May 2004
(Fourth Sunday of Easter C to Pentecost Sunday C)
Fourth Sunday Easter C
Scripture today:
Acts
13:14.43-52; Psalm 99; Apoc
7:9.14-17; John 10:27-30
Our Lord’s beautiful words in today’s Gospel (John
10:27-30)
tell us that his sheep listen to his voice, that he knows them and that
they follow him as the one who will give them eternal life. So our Lord
calls us in various ways, and if we who are his sheep respond to the
call, he will give us eternal life. That call is called our vocation.
Today we also celebrate world day of prayer for vocations
to the
priesthood and the religious life. The bishop of this diocese has
written a message for this day, and in it he asks that parishioners
reflect on their own role in the promotion of vocations. The Pope has
written that each person’s vocation should be understood in terms of
God’s love for them. And so, the Bishop continues, love is, as it were,
the DNA of the children of God. Love is the basis of the Christian
character. It is our call, our vocation. Man finds himself precisely by
loving.
In our time the whole Christian community is called to unite
in
this spirit of Christian love to re-evangelise culture and life. This
calls for the witness of men and women whose lives are based on God and
his love. And it is within the Christian community that each person
must discover his or her own personal vocation and respond to it with
generosity. Every life is a vocation and every believer is invited to
cooperate in the building up of the Church. In his message the bishop
states his desire that each person consider the need for priests and
religious who are ready to follow Christ on the path of the consecrated
life in the profession of the evangelical counsels.
We need priests who will be the permanent guarantee of the
Sacrament of Christ the Redeemer and who, in their preaching of the
Word and celebration of the Eucharist and other Sacraments will guide
people on the path of eternal life. We need men and women who, by their
witness, will continue to remind the baptised of the fundamental values
of the Gospel and who will foster and awareness in the People of God of
the need to respond with holiness of life to the love of God. There are
many young people who are searching for values and who have trouble
finding them. It is Christ alone who is the Way, the Truth and the
Life. We need good priests and religious to help lead young people to
Christ, and to help them establish a deep relationship with Him. The
priest, in the first place, must do this by the ministry of the Word
and the testimony of lives radiant with a spirit of service and joy, in
order to demonstrate to the faithful the excellence and necessity of
the priesthood. Consecrated persons, men and women, must witness to the
truth that our hope is in Christ. May their presence and service open
the hearts and minds of young people to the hope which the Risen Christ
offers.
On a day such as this let parents resolve not to
leave
their children alone to face the weighty decisions of adolescence and
youth, but to guide them towards the genuine happiness to be found only
in God. Let them ensure that their faith resounds in the hearts of
their children, and that they teach them to love Christ, to appreciate
his gifts, to value a chaste and sanctified love, a life of duties well
performed involving sacrifice and service. Let catechists and
teachers to support young people who ponder their vocation. Let them
guide them towards discovering God’s plan for them, cultivating in them
a readiness to respond to the call to the priesthood or religious life
should God extend it to them.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Tuesday
of the fourth week of Eastertide
The sheep that belong to
Jesus (Acts
11:19-26; Psalm 86; John 10:22-30)
There are various ways of describing people and of categorising
them. It can be by race, creed, culture, or whatever. But let us ask,
ultimately in the sight of God, is there any fundamental difference
between person and person that makes all the difference? Yes, there
would appear to be, if we are to go on our Lord's own words. Some are
his sheep and some are not. Consider the passage from St John's Gospel,
10: 22-30. Addressing "the Jews", our Lord says "..you do not believe,
because you are no sheep of mine. The sheep that belong to me listen to
my voice; I know them and they follow me." At the last Judgement as
narrated by St Matthew (ch. 25), all will be divided into two groups,
the sheep and the goats. Now, we who are baptised have been given to
Jesus by the Father. We are his sheep. What remains is that, as his
sheep, we listen to Jesus and follow him.
There are very very many who do not know Jesus formally, and who
are not baptised, but still the fundamental division can be
said to stand. There are those who are his sheep and those who are not.
Cardinal Newman described the conscience as the "aboriginal
vicar of Christ", which is to say, the fundamental
representative of Christ within human nature. If a person is intent on
listening to the authentic voice of his conscience no
matter what the cost, and
succeeds in following it (even if mistaken in its practical judgment),
that person is on the way to belonging to Jesus and being counted among
his sheep. St Paul persecuted the Church of God, but his readiness to
follow Christ when Christ made himself known to him showed that he was
all along following his conscience however profoundly mistaken in its
practical judgment it was.
Let us rejoice that, by the Father's choice, we are counted among
his sheep, and be determined to follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Wednesday
of the fourth week of Eastertide
Listen to the Holy Spirit
(Acts
12:24-13:5; Psalm 66; John 12:44-50)
Years back it was said that the Holy Spirit is the hidden Person
of the Blessed Trinity. There is a sense in which this is correct, but
one of the striking features of, for instance, the Acts of the
Apostles, is the clarity of its presentation of the Person of the Holy
Spirit. Throughout the entire Scriptures, Old Testament as
well as New, there are references to the Holy Spirit
and his activity. The revelation of his Person is gradual, and his
presence in the Gospels is clear. But with the Acts of the Apostles,
his action becomes unmistakeable.
For instance, in Acts 12:24-13:5 the Holy Spirit is clearly at
work and being heard in the Church in Antioch. He directs
that Saul and Barnabas be set apart for a
mission, and it is He who sends them on it. The Church of Antioch was
open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and listening responsively to
his inspirations. The example of the Christians at Antioch shows how it
is possible to be very aware of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The
task is to learn to be aware of it.
St Josemaria Escriva was told by his spiritual director in the
early years of his priesthood (his spiritual director was a Jesuit by
the name of Father Sanchez) to take great care always to listen to the
Holy Spirit. St Josemaria took that advice to heart and made it his
life-long practice. Let us take that advice to heart ourselves. But it
is something to be learned, with the help of the Holy Spirit. We must
learn to listen to Him who is our guide and our sanctifier, the One who
enables us to bear witness to Christ, just as he enabled Paul and
Barnabas.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Thursday
of the fourth week of Eastertide
Jesus is the one and only Saviour
(Acts 13:13-25;
Psalm 88; John 13:16-20)
One of the dangers to Christian belief is the hidden assumption
that Jesus is great, yes, but basically just one of many who are great,
and not really unique nor indispensable to the human race. In our world
and society there are many religions all with their numerous deeply
convinced believers. Living in such an environment we ourselves can
come to accept the common premise that there are many ways to God or to
the Absolute, each of which is as valid as the next.
In the passage from the Acts of the Apostles for today (13: 13-25)
St Paul, being invited to address the synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia,
speaks of Jesus as the utter culmination of all that God had been preparing
for in history, in the history of his saving work. He was the
fulfilment of all that God had promised, the Saviour, about
whom John the Baptist had said that
he was not worthy to undo his sandal strap. "To keep his promise, God
has raised up for Israel one of David's descendants, Jesus, as
Saviour.."
If we are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world
as Jesus said we are to be, we must preserve a lively conviction that
Jesus is the Saviour, the only Saviour of the world, the image of the
Father and the only way to him. In our respectful dialogue with the
religions of man, this must be our message.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Friday
of the fourth week of Eastertide
Peace in the midst of trouble
(Acts
13:26-33; Psalm 2; John 14:1-6)
One of the very widespread problems of our time is that of
depression, even among the young who are traditionally characterised by
optimism and idealism. I read recently that there has been a sharp
increase among the yong of the use of antidepressants. Perhaps people
all too readily allow themselves to sink into depression and emotional
trouble.
It is notable how often our Lord tells his disciples not to be
troubled, not to be afraid. His directive is after the manner of a
command. Inasmuch as he himself was at times troubled, and profoundly
so, he obviously means that we are not to allow ourselves to be
troubled as one who has nothing secure to rely on. Our Lord's peace and
indomitable strength in the midst of trouble came from the thought of
his Father and the Father's will.
At the Last Supper our Lord says to his disciples: "Do not let
your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still and trust in me"(John
14:1). So even if we are depressed and are unable to overcome
it, even
if we cannot cope despite our genuine efforts, we are to trust in God
still, and in Jesus. Jesus is our stay in times of trouble, Jesus and
our homeland that is ahead of us. "I am going to prepare a place for
you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to
take you with me; so that where I am, you may be too."
Our final port is always in sight, because Jesus is the Way, the
Truth and the Life. We reach the Father through him (John 14:1-6.
(E.J.Tyler)
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For someone who wants to live for Love with a capital letter, the
middle course is not good enough; that would be meanness, a wretched
compromise.
(The Forge, no.64)
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Saturday
of the fourth week of Eastertide
The human heart's
resistance to what is good (Acts 13:44-52; Psalm
97; John 14:7-14)
One of the saddest mysteries of life is the adverse reaction that
is possible towards goodness, and indeed towards God himself. We think
of the rebellion of some of the angels. We think of the profound
hostility that some felt towards Jesus, whom to see is to see the
Father. In Acts
13:44-52 we have the hostile reaction of some Jews
towards the preaching of Paul and Barnabas. The passage tells us that
it was due to their jealousy. The human heart is very capable of
resisting the good.
Now, we can think of all this as somthing 'out there', and not
involving ourselves. But it affects ourselves profoundly. Consider
yourself and your response to the call to holiness and goodness that
your conscience presents you with every day. Why have you not responded
with a much more wholehearted generosity towards God and his will, no
matter what the cost? This characteristic reluctance towards goodness
and its summons is rooted in our own hears also. It is a reluctance
towards God and his loving call.
We simply must confront this sinfulness that characterises our
condition. It must be recognised and gradually overcome
with prayer, self-denial and above all the
grace of the Holy Spirit available to us in the Sacraments and in the
life of the Church. As we think of the hostility towards God and Christ
that Scripture portrays time and again, let us take it as reminding us
of the work ahead of us in respect to our own hearts.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Here is a recipe for your way as a Christian: pray, do penance,
work without rest, fulfilling your duty
lovingly.
(The Forge, no.65)
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5th Sunday Easter, C
Scripture today:
Acts
14:21-27; Psalm 144;
Apocalypse 21:1-5; John 13:31-35
One of the assumptions of modern religious culture is to
distinguish sharply between Christ and his Church, and to proceed to
separate the two. It is asserted that there is nothing to be said
against Christ, but there is much to be said against the Church.
Therefore, love Christ, but not the Church. This widespread
mindset that rejects the Church in the name of accepting Christ
illustrates how important it is that we bring forth the true meaning of
the Catholic Church.
When we think of our Lord, let us remember that in the
Gospels he
refers to himself as the bridegroom. In fact, even before our Lord
began his public ministry, St John the Baptist referred to him as the
bridegroom, and to himself as the bridegroom’s friend. And before John
the Baptist, in the Old Testament God is spoken of by the prophet Hosea
as the husband of his chosen people. Our Lord used this expression of
himself. He is the bridegroom, and so the Church he founded is his
bride.
In the second reading today from the book of the Apocalypse
the
Church is described as the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down
from heaven dressed as a bride for her husband. This City from heaven
is the Church, and Christ is her founder and builder. We remember our
Lord saying to St Peter, that he was the rock on which he would build
his Church. So he built it, and on a rock, the rock who is Peter. And
in the passage today this Holy City which Christ built is described as
dressed like a bride.
On another occasion our Lord said that in God’s plan a husband and
wife
become one body, not two but one. And so we can understand how if the
Church is Christ’s bride, she is also, in biblical language, his body.
The two are united, as one body. Inasmuch as St Paul describes the
husband as the head of his wife, so then Christ is the head of his body
the Church. These images describing the relationship between Christ and
his Church are deeply related: by the gift of the Spirit, the Church is
the bride and the body of Christ, and he is the Church’s
bridegroom and head. So then as we heard in the second reading, the
Church is the holy city, the new Jerusalem, built by the Lord Jesus,
and dressed as a bride for her husband and head. Such is the way the
Scriptures describe the Church and her marvellous union with
Christ. The meaning of the Church is to be found in this union.
In God’s eternal plan, it is in the Church that man attains union with
God. This is because the Church is Christ’s body and spouse, and
Christ is God.
Now if Christ said, as he did say, that whatever you do to
the
least of these brothers of mine, you do to me, he said it above all of
his Church, and of the Church’s members. What we do to the Church
we do to Christ, for the Church is Christ’s body and spouse.
So just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself
up for
her, so should we love and serve the Church. For it is in the Church,
Christ’s Catholic Church, as the passage from the Apocalypse says, that
God lives among men. It is there that God is with us. So we serve God
and give him glory by bringing the Church to others and others into the
Church. The most direct means of contact and union with God is through
being a member of the Catholic Church, provided one lives one’s life in
a way consistent with this membership.
The ultimate purpose of this marvellous plan of God, this mystery
of
the Church hidden from all ages and now revealed to us, the ultimate
purpose of the Church and of being a member of the Church, is the glory
of God. God is to be glorified through the holiness of his children.
And what does this holiness consist in that gives such glory to God? It
is loving Christ and being ever ready to do his will. It is this which
should distinguish the life of the Church and her children. The more
the Church gives glory to Christ her head and spouse by living a holy
life, the more God is glorified. That should be our life’s aim: to
think, to speak and to act in such a way that the Lord Jesus is
honoured and glorified. Thus will God be glorified.
In the first reading (Acts 14:21-27)
we see the infant
Church
spreading the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Let every parish and
every diocese be characterised by this apostolic zeal. Let us all
desire to give glory to God by our love for Christ and his teaching as
it is taught by his bride the Church. Let each of us desire to bring
Christ to others who do not know him. Thus will we glorify Christ, and
in him God will be glorified.
This is the meaning of the Catholic Church, Christ’s spouse and
body.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Tuesday
of the fifth week of Eastertide
Suffering Acts
14:19-28; John 14:27-31
Let us notice how Paul and his friends were stoned, dragged outside the
town, and generally persecuted (Acts 14:19-28).
But he and they were never overcome by these sufferings endured in the
service of Christ and the Gospel. They had a remarkable resilience,
forever getting up and continuing their mission with an unceasing
freshness. What was the key to this perseverence in the work they had
been given?
One aspect was surely their very attitude to suffering, the suffering
with which they were repeatedly afflicted. They saw that it had great
meaning and value. They understood and publicly said that suffering was
necessary: "We all have to experience many harships before we enter the
kingdom of God." In this they were echoing our Lord who said that the
Messiah had to suffer to enter into his glory. So they saw suffering
(as connected with the doing of God's will) as most fruitful and as a
privileged moment of union with Christ the redeemer. Thus suffering
never discouraged but only encouraged them.
Let us pray for the grace to appreciate suffering in this light. It
will transform our lives.
(E.J.Tyler)
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We must ask God for faith, hope and charity, with humility, with
persevering prayer, with upright behaviour and a clean
life.
(The Forge,
no.67)
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Wednesday
of the fifth week of Eastertide
The answer to
futility Acts
15:1-6; John 15:1-8
One of the most persistent human problems that perhaps most people have
to face is the sense of futility in one's life. Looking around at the
apparent success of others one can be struck by the feeling that by
comparison one's life and work is of little value. It has borne little
apparent fruit. It is a little hopeless.
Now, has God said anything about this? God has made it clear just what,
in his sight, will constitute a fruitful life and just who is the one
who will bear much fruit. It is important that we keep this always in
mind not only to overcome discouragent but to ensure that we take the
correct steps to make our lives truly fruitful.
In God's plan we are branches of a Vine, and he is the Vinedresser (John 15:1-8).
The Vine is Christ. Therefore enduring fruit has its source not
primarily in our own gifts and efforts but in him. We will bear fruit,
fruit that will last to the extent that we remain in union with him, as
branches of the Vine. Our connection with him has its source, of
course, in our baptism and this connection or union is nourished by our
life of prayer and the sacraments.
We can all be fruitful and God wants all of us to bear fruit, much
fruit, fruit that will last. This will happen if our union with Christ
grows strong and if our efforts remain united to his. That is the
answer to futility.
(E.J.Tyler)
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You told me that you did not know how to repay me for the holy
zeal that flooded your soul. I hastened to answer: It is not I who have
given you any of those yearnings; it is the Holy Spirit.
Desire his company, get to know him. That way you will
come to love him better and better, and you will come to thank him for
taking up his abode in your soul so that you may have interior life.
(The Forge,
no.68)
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Thursday
of the fifth week of Eastertide
The Holy Spirit, Christ's
gift Acts
15:7-21; John 15:9-11
On one occasion in the Acts of the Apostles the disciples met some
disciples of John, years after John's death. They asked John's
disciples, have you receivced the Holy Spirit? John's disciples said
they did not know anything about the Holy Spirit.
This incident, and many like it could be mentioned, shows that on
becoming a believer in Jesus and a member of his Church by baptism, one
receives a very great and defining gift. It is the person of the Holy
Spirit who comes and makes his abode within. So too in Acts 15:7-21,
which narrates how Peter told the disciples of the conversion of
pagans. He said to them that "In fact God, who can read everyone's
heart, showed his approval of them by giving the Holy Spirit to them
just as he had to us."
We who are baptised have received the Holy Spirit. But do we
acknowledge or recognise Him? Do we allow Him to shape our lives as the
great Friend and Guide we have been given by the Father and the Son? We
must learn to listen to him daily. We must learn to cultivate the
capacity to be guided by Him. This is itself a great grace to be prayed
for.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Keep struggling, so that the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar really
becomes the centre and the root of your interior life, and so your
whole day will turn into an act of worship - an extension of the Mass
you have attended and a preparation for the next. Your whole day will
then be an act of worship that overflows in aspirations, visits to the
Blessed Sacrament and the offering up of your professional work and
your family
life.
(The Forge,
no.69)
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Friday
of the fifth week of Eastertide
Dedication in
life Acts of the
Apostles, 15:22-31; John 15:12-17
There are various moments in our lives when we are prompted to ask
ourselves where we are heading, what we are working for in life, and
what we shall have achieved when life is over.
So then, what are we dedicated to? Consider the passage in the Acts of the
Apostles, 15:22-31. The apostles and elders in their letter
which they gave to Barsabbas and Silas referred to Paul and Barnabas as
men who had "dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ". Now all of us are called by God to do the same, to be
dedicated to Jesus Christ, in the different ways that correspond to our
various callings and circumstances. Let us ask ourselves if we are in
fact doing this.
