Monday, May 17, 2021

 Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

Unlike the disciples in Ephesus we have all heard of the Holy Spirit.  But few of us may be aware of the Vigil of Pentecost when the Church prays fervently for the coming of the Spirit.  Vigils themselves puzzle many.  Technically they are not just the evening before a Sunday or a solemnity.  Vigils have a unique set of readings and presume that participants will return the next day for the celebration of the feast.  All of us know of the Easter Vigil and, perhaps, the Vigil of Christmas.  The Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist also has a proper vigil as does the Ascension, St. Peter and St. Paul, and the Assumption.

When the disciples in Ephesus receive the Holy Spirit, they begin to speak in strange ways and also give testimony to the Lord.  We should hope for no less after preparing to receive the Spirit on the Vigil of Pentecost.  We may not speak “in tongues,” but we should boldly attest to the Lord’s love for us and for everyone. 

How might we provide such testimony?  A preacher once told of the love in his family while he was growing up.  He said that there was such harmony in his home that when his father returned home from work, he would dance with his mother in their living room.  The two, father and mother, in turn showered love on their three children.  The preacher began to cry.  We could add that the love shared by this preacher’s family is but a shadow of God’s love for us.

 

Monday, June 3, 2019

Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, martyrs

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

After two or three days without sunshine most people become gloomy.  Think of how somber it must feel to have only an hour or so of sun for a number of weeks.  This is the experience of those working in Antarctica now and in the Arctic region in December.  Perhaps it might describe the lives of those disciples whom Paul meets in today’s reading from Acts.

Christianity without the Holy Spirit is sheer will power.  It is trying to love without feeling, trying to think without peace of mind.  The Holy Spirit provides heightened awareness and greater urgency so that one can do what it difficult.  Once the disciples of the passage receive the Holy Spirit, they begin to praise the Lord and make the necessary connections between him and their daily lives.

Next Sunday, the Feast of Pentecost, we celebrate the Holy Spirit.  We should be asking God now to renew the Spirit’s presence within us then.  We want to see each person as a brother or sister so that we might love them as Jesus commands.  We want to feel the Father’s closeness so that we might thank Him as is our duty.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

Memorial Day is sometimes called Decoration Day.  This is so because on this day Americans have traditionally put flowers on the graves of their deceased loved ones.  The custom started after the Civil War which claimed the lives of more Americans than any other.  In time people decorated the graves of all loved ones, not just fallen soldiers.

Flowers symbolize new life.  They are fitting for Christian graves because Christians believe that the dead will live again.  The Holy Spirit will reintegrate their bodies and unite them with their souls.  Then they will praise God in joy for eternity.  We have a foreshadowing of this day in today’s first reading.

Paul meets twelve Ephesians who identify with the Jesus.  Perhaps because they do not exhibit much joy, Paul asks the twelve if they have received the Holy Spirit.  When they admit ignorance of the Spirit, Paul baptizes them in Jesus’ name.  The effect is wonderful.  The Spirit moves the Ephesians to pray in tongues and to tell the wonders of God.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

The paintings of Alice Dalton Brown often depict the Holy Spirit.  They do not show birds or fire but wind and water and sunlight.  They tell us that the Holy Spirit makes life delightful.  They indicate how needy we would be without the Spirit like the disciples whom St. Paul meets at Ephesus in today’s first reading.

Often people consider Christian faith as dreary.  They see some followers of Jesus as joyless.  They wonder if being a disciple of Jesus is just about making costly sacrifices.  Of course, they are wrong.  They need to see that Christians have the Holy Spirit who makes their lives eminently happy.  In the reading when Paul imparts the Spirit, the disciples’ joy is expressed in their becoming ecstatic.  They immediately speak in strange voices like mountain men yodeling.

We too have the Holy Spirit as our greatest gift.  He is God Himself singing, as it were, within us and radiating happiness.  We know that close to God, we are safe from all harm.  We will conquer even death itself.

Monday, May 18, 2015

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

Chinese Christians converted during the intense missionary activity one hundred years ago kept the faith despite decades of persecution.  They may have been baptized, but many of them at least were denied regular administration of the sacraments.  They are like the disciples of Jesus who meet Paul at Ephesus in today’s first reading.

It is surmised that these people knew the Lord before he was crucified and rose from the dead.  They might have been among the throngs who listened to his words or perhaps came to him individually for healing.  However, they did not receive the Holy Spirit, the gift of the resurrected Christ.  Their following of Jesus was persistent as now it is roughly twenty years after his mission was completed.  Nevertheless, these disciples lacked zest which the reading indicates is bestowed with baptism in the form of speaking in tongues and prophesying.

