Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 17, 2020: You are in me and I in you...

You are in me and I in you…

How do we prepare a place for Christ to dwell in us?

  In the Last Supper Discourses of John’s Gospel, Jesus prepares his disciples for a future without his physical body living among them, promising them another Advocate who will be with you always.  This Advocate is the Spirit of truth – he will remain with the disciples and be in them.  In his time on earth, Jesus has not just touched them without, he has touched them within, has come to dwell within them because of their faith and belief in him.  As he prepares to leave them, he wants them to know they will never be alone.  God does not intend to work from a distance after Jesus dies and rises – God wants to dwell within us, in close relationship with us.  We know him because he remains in us and will be in us.  This is a continuance of God’s constant and ever-faithful care of God’s people, as expressed in Psalm 66:  Come and see the works of God, the psalmist sings, while I declare what he has done for me.

  The early Christians understood the importance of the Spirit coming to dwell within God’s people.  When, in the Acts of the Apostles, Philip converts a great part of the population of Samaria, Peter and John go down and lay hands on the people, and they received the Holy Spirit.  The First Letter of Peter reminds us that, for this to be an ongoing indwelling, we must prepare a place for the Spirit:  Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.  We are to align our hearts with Christ alone to allow him and only him to rule our hearts such that nothing else may get in the way.  As Christ was brought to life in the Spirit, so will we be brought to new life, lifted out of our brokenness, draw beyond ourselves into God’s love as God’s love, the Spirit itself, dwells in us.  Even now, so long after his death and rising, Jesus’ life continues within us, through the Advocate and the love Christ reveals to us and in us... if only we open our hearts to his truth and sanctify him as Lord therein!

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 21, 2017: You are in me and I in you...

 You are in me and I in you… 

Is the Spirit of God at work in you? 

   In his Last Supper Discourse in John’s Gospel, Jesus reassures the disciples in ways they can’t begin to understand; they will only grasp the full meaning of his words after his death and resurrection.  One day, Jesus tells them, God the Father will give them another Advocate to be with them always, the Spirit of truth who will be in them.  Jesus also asks them to love and to observe his commandments; love and obedience will be a sign that the disciples have stepped beyond the tangible and are seeing with the Spirit that resides in their hearts, recognizing God’s love at work in them, participating in that work, sharing God’s life with him.  Come and see the works of God, Psalm 66 proclaims.  Once we know the Spirit of God dwells in us, we are attuned to God’s works, can participate in them, and sing praise to God’s name.

   And that praise, that witness, is important, as the First Letter of Peter explains.  Christians need to be clear about what they believe, conscious of the work of God in their lives, so that they can give witness to the idea that his holiness fills them:  Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.  Christ has been brought to life in the Spirit; to be Christian is to see oneself as a spiritual essence, to know that one is essentially spirit.  And to live from that place, filled with the Spirit, is to constantly appreciate that we are blessed, to spontaneously affirm how much love is revealed in our lives, so that we might in turn lead others to God.  We see this very scenario played out in the Acts of the Apostles, when many see the signs Philip is doing in Samaria – conscious of God’s works, of God’s mercy, they, too, will receive the Holy Spirit.  There is great joy in that city.

   We gather at Mass to participate in God’s activity, and to sing our praise of his tremendous deeds, of his love abiding and working in us. In Eucharist itself, if we are open to it, God makes us one; a union of hearts takes place.  Consider this:  if participating in God’s love is the reason we go to Mass, if love is the driving force behind what makes us church, then God’s Spirit is indeed at work within us, drawing us closer together in community, connecting us, giving us great reason to cry out to God with joy, and to witness to all the world, that we might lead them also to God’s love.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle