Wednesday Reflection: May 7, 2008 -- St Basil the Great

St Basil the Great -- Treatise On the Holy Spirit

In this 4th century reflection, one of the Cappadocian saints (Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil's brother Gregory of Nyssa) at one point focuses the readers attention on the various titles ascribed to the Holy Spirit. He believes that a prayerful consideration of these titles should move the soul. Important titles are "the Spirit of God," "the steadfast Spirit," "the guiding Spirit." These titles affirm that the Spirit is "supreme" Being. However, Basil makes clear "his principal and most personal title is the Holy Spirit." It is to the Holy Spirit that we turn for the graces that will lead us to holiness. In reality the Holy Spirit is present for all of us but as Basil sees it "acting in each [person] according to the measure of his faith."

Yesterday on this blog you read to John's portrayal of water as a concrete reality to paint for us some clarity as to what the Holy Spirit is for us. Basil uses sunshine as a means for us to understand the marvelous gift given to us. Sunshine is the gift that "permeates all the atmosphere, spreading over land and sea, and yet is enjoyed by each person as though it were for him alone...." We, all of us, share the fullness of the graces of the Holy Spirit as if they alone were for each person in their totality. Basil makes an interesting point not to be overlooked. The gifts of the Spirit are only limited by our own nature. The Spirit's gifts are in abundance.

Returning to the light of sunshine, Basil reminds us when sunlight falls on "clear, transparent substances," they "shine with a new radiance." Basil writes that when we who open our souls to the Holy Spirit, we achieve a genuine spirituality. We become, furthermore, "a source of grace for others."

What does Basil see in the grace gifts of the Holy Spirit? "... foreknowledge of the future, understanding of the mysteries of faith, insight into the hidden meaning of Scripture and other special gifts."

Basil also gives a powerful thought for us to reflect on: "... we acquire a likeness to God, indeed we attain what is beyond our most sublime aspirations -- we become God." His words ... not mine. Perhaps frightening, perhaps beyond belief at times but nevertheless what we can become!

Tomorrow: the reflection of the Council Fathers at Vatican II in the council dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium.

Tuesday Reflection: May 6, 2008 -- Pentecost Is Coming

The reflections for the remainder of this week will be focused upon the upcoming feast of Pentecost.

The living water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of living water, welling up into eternal life. (Jn 4: 7-14)

Did you ever wonder why Jesus would refer to the grace of the Holy Spirit as water? So often we hear or see references to this unique and singular gift of God as a bird or a flame.

Have you ever thought about this: everything we use and we ourselves are dependent upon water? Remember that plants and animals trace there origins to water. From the heavens we feel rain come down upon us. But there is a very interesting insight: the water that falls from the heavens is always the same. Sometimes it is a teeming rain. Other times it is a drizzle. Other times it is part of a hurricane or a tornado. Yet this sameness, this water that falls upon us is able to bring about results that are so very different. St. Cyril of Jerusalem http:an early Church Father reminded us that this water, that doesn't change, produces many different effects. He cited such things as the palm tree and grapes on a vine. Consider what happens to our world economy when there is a drought in produce yielding areas of the world. Water adapts itself to the needs of the creation upon which it falls.

And what is the meaning for us? The Holy Spirit, "whose nature is always the same, simple and individual" provides graces for each of us as he desires regardless of who we are or what we are. The Holy Spirit never changes. He is always the God of the Trinity that showers blessings and graces upon us. Nevertheless his gifts are "many and marvelous" as Cyril wrote.

The graces that come down upon us enabled me to work through my vocation as a priest. For others, like some of you, the graces help you to live your married life vocation. Others among us have become spiritual gurus because of the same Holy Spirit although the graces given to another person may be different in the resulting work of God. Why are some people drawn to working with the poor while others feel drawn to be teachers? Why are some called to be healers while other feel that grace of monastic mysticism?

Some of us the Spirit has made teachers, others parents, others, single persons, others artists, other athletes and so on. This is the "vocation" that is instilled in our hearts and minds by the graces of the Holy Spirit. His action is grace in our lives but it is the same grace but somewhat different for each of us who is so very different from the next person.

Cyril reminds us that the Holy Spirit is a gentle grace from God the Father. He is not a heavy weight put upon us. The impact of the Holy Spirit comes to us either directly or through the impact of another person already gifted by the Spirit's graces.