Our Lord in John
15:12-17 tells us that he has chosen us to be his friends. He
dedicated himself to us and to friendship with us. We are called to do
the same with him and our eternity and that of others depends on our
doing this. Any friendship (consider any marriage) requires dedication.
Let us then be dedicated to the most worthy and crucial of life's
objects, friendship with Jesus.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Try to give thanks to Jesus in the Eucharist by singing the
praises of Our Lady, the Virgin most pure, without stain, who brought
forth the Lord into this world. And, with childlike daring, say to
Jesus: My dearest Love, blessed be the Mother who brought you into this
world! I assure you it will please him, and he will put even greater
love in your
soul.
(The Forge, no.70)
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Saturday
of the fifth week of Eastertide
Listening to the Holy
Spirit Acts of the
Apostles 16:1-10; John 15: 18-21
At times in life we may wonder why God allowed certain circumstances to
have happened in our life, circumstances that prevented us from doing
the good we felt we should have been permitted to do. Perhaps those
with some kind of authority over us in various spheres of life
prevented us from doing what we judge would have been far better. Why
did not God allow us to achieve more good?
But consider, to begin with, how our Lord himself was seemingly
frustrated in the course of his ministry. His heavenly Father permitted
all kinds of opposition to stand in his way, right to Calvary. Consider
the question from a different point of view. The Gospel describes how
our Lord invited people to follow him, to follow him physically. He
allowed others to follow him uninvited, such as the blind man whom he
cured. But what of that man whom he cured of possession by many demons.
The cured demoniac pleaded with our Lord to allow him to follow him,
but our Lord would not permit him. He told him he was to return
to his people and tell them all that God had done for him - which he
dutifully did. So our Lord forbad that man from doing a very good thing
(i.e., following him), seemingly the best thing, and ordered him to do
something different.
We notice too in the Acts of the
Apostles 16:1-10, that when Paul and his companions travelled
through Phrygia and the Galation country they were "told by the Holy
Spirit not to preach the word in Asia." Why did the Holy Spirit forbid
them to do this good thing? We are not told. Again, in the next
sentence, "When they reached the frontier of Mysia they thought to
cross it into Bythinia, but as the Spirit of Jesus would not allow
them, they went through Mysia and came down to Troas." God may not want
us to do what we think would be better. But he does plan that we do
good, and in the same passage in Acts, Paul has the vision of the
Macedonian appealing to him to come. So as Luke says, "we lost no time
in arranging a passage to Macedonia, convinced that God had called us
to bring them the Good News."
Let us strive to do the good which God in his providence means us to
do, not the good we would like to do, even though often the two
coincide. The answer? Learn to listen to the Holy Spirit.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Saint Luke the Evangelist tells us that Jesus prayed. What must
his prayer have been like! Contemplate this fact slowly: the disciples
had the opportunity of talking to Jesus and in their conversations with
him the Lord taught them by his words, and deeds, how they should pray.
And he taught them this amazing truth of God's mercy: that we are God's
children and that we can address Him as a child addresses his
Father.
(The Forge, no.71)
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Sixth Sunday
Easter C (World Communications Day)
Scripture today:
Acts
15:1-2.22-29; Psalm 66; Apocalypse
21:10-14.22-23; John 14:23-29
On this day, World Communications Day, we especially
think
of the Church’s mission of bringing the truth of Christ to others. The
theme of Pope John Paul II’s message for today is taken from our
Lord’s words, that what we have heard from Him we are to preach from
the housetops. He reminds us that in all cultures and at all
times people ask the same basic questions about the meaning of life,
and in every age the Church offers the one ultimate answer: and the
answer is the person of Christ. And so we as members of the Church
should be deeply interested in the world of communications and the
messages that are being transmitted by means of them. It is Christ who
is the way, the truth and the life for man, and we should do all in our
power to ensure that the mass media do not impede, but indeed serve
this great truth. In this regard, let me read to you a passage or two
from the Pope’s message. He comments on a notion which governs the
media. He says, “The world of the media can sometimes seem indifferent
and even hostile to Christian faith and morality. This is partly
because the media are deeply influenced by the notion that the only
absolute truth is that there are no absolute truths, or that, if there
were, they would be inaccessible to human reason, and are therefore
irrelevant. In such a view of things, what matters is not the truth but
the “story”. And so if something is newsworthy or if it entertains, the
temptation is to set aside the question of its truth.” The pope
continues “Yet the media also offers unique opportunities for bringing
the truth of Christ to all.”
And so we must be acutely aware of the power and the
possibilities for good and for evil of the media, whether radio, press,
and television. And now there is the Internet. When Pope Paul VI
visited Australia 30 years ago he addressed the journalists. He said to
them that they were world power number one. He was implying that they
must be aware of their power and influence, and use it responsibly.
Time and time again many have observed how much of a link there is
between the entertainment industry, the media, the internet, and
violence and sexual perversion. As we think back to Nazi Germany, we
could ask how could a nation come to accept what was done with so much
violence by its Nazi leaders. One reason surely was the capturing of
the media by the Nazis, and using it desensitise the conscience of a
nation. If we are not alert to the influence and power of the various
forms of the media, we shall be making our own selves vulnerable to
various insidious influences. We too can become insensitive and
accepting of moral evil. The media can influence just by being viewed,
read and heard. Images and propositions can lodge in the imagination,
remain unevaluated, and gradually silently accepted.
So, good things should be encouraged, and bad things
strongly
resisted. The good things may well harmonise with and pave the way for
the truth of Christ. They can be watched and sponsored and encouraged.
But the presence of bad things must be unmasked and subjected to the
scrutiny of the light of Christ. Especially significant in any society
and in a media grounded in secularism are the powerful assumptions
which drive it. Standards of private morality, sexual values and
behaviour, abortion, pornography and contraception are assumed by many
to be matters pertaining solely to the individual and private
conscience and so to the individual’s right to choose. It is commonly
assumed that such matters are nobody else’s business. This is a
powerful and hidden assumption. Moral values are not just private
matters, for they contribute to public and social culture and so form
the values of others, indeed the values of a society. The values of
society easily become the values of numerous individuals. A tremendous
source of harm now is the availability of pornography on the internet.
It can be watched at length at home and no one else might know. Not
only must every Christian have nothing to do with such websites because
of the massive spiritual harm viewing them can cause one’s whole psyche
and spiritual life, but they are to be vigorously resisted in the
public arena.
I read recently that the great Internet company Yahoo has
significantly
reduced the pornography available on its websites because of pressure
coming from customers. It is to be hoped that such pressure will
increase and extend to rid the Internet, television, and other media,
of this plague. And so too with certain forms of violence. It creates a
culture. Thus do values become accepted and society is profoundly
changed. Let us resolve to put on the mind of Christ in everything, and
to shape all things according to his glorious, divine and wonderfully
human mind. Let us use the media and shape the media in such a
fashion that God will ever be honoured and glorified.
(E.J.Tyler)
A second
reflection for the sixth Sunday of Easter C
Scripture: Acts
15:1-2.22-29; Psalm 66; Apocalypse
21:10-14.22-23; John 14:23-29
“If anyone loves me he will keep
my
word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make
our home with him.” (John 14:23-29)
Our Lord tells us that the three persons of the Blessed Trinity
make
their home in the soul of the one who loves and obeys God.
Because of the very diverse character of our society,
we
are very conscious of non-Christian religions such as Islam, Buddhism,
Hinduism. There is a lot of talk of Islam now, due to the widespread
concern for Islamic extremism. But of course not all Muslims are
extremists. This past week the weekly ABC television programme called
“Australian Story” featured a small group of Afgani refugees who work
in a country town in Australia. They were devout Muslims and very good
people and very respectful to Australians, fitting in well in the
community around them. The programme showed them at prayer, praying to
Allah, as they call God. Viewing them on the programme one can
understand why the Pope has said that the prayerfulness of many Muslims
deserves respect, which of course is not to say that it is the religion
revealed by God.
The Islamic image of God is of one who is utterly
transcendent, far beyond us, all holy, merciful, perfect. And of
course, as far as it goes in this description Islam is correct. God
does utterly transcend all his creatures for they are necessarily
limited and He is necessarily without limit. But Pope John Paul II has
also put his finger on a profound deficiency of Islam. It places God
far outside us, and this contradicts what He has revealed. His
intent is to be intimately close to us, which in any case He is even
naturally by virtue of his constant creative action in our regard. As
St Paul tells the Greeks in the Acts of the Apostles: in Him we live
and move and have our being.
Indeed there is much more to this intent of God to be
close,
intimately close to us in all his transcendence. God is a God who is
with us to redeem us from sin both original and personal, and to make
us his children. He has come to abide with us as our Father. He is
God-with-us. The infinite God has made his home with us. I do wonder
whether it is a danger, perhaps characteristic of the human condition,
a danger that we too can fall prey to, of regarding God as most exalted
and therefore very distant - exalted, to be adored, worshipped,
honoured as the only God, but very very distant. We Christians, we
Catholics, can gradually forget the intimacy of the relationship with
God that God has planed that we have with him.
Let us but immerse ourselves in the Gospels. We cannot but
be
amazed at the extent to which the all-holy and infinite God in becoming
man made himself accessible to us his creatures. So much was this so
that He, God become man, was taken for granted by his townspeople and
relatives, was opposed and attacked by the leaders of the people,
misunderstood by his chosen friends, betrayed by one of them, deserted
by so many of the masses, and finally crucified. God made his home with
us sinners, with sinful man, and endured the consequences. This was the
infinite God choosing to abide among his own who did not accept him. It
shows the degree to which God has chosen to dwell among us.
