May 26th
As a follower of Jesus Christ, I firmly believe in the reality of the Trinity. Does that mean that I understand it? Not at all. It is a mystery. The Jewish faith, out of which the Church grew, took a wonderful step forward for the human family when it came to realize that there was only one God, that God was the creator of all things, the infinite being that sustained everything in existence and who brought us, his children, into existence. The Jews were strong and faithful to that conviction.
Jesus of Nazareth came among us in what today we call the Holy Land. He began to teach us many, many things and some of them were beyond the limitations of our brain. One of the things that he did was to refer many times to the identification that he is one with his Father and yet distinct from the Father. Then he would refer both to the Father and to himself and bring in the Holy Spirit. What we are talking about is attempting to get some insight into the inner-life of God – the inner-life of God. Should we be surprised that we don’t grasp it clearly?
With that background, let’s take a look at this excerpt from today’s Gospel. Jesus said, “I have much more to tell you but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, however, being the spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own but will speak only what he hears. He will announce to you the things to come. Doing this, he will give glory to me because he will have received from me what he will announce to you. All that the Father has belongs to me. That is why I said what he will announce to you, he will have from me.”
Let’s don’t be frustrated or embarrassed about the fact that our limited cognitive powers cannot grasp the inner nature of God. Let’s just celebrate his infinite goodness to us and he is our ultimate destiny.

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What’s your favorite feast? Thanksgiving? Many people say Christmas, especially if they are into “receiving” . Others are for Easter because of the wardrobe boost. Celebrating the Lord’s birth and resurrection provides us with wonderful religious experiences, but I’m holding out for the third most important feast in the life of the Church- Pentecost.  This coming Sunday, we will be wearing red to celebrate Pentecost, rejoicing that the Spirit of God flowed into the lives of the frightened followers of Jesus to give them a clear understanding of what it was that they had been called to do. Those followers were essentially confused cowards before Pentecost, and following that dramatic event they became courageous men and women prepared even to die as witnesses to Jesus.

This celebration is one day per year, but we ought to be prepared and look for opportunities to witness on a daily basis what we believe about the carpenter from Nazareth. You do not have to be in church to witness! Witness simply means to share the message of God’s love with all our very human brothers and sisters. This does not always require trips to third world countries by the way-you can do it right here in your own stomping grounds, by visiting with your lonely neighbor or reaching out to a frustrated coworker. Every day provides opportunities to be kind and thoughtful to those around us. His Spirit is challenging us!

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The purpose of the Church is to reach out and draw all of its members to communion with God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Church does this by presenting age after age the message of Jesus and also joins us with Jesus through our sacramental life. In carrying out this mission, it tries to convey to the entire world a message based on truth and love, a message that has tremendous implications for justice and fairness. These virtues are affected by the economic system present at any given moment.
For most of the last 2,000 years virtually the entire world’s economy was based on agriculture. That changed with the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century bringing tremendous change to human life, including a vast increase in wealth and prosperity. But not everyone shared equally in these new developments. In the late 19th century, Pope Leo XIII saw that the Industrial Revolution and its later developments were inflicting tremendous pain and suffering on the poor workers in the urban centers of Europe and North America. He wrote his famous encyclical, Rerum Novarum which laid out a structure of responsibilities reminding employers of their responsibilities to be fair and just with their workers, and that those workers had the right to organize in order to defend their economic interests. In those days, that economy was mostly one of shops and small plants where workers and employers were often in face to face situations.
By the 1930’s, the world of the small plant by an individual or family gave way as nationwide industries developed and thus Pope Pius XI wrote the encyclical Quadragesimo Anno which built on the work of Leo XIII and dealt now with problems related to nation-wide economies.
After World War II with the decolonization of the people of Africa, the possibility of a one world economy expanded tremendously and as a result in 1963 that magnificent pope John XXIII wrote a document that had tremendous impact in the Church and on the world entitled Pacem in Terris, Peace on Earth. It dealt with this new worldwide economy many years before any of us were routinely referring to the reality of an integrated world economy. The document came out in 1963 and made a powerful impression on Church leaders all over world. Fifty years have passed since the encyclicals issued and in the next couple of days I will give you my opinion of the affect that it has had in this painful and agonizing half century.
 

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Most Catholics are quite familiar with the actions that take place around the altar at mass- after all, most of us have been going for years and years. Nevertheless, it saddens me that there are so many people who see with their eyes, but do not follow deeply enough with the symbolism that is present there.

