For daily readings, see http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/051108.shtml
As Jesus breathed upon the disciples and told them to receive the Holy Spirit, He handed on to them the power to bind and to loose sins. Now ordinarily, when we think about this gift of the Spirit given to the Church, we think about sacramental confession. This is the ordinary place, is it not, where the Church 'looses' sins. Most of the time, you and I do not come out of the confessional with some of our sins loosed and some of our sins bound. Almost all the time, we leave the confessional with our sins forgiven, and this is good. The power to bind sins that Jesus gave to his Church, then, deals more with the responsibility the Church has, guided by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to teach the truth given to Her by Her Lord, and to keep people united in this truth. This gift of the Spirit to bind sins is not a power the Church has to condemn anyone, but is a power to distinguish good and evil, and it is a responsibility of the Church to never stop proclaiming the moral truth needed to preserve human dignity, no matter how hard the circumstances. To this end, most of you are aware that Archbishop Naumann in his Leaven column this week spoke out about the responsibility of every Catholic who is in communion with the Church to uphold the sanctity of every human life, especially to do everything we can to protect the rights of unborn children. He discusses in the article his ongoing discussions with Governor Sebelius, regarding her moral responsiblities as a practicing Catholic. I invite those of you who have not yet read the Archbishop's article to take a copy as you leave Mass today, and to prayerfully consider what He is saying. The reaction to the article has been strong already, but it seems to me that most of the people who comment on the internet either are triumphalistic Catholics who do not see the sadness of this situation at hand, or those who think the Archbishop has no authority whatsoever to speak out on behalf of the truth, because of scandal within the Church, or a false understanding of the separation of Church and state. I hope most of us realize that situations like the one before us are unfortunate, and indicate a great need for deep reflection, prayer and reconciliation so that the unity Christ desires for His Church may become a greater reality.
It is this unity, which is Christ's gift to His Church through the working of the Holy Spirit, that we are here to celebrate with tremendous joy on the great Solemnity of Pentecost, the end of our 50 days of Easter celebration. Sometimes I think we too easily identify the gifts of the Holy Spirit with the charismatic movement of our Church, with those who have the ability to speak in tongues, or with great artists and musicians, or with those people who have great gifts for the evangelization of others. Certainly all of these charisms are gifts of the Spirit, meant for the building up of the body of Christ, as St. Paul instructs. It is more important, however, to realize, that the Holy Spirit can and must work powerfully in the lives of each one of us who have been baptized and confirmed, regardless of whether we possess any of the more sublime or artistic talents associated with the Holy Spirit. As St. Paul puts it to the Corinthians - No one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the essential gift to those who wish to walk by faith, and not by sight, as the Lord now wishes us to do in the time after his Ascension, for it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we remain in His Word. The Church enjoys the gift of the Spirit to remind the faithful of everything that the Lord did and said. What is more, however, the Church receives the gift of the Spirit to make Jesus Christ really and truly present through the gift of the Holy Eucharist.
Jesus said to the disciples before his Ascension - it is better for you if I go! How true are these words spoken by Jesus, because of the great Solemnity of Pentecost that we are here to celebrate today. Jesus appeared to 500 disciples or more after the Holy Spirit raised Him from the dead. What a tremendous gift this was to those who were able to see the Risen Lord! Yet through the working of the Holy Spirit given in its fullness at Pentecost, over one billion Catholics throughout the world this morning, are invited not simply to see Jesus, but to become one flesh with Him as the Holy Spirit changes ordinary bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, and enables us to say Amen - Jesus is Lord - He is truly Risen from the Dead and has gone to prepare a place for us in heaven - immediately before we receive the sacred body and blood of our Lord on this great Solemnity.
How sublime is the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Through the Holy Spirit we profess our faith in the Lord Jesus are are able to really and truly receive Him - body and blood, soul and divinity, even more surely than those who saw Him after He rose from the dead. This same Spirit, the bond of love between the Father and the Son, keeps our minds and hearts on the new destiny given to all those who belong to Christ. Only a sharing in the very love of God, which is the gift awaiting us in heaven, a gift greater than anything given to Adam and Eve in the garden, can fulfill the supernatural desires that are within each one of us. Empowered by the Spirit, let us leave our Pentecost celebration this morning intent on keeping our thoughts on the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. Let us contemplate the things of heaven, and place our lives within the mystery of the love between the Father and the Son, rather than trying to fit such an infinite love within the context of our much smaller lives on this earth. The Spirit teaches us how to set our hearts on the things of heaven, and then compels us to share these gifts with others; to evangelize and to share the Good News of the hope that is within us!
No comments:
Post a Comment