holy-spirit

SUNDAY 26 MAY 2024: THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY.

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Holy Trinity, Feael, no date.

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[Jesus said], “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…”    Matthew 28:19.

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In the year of Our Lord 325 in the ancient city of Nicaea, now the city of Iznic in Türkiye (the new name for Turkey), to the south-east of Istanbul, the Emperor Constantine, recently converted to Christianity, called a meeting of the Christian bishops of the whole church to settle certain questions which were tearing the new church apart. He wanted a peaceful Christianity where all believed the same thing, and worked and worshipped peacefully together (which would also allow him to rule more comfortably and strongly). Paganism was still a major force, and a divided Christianity might well collapse faced with any renewed pagan strength. One of, if not the, principal questions to be asked and answered was Who is God? Although that might seem to be an easy question, it was not. Take, for example, God’s statement in the 26th verse of the first chapter of Genesis: “And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us” So the question is, who are they if there is only one God? Then there was the question of the Son, Jesus. Was he created by the Father and so had a beginning, or was he “begotten” by the Father from his own being, therefore having no beginning. That dispute, actually a major fight, led to a heresy called Arianism, which claimed Jesus had a beginning rather than being eternal. That was the sort of dispute Nicaea was called to settle. The final document was called the Nicene Creed, the one recited at every Sunday Mass to this day. The question of the Holy Spirit was left to later councils, though considering the final words in today’s gospel reading, there is a clear equality with all Three Persons. That marked the beginning of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Last week’s readings were all about love. The nature of love is to be returned. Unrequited love, which is love not returned, is a very painful experience. So the Three Persons in One God are able to love, because it can be returned. With a One-Person God exclusively, that would be impossible: the thought of I love Me (One God) is something we Christians would have much trouble with. It is the nature of love to be returned from another person, certainly possible with one God of more than one Person, impossible otherwise. In fact, that love is so strong that it gave birth to all of us, children of God. Consequently, we are each asked to return that love to our Creator. There is a song which echoes that idea: “Love isn’t love ’till you give it away“ – but true love really has to be returned! There is one other element to be considered when thinking of the Holy Trinity (and those of you who have followed this webpage know what is about to be said). The word spirit in English comes from the Latin word spiritus. The -us ending in Latin means the word has a masculine gender. The Christian Scriptures were all originally written in the Greek that was spoken by everyone in the first century, called koine Greek. In that language, the word, translated as spiritus in Latin, is pneuma, πνεῦμα. We get words such as pneumatic (filled with air) from it. But in Greek that word is neuter, not masculine, not feminine, but neuter. So in English, we would refer to πνεῦμα as “it”. Not acceptable when referring to the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity! Πνεῦμα is a translation of the Hebrew word for spirit, רוּחַ, pronounced ruach (the ch pronounced as in Scottish “loch”). Now, note, in Hebrew the gender of this word is feminine, as is the Hebrew word for wisdom. The word also means breath or wind. So, for example, if Jesus heard us saying “he” for God’s Holy Spirit, he would be as astonished as us hearing “she” for the Holy Spirit! But doesn’t “she” sound better, fuller when considering the Holy Trinity than simply three “he’s”? And that’s the way it should really be. Consequently, the Holy Spirit of God can be considered a she!  With that in mind, look with new eyes on the greatest Christian mystery of One God, Three Persons. Father and Spirit eternally uniting to beget the eternal Son. That makes much more sense, especially as each of us is invited into that eternal loving circle, as true love is never exclusive; it spreads out and invites all to enter in. Although God really cannot be tied down to our human definitions, it does help to link our human experience to the nature of God, and see that even with such limited eyesight, we are perhaps more able to enter the mystery of the Trinity. With that, it is so much easier to consider the complete unity of the Trinity, bound together in love, inviting each of us into that embrace. And the Spirit, revealed in the gospels both as “like a dove” at the baptism of Jesus, and “as of flames of fire” at Pentecost, gives us a total horizon of the nature of God’s Holy Spirit, strong, life giving and gentle, easily uniting the nature of femininity with the Father of creation and the Son of redemption. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit inviting each of us to enter that embrace of love and light and remain in eternal happiness there forever.