I’ve been teaching about the Catholic Church for approximately 60 years, and anyone who knows me well knows that I always push simplicity. If the Church uses a symbol (and it uses many) the viewers ought to be able to effortlessly comprehend the meaning and the message. Did you know that there are only two essential movements or actions within the mass? But each of those movements is duplicated so there are four: From the opening sign of the cross at the beginning of mass, we begin to talk TO God. And it is a good beginning, because we start off by saying we are sorry. Why are we sorry? Because He is so wonderful. That’s why we glide into the Gloria. We are exuberant. We are exalted! We are thrilled, because our God is so wonderful. The response? God talks to us. Just as we prepare to sit, we hear the priest say “let us listen thoughtfully to God’s Holy Word”. Then, with awe, we listen to a very specific message from God, coming through the inspired authors of the Bible, teaching us about life and God’s love for us. That’s the first half of the conversation.

The second half is about giving. From the back of the church, two or more people suddenly appear coming down the center aisle, bringing bread, wine, and frequently, money. Together those instruments represent ourselves, our talents and our work of the last seven days. They are carried forward and laid upon the altar. In our name, the priest raises the bread and wine and prays that God will accept our simple, inadequate gift. But, with them, we present also our hearts. Sursum cuerda (lift up your hearts).

Then, we move to the center of everything, whereby the power of ordination, Jesus Christ changes the bread and wine into the real presence of Jesus Christ, once again giving to us. Very shortly thereafter, we come forward as people on a journey to receive the bread of life and be one with our Brother, Jesus.

So we talk to God, and He responds. We give to God, and He gives back in the most awesome manner. Back and forth flows this beautiful current.

Next Sunday morning, mentally step back from the altar as mass proceeds, and try and grasp these two simple movements as you celebrate mass.

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Do you want to hear something startling? Go back to yesterday’s readings and look at that excerpt from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians.
“If any is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old order has passed away. Now all is new. All of this has been done by God.”

There you have it. We can read many books of theology and Christian asceticism, examine ourselves, constantly check ourselves against the teachings of Jesus but you have it all there in three sentences. Since the resurrection, the relationship between the human family and Almighty God has changed. Human weakness, human frailty still abound. People still stumble and fall but it is not the dreary situation prior to the resurrection. Now our world is filled with faith, hope and charity – faith which gives a true and profound understanding of reality of our relationship with God, hope which gives us a positive optimism about our ultimate union with God and charity which guides us in our dealings with each as we journey towards God.
Paul is not just talking into the wind. It is not that he says those wonderful sentences but seems disconnected from reality. Corinth was a sinful city. The Church in Corinth was a sinful Church and in the midst of that sinfulness and failure, we have Paul’s optimism boiling over.
As we move towards the end of Lent and endeavor to improve ourselves spiritually, it should not be seen as a heavy chore or difficult burden. When we realize that we are actually making progress, we should be thrilled that we are really forming, admittedly in a very limited sense, ourselves in the model of Jesus of Nazareth. Making progress in this area should be a source of joy and enthusiasm and not dreariness.

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Believing Catholics know full well that God is acting in our lives. While bringing us into existence, he has given us an infinitely loving invitation to share his life for all eternity. We are very conscious of God’s closeness when we receive the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist. There we are on Sunday morning. We have just returned to our pews and have received the bread of life. Jesus is here. Jesus is within us. He loves us and will sustain us in our faith.
That is true of the Eucharist. It is true of all of the Sacraments. Through baptism, we are made brothers and sisters of Jesus and adopted children of God the Father. With matrimony, we receive the grace necessary to sustain a holy and faith-filled marriage. The Sacraments spiritually parallel to our material lives. Our faith enables us to see that our Lord is always with us.
But God’s love and help is not limited to the Sacraments. With eyes of faith, we can see that we are sustained time and again throughout the day and always while our lives unfold of special gifts. An unexpected telephone call that clarifies our thinking on a particular issue, seeing a very ill friend on a trip to the hospital, looking at an suddenly stunning sunset in the western sky, these opportunities that make us conscious of God and his love for us are countless. However, we must be careful that we do not take them for granted. God loves us. God is with us. Our challenge is to respond knowingly and joyfully to the fact that he touches our lives day by day and sometimes minute by minute.
We are more conscious of God’s goodness to us when we are aware of his actions in our lives.

