the wrong route to fulfillment of the objective of holiness expressed in Rom 6:22, Paul points his addressees to the correct way. Through the redemptive work of Christ, Christians have been liberated from the terrible forces of sin and death. Holiness was impossible so long as the flesh (or our “old self”), that is, self-interested hostility toward God (Rom 8:7), frustrated the divine objectives expressed in the law. What is worse, sin used the law to break forth into all manner of lawlessness (Rom 8:8). All this is now changed. At the cross God broke the power of sin and pronounced sentence on it (Rom 8:3). Christians still retain the flesh, but it is alien to their new being, which is life in the spirit, namely the new self, governed by the holy Spirit. Under the direction of the holy Spirit Christians are able to fulfill the divine will that formerly found expression in the law (Rom 8:4). The same Spirit who enlivens Christians for holiness will also resurrect their bodies at the last day (Rom 8:11). Christian life is therefore the experience of a constant challenge to put to death the evil deeds of the body through life of the spirit (Rom 8:13). (Romans, CHAPTER 8, n.d.)

In the Gospel of John, Jesus appears to the Disciples

* [20:22] This action recalls Gn 2:7, where God breathed on the first man and gave him life; just as Adam’s life came from God, so now the disciples’ new spiritual life comes from Jesus. Cf. also the revivification of the dry bones in Ez 37. This is the author’s version of Pentecost. Cf. also the note on Jn 19:30. (John, CHAPTER 20, n.d.)

The alternate reading from the Gospel of John, shares Jesus' Promise of the Holy Spirit.

* [14:27] Peace: the traditional Hebrew salutation šālôm; but Jesus’ “Shalom” is a gift of salvation, connoting the bounty of messianic blessing. (John, CHAPTER 14, n.d.)

Vivian Amu comments that It is rare to feel peace for more than a few minutes these days.  All we need to do is turn on the television, get on social media, or encounter someone who tends to push our buttons, and there goes our peace of mind.  However, our experience of the day is much different when we are accompanied by the Holy Spirit.

My friends, let us invite the Holy Spirit who breaks down the walls of a stubborn heart, heals the broken, melts the frozen, and guides our steps.  We are in much need of the reconciling presence of the Spirit, which draws us into communion with each other, yes, other members of the body of Christ. Come, Holy Spirit, rest on us, dwell in us, stay with us. (Amu, n.d.)

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) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 2:1-11 implores let’s take the opportunity on this great feast to pray for a greater outpouring of the Spirit in our lives.

“Holy Spirit, you gave gifts to the disciples to build your Church. In order to do your work, I need gifts that can only come from you—gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and strength; gifts of prophecy, healing, and discernment of spirits (Isaiah 11:2; 1 Corinthians 12:7-10). You know that I am asking for these gifts not just for myself but so that I can also bring you glory and lead other people to you. In this season of my life, I especially ask for the gift of ______. But whatever you want to give me, I am open to receiving it. (Meditation on Acts 2:1-11, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the outpouring of the Spirit on the apostles and Mary as a restoration of language that had been destroyed by Babbel. The locations mentioned in Acts may have been where the 1st Century Church had spread the Word. Paul teaches the Corinthians about the role of the Spirit and the gifts that are for the growth of the community. Friar Jude reminds us that Luke the historian and John the mystic have different understanding of the time of the gift of the Spirit.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, encourages us to recognize and call upon the Holy Spirit, a gift God has already given us!

Even though we so often pray, “Come, Holy Spirit,” the gift of the Spirit is already given. The Holy Spirit has already come. You all are temples of the Holy Spirit, equally, objectively, and forever! The only difference is the degree that we know it, draw upon it, and consciously believe it. All the scriptural images of the Spirit are dynamic—flowing water, descending dove, fire, and wind. If there’s never any movement, energy, excitement, deep love, service, forgiveness, or surrender, you can be pretty sure you don’t have the Spirit. If our whole lives are just going through the motions, if there’s never any deep conviction, we don’t have the Spirit. We would do well to fan into flame the gift that we already have. God does not give God’s Spirit to those of us who are worthy, because none of us are worthy. God gives God’s Spirit in this awakened way to those who want it. On this Feast of Pentecost, quite simply, want it! Rely upon it. Know that you already have it. (Rohr, n.d.)

We pray “Come Holy Spirit” and await the peace that Jesus offers to all.

References

Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/2?1 

Amu, V. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/060522.html 

John, CHAPTER 14. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/14?15 

John, CHAPTER 20. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/20?19 

Meditation on Acts 2:1-11. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/06/05/400883/ 

1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 12. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/12?3 

Psalms, PSALM 104. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/104?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Baptism of Fire and Spirit. Daily Meditations Archive: 2022. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/baptism-of-fire-and-spirit-2022-06-05/ 

Romans, CHAPTER 8. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8?8 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). They Were All Filled with the Holy Spirit! Daily Scripture net. Retrieved June 5, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=jun5 

Life in the Trinity

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to meditate on the nature of the Trinity and our participation in Divine Love as children of God.

Photo by Omar Omar at flickr.com :

//www.thinkingfaith.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_full_687/public/field/image/20130524_Godisthree.jpg 

 

The reading from the Book of Deuteronomy implores us to “acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath”.