The Holy Trinity, Dreamstime.

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THANK YOU.

Reflections on next Sunday’s Mass Readings will be posted on Wednesday.

Please send your reactions to: RogerJohn@aol.com

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SUNDAY 19 MAY 2024: THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE BIRTHDAY OF THE CHURCH, PENTECOST SUNDAY.

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Pentecost the Descent the Holy Spirit, Jen Norton May 2021, Picturing Stories from Home.

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And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.    Acts of the Apostles 2:2-3.

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On this day, approximately 1991 years ago, the entire Christian church was crammed into a small upper room somewhere in Jerusalem, scared to death that the fate which had befallen their leader would happen to them if they were discovered. John’s gospel states quite clearly that the door of the upper room was locked for fear of the Jews – and states it twice! Despite the appearance of the crucified one alive in their midst, they were still terrified. Not only that, but the city of Jerusalem was packed with visitors from all over the Roman Empire, Jews celebrating their feast of Pentecost. Look at the word: it contains “pente”, the Greek word for five. Pentecost was celebrated 50 days after the first day of Passover. So it is a much older feast than the Christian Pentecost, but in the years following it became better known as a Christian feast, with the Jewish name Shevuot (“Weeks”) becoming their name for the day, (also occasionally known as the Feast of the First Fruits of the Harvest from the time of year). It was by tradition that 50 days after the flight from enslavement in Egypt, the Jews arrived at Mount Sinai and were given the Law – the 10 Commandments – by God, hence it is also known as the Feast of the Law. And so this one Judeo-Christian feast day carries a total of at least six titles! Finally, Shevuot/Pentecost was one of the three “pilgrimage feasts” in the era of the Jerusalem Temple, when those Jews who could, would go on pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem, hence explaining why today’s reading talks of the city being packed with people from all over the Roman world. (The other two pilgrimage feasts were Passover and Sukkot, the feast of booths or tents). So one can understand the reluctance of Jesus’ followers to do nothing except lie low and hope and pray for the best!

And then it happened!

In my opinion, after the miracle of the Resurrection itself, this was the greatest miracle recorded in the Christian scripture. Suddenly these cowering mice became lions of the Word, rushing out into the Shevuot crowd to proclaim the truth of Christ – the Messiah – to anyone who would listen! Without Pentecost, there would have been no Church (hence this event celebrates its “birthday”). What, besides the Hand of God, could possibly explain this transformation? These people were once understandably terrified of being crucified because of their association with Jesus. Now they could not wait to tell the “Good News” – the gospel – to the world. And not only that, but to proclaim it in all of the tongues of the Roman Empire, as listed in today’s reading (thus cancelling the punishment of the Tower of Babel, built with overweening pride, cursed with its multiple languages). Truly a spectacular beginning, made possible by the Descent of God’s Spirit on each of Christ’s followers that day. And note that the event sounded “like a strong wind” to the cowardly remnant. In Hebrew, the words “wind. “spirit” and “breath” are all the the same word – ruach רוּחַ – and so it was God’s very breath “as of fire” come upon them. Jesus, in today’s gospel story, “breathed” on them and they received God’s Spirit. Nothing could now stop them from proclaiming the Good News! 

Now, do we enjoy that same Spirit? Yes, received at baptism and then, fully, at confirmation. Do we rush into the street proclaiming the Good News? Well….. no. So what are we supposed to do in that case? If we are full of God’s Holy Spirit, how does it show? How can those who are not actively Christian see and recognize the reality, the happiness, of being Christian? Easy – we act, speak, think in a totally Christian way, so clearly and convincingly that others want to know where it comes from. That’s how we show it! Being a child of God, which is what every Christian is, means being totally involved in the world (see last week’s reflection) in such a good way that we reflect God’s goodness and the happy contentment which comes with it. Done properly, it is irresistible! Let us ask God for that same Spirit to possess us in the same way those very first Christians demonstrated it to the world all those years ago.

