Pentecost Sunday B
May 27, 2012
Reading I: Acts 2:1-11
Responsorial Psalm: 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
Reading II: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13; or Galatians 5:16-25
Gospel: John 20:19-23; or John 15:26-27; 16:12-15
Do we know how to live in the spirit?
There are five references to the Holy Spirit in the after-dinner discourse in John's gospel:
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
2. The Teacher who is sent to remind you... [14:25,26]
I have told you this while I am with you.
The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name -
he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.
5. The Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth. [16:12-15]
I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you
that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Instead of the three selected readings, I had the idea of looking at these five passages together.
I
find it is best to approach these words with the awareness that they
were written many decades after that passover supper in Jerusalem. Since
then the city has been destroyed, the people are dispersed and the new
Way, the way of the New Covenant, has gained followers in every land.
The christian communities are experiencing rapid growth, with the usual
setbacks: opposition from the world, and differing interpretations
threatening their unity within. In this setting I can read John's words
as his reflections, rather than as a complex of enigmatic puzzle-words
spoken by Jesus on that last night. There is no way to analyse these
short statements to uncover a clear line of explanation: I have to move
through them, up and down, back and forth, with the expectation that
understanding will come, somewhat in the way music may communicate...
There is no end to it.
Four times John calls the spirit paraclete, a word that belongs in the law courts. This is why it is mostly rendered as advocate, and defence attorney
would also fit. This seems to fall short of John's meaning for he says
the spirit is teacher, witness, and prosecutor of the world, and finally
one who represents the on-going presence of Jesus after he has returned
to the Father. We are told that paraclete can also mean spokesperson, mediator, intercessor, comforter, consoler. This leads me to try more modern words like mentor, sponsor, tutor, support person, companion, even personal assistant. Someone we might get very close to.
The liturgy of the day celebrates the birth of the institutional church. However, while the spirit may be thought of as supporting and guiding the institution, this can only be so insofar as the spirit is 'in you and with you' as an individual person. The spirit is not an abstraction, a ghost seeping into the fabric of society. The spirit is sent to be in us, teaching, explaining, convincing, comforting, strengthening and guiding us, as individually we live our lives in the community of faith and as we witness to Jesus among our fellow citizens in the world.
There is no spirit-filled church other than the community of people who listen to the spirit in their own minds and hearts.
How does one relate to the spirit? Can you hold a conversation with the spirit? Some people have developed their spirituality around Jesus. They relate to him as to one they know; he is present to them, and their prayer-life is a conversation with Jesus. This is good for them. It is not the same for everyone.
For me, a conversation with the spirit is talking to myself; it is the inner dialogue that goes on endlessly in my mind. The key, of course, is not to do all the talking, but to listen. The spirit can make known all truth to me only if I listen. And listen more deeply. And be still and listen. To wait in silence..., and sometimes the truth becomes clear, as it were appearing out of the mist of conflicting options, and I know what I am to do, or how I am to say what needs to be said, or that I should do nothing at all.
If this is living in the spirit, is it special to christians, or is it common to people of other faiths or of no faith at all? I think this question is central to the mystery of the coming of the spirit: Jesus said it is good that he should go away, for the spirit is not bound by time and place, by language and custom, by institutions whether civic or religious. The spirit is poured out in all the whole world in every living person.
What then does it mean to be believing in Jesus? Jesus is the sacrament of the divine mystery, the sign that 'makes god visible'; those who explicitly believe in him and follow his way are sacraments too, signs that show how it is all meant to be. In them the spirit is manifest. And who are these? By their works you will know them.
Clearly there is no end to it. Enough that some few words might help us to be open to the possibilities that are in god's design...
As it turns out, these passages about the Holy Spirit are among the most challenging of the whole gospel. I wonder is this not the key moment when we are committed to moving from an episode that happened once upon a time, from following Jesus along the roads of Galilee, even to Jerusalem - to go out into the present, to being alive within our own consciences, making the decisions that are required as we are confronted with the very real questions of life.
Veni Sancte Spiritus
The liturgy of the day celebrates the birth of the institutional church. However, while the spirit may be thought of as supporting and guiding the institution, this can only be so insofar as the spirit is 'in you and with you' as an individual person. The spirit is not an abstraction, a ghost seeping into the fabric of society. The spirit is sent to be in us, teaching, explaining, convincing, comforting, strengthening and guiding us, as individually we live our lives in the community of faith and as we witness to Jesus among our fellow citizens in the world.
There is no spirit-filled church other than the community of people who listen to the spirit in their own minds and hearts.
How does one relate to the spirit? Can you hold a conversation with the spirit? Some people have developed their spirituality around Jesus. They relate to him as to one they know; he is present to them, and their prayer-life is a conversation with Jesus. This is good for them. It is not the same for everyone.
For me, a conversation with the spirit is talking to myself; it is the inner dialogue that goes on endlessly in my mind. The key, of course, is not to do all the talking, but to listen. The spirit can make known all truth to me only if I listen. And listen more deeply. And be still and listen. To wait in silence..., and sometimes the truth becomes clear, as it were appearing out of the mist of conflicting options, and I know what I am to do, or how I am to say what needs to be said, or that I should do nothing at all.
If this is living in the spirit, is it special to christians, or is it common to people of other faiths or of no faith at all? I think this question is central to the mystery of the coming of the spirit: Jesus said it is good that he should go away, for the spirit is not bound by time and place, by language and custom, by institutions whether civic or religious. The spirit is poured out in all the whole world in every living person.
What then does it mean to be believing in Jesus? Jesus is the sacrament of the divine mystery, the sign that 'makes god visible'; those who explicitly believe in him and follow his way are sacraments too, signs that show how it is all meant to be. In them the spirit is manifest. And who are these? By their works you will know them.
Clearly there is no end to it. Enough that some few words might help us to be open to the possibilities that are in god's design...
As it turns out, these passages about the Holy Spirit are among the most challenging of the whole gospel. I wonder is this not the key moment when we are committed to moving from an episode that happened once upon a time, from following Jesus along the roads of Galilee, even to Jerusalem - to go out into the present, to being alive within our own consciences, making the decisions that are required as we are confronted with the very real questions of life.
Veni Sancte Spiritus
Come sacred Spirit
send forth your light
softly from the stars
send forth your light
softly from the stars
Come protector of the poor
come provider in our need
come lighten hearts with love
Trusted true supporter
heart’s most welcome guest
strong breeze of fresh ideas
Transform our labour into love
cool us when the heat is on
comfort when we grieve
Graceful light
the secrets of our hearts
know, your faithful ones
Unless I have your touch of love
I find no worth in what I am
nothing but is selfish
Clean away our sordid stains
saturate our parching clay
heal our wounds and bruises
Shake us from our fixed ideas
melt our frigid core
redirect our devious ways
Give to all, belief in you
trust in you
your mystic sevenfold grace
Give reward unto our efforts
life’s outcome secure
give never-ending joy
Amen Alleluia
Trans. T Lawless 2011