God dwells among us still, but in a new way made possible
by our
Lord’s death and resurrection and the sending of the Spirit of God. It
is very possible for us to slip into imagining and thinking that the
God we love is “out there”, outside us. He is not. Consider our Lord’s
words in today’s Gospel quoted at the beginning of this reflection: “If
anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him and
we shall come to him and make our home with him.” Jesus and the Father
dwell within us. They have made us their home, and this by the power of
the Holy Spirit who was given us at our baptism. God’s home is in
heaven, far beyond us here on earth. But he has chosen to make the soul
of the one who keeps his word his very home, the abode where he loves
to dwell. He makes his home with us so that we can be with him easily
and immediately as his adopted children.
The constant danger is that we will ignore this stupendous
reality of the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the soul of the one
in sanctifying grace. We tend to think of God as out there or up there,
and we forget that he has said that he will be right in here, within
us. If we are not careful, we Christians can have an image of God a
little like that of Islam, instead of the one Jesus our Lord taught us.
The great truth of the dwelling in our souls of the Holy Trinity ought
make our Lord’s command to us that we are to pray always relatively
easy to put into effect. God is within, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
abiding within, making of our soul his own home. What an honour, what a
privilege, what an opportunity to know, love and serve the Holy
Trinity, and to benefit from the extraordinary nearness of God to us!
He is ready to help us and to give us what we need, and he is so near
to hear our petitions. One reason why we do not receive as much as we
could from God is that we don’t ask God for much, perhaps because we do
not think God is sufficiently interested or sufficiently powerful or
sufficiently near. But his indwelling in our souls shows his interest
and his very power.
The thought of the nearness of God should lead to a
lot of
confidence in God and in his readiness to help us. It will also lead us
to be more devoted to each of the three divine person, more devoted to
the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Let us take
to heart our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel, and try to realise as
vividly as possible in a spirit of true faith in his word the real
presence of each of the three divine persons within us, provided we are
in the state of grace. Let us pray to each of the three divine persons
far more frequently than we do, remembering that we ourselves are God’s
temple where he continually abides. Let us avoid deliberate sin, so as
never to threaten God’s marvellous presence within. Each of us is a
temple of God.
(E.J.Tyler)
A third
reflection on the Gospel for the Sixth Sunday of Eastertide C
Scripture: Acts
15:1-2.22-29; Psalm 66; Apocalypse
21:10-14.22-23; John 14:23-29
“If anyone loves me he will keep
my
word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make
our home with him.” (John 14:23-29)
We ought have a correct notion of what is at the
heart of
the practice of our Faith. At the heart of it all is loving Jesus.
There is much more to be explained than simply saying that, but a
strong personal friendship with Jesus is at the heart of all that we
are called to. We were made to love Jesus. From before the world was
made, God chose each of us to be a close and very faithful friend of
Jesus. Every Christian parent ought understand very clearly that they
are to raise their child above all to come to know, love and serve
Jesus.
The test of a true devotion to and love for Jesus is
the
genuine desire to do what he has said. It is the desire to keep his
word. As we have just heard in the Gospel, our Lord said to his
disciples, ‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word’. He repeats the
point, saying that ‘those who do not love me do not keep my words.’ (John 14:23-29)
Again, elsewhere in the Gospel our Lord says: ‘if anyone loves me
he will keep my commandments just as I have kept my Father’s
commandments and remain in His love.’ The test of our love for Jesus is
what we are actually doing.
Granted this indispensable test of the
genuineness
of our Christian life, namely whether or not we are doing what God
wants us to do, we ought always bear in mind the essential goal of
life: having a very great love for Jesus. Our whole life is to be
governed by this love, and is to be a manifestation of this love. If we
grow in a great and authentic love of Jesus, the results will be
eternal. One result of loving Jesus is that Jesus comes to us and will
remain continually with us. We become companions of Jesus through thick
and thin. Being with Jesus who dwells with us will be the abiding basis
of our lives.
But there is more. Our Lord says that the one who
loves
him will be loved by the Father. Our heavenly Father will have a
special love for the one who loves Jesus. Not only this, both Jesus and
the Father will come to him and make their home with him. And we know
that they will do this by the action of the Holy Spirit. It was by the
power of the Holy Spirit that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that Christ becomes present
in the Holy Eucharist at Mass. The one who loves Jesus will be loved by
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and all three will come and
dwell with him. And when the Holy Spirit comes, whom our Lord the
Father will send in His name, he will teach us all we need to know and
remind us of all that He, Jesus, has said. The Holy Spirit will help us
keep the word of Jesus. How secure we should then feel, knowing that
the Blessed Trinity dwells within our souls. But it all depends on one
thing, that we make the decision to love Jesus and to show our love for
him by our constant readiness to keep his word.
Recently I was asked, what is holiness? The
answer
is this, holiness is the constant readiness to do God’s will in
everything. In other words it is the constant readiness to keep the
word of Jesus out of love for Him. Jesus our Lord promises such a
person that He and the Father and the Holy Spirit will make their home
with him. As we heard in the Gospel, ‘If anyone loves me he will keep
my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make
our home with him.’ The abiding presence of God the Father, God the Son
and God the Holy Spirit is the source of true peace, not the peace one
can derive from a worldly way of valuing things, but a peace that is a
share in the peace constantly filling the soul of Jesus. The Blessed
Trinity dwelling within us intend to help us by their grace and to
protect us from fear and trouble of heart. For this reason our Lord
says in today’s Gospel, “Peace I bequeath to you, my peace I give you,
a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you.”
We should take our Lord’s words seriously, and ask ourselves, if
we are
not experiencing peace in our lives, why this is so. It may
be because our lives are not based on the decision to love Jesus and to
keep his word and then to cultivate and treasure the thought that the
most Holy Trinity dwells in the heart and soul of the one who loves
Jesus. If we are loving and serving Jesus, then we must decide, we must
make the decision, not to let things trouble us or make us fearful.
How? By taking to heart the fact that God dwells within. He is near,
intimately near, and nothing, neither life nor death, no powers earthly
or otherwise, nothing, can separate us from God who so loves us.
We have no need to fear in an ultimate and absolute sense, even though
we shall have our moments, as did our Lord himself in the Garden of
Gethsemane. That peace that is the gift of God is present in the midst
of sorrow and God whom we love and serve, God who dwells within, will
look after us. Right to the end we must trust, right to the end, ever
obeying Him, no matter what the cost or the consequences.
As we think of our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel, let us
think
of the call to each one of us to personal holiness. Everyone is called
by God to seek personal holiness, and by that I mean that we are all
called to a great personal love for Jesus, showing that love by keeping
his word in our every day life no matter what the cost. If that is our
aim, we may legitimately resolve not to let our hearts be troubled or
afraid.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Tuesday
of the sixth week of Eastertide
Acts
16:22-34; Psalm 137; John 16:5-11
The power of God
One of our most persistent problems when it comes to the Christian life
is that we do not think God is very powerful (nor very loving).
Consider how confident in God we really are when we turn to ask Him for
what we need. We tend unconsciously to think that God can do many
things, yes, but that there are limits to his power because there are
other forces in the universe that have their power too. That is to say,
in effect, that we tend to be polytheists without knowing it, even
though we profess our faith in the one almighty God, infinite in power
as in everything else.
But Sacred Scripture constantly presents us with the power of God, a
power that is great, without limit, and that shows itself in saving
mercy. Consider the passage in Acts 16:22-34,
the first reading of today. In particular, consider the figure of the
gaoler guarding Paul and his companions. He was about to kill himself
at the miraculous escape of the prisoners but at the word and appeal of
Paul he underwent a most remarkable spiritual transformation, arriving
in a moment at faith in Christ, tending the wounds of the Apostles,
prompting the conversion of his own family and becoming a member the
Church. All this can surely be seen as an instance of the power of God
and his grace showing itself in saving mercy.
The power of God is revealed across the pages of Scripture. We are all
called to share in the Church's
mission to evangelise. By the power of God's grace our daily example
and efforts will bear fruit. Let us always trust in God's loving power.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember that prayer does not consist in making pretty speeches,
or high-sounding or consoling phrases. Prayer, at times, will be a
glance at a picture of Our Lord or of his Mother; sometimes a petition,
expressed in words; or offering good works, and the fruits of
faithfulness. We have to be like a guard on sentry duty at the gate of
God Our Lord: that's what prayer is. Or like a small dog that lies down
at his master's feet. Do not mind telling him: Lord, here I am, like a
faithful dog; or better still like a little donkey, which will not kick
the one who loves him.
(The Forge,
no.73)
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Wednesday
of the sixth week of Eastertide
Acts
17:15.22-18:1; Psalm 148;
John 16:12-15 The dialogue of salvation
Every day we mix with an assortment of people, often of different
faiths or none. This is an opportunity. We are all called by God to
share in the mission of Christ which is the mission of the Church. That
mission is to introduce people to the person of our Lord. Now how is
this to be understood?