When we walk out of a theatre in the middle of a bright sunny day, the sunshine makes its impact felt. We can see clearly again. Perhaps if we ever took the time to realize what we see coming from darkness into light, we might realize how we see more clearly than before. So it is with the Holy Spirit. Many times his graces open our eyes to discern as we have never dreamed of seeing before. When we allow the Holy Spirit to gift us with his graces, our world becomes very different.

As we move forward to that great feast of Pentecost, take some time to realize the gift of the Holy Spirit ... especially when it is likened to water.

The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one in a singular way for the good of all.

1 Corinthians 12: 6-7, 27

ASCENSION DAY, May 4, 2008

In the Ascension Day gospel there is a sentence we might consider. Obviously in one of his post-Resurrection appearances, Jesus ordered his eleven apostles to a mountain top in Galilee. When they arrived there, Jesus was present to them again. As Matthew the Evangelist wrote, "When they saw him" on the mountain, "they worshiped, but they doubted" (28:16).

Might we not ascribe the sentiment of one of those present to ourselves in our world today? Even those who faithfully worship God can be brought to recognize that often they forget or fail to accept a core belief of our faith: our lives rest in God's hands. Too often we do not fully assent to the reality that we have nothing to fear because God is always with us.

A friend, Jesuit Father Andy Alexander, in true Jesuit inquisitiveness, puts a challenge before his readers: (1) "list the ways I show signs of living the joy and hope of the resurrection." Think about that for a moment. How many ways come to mind? ..... Now that you have struggled with the little quiz let me give you the second part: (2) "now list the ways I show that I am upset, disturbed, impatient, frustrated, angry at the people, situations circumstances around me." Again think about that ... but we have only a few minutes ... because I am sure that list would be much longer.

If you were like me listing my responses in my mind, you probably realized that the smallest of things can create a different me more easily and quickly than the joy and hope offered to us by Jesus through his Resurrection!

So what is the lesson for us? The freedom of the Resurrection, indeed the liberation spelled out for us in the life of Jesus and the gospel may be liberally given to us but for us to fully enjoy or partake of his message his promise to be with us at all times, evening following his Ascension, takes an amazing grace. No matter how devoted or devotional we might be, our world, our culture, our previous sinfulness work together to impede the graces that should capture our hearts and give us the drive to live with a realization that the gospel of Jesus is an immense treasure house for us.

Again considering Fr. Alexander's insights , his guiding us into a few moments of self-awareness, we should not feel ashamed or guilty if one of our lists was much longer than the other. This reflection should help us just as Jesus' appearance to the two Emmaus-bound disciples after his death. They were promised a new power, a new dynamism, if they returned to Jerusalem. "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you" and then he promised them "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem."

And that is where we are --- just several days before we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Next weekend we renew the gift of Jesus and the Father to each of us --- a new dynamic thrust to our faith, our lives. My sisters and brothers, the Holy Spirit graces us with power beyond anything we can imagine to live out the Ascension mandate: "go and make disciples of all nations ... teaching them "to observe all I have commended you." And that, folks, is the incredible gift and call we have received from the Father. That is his call to bring us from doubt to praise and the full life of discipleship.

Saturday Reflection: May 3, 2008

Today's gospel reading recounts Philip's asking Jesus "Show us the Father." How often do we ask the same question of Jesus and the Holy Spirit? Most likely more than we imagine. There are often times in each day when we directly life up our hearts and minds to God with a prayer for guidance or thanksgiving. The sunrises, the sunsets or seeing acts of kindness or hearing of noble deeds by another human being --- these are for many moments of lifting the mind and heart to God. These are the moments when we can find an answer to Philip's request.

For a moment let us step aside form Philip and his searching and our searching. Let me recall the written words of a noted French composer, Claude Debussy. Describing the composition process in music, he said "Music is the silence between the notes." What an insight that has helped so many even beyond the music composition world. It is the pause between two notes that makes the musical work of art possible.

Debussy's insight also helps us in our search for God. We have been taught by so many people of as many backgrounds that silence is important if we want to talk with God, if we want to engage him in conversation. Today we live in a world of noise. Surely there is music of every genre. There is tv speaking to us 24/7 if we allow it. There are jet planes roaring above us if we live near an airport. Our city streets are a cacophony of sounds: horns, engines, sirens, screeching brakes. But there are quiet moments, too, on a country road, on the streets in a housing development, in a park. Most libraries offer silence along with the sacred silence of a chapel or a church or a quiet place in our homes. Even in our daily experience of noise there are the moments between the horns, the sirens, the loud music, even the noise of innocent young children playing in a school yard.

