Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 8, 2016: May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened...

  May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened…  

  How has the Holy Spirit changed you?  

  

   The Ascension of Jesus, who mounts his throne to shouts of joy (Psalm 47),  is directly preceded by Jesus’ assurance in Luke’s Gospel that the Holy Spirit -- the promise of [the] Father, a kind of garment of power from on high -- will come to dwell with and in the disciples.  Once they have been baptized by the Holy Spirit, as Luke describes their transformation in the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles will be sent forth to become Jesus’ witnesses, in Jerusalem and throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  They are sent forth, in other words, to proclaim the Good News, to tell the story of the Messiah whose death, Resurrection, and Ascension offer salvation to the entire world.  And so are we.

   Moreover, all of this activity depends, as Paul tells the Ephesians, on the transformation of our innermost being:  may the eyes of your hearts be enlightened by means of the Spirit, whose indwelling Paul associates with wisdom, revelation, and knowledge.  For it is only if we know God’s love revealed in Jesus that we can see with the eyes of faith and speak to the hope that belongs to his call…  Ascension is that call, a call for us to be led by the Spirit into the world to fulfill our own mission, as we hold unwaveringly to the confession that gives us hope, and share the hope with the world.

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

Image source:  Wordle

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 19, 2015: The love of God is truly perfected in him...

The love of God is truly perfected in him…

Do you know the Risen Christ?

Jesus appears several times to his disciples after the Resurrection.  For example, in our gospel reading from Luke this Sunday, Jesus reveals himself to his disciples both in the Word and in the Breaking of the Bread.  In so doing, he transforms their meal, opening their minds, and their hearts, and inviting them – Peace be with you – to let go of what is holding them down – their doubts, their unbelief, their sin and fear – so that they, too might be transformed.  And then, fully present to them, body and spirit, Jesus asks them to enter into his death and rising with him so that they might be his witnesses to all that is written, so that they might preach repentance in his name.

Peter has been doing just that throughout Jerusalem, as we read in Acts this week, witnessing not only to all that God has done, but to the forgiveness Peter himself has experienced in his own life.  Peter calls his listeners to do the same: to know the risen Jesus, to know the power of his death and resurrection at work in their lives.  Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, he tells them, for Jesus, as the epistle-writer John tells us, is expiation for our sins (1 John).  And, once they are in right relationship with God, Psalm 4 assures them, they will fall peacefully asleep, able to enjoy God’s countenance shining upon them, and the gladness God puts in their hearts.

Do you know the Risen Christ?

(Hint:  for starters, he’s present in the Word and in the Breaking of the Bread!)

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