It is to be understood in terms of dialogue. We are to engage in
authentic dialogue with others about such matters, and the initial
challenge is how even to begin - then to sustain the dialogue. It may
help to notice how St Paul engaged with the Athenians in the question
of the Christian faith (Acts 17: 15-18:1).
He attempted to inform his public address to the whole Council of the
Areopagus with what we could call the elements of dialogue. Let us
examine his method.
Firstly he was very respectful to them acknowledging their religious
life and sacred monuments. Secondly he openly acknowledged what was
true and positive in their religious beliefs, trying to build on these,
in the process pointing out errors, while introducing the truth
revealed by God. His endeavour was to engage with them on common ground
and build on the basis of whatever religous truth they had already
attained.
We notice that in the end his main attempt seems to have been to
introduce the notion of a God who is holy, requiring repentance from
sin in view of a judgment that is coming. Christ is introduced in the
context of this judgment. He will be the judge. One could say, indeed,
that this element in the typical Greek image of God, the notion of a
God who judges sin and requires repentance, was missing in their
religious life. Sin and judgment had to be appreciated if the true
Revelation was ever to be accepted.
There are lessons in all of this for us to keep in mind if we aspire to
participate in the Church's mission in our everyday life. St Paul
offers us pointers to the elements of the dialogue of salvation.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------
We all have to be Christ himself. This is what St Paul commands
in the name of God: put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Each one of us - and
that includes you - has to see how he puts on that clothing of which
the Apostle speaks. Each one personally has to sustain an uninterrupted
dialogue with the Lord.
(The Forge, no.74)
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Thursday
of the sixth week of Eastertide
Acts
of the Apostles 18:1-8; Psalm 97; John
16:16-20 Speaking to
the pagans in our midst
Our Lord's final words to his disciples were that hey were to make
disciples of all the nations. We are his disciples, so what are we
doing about it? As St Ignatius Loyola asks us in his Exercises, What
have I done for Christ to this point? What am I doing for him? And what
do I intend to do for him?
In the Acts
of the Apostles 18:1-8 we see St Paul resolving to turn to the
pagans and tell them about Christ. Have we ever had a similar resolve,
or anything like it - and there are plenty of pagans among us in our
secular society. It is possible to go right through life never making
the slightest attempt to introduce others to Christ, let alone
introduce him to those who are virtually pagans, not knowing him at
all. And let us remember, such people are found in abundance among all
the professions.
If the world is to come to know Christ it will of necessity depend very
largely on the laity because every day it is the large lay component of
the Church that is in the midst of the world rubbing shoulders
constantly with those who do not know Christ and what he has revealed.
The challenge for the convinced lay person is to find appropriate and
effective means of entering into some kind of dialogue about God and
the Ultimate, so as to be able to bear witness to what He has
revealed. But behind this there has to be a genuine desire to
engage in this dialogue in loving fulfilment of Christ's command to all
his disciples that they bring the world to him.
Let us pray for this desire, and then pray to the Holy Spirit for the
light to know how to fulfill it.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your prayer cannot stop at mere words. It has to lead to deeds and
practical consequences.
(The Forge, no.75)
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Friday
of the sixth week of Eastertide
Acts
of the Apostles 18:9-18; Psalm
46; John 16:20-23
The hope of heaven
It is commonplace to say and to think that we all need something to
look forward to. A leading surgeon has to live away from home during
the week because his practice is away from the family. At the end
of the week he has his homecoming to look forward to, and perhaps some
hobbies, such as his horses.
God has given us a great deal to look forward to. We can look forward
to our heavenly homecoming,
when there will be joy without end. He means our lives to be filled
with hope and optimism precisely because we have this to look forward
to constantly. Our Lord tells us (John 16:20-23)
that our sorrow will turn to joy, that he will see us, and that our
hearts will be filled with a joy that nothing will be able to take away.
We must keep this hope constantly alive in our hearts, the thought of
our coming meeting with Christ and our living forever with him in
heaven. We ought also bring it to others as the motive for a life lived
fully in accord with God's will, with all the effort, toil and
suffering that is entailed in this.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The way to cut short all the evils we suffer is to
pray. (The Forge, no.76)
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Saturday
of the sixth week of Eastertide
Acts of the
Apostles 18:23-28; Psalm 46; John 16:23-28
St Alphonsus Ligouri wrote that we ask God for far too little. All
throught the gospels we find our Lord being asked for favours and he in
turn asking for assurance that they believed he could and would do what
he was being asked. He wanted faith in him.
Consider John
16:23-28. Our Lord was with great clarity assuring his disciples
that if they asked they would receive. Of course he expected that they
would ask with faith.
If we reflect on our own practice would we not have to admit that we
ask very little of God, and that we rarely keep on asking, with
persistence? We give up on God because we don't really believe our Lord
in what he says to us on this. We must ask for an increase of the
little faith we have, and keep on asking for this increase.
Lord, I do believe. Help my unbelief!
(E.J.Tyler)
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Here is a piece of advice I shall never tire of telling souls: Love the
Mother of God madly, for she is our Mother too.
(The Forge,
no.77)
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Feast of the Ascension C
Scripture today:
Acts
1:1-11; Psalm 46;
Ephesians 1:17-23; Luke 24:46-53
Today, the feast of the Ascension, we think of Jesus our
brother
and leader occupying the highest heaven - at the very right hand of
God. As man in his human nature he entered into this divine glory on
behalf of all of us. In him the human race has won the victory over
Satan and sin and entered the highest glory. The terrible havoc brought
about by sin in and since our first parents has been overcome in and by
Jesus. In his human body and soul he lifts fallen humanity to a share
in his own divine nature and glory. Great, then, is the dignity of man
now, to have a brother who is God and equal to the Father of all. In
him the path to eternal life and to a face to face eternity with God
has been offered us.
So we think of the victory won by Jesus. At his
incarnation he left behind, as it were, his state of glory and became
as men are, and even more lowly. Now in heaven, as man he is filled
with this divine glory. While he left us in his visible presence, this
does not mean that he has simply left us. As the Letter to the Hebrews
says, he is standing before God the Father interceding for us. He
cannot forget us, for we are members of his body, for just as the
husband is one body with his spouse, so is Christ one body with his
body the Church, of which we are members. And so if St Therese of
Lisieux said that she would spend her time in heaven doing good on
earth, how much more will Jesus. On one occasion our Lord said, my
Father is always working, therefore so do I. Well, our Lord is ever
working for our sanctification and salvation. He said, I am with you
always, to the very end. He is with us wherever we go, while remaining
at the right hand of his Father in glory.
In fact that is the reason why he returned to his Father, to be
with us
more intimately, and to complete his work of redeeming and sanctifying
us. He said, unless I go, the Paraclete will not come to you. He
ascended to heaven to send what the Father has promised. That promise
was the Holy Spirit, and in coming he would glorify Jesus, and Jesus is
glorified by our love for him and our service of him. So Jesus, no
longer limited to a particular geographic spot, in the power of the
Holy Spirit is with us everywhere we go and wherever we may be. He is
present in the Church teaching and proclaiming his Word. He is present
in the Church’s sacraments, especially the Eucharist. And as we read in
today’s Gospel He is present inspiring the Church’s members to engage
generously in the mission of bringing others into a personal contact
with him. ‘In his name,’ we read, ‘repentance for the forgiveness of
sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’
All of this became possible by his ascending into glory at the right
hand of the Father. Ascended into heaven and at the right hand of
the Father, now nothing need separate us from him, only our deliberate
and unrepented sins. That is to say, Jesus in glory with his Father is
now closer to us than ever before. He who is in the highest heaven is
intimately close to us always, together with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, making their home with us.
Let us then cultivate this closeness and this union with
him.
His work, the work of the body of Christ, must be finished. How long
will that take? We do not know. There is the work of our own
sanctification, and the sanctification and redemption of others. Where
he has gone we hope to follow, sharing in his glory together with all
other members of Christ’s mystical body who have been faithful to him.
Let us think of the man Jesus who is the king and
lord of
the universe. He said that all authority on earth and in heaven has
been given to him, and he wields this authority by working amid the
suffering of his members o save and sanctify all mankind. He is one of
us, yet he is God. Eternal life consists in knowing and loving and
serving him. This is the reason why we were made, and in this is
contained our true happiness, both here and hereafter. So let us each
resolve anew to love and serve the heavenly Jesus who is ever present
with us in the Eucharist and in the life of the Church his body, and
let us do all we can to bring him to the world. For the day is coming
when he will come again, this time as our Judge.
(E.J.Tyler)
A second
reflection on the Ascension of the Lord C
Scripture today: Acts of the
Apostles 1:1-11; Psalm 46; Ephesians
1:17-23; Luke 24:46-53
“Now as he blessed them, he
withdrew
from them and was carried up to heaven.” (Lk 24:46-53)
If we pray the Rosary every day, then on Wednesdays and Sundays we
meditate on our Lord’s Ascension into heaven, the second glorious
mystery of the Rosary. The Church wants us to think lovingly about this
final event in our Lord’s life here on earth, for it has many
implications. Our Lord referred to it at various times, especially at
the Last Supper, telling his apostles how he was about to return to the
Father from whom he came. He would send them the Holy Spirit, and
he would prepare for them a place where he was going.