So, too, our search for God is found in the quiet, noiseless exercise of meeting God in prayer. Prayer is that treasured moment between the notes of our active days. It is in the moment when we give serious effort to silence, to the space between the notes of noise on the written musical composition of our lives. To discover God today we must work to find the space between the notes --- the moments when sunrises or sunsets let us hear God speak, when the goodness of others let us hear God-talk. Psalm 65:7 helps us to know that God will do his part in our searching to find him in silence. He will speak to us between the noises of our lives. "You still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves, and the tumult of the peoples."

In the spaces between the noises God will speak to us. He will make known what we truly need to hear. This is the power between the notes, the power of silence. What is that power? Simply this: the voice of God!

In the words of today's gospel Jesus conveys a kind of sadness as he is drawing closer to the serious days that are before him. Perhaps there is also the pain of separation that hangs in the future. No doubt there must have been moments when human emotions captured his heart. He loved being with his disciples.

But he turns from sadness to words of comfort, words of support. Again he reminds his disciples that joy, genuine joy, will be theirs. "Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you." What an extraordinary promise! Yet it seems to many to be a challenging promise. Why? Are we not overwhelmed at times by the realities of our world that add confusion to our lives ... the wants and desires that diminish our relationship with the Lord. Do we fully comprehend what Jesus is teaching us?

Praying for the gift of faith, a strong faith, is not easy. Faith demands much from modern humanity. Are we not terribly challenged by the many different types of crises that weigh heavily upon us at this time in our lives: the seemingly unending war, the economic crises that impact most Americans' wallet or purses. Is there not fear in the hearts of men and women who are struggling to raise families? As a priest, I can only imagine what it would mean to be confronting the realities that face a husband or wife trying to make ends meet for their families today. It must be so easy especially for those who had perhaps teased themselves into believing that there was everything to be had for themselves and their families. It was a land of plenty that pulled so many away from their God.

Reflecting upon the word "elitism" that has become so much a part of the current political circus we are watching, perhaps it is a reality many do not wish to acknowledge publicly but crises so often pull those suffering not necessarily to their guns but certainly to their religion, to more regular Church attendance, to more prayer.

There are more people praying today for relief from the impact of the various economic burdens that are theirs, burdens that were not so difficult and frightening just a few years ago. The words of Jesus mentioned above have more significance today.

Perhaps we might consider that many are now confronting the pains of delivery ... delivering us to a new awareness of a challenging life that we must endure for a time.

Thursday Reflection: May 1, 2008

A new month begins today. We mark, we like to hope, the end of April showers and the gift of many colorful flowers --- even though our city of Washington has been ablaze with bright colors of tulips, azalea bushes and, for a wonderful change, a lengthy bright pink of our world famous cherry blossoms. Now many get serious about planting flower and vegetable plants.

We are truly dealing with change. Any change requires work.

The first reading, a selection from the Book of Genesis, invites us to recall the work of creation --- God's work in creating his earth and all that makes it more than a sphere. The feast the Church celebrates today, rather the Ascension Day in our Archdiocese, celebrates another worker, Joseph. The gospel recalls the work of Jesus as the preacher and teacher.

Work is meant to be a part of each person's life since Adam and Eve lost membership in the Garden of Eden. Today we might reflect upon our own work and how it can lead us to a closer relationship to God. That may be a challenge to some: to see a relationship to God strengthened by work.

Examine your life as a worker. Is that activity, your work, an avenue to the Lord? Do you see in your work the opportunity to use the talents God has given you to serve both your Creator as well as the community that is gifted by your talents?

Wednesday Reflection: April 30, 2008

Sorry for the delay.

The first reading today is a rather unusual presentation in the New Testament. St. Luke points out the FAILURE of St. Paul to have a preaching and coversion impact upon the Athenians. I believe this is one of the few times when such a situation is presneted in NT writings.

What is its importance for you and me, for any reader? Perhaps it might pass over us if someone does not bring it to our attention ... as it was for me.

Paul failed in Athens. However, he did not stop his mission. He did not quit. St. Luke has a very short sentence: He left Athens and went to Corinth!

