The
truth about reality, and especially about the divine-human partnership,
is far too enormous and profound for us to understand. Our Church
celebrations break up the mystery, in effect, by celebrating different
aspects or perspectives in sequence. The mystery is one, but our
understanding and absorption of the truth of God comes in parts, in
gradual insights, breaking into our minds gradually as the dawning light
slowly spreads before the brilliant sunrise. The Gospel of John seeks
to hold this mystery together by linking Christ’s death, Resurrection,
his departure, and the giving of the Spirit on the cross, and then in a
few appearances to chosen disciples. The evangelist Luke, who wrote the
Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, stays closer to the Jewish calendar
of feasts, and blends into it the mystery of Christ. In our Catholic
calendar and celebrations, we largely follow St. Luke’s presentation:
Death of Jesus (Good Friday), Resurrection (Easter), 40 days of
appearances, his Ascension, then Pentecost 50 days after Easter. The
truth is simple, but our minds need the mysterious whole presented
piecemeal so that we can in our limited way understand it and
appropriate the truth to our lives. We believe so that we may understand
and live Christ in love and in truth.
As Eastertide closes, liturgies turn our mind from rejoicing in Christ’s Resurrection to accepting his physical absence and Lordship (Ascension) in preparation for our union with God in and through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ has not abandoned his people, nor will he. “I am yours, you are mine.” That is his divine promise to us. But his presence is now mediated to us through the Holy Spirit. Whatever of Christ we receive--his Word in the gospel, his Body and Blood in the Eucharist, his love in the Body of Christ--we receive in and through the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit, we would not believe or experience the real love of Christ for human beings, each and all. Without the Holy Spirit, our minds would not be enlightened by the truth of Christ shining in. Without the Holy Spirit, we would not experience God’s forgiveness. Without the Holy Spirit, we could love for our own benefit, but not with God’s own self-giving love.
“We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.” One may say that our biological life comes through the body’s physical processes and through ongoing breathing, drinking, eating, exercising, and resting; but God’s life in us comes through openness and ongoing response to the indwelling Spirit. The Spirit, generating true love in us for God and for one another, knits us together for our well-being in time and in eternity. The life that the Holy Spirit keeps breathing into us is divine Life, true life, and it is forever, because it is not ours, but God’s Life in us. “Because I live, you shall live also,” says the Risen LORD, dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit. “We will not leave you orphans or abandoned, we will come to you.” That promise, spoken by Christ, means that the whole mystery of God is alive in our souls, and we are taken up eternally into union with He Who Is. One simple truth, slowly breaking into our human hearts, effecting in us what God promises to give: Himself to us eternally.
As Eastertide closes, liturgies turn our mind from rejoicing in Christ’s Resurrection to accepting his physical absence and Lordship (Ascension) in preparation for our union with God in and through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ has not abandoned his people, nor will he. “I am yours, you are mine.” That is his divine promise to us. But his presence is now mediated to us through the Holy Spirit. Whatever of Christ we receive--his Word in the gospel, his Body and Blood in the Eucharist, his love in the Body of Christ--we receive in and through the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit, we would not believe or experience the real love of Christ for human beings, each and all. Without the Holy Spirit, our minds would not be enlightened by the truth of Christ shining in. Without the Holy Spirit, we would not experience God’s forgiveness. Without the Holy Spirit, we could love for our own benefit, but not with God’s own self-giving love.
“We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.” One may say that our biological life comes through the body’s physical processes and through ongoing breathing, drinking, eating, exercising, and resting; but God’s life in us comes through openness and ongoing response to the indwelling Spirit. The Spirit, generating true love in us for God and for one another, knits us together for our well-being in time and in eternity. The life that the Holy Spirit keeps breathing into us is divine Life, true life, and it is forever, because it is not ours, but God’s Life in us. “Because I live, you shall live also,” says the Risen LORD, dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit. “We will not leave you orphans or abandoned, we will come to you.” That promise, spoken by Christ, means that the whole mystery of God is alive in our souls, and we are taken up eternally into union with He Who Is. One simple truth, slowly breaking into our human hearts, effecting in us what God promises to give: Himself to us eternally.