Well then, what does the ascension of our Lord into heaven
mean
for us? It means many things but I invite you to consider one obvious
meaning. Prior to our Lord’s Resurrection he lived and worked within
the limits of the human nature which he as God assumed. He was born an
infant with all the dependence and weakness which that entailed. He
grew and developed, increasing in wisdom and age and grace. He
experienced hunger and weariness, hostility and suffering, and finally
death. Though often during his public ministry he exercised his divine
power, he normally chose to be subject to the limitations of his human
nature.
Now, his first recorded words on rising from the dead were
to
Mary Magdalene, and he told her he was ascending to his Father. In some
sense he did this that very day, though of course it was not seen
by his apostles and disciples in the way his final ascension was seen
forty days later, which we celebrate today. But what was the result on
this first day of rising from the dead and going to the Father? His
divine nature became the normal medium in which he operated, with all
its obvious divine power. For instance, He appeared to the two on the
way to Emmaus and then disappeared. So too he appeared to the Eleven
that very night. At that evening meeting, he breathed on the Apostles
imparting to them the gift of the Holy Spirit, and we remember how
throughout the Old Testament it was God who gave the Holy Spirit to the
prophets and certain great figures such as David. Also too, in giving
the Eleven this great Gift, Our Lord gave them the power to forgive
sins, something only God could do. Our Lord, true man as he was, was
now acting constantly as God, filled as he was with divine power and
life, no longer limited by a normal human condition. We remember how at
our Lord’s next meeting with the Eleven, Thomas acknowledged him
as Lord and God. So when we think of Christ as now ascended to the
right hand of the Father, we think of him as the all-powerful God -
while being man - and acting obviously as God.
So it is that St Paul, in referring to our Lord’s ascension
in
his letter to the Ephesians, says that the Father’s “power was at
work in Christ, when he used it to raise him from the dead and to make
him sit at his right hand, in heaven, far beyond every Sovereignty,
Authority, Power or Domination, or any other name that can be named,
not only in this age, but also in the age to come. He has put all
things under his feet, and made him as the ruler of everything, the
head of the Church; which is his body, the fullness of him who fills
the whole of creation.”
Today we think of the risen Lord’s final meeting with his
disciples as they watched him ascending to heaven. There is an
important detail St Luke mentions here: they worshipped him, for it was
obvious that he, the man Jesus, was God. Together with the Father he
was soon to show his divine and saving power again, by sending the Holy
Spirit to the infant Church empowering it to begin its public work of
preaching the forgiveness of sins in his name, and of bearing witness
to all he had done and would continually do for us his disciples.
Because Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, he
is
now the head of the Church everywhere and with the Father and the Holy
Spirit abides in the soul of every baptised person in the state of
grace. Precisely because Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the
Father, acting now constantly as God, he is intimately close to each of
us as God would be. He with the Father now abides in the ones who love
him and keep his word. He does this by the power of the Holy Spirit
whom he and the Father have given to each of the baptised. The
thought of his ascension reminds us that, acting now with divine power,
he lives in each of us working for our sanctification.
(E.J.Tyler)
A third
reflection on the Gospel for the feast of the Ascension C
Scripture
today:
Acts
1:1-11; Psalm 46;
Ephesians 1:17-23; Luke 24:46-53
"May he enlighten the eyes of your
mind so that you can sxee what hope his call holds for you, ... and how
infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers."
(Ephes. 1:17-23)
Today is the day when we think of our Lord leaving the
visible presence he had granted us and his disciples in order to take
his place at the right hand of the Father. He had come to establish the
Kingdom of God his Father, meaning by this God’s complete rule over the
hearts of each of us. He had come to equip us to renounce sin and Satan
and to live for him. Having taught his heavenly doctrine, having died
for our salvation, and having risen to give us life, having established
the Catholic Church to be his abode among us and to speak and give
grace in his name, he now returned to his Father. And now from there,
while at the same time abiding invisibly within the Church as its head,
he works to extend the kingdom of his Father in the hearts of each of
us.
The disciples, just before he left their presence,
asked
him if the time had now come when the kingdom would be restored to
Israel. They still thought of a temporal kingdom. But our Lord had come
to establish God’s reign over the hearts of each of us. After they saw
him leaving this earth, they were immediately assured by two angels in
white that the day would come when he would return in the same way as
he had gone. Every Sunday we recite in the Nicene Creed that Christ
will come to judge the living and the dead and of his kingdom there
will be no end. Life’s task is to prepare for his final coming and the
definitive establishment of his kingdom.
The Ascension of our Lord into heaven sets forth the truth
that
Jesus our brother and our redeemer, so close to us still in the life
and teaching of the Church, in the Sacraments especially the Eucharist
and in so many ways, is the ultimate in greatness and power and
perfection. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, which is to
say he is equal to the Father in every way except that he is not the
Father. In Jesus we have access to everything we truly need. Our
brother Jesus is actually God, at the right hand of the Father. So we
can rely on Jesus. We need go no higher, we need go to no one or
nothing else. As Pope Benedict XVI often put it, the face of the Father
is Jesus. Jesus is all we need for our life’s task of preparing for his
coming. There is a certain simplicity to life: It is Jesus.
That is to say, we can depend on Jesus for all
the
power and assistance we need, weak as we are of ourselves. As St Paul
writes in one of his Letters, Though Jesus was in the form of God, in
becoming man he had divested himself of that inaccessible position
(though not, of course, of the reality of his being God), and had
become as we are and even lowlier than we are, dying on a cross. He had
done this for our salvation. But God our Father raised him up. The
resurrection of Christ was a striking sign of God’s power. Moreover the
Father made him sit at his right hand. As St Paul says in our second
reading for today (Ephesians
1:17-23) “This you can tell from the strength of his power at
work in Christ, when he used it to raise him from the dead and to make
him sit at his right hand in heaven, far above any Sovereignty,
Authority, Power or Domination, or any other name that can be named,
not only in this age but also in the age to come. He has put all things
under his feet, and made him as the ruler of everything, the head of
the Church, the fullness of him who fills the whole of creation.”
We have access to that power. The Ascension of Christ to the
right hand of the Father is a great manifestation of the power of God.
This same power is available to enable us to follow in the footsteps of
Christ. So when we think of the Ascension of Christ to the right hand
of the Father, we ought think, - well, I can follow Jesus because that
same power at work in Jesus is available to me. It is the grace of
Christ available to me in the ministry of the Church. I can follow in
the footsteps of Jesus. I can combat sin. I can follow the suffering
Christ and rise with him and be with him where he now is. Despite all
the failures in my life, my job and whatever, despite all the battles
and the disappointments life brings, by the power and the grace of God
I can win the war against sin and get to heaven. God’s kingdom, his
rule, can be established in my own heart and I can help to establish it
in the hearts of others. How? By the power of God.
This is our great hope. Jesus is at the right hand of God
and I
can hope to be with him in heaven by following in his footsteps here on
earth. How? Through the grace of God and my efforts inspired and
sustained by that grace. As St Paul says in the second reading, “May he
enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call
holds for you, what rich glories he has promised we shall inherit and
how infinitely great is the power he has exercised for us believers.”
As we think of Christ ascending to the right hand of the Father, let us
renew our faith in God’s power, thinking of all that Christ did for us,
and where he now is even though he is close to each of us. God can get
us to heaven, he can help us to follow him ever more closely in how we
think, in what we say and in what we do. Let us be sure to use the
means: assiduous prayer, the sacraments, the ministry of the Church
through which Christ comes to me, resolving to lead a good life and
striving daily to love Jesus.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Tuesday
of the seventh week of Eastertide
Scripture today: Acts
20:17-27; John 17:1-11 On
the Holy Spirit
Years ago I remember hearing a Scripture scholar and teacher assert
that the Holy Spirit is the hidden Person of the Blessed Trinity,
almost in the shadows, as it were. In a certain sense this is correct:
we cannot visualise him. He seems more elusive than the Father and the
Son. His manifestations in Scripture are less direct (as a dove, as
tongues of fire, etc.).
But if we read the Acts of the Apostles attentively, searching to know
more fully the Third Divine Person, we quickly get a sense of the Holy
Spirit as the principal protagonist in the infant Church. He is
the great evangelizer and guide of evangelists. He is very much the
guide, the director, the one who warns and forewarns. Consider the
passage of today (Acts 20:17-27):
St Paul says that "the Holy Spirit, in town after town, has made it
clear enough that imprisonment and persecution await me."
We must ask the Holy Spirit to help us know and love him more, to help
us to be guided and inspired by him in our whole Christian life. Let us
think of Mary, the first and greatest Christian, full of grace, filled
with the Spirit of God. In the midst of an ordinary life, she was led
by the Holy Spirit constantly.
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I will not stop repeating until it is deeply engraved in your soul:
Piety, piety, piety! For if you lack charity it will be for want of
interior life, not for any defect of character.
(The Forge, no.79)
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Wednesday
of the seventh week of Eastertide
Scripture today: Acts 20;
28-38; John 17:11-19 Being submissive to the
Holy Spirit
At times one hears certain Christians (and certain Catholics too)
professing to be devotees of the Holy Spirit, striving to be responsive
to his lights and his promptings, while at the same time they allow
little place in their spiritual lives for the Church and for the
Church's guidance. They allow much for the Holy Spirit, while allowing
little for the Church and the Church's pastors.
But what do we see St Paul saying? Consider his words in Acts 20:28-38.