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Sunday, January 13th
All serious Christians believe that Sacred Scripture is inspired by God and that any part of it has a potential message or meaning that can be of spiritual help and value to us. That does not mean, however, that it is not always a challenge to study and apply in our individual lives. Today, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is a good example of that. St. Luke’s Gospel describes a dramatic and moving moment in the story of salvation. The players are all there. First, John the Baptist announcing the arrival of the Messiah and that salvation is at hand and then in quick succession we see manifestations of the Father, the Son and the Spirit.
The Sacred text tells us that Jesus leaves Gallilee up north and comes down south to where John is baptizing on the Jordan. John is baptizing his Jewish followers as a sign that they have turned away from sin and are going to follow the dictates of Yahweh. BUT JESUS IS FREE OF SIN. Why is he being baptized? This is a mystery even to John and he attempts to argue with the Lord. Jesus insists. At this moment in history, John’s baptism has meaning and value. It will not be until after the resurrection that the old law will be set aside and the time of the New Testament will have arrived. Jesus is merely telling John your symbolic baptism still has value and let’s utilize it to the extent that we can.
After Jesus’ baptism is complete, the Holy Spirit descends upon him in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven is heard to say, “You are my beloved Son. On you my favor rests.” The Trinity. This awesome mystery about the inner life of God is put in place before us and once again we are challenged to place our faith in what God has revealed to us about himself. We don’t understand it. The mind cannot grasp it but we are wise enough to know that when God is conveying something about his inner nature we would do well to follow his direction and accept it.

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I don’t know if you noticed it or not but last Sunday’s readings had us back in the mountains again. The Prophet Baruch was challenging God’s people to put aside mourning, worry and misery and exalt in the power of God which surrounds all of us.
“Put on the splendor of glory from God forever…Up Jerusalem, stand upon the heights. God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low and that the age old depths and gorges be filled to level ground that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God.”
Remember that the prophet was making these encouraging announcements while God’s chosen people were suffering in terrible straits. His point then, and it is true today, is that God is in charge. Ultimately, God’s will will prevail and those who have placed their faith in him and lived according to his message will enjoy an infinitely perfect life beyond the mountains – beyond the mountains!
Many of us currently find ourselves in the valley but we can see the top and when we arrive there we will be able to see forever.

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Lately, I have been mentioning the reality of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the relationship between our own spiritual existence and development to the third “person” in the Trinity. I have referred to both the gifts and the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and together it seems very complicated but really it isn’t. We use words, very limited words, to describe certain developments within our spiritual lives as we journey towards salvation. When you talk about things like fortitude, patience, long-suffering, wisdom and understanding, we are using English words with clear meanings to describe something that can and should happen within our spiritual existence because we have opened ourselves to God’s spirit. We want to be drawn forward towards Jesus and ultimately sharing in the infinite life of God.

What is the gift or the fruit of the Holy Spirit that is called fortitude? This would describe a response in our inner-being, in our psyche which would enable us to develop and practice patience and courage, even in the face of great difficulty. Not all of us excel in this particular gift.

What about the gift of wisdom? We would all like to be smarter than we are. We all could have used a better education. However, wisdom is not knowledge and information. Wisdom is the gift of human intellect which enables us to make judgment that are in keeping with the way that God wants us to live. A person blessed with the gift of wisdom and strengthened by fortitude will be an exemplary follower of Jesus and we are all called to attempt to be that.

All of these different words – gifts, fruits – are words that simple evolved over the centuries to describe one or another aspect of spiritual growth and closeness to God.

Closeness to God! That is the issue. When we awaken, we should be conscious that we are in God’s presence. As we begin to fall asleep, we should be conscious that we are here because of God’s love for us. During the day as we make decisions going forward, we should be always aware of that invitation that is always before us – “Come and follow me” – the invitation to live not just happily but infinitely happy sharing in divine life for all eternity. Now there is a gift.

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Virtually all committed Christians believe that God is revealed through his Divine Son, that there is a mysterious inner-life in the God-head that is beyond human comprehension. I am referring to the Trinity, the fact that while we believe with absolute confidence that there is only one God, we believe that there are relationships within God that for lack of better words we call “persons.” Those persons are the Father, the Son and the Spirit. Christian theology, always inadequate when faced with the infinite, has assigned works to each of these divine relationships but just because we say certain things does not mean that our inadequate verbal description depicts the reality that actually takes place or unfolds.
Christians believe that the third person of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit and it is God’s Spirit that makes us holy, draws us in faith, unites it with Jesus and guides us on into eternity. We think of God, the Father, as being the Creator, the Son as the Redeemer and the Holy Spirit as Sanctifier. And how does the Holy Spirit draw us towards holiness and sanctification? Again, the Christians use verbiage in an effort to get a mental handle on the thing, but as we use these words we must be constantly conscious of the fact that they are not actually adequate descriptions of the reality that we are pursuing.
The Holy Spirit draws us in faith to Jesus and to the Father through dispositions or tendencies of the soul that result from the Spirit’s actions around us. These are called “the gifts.” There is, of course, no limit to the generosity of God and so you can’t put a numerical limit on the Holy Spirit’s gifts. However, there is a long-standing tradition built on the teachings of St. Thomas that there are seven of them and they are wisdom, understanding, knowledge, piety, fortitude, counsel, and fear of the Lord. It is through these gifts that the Holy Spirit can direct the supernatural of the soul as much as the human reason through the virtues directs the moral life of the soul.
 

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