Despite difficulty in manifesting it, we have been given the Holy Spirit.  It moves us to care for others as it guides us to salvation.  We should not be reluctant to testify to its presence by proclaiming Christ as our model and goal.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

A lay minister describes how he brought back to church a fallen away Catholic.  He met a man named John in a sports bar.  One Saturday afternoon, the minister invited John to accompany him to mass.  John seemed to enjoy the experience and was most impressed with hearing his friend proclaim the word of God.  Since then, John has attended mass every Saturday evening. The experience exemplifies the work of the Holy Spirit.

In today’s first reading St. Paul meets some followers of Jesus who have never experienced the Holy Spirit.  Indeed, as it says, they never “never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”  The immediate effect of their receiving the Holy Spirit in Baptism is their prophesizing or speaking in the name of God.  It certainly involves evangelization.  The Spirit moves Christians to tell others of God’s love witnessed in Jesus Christ.

As we prepare to celebrate the Holy Spirit on Pentecost this Sunday, we should anticipate His gifts and also the mission to which He calls us.  He will provide understanding and courage to speak to others of how we have experienced love and mercy through our relationship with Jesus.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

The Greek father St. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote that the Old Testament reveals God the Father clearly but only dimly God the Son.  He further said that the New Testament features God the Son but the Spirit has only a minor role.  He concluded that in the Age of the Church -- which is now -- the Spirit is made manifest.  Today’s reading from Acts underscores the lack of knowledge of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ time.

How the people learned of Jesus without awareness of the Holy Spirit is somewhat of a mystery.  Could they have been taught by a disciple of Jesus who had to leave him before the latter’s going up to Jerusalem?  From the inconsistent list of apostles, exegetes speculate that people were continually joining and leaving Jesus’ company.  In the reading the disciples show remarkable willingness to receive the Spirit in Baptism which is more than the sign of a washing, but of a whole new life. 

Unfortunately many in our midst have no real appreciation of the Holy Spirit.  They simply do not realize that it is the Spirit who alters our humanity.  The Spirit like genetic engineering makes us into a new kind of creature capable of loving indiscriminately.  As we pray to the Father and to the Son, we should ask the Holy Spirit daily to make his transformative presence felt within us.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

The paintings of Alice Dalton Brown stand out for their airiness and lightness. A typical illustration shows a window through which pours sunlight on top and a sturdy wind at its opened bottom. Outside is pictured a pool of water. More than likely the painter is portraying the Holy Spirit that comes in Baptism to enlighten our minds to know Jesus and moves our hearts to love him.

In the reading from Acts today Paul meets some disciples who do not know the Holy Spirit. It has been speculated that these people followed Jesus before he went to Jerusalem that last and fateful time. They realize the need for repentance as Jesus preached. But they lack the grace of the Holy Spirit which turns the need into an unquenchable desire to delve more deeply into relationship with the Lord. Paul, of course, does not allow them to tarry longer. He imparts the Spirit so that they may know the fulfillment of life in Jesus.

It is not impossible that we are like those disciples who do not know the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Spirit has entered into our lives, but have we taken notice of his presence? We have to pray that he touch us again – very deeply this time – that we experience the fullness that Jesus promises his disciples.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33)

What can it mean, “’We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit?’” Some may think of the Charismatic movement with its “Baptism in the Spirit” and opine that the majority of Christians do not really know the Holy Spirit because they do not speak in tongues or sway their arms in prayer. But more radically, never hearing of the Holy Spirit may refer to an insufficient appreciation of sanctifying grace, the work of the Spirit. It is a shortcoming just as prevalent today as it was in the beginning and perhaps throughout Church history.

In the days of St. Augustine a priest from Britain named Pelagius evidently taught that grace is not really necessary for eternal life. We say “evidently” because little of his writings remain. We can only surmise what Pelagius taught from what his critics, like Augustine and St. Jerome, wrote about him. However, these two scholars were so upset with Pelagius that his teachings must have been defective. According to our understanding today, Pelagius held that free will guided by Christ’s example is sufficient to overcome the pitfalls the world poses.

Such a concept conflicts with St. Paul’s teaching of Christ’s saving grace. Without such grace the strongest will falter and the weakest are lost from the start. With such grace everyone has hope. The grace, which we acclaim as “amazing,” should never be taken for granted.