He refers to the Holy Spirit as the one who made "the elders of the
church of Ephesus" as the "overseers, to feed the Church of God which
he bought with his own blood." That is to say, the responsibility
carried and exercised by the Church's pastors comes from the Holy
Spirit. They are to be on their "guard" against "men coming forward
with a travesty of the truth ... to induce the disciples to follow
them." This is what the Church's pastors are called to do, and for
which many criticise them. They are to watch, feed, and warn the flock.
If we aspire to be submissive to the Holy Spirit (as we must, if we
wish to be truly Christian), we must also be submissive to the pastors
of the Church, most especially the chief pastor, Christ's vicar.
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If you are a good son of God, your first and last thought each day will
be for him, just as a little child
needs to be assured of the presence of his parents when he gets up in
the morning or goes to bed at night.
(The
Forge, no.80)
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Our Lady Help of Christians
(May 24)
At the Last Supper our Lord tells his disciples, ‘Do
not
let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me.’ So
in God and in Christ we must trust. Mary will help us do this. She is
the Help of Christians and it is under that title that we in Australia
honour her as our national patroness. I invite you to consider a little
of the history of this devotion.
It is interesting to notice that in two of the most
decisive battles in European history Christians sought the help of our
Lady under the title of Help of Christians. In each of these two
battles Christian civilization was under great military threat from
Islam. Christians turned to Mary as their great help.
The first of these great battles was the Battle of Lepanto,
October 7th, 1571. Almost 1000 years after Islam’s first attack on the
Christian world, the Mahomedans sent a giant naval armada to attack
Europe by sea. The whole of European and Christian civilization was
under an immense threat. The Christian fleet under Don John of Austria
encountered the Islamic fleet at Lepanto just off the coast of Greece.
Pope St Pius V, entrusting the outcome to our Lady, ordered
uninterrupted prayers to her throughout Christendom. During the actual
battle Rosary processions thronged the streets of Europe and St Pius V
with outstretched arms prayed to Mary in his chapel in the Vatican.
It was a tremendous battle. The Turks slew 8,000 Christian
soldiers and ship after ship of the Christian fleet sank. But due to
the prayers of the Christians and the resolve of the Christian forces
who were depending on the help of Mary, the tide began to turn. The
upshot was that 30,000 Turks were killed or taken prisoner, and 12,000
Christian slaves released. The Christian forces were victorious.
It was the first great defeat for the Turks at sea. Pope St Pius V made
the feast of our Lady Help of Christians a universal feast. Not only
was the Christian world saved, but it marked the turning point in the
military fortunes of Islam. While Islam continued to remain a threat
and continued to attack Christian countries, Lepanto marked the
dramatic beginning of a gradual decline. Our Lady help of Christians is
the help of each Christian, and the help of Christian civilization
against attack.
The last great threat from Islam occurred over a hundred
years
after Lepanto. 200,000 Ottoman Turks besieged Vienna in the summer
months of 1683, and the Austrian Emperor placed the outcome under the
protection of Mary help of Christians. During those sombre weeks Pope
Innocent XI united Christendom against the attack of Islam. In response
to the Pope’s call John Sobieski, the King of Poland arrived in
September, and on September 8, the feast of our Lady’s nativity, the
battle plans were drawn up. On September 12, the feast of the holy name
of Mary, the Christians gained a great victory over the Turks. The
Christian forces had placed themselves under the protection of our Lady
Help of Christians. It was a great Christian victory, and it was due to
Mary the Help of Christians.
In 1841 the pioneer priest of the Catholic
Church in
Australia, Father John Therry, wrote to the Archbishop of Sydney,
Archbishop Polding, requesting that Australia be dedicated to Mary’s
name. Three years later in 1844 the bishops of Australia appointed Mary
Help of Christians as the patroness of Australia. We Catholics in
Australia look to Mary as the great defender of the Church and
Christian civilization when under threat. The biggest danger is a
weakening of our faith in her Son. Mary is our Helper.
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled,’ Christ tells us.
‘Trust in
God still, and trust in me.’ Mary who is our help will support us in
our trust in all adversities, so let us resolve to regard Mary as our
help every day of our lives and in all our difficulties.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Friday
of the seventh week of Eastertide
Scripture today: Acts
25:13-21; John 21:15-19
One of the great results of revelation is that we come to know the
heart of God - precisely because God revealed what is going on in his
heart. And what is going on in the heart of God? A heartfelt desire for
our love and friendship. If we desire the friendship of others, so much
more - simply for our sake - does God desire our friendship.
This is manifest in our Lord, the risen Jesus who asked Simon three
times if he loved him (John 21:15-19).
Jesus wanted him to love him with all his heart, more than any of the
other apostles - and we can surely suppose that he did. When we speak
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are thinking especially of the ardent
desire of the risen Jesus for our love, a desire that is so often
unrequited. He asks that we make up for the lack of love of others for
him.
Our life's ambition ought be to respond to this desire of Jesus for our
love, and to show it by feeding the flock of Christ the good shepherd.
That is to say, we show our love for Jesus by being apostolic.
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You must be constant and demanding with yourself in your regular
practices of piety, even when you feel tired and arid. Persevere! Those
moments are like the tall red-painted poles which serve as markers
along the mountain roads when there are heavy snowfalls. They are
always there to show where it is safe to
go.
(The Forge, no.81)
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Saturday
of the seventh week of Eastertide
Scripture today: Acts
28:16-20; John 21:20-25
At times we find people who are simply bored with life, seeing very few
possibilities in the ordinary round of each day. The Christian ought
never be bored with time. For have we thought of this: the opportunity
that each day brings to be truly welcoming and hospitable at
every contact we have with others? Or do we tend, all too often, to
regard contacts with others something of a nuisance? With the practice
of a welcoming hospitality comes the chance of introducing people to
the person of Christ.
Consider St Paul under house arrest in Rome for two years (Acts 28:16.30).
What did he do? "He
welcomed all who came to visit him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and
teaching the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ.." (Acts 28:31).
He welcomed all. He used the restricted conditions he was compelled to
live in by extending to all who came to him a welcoming friendship, and
used this friendship as the door to evangelisation.
This gives us a very important key to apostolic success in everyday
life, whatever be our circumstances. The medium of apostolic activity
is to be genuine and welcoming friendship. We can exercise this at
every contact we have with others. If we live in the presence of God
continuously ever keeping in mind the mission we share with Christ, we
will be motivated to be like St Paul in this respect. It will open the
door to trust and to a readiness in others to listen to what we have to
say of Christ
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Make an effort to respond at each moment to what God is asking of you:
have the will to love him with deeds. They may be little deeds, but do
not leave any out.
(The Forge, no.82)
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Pentecost Sunday C
Scripture today:
Acts
2:1-11; Psalm 103;
Romans 8:8-17; John 14:15-16.23-26.
It is a wonderful thing to change for the better, whether it be
physically, emotionally, or spiritually. We have all heard it said of
someone, “He is a new person.” Consider the following case: A young man
is aimless, bored and full of feelings of hostility. He meets a group
of splendid young people who have purpose and direction in their lives.
If they offer him friendship it is not unlikely that the group will
begin to affect him with their spirit, leading him to become somewhat
like them, and thus lifted to a greater goodness.
Let us try to imagine all the goodness that ever was in the
world, the goodness of every saint or hero, the goodness of every good
person. Imagine all this goodness flowing to a single point such that
at that point all possible goodness is concentrated and available. Now
imagine all this goodness as a Person who is the source of all the
goodness that there is. Suppose that this Person were to come to a
group and to abide within them directing them to become good
themselves. Would not this coming of that Person into the lives of
those persons make a very great difference?
Today we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Church,
the
infant community of Christ’s disciples gathered around the mother of
Jesus and the apostles. They all individually and together received the
Holy Spirit, not necessarily for the first time (for of course our Lady
had been filled with the Holy Spirit since her conception) but for the
first time precisely as a community, precisely as Christ’s infant
Church. They had been told by our Lord to await what together, not
individually but together, what the Father had promised. Thus was the
Church as such born on Pentecost Sunday, and the Holy Spirit became the
Church’s soul, animating and vivifying her members. A divine bond of
union was granted to the disciples of our Lord, making them one as the
Church, one as the body of Christ her head. And Mary, present among
them and receiving the Holy Spirit anew as a member of the Church,
became the mother and model member of the Church. All this was
the direct result of the gift of the Spirit. And of course, with his
coming, this third divine person was thus wonderfully revealed. The
third person revealed himself publicly as it were, and in power. And
henceforth his work of leading the Church in her saving and sanctifying
work began in earnest.
The Acts of the Apostles in which we read of Pentecost, is the
story of
the action of the Holy Spirit. Just as it was by the power of the Holy
Spirit that the second divine person became man, so too it was by the
power of the Holy Spirit that Christ’s Catholic Church was born and
continues as the body of Christ in the world. It is by the power of the
Holy Spirit that the Church is now and will be to the end of time the
sacrament of Christ, the sign and instrument whereby Jesus is made
present among us and brings salvation to the ends of the earth. As the
Holy Spirit led Jesus, so he leads his body the Church, and the leads
the Church’s members to live in union with the Church. And so of
course, if we wish to be led by the Holy Spirit, we must be led
precisely as members of the Church.
This gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit, is an inestimable
gift of
God to mankind. It is available through the ministry of the Church.
