Thursday, May 21, 2015

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 24, 2015: I will put my spirit in you, that you may live...

Are you open to the arrival of the Holy Spirit in your life? 

Christians have not always been open to that holy presence.  Our Vigil readings this weekend remind us of the barriers we tend to erect when we focus more on what we can accomplish on our own than on what God is doing in our lives.  Our reading from Genesis offers the lesson of the so-called Tower of Babel, a monument to the arrogance of those caught up in their own state of prosperity, the same arrogance that led to humankind’s original fall from grace:  God scattered them from there all over the earth.  Hence creation’s labor pains, humankind’s expression of longing for God, as described by Paul in his letter to the Romans:  salvation, he reminds us, is not yet complete, but will be when we come into the full union of perfect love, a love we will find in all its depth and wonder if we remain in the Spirit, who comes to the aid of our weakness.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus promises the Spirit to those who thirst for God:  Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me.  His promise is reminiscent of that of Psalm 104:  when God’s creatures… look to God, God gives them food in due time.  As always, the Vigil is about waiting, longing, hoping for the coming of the Spirit, and the eventual salvation that is promised…

If the Vigil is about our longing for God, the celebration of Pentecost Sunday helps us to recognize what the Spirit’s action in our lives can look like if we are open to it.  Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on the disciples in John’s Gospel, and still they hesitate, but Luke’s account in Acts sends them, filled with the Holy Spirit, pouring into the street to proclaim God’s Word, Jesus himself.  A measure of the fullness of the Spirit is available to us, too, if we are are open to it, if we truly are able to pray, with true longing, Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.  Only then, as Paul tells the Galatians, can we enjoy the fruits of the Spirit:  love, joy, and peace, to name just a few…  May the Holy Spirit come to unite what has been divided, and may we be open to its breath flowing forth to fill us with God’s love.

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source:  Wordle

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