 

This is why you must now acknowledge, and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other.1

Psalm 33 praises the Greatness and Goodness of God.

 * [Psalm 33] A hymn in which the just are invited (Ps 33:1–3) to praise God, who by a mere word (Ps 33:4–5) created the three-tiered universe of the heavens, the cosmic waters, and the earth (Ps 33:6–9). Human words, in contrast, effect nothing (Ps 33:10–11). The greatness of human beings consists in God’s choosing them as a special people and their faithful response (Ps 33:12–22).2

The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans declares ” that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God”.

 

* [8:14–17] Christians, by reason of the Spirit’s presence within them, enjoy not only new life but also a new relationship to God, that of adopted children and heirs through Christ, whose sufferings and glory they share.3

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus proclaims the Commissioning of the Disciples.

 

* [28:16–20] This climactic scene has been called a “proleptic parousia,” for it gives a foretaste of the final glorious coming of the Son of Man (Mt 26:64). Then his triumph will be manifest to all; now it is revealed only to the disciples, who are commissioned to announce it to all nations and bring them to belief in Jesus and obedience to his commandments.4

Tamora Whitney comments that we are all part of the family. God is our Father. He chose us and adopted us. Jesus is our brother.

 

Family is forever. I knew and remember my grandparents, and great-grandparents, and my great-great-grandmother, but there are also graves in the cemetery of my family members who died before I was even born, but they are still family. My grandparents are dead now, but they are still my family. Jesus lived, and died, and is in heaven now, but he is still our brother, still our God. In the Gospel he tells the disciples to go spread the news about Jesus, about the trinity, about the family of God. That’s still the story. This weekend we remember our family.5

Don Schwager quotes “The pledge of the Holy Spirit,” by Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D.

 "Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God's presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with His sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed His pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts" (excerpt from De Mysteriis 7, 42).6

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 28:16-20 notes that when we were baptized, we were plunged into the life of the Trinity. Each of us became “an adoptive son of the Father, a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism, 1279). We can remember our baptism each time we make the Sign of the Cross.

What a powerful and profound little prayer! Today, on Trinity Sunday, let the Sign of the Cross remind you of everything you received at your baptism. You are an adopted child of God. You are a member of the body of Christ. You are a temple of the Holy Spirit. “Most Holy Trinity, I love you and want to share in your life both now and forever!”7

 

Friar Jude Winkler shares the unique relationship without terror that God established with the people of Israel. The Spirit of adoption in Paul's Letter to the Romans has us relate to God as “Abba”. Friar Jude shares a fable about Augustine and the struggle to comprehend the Trinity.

 

  John Moffatt SJ, Scripture teacher at the Jesuit Institute, South Africa and is the author of the blog, Letting the Porcupine out of the Bottle, shares insight into the relationship that is Trinity.

 

One set of reasons is abstract, but important for those to whom ideas matter in their life of faith. We find in Aristotle the philosophical insight that all things arise from a single origin. Yet Aristotle’s changeless, solitary prime mover and sustainer of being seems to have little directly to do with our human experience. However, if the single origin of all things is in essence relationship, we can begin to see why the deepest truth in the universe around us is not the laws of physics, but the law of love. Human beings are not atoms in the void, but beings made for love and community. If the God and origin of all things is in essence unity and self-gift, then this affects how we think about the meaning of our own struggle to survive together on this planet. The writers of the fourth century constantly draw on images from the New Testament to paint a picture of a God whose dynamic creativity is still at work. The Spirit transforms the hearts of believers, enabling them to follow the pathway of the Word and find their way home to the presence of the Father. The divine three, who share all they have in common, call, guide and raise up humankind to participate in the oneness of their glory and delight.8

  Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that it has always seemed completely strange to him that there should be any resistance whatsoever to evolution or evolutionary thinking in Christian theology or practice. Instead, Christians should have been the first in line to recognize and cooperate with such a dynamic notion of God.

 

Perhaps it is this newness and non-familiarity of which we are afraid? For some reason, we think that admitting such love dynamism and cooperating with it (see Romans 8:28) is going to compromise our eternal, unchanging notion of God. Yet the Bible is not afraid of a dynamic and unfolding understanding of God. The notion of “The Lord” clearly evolves with many other iterations in the Hebrew Scriptures. For the New Testament writers, these images inspire the Christian notion of Jesus and lead to the utterly relational and totally interactive doctrine of the Trinity. A dynamic understanding of God is not only rather obvious in the Bible, but also necessary—and surely exciting. Remember, the only language available to religion is metaphor. God is always like something else we have experienced visibly and directly.9

The mystery of Father, Son and Spirit inspires our journey to build relationships with others and Creation that have eternal presence.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/4
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 33 | USCCB. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/33
3	(n.d.). Romans, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8
4	(n.d.). Matthew, CHAPTER 28 | USCCB. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/28
5	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online Ministries - Creighton University. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/053021.html
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/
7	(n.d.). The Most Holy Trinity (Solemnity) - The Word Among Us. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/05/30/189231/
8	(2013, May 24). God is three and God is one | Thinking Faith: The online journal of .... Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20130524_1.htm
9	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: 2021 - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2021/