Without the Holy Spirit, man would be sunk in his sins, as St Paul says
in Romans, and doomed to death. The Holy Spirit is the love of the
Father and the Son, uniting them both. It is this love which is the
source of all possible life and goodness, including the goodness of God
himself.
The task of every member of the Church is to be led by this
divine Person, just as Christ was led by him. We must get into the way
of thinking that he is with us to guide us and to inspire us. Through
what medium does he do this? He does this generally through our
consciences enlightened by the teaching and witness of the Church, who
is herself guided by the Holy Spirit. He dwells within us to guide our
consciences, to inspire us to be faithful to Christ and his Church. Let
us then resolve to be his true friend, and not, as St Paul says, to
make him sad by failing to know well what Christ teaches by means of
the Church, and then by failing to put it assiduously into practice.
(E.J.Tyler)
A second
reflection for Pentecost Sunday C
Scripture
today:
Acts
2:1-11; Psalm 103;
Romans 8:8-17; John 14:15-16.23-26
Many years ago it used to be wondered whether we ought describe
the
Holy Spirit, the precious Gift that the Father and the Son have sent
us, as the forgotten divine Person. We pray to our Lord and hopefully
to the Father, as we certainly should. We pray to our Lady and to some
saints, and perhaps to our guardian angel. Years ago we tended to
forget the Holy Spirit. In recent decades this has fortunately changed
somewhat.
Consider the action of the Holy Spirit as described in Holy
Scripture. It was he who inspired the prophets and holy men of the Old
Testament. It was he who inspired the writing of the Sacred Scriptures.
It was he who filled our Lady with grace. It was by his power that the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. It was he who filled the soul
of the child Jesus, who daily advanced, humanly speaking, in wisdom and
grace. It was he who came upon our Lord again and in a new way at his
baptism, leading him thenceforth in his public ministry, a ministry
mighty in word and in works. It was he who led Jesus to his Passion,
and it was by his power that Christ offered himself as a victim to the
Father on our behalf. It was by his power that Christ rose from the
dead.
So important was the Holy Spirit in the divine plan that
our
Lord said to his grieving apostles that it was better for them that he
go, because unless he did go the Holy Spirit would not come. For some
reason known only to God, our Lord had to depart from us visibly and
ascend to the right hand of the Father before the Holy Spirit could be
sent to the Church at large, and begin his own proper mission in the
Church’s life. There was so much that the Apostles and disciples had
not and could not grasp while our Lord was still with them, despite all
our Lord’s teaching, and all his patience and explanations. Even when
our Lord was risen, they still mistook him. Our Lord had to send the
Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father. The infant Church which our
Lord had founded was as yet embryonic. It needed the gift of the Holy
Spirit, as the seed needs the downpour of rain, for it to burst into
life bearing fruit. This is what happened at Pentecost, as we read in
the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. He came with a
powerful noise and showing tongues of fire. With that they were
empowered to bear witness to Jesus in numerous tongues. If we read
through the Acts of the Apostles we shall see how important this third
divine Person is in the life and growth of the Church and of the
Church’s members. I invite you to read the Acts of the Apostles with a
view to getting to know a little better the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the third divine person, and just as
truly
the one God as is the Father and the Son, just as much to be worshipped
and adored as they. He is therefore the greatest gift the Father and
the Son can possibly confer on the Church, which is just what was done
at Pentecost. With that the Church was born and became publicly active.
He is given to the Church to enlighten, guide and sanctify her. And he
has been given to each of us, to enlighten, guide and sanctify us. He
abides in each of us as in his temple, provided we are in the state of
grace. He is therefore our constant companion, our divine friend, he is
our guide and our sanctifier, he gives effect to our undertakings and
our efforts, and enables our fidelity to Jesus to bear fruit that will
last. He is our companion and friend and guide far more than any angel
or saint, great in importance as they indeed are. The Holy Spirit is
present with us in all his divine power.
Do we think of this divine, all-powerful companion that
Christ
and the Father have given us? Do we make any effort to get to know him,
to be devoted to him, to be inspired by him and to learn from him? He
wishes to make us saints, yet we so often make him sad by our sins. It
is quite possible scarcely to think of the Holy Spirit except when the
feast of Pentecost comes around in the Church’s Liturgical Year at the
end of the Easter season, when we see the red liturgical colours and we
hear of the Holy Spirit in the homily. Let us resolve to take practical
steps to learn to be guided by him in our Christian life. He wants to
lead us to the truth and to the perfection of love. He is with us daily
for this express purpose.
Let us resolve to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit and to
be
sensitive to his promptings. Let us meditate on our Lord’s words about
him, let us read of him in the Scriptures, let us expect him to
enlighten our understanding and our conscience. Let us learn to
recognise his action after it has occurred. Let’s resolve to be
submissive to the Holy Spirit, in imitation of our Lord himself and all
the saints.
(E.J.Tyler)
A third
reflection on the readings for Pentecost Sunday C
Scripture
today:
Acts
2:1-11; Psalm 103;
Romans 8:8-17; John 14:15-16.23-26
Today we think of the Father and the Son sending
the
Holy Spirit to the Apostles and disciples of Jesus, to the infant
Church gathered in prayer with Mary in the upper room. The coming of
the Holy Spirit transformed them and brought the Church into view and
into action. The coming of the Spirit brought about the birth of the
Church. Let us then take the opportunity to think of the person and the
action of the Holy Spirit. Every Sunday after hearing the word of God
in the readings and the homily we all recite the Nicene Creed. In that
Creed we all say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of
Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the
Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken by the Prophets.”
So then, firstly, the Holy Spirit is the Lord. That is to
say,
although there are other spirits, such as the Angels who are ministers
and messengers of God, the Holy Spirit is the Lord of all. He is God,
just as truly as the Father is God and the Son is God. He is not only
the Lord of all but the Giver of Life. The true life of the soul is not
to be famous or wealthy, but to be united to God. It is the Holy Spirit
who by his grace unites the soul to God.
The Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son.
The
Son is the Word of the Father and the Holy Spirit is the love between
the Father and the Son. Therefore while the Son is begotten of the
Father, the Holy Spirit proceeds not simply from the Father but from
both the Father and the Son, for he is the love between the two.
Moreover, just as the Son is the same divine being as the Father while
being a distinct person from Him, so is the Holy Spirit the same divine
being as the Father and as the Son, but is a distinct person from each
of them. And for that reason he is adored and glorified equally with
the Father and the Son. It is He, the Holy Spirit, who spoke through
the prophets and inspired the Scriptures. So whenever we read or hear
the Scriptures we ought be open to the light and inspiration of the
Holy Spirit who continues to speak to us through the prophets he
inspired.
It is this same Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost to give
birth
to the Church. It is this same Holy Spirit whom we received at our
baptism and confirmation, and who continually blesses us with his help
through life. So let us consider the benefits he offers. What then does
the Holy Spirit do for us?
Firstly he cleanses us of our sins. It was by the power of the
Holy
Spirit that our Lady was conceived free of original sin, and it was by
the grace of the Holy Spirit that she remained utterly sinless
throughout her life. It was the Holy Spirit who by his grace, together
with her own cooperation, made her all-holy. In respect to us, it
is the Holy Spirit who repairs the damage done to our souls by our
sins. He cleanses and repairs by his grace, which is available to us in
the sacraments and in prayer. The Holy Spirit also enlightens our
minds. Our Lord said at the Last Supper, ‘the Holy Spirit whom the
Father will send in my name will teach you all things and bring to your
mind whatever I have said to you. The Holy Spirit also assists us to
keep God’s commandments. No one can keep the commandments unless in
some sense he loves God. Our Lord said “If any one love me he will keep
my word.” The Holy Spirit helps us to love God. Through the words of
the Prophet Ezechiel God said: “I will give you a new heart and put a
new spirit within you; and I will take away the heart of stone that is
within you and I will put my spirit into you. I will cause you to walk
in my commandments.”
So it is the Holy Spirit who cleanses us of sin and renews
the
life of grace within us after sin. It is He who enlightens our minds
and keeps before us what Jesus has said. He counsels us when we are in
doubt, and teaches us what is the will of God. As we read in the book
of the Apocalypse, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
is saying to the Churches.” It is He who empowers us by his grace to
keep the commandments.
The Holy Spirit also strengthens us in the hope of eternal
life.
He is himself the surety we have of eternal life. The reason is that
heaven is due to us inasmuch as we are children of God. This has been
brought about by our having received the Spirit of Christ at our
baptism. Of course, we must live as God’s children if heaven which is
due to us is finally to be gained. As St Paul says, “You have received
the spirit of sonship whereby we cry out ‘Father, dear Father’. For the
Holy Spirit himself testifies to us that we are children of God.’ So
the Holy Spirit, having by his coming to us made us children of God,
gives us every reason to hope for heaven, provided we remain in the
state of grace, or have it renewed in us if we fall away from it.
On this feast of Pentecost when we think of the
coming of
the Holy Spirit on the infant Church, let us consider just who the Holy
Spirit is. Whenever we recite the Nicene Creed let us proclaim our
faith in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who together with
the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified. It is He who leads
us to holiness by his grace. Let us pray, Come Holy Spirit fill the
hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your divine
love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall
renew the face of the earth. Let us also pray, O God who by the light
of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant by
the same Holy Spirit that we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his
consolations, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
(E.J.Tyler)
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