The Holy Spirit, unknown provenance.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS REFLECTION TO THOSE YOU THINK WOULD APPRECIATE IT.

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Reflections on next Sunday’s Mass Readings will be posted on Wednesday.

Please send your reactions to: RogerJohn@aol.com

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SUNDAY 28 JANUARY 2024: THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME.

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The Conversation: The science of gossip, March 30, 2017.

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In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”     Mark 1:23-24.

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Pope Francis certainly has a knack of saying things that go viral in seconds. In September 2013, for example, he let his opinion about gossip be known, even published in the papal newspaper Osservatore Romano. He pulled no punches; the opening line states, “Gossip is a weapon and it threatens the human community every day; it sows envy, jealousy and power struggles. It has even caused murder”. The picture above gives some small idea of what he is talking about. Some poor soul seems to be the butt of a rumor perhaps of a scandal going about, against which, of course, she is defenseless. But what is my point? In today’s gospel set in the synagogue in Capernaum, I think there is a clear potential of Jesus becoming what Pope Francis would deem the butt of malicious gossip in today’s gospel. The possessed man, mentioned in the quote above, is stating the truth. Indeed, Jesus IS the Holy One Of God, but… Releasing that news at the very beginning of Jesus’ mission would have been disastrous. Jesus immediately expelled the evil spirit, and with it the message which had the power to ruin his mission. Why? Well, the prevailing idea about the long-awaited Messiah in the Holy Land at that time was one of military might, he astride his mighty horse, able to expel by the sword the unclean, pagan, barbarian Roman occupiers for good, and restore the kingdom of David. That was hardly a description of the Lord! Once everyone came to the realization through gossip that he was not their idea of the Messiah, he would indeed have been the butt of whispers for evermore and his vocation ruined. Of course his ability to expel the evil spirit certainly showed he had extraordinary power, but in that solitary case, it tied in with his mission, the conquest of evil. Following his vocation in the way God wanted it would fulfill Moses’ prophesy in the first reading. Hence Jesus wished to obey God’s will for him, not through the crazed revelation of an evil devil who, though speaking the truth, intended to crush Jesus’ mission at the very beginning. So, in expelling that evil spirit Jesus was indeed beginning his mission in the right way, combating that which was not of God in the way that was of God. 

And so it must be for all of us. If we hear of a juicy piece of gossip concerning one of our neighbors or a co-worker in the office, what should we do? The temptation to pass it on is almost overwhelming, but in doing that, the contagion would spread. Even if the juicy “news” is true, what good would it do to spread it? Wouldn’t that make things worse for the person being targeted? What if we were in those shoes? And I would not be surprised if many of us have secret truths we would prefer to remain untouched, let alone the subject of gossip. Jesus knew that his version of the Messiah was completely at odds with the prevailing, and universally accepted, idea of the Messiah being the one who would rid the country of the ruling and hated Gentile Romans and reign as the new King David. It is easy to accept the first reading, the passage from Deuteronomy, in that light, and almost everyone did. No-one would see in the figure of the holy man from Nazareth the New David! So Jesus had to crush the evil spirit’s message immediately. Jesus wanted people to come to the truth in their own, unique, way, not in muffled whispers from one to another with laughter as the conclusion. That was the danger, and it was avoided.

So from this, Pope Francis’ condemnation of gossip makes a great deal of sense. Gossip had the potential strength to destroy even Jesus’ divine mission. It was saved right there in that synagogue in Capernaum, the ruins of which are still visible in Galilee to this day:

 

The Remains of the Synagogue at Capernaum in Galilee, Israel, September 2018.

It is thought Jesus walked on the older black stone floor beneath the later sculpted white stone.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS REFLECTION TO THOSE YOU THINK WOULD APPRECIATE IT.

THANK YOU.

Reflections on next Sunday’s Mass Readings will be posted on Wednesday.

Please send your reactions to: RogerJohn@aol.com

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