We know what happened after Athens. Paul became a great preacher, bringing even more converts to the early Church. He allowed God to continue showering his graces in his heart and life. He did not pity himself or turn to some other kind of work.

What it says to us is obvious: all of us at one time or another and in one way or another encounter failure or disappointment in a project or mission ... even how we live our lives. Like Paul, we have to pick ourselves us and move on to our own Corinths!

Tuesday Reflection: April 29, 2008

Today's gospel reading draws our attention to the upcoming celebration of the Ascension. The Risen One prepares the hearts of his followers for the greatest challenge to their infant faith. In just a short time the work "disciple" will take on a new meaning. When Jesus ascends from the surface of the earth, no longer are those followers of Jesus men and women who have the key to their new found faith with them. The man who spoke to them words of support and guidance would no longer walk with them, no longer share meals with them, no longer be strength for them in teaching others the Way that would lead to the Father. Now their spiritual journey would be different.

What does this experience of the Church in its infancy days speak to us in our world? What is there in our lives now that speaks of a similar sense of challenge? How ready were these "founding fathers and mothers of our Church" to proclaim the great "message" without the Teacher present?

The Son of Man has been physically absent from us for almost twenty centuries. But in that time, especially through the gift that never stops giving, the Holy Spirit, Jesus continues to teach us through the writings of saints, the writings and preaching of saints and sinners alike and the teachings of our Church.

Because there is the physical absence of Jesus, Son of God, among us, it is critically important that we maintain a steady diet of a genuine spiritual life through regular prayer as well as the exercise of spiritual reading. We can feed on prayer and spiritual reading without gaining an ounce!

The early challenge put before the first apostles and disciples has not changed. Like our early predecessors, we are challenged to live the message, live the teachings of Jesus. To live the gospel is to reach out, like Jesus, to help others. For our outreach to the needy, the hurting, the confused, the angry is to be a true following in the footsteps of Jesus. While now forever physically absent, Jesus has taught that his absence is actually only a reality when we fail to be with him in prayer, reflection, service and most specially in the Eucharist where is is so present to us.

Sunday Reflection: April 27, 2008

The opening words of the second reading taken from St. Peter's first letter are power packed. Unfortunately few remember them or fully grasp their meaning. Perhaps we don't see the trees for the forest! In a way these words, "Sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart," serve as a simple, unadorned sentence putting before us the challenge of a significant spiritual life. These same words can also serve as the voice we might hear if we had a spiritual GPS instrument to guide us on our journey to heaven. So, let's look at what St. Peter is encouraging us to incorporate into our live.

First, Peter asks us to consider using our hearts: "Sanctify ... in your hearts." Yesterday I witnessed the marriage of a niece and her fiance. Throughout the ceremony and reception their faces beaned with genuine happiness. Their hearts spoke volumes through the expressions on their faces. As well the faces and words of their families and friends radiated the joys and hopes that filled their hearts. So, Peter suggests to us that we capture Christ our Lord in our hearts. Peter is aware of the outcomes when our hearts are taken over by someone, a vision or a mission. He is challenging us far beyond just knowing someone of something. Let your heart become smitten by the Christ gift that God the Father has given you.

As well, Peter encourages you to "sanctify Christ the Lord." Peter's heart was, as we know, captured by the Lord Jesus. This became so evident after Peter's several blunders during the days of Jesus' public ministry. It was, we might surmise, Peter's failure to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, as the Son of God, that eventually brought him through humiliations to recognize Jesus as his Lord. We might consider Peter's exhortation to his readers to be the result of his honest awareness of his own weakness in dealing with Jesus.

Today, as we draw closer to the celebration of Ascension and Pentecost, sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. Pull to the side of the road on your spiritual journey and give your heart the opportunity to fully embrace what Jesus has taught during his lifetime among us. Let your heart have the opportunity to be smitten by the Christ whose love for you is beyond imagination. Remember what Jesus said, words taken from today's gospel reading (John 14:24): Whoever holds to my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and reveal myself to him.

Padre Pio -- Already 40 years

The nation of Italy is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the death of their beloved Padre Pio. Just recently his exhumed body was prepared for display in an air-tight display. Already hundreds of thousands have secured tickets to view this stigmatist's body -- about 7200 passing by the holy man's remains. Check the link to Whispers in the Loggia for a read about the event and a little history of the saint.

Photo: Courtesy of Whispers in the Loggia and AFP:Getty