Pentecost Sunday (part II)
LECTIO DIVINA:
THE PENTECOST SUNDAY (B)
Lectio:
Sunday, May 24, 2015
The witness of the Holy Spirit
and the witness of the disciples
John 15, 26-27. 16, 12-15
and the witness of the disciples
John 15, 26-27. 16, 12-15
1.
OPENING PRAYER
Oh, My Father, when will the Consoler come? When will your
Spirit of Truth reach me? The Lord Jesus has promised Him, He has said that He
would have sent Him from your womb down to us. Father, then, open wide your
heart and send Him from your holy Heavens, from your high dwelling! Do not
delay any more, but fulfil the ancient promise; save us today, for ever! Open
and free your Love for us, in order that I too can be open and freed by You, in
You. May this Word of yours today be the holy place of our encounter, be the
nuptial room to be immersed in You, Oh Trinity who are Love! Come in me and I
in You; dwell in me and I in You. Remain, Father! Remain Oh Son Jesus Christ!
Remain for ever, Consoler Spirit, do not leave me ever! Amen.
2.
READING
a) In order to insert this passage in its context:
The few verses which the Liturgy offers us today for meditation
belong to the great farewell discourse which Jesus addressed to his disciples
before the Passion, and which John extends from 13, 31 to the end of chapter
17. Here Jesus begins to speak of the unavoidable consequence of the following
of the choice of faith and love for Him; the disciple has to be ready to suffer
persecution from the world. But in this struggle, in this pain, there is a
Consolation, there is a Defender, an Advocate Who witnesses for us and saves
us: the gift of the Spirit illuminates the human adventure of the disciple and
fills us with a living hope. He is sent to make us understand the mystery of
Christ and to make us participate in it.
b) To help in the reading of the passage:
15, 26-27: Jesus announces the coming of the Holy Spirit, as Consoler, as
the defending Advocate: He will be the one to act in the process of accusation
which the world has against the disciples of Christ. He will be the one to make
them strong in persecution. The Spirit renders witness to the world regarding
the Lord Jesus; He defends Christ, who is contested, accused, rejected. But the
witness of the disciples is also necessary; the Spirit has to use them to
proclaim with strength, in this world, the Lord Jesus. It is the beauty of our
life transformed into a witness of love and fidelity to Christ.
16, 12: Jesus places his disciples – and therefore, us too – before
their condition of poverty, of incapacity, by which it is not given to them to
understand well neither the words of Jesus, nor the words of Scripture. His
truth is still a burden, which they cannot receive, to lift up and carry.
16, 13 –15: In these last verses, the Word of Jesus reveals to the disciples
which will be the action of His Spirit in them. He will be the one to guide
them in the whole truth, that is, He will make them understand the mystery of
Jesus in all its importance or significance, in the totality of His truth. He
will guide, reveal, proclaim, illuminate, bringing to us, his disciples, the
words themselves of the Father, and in this way we will be led to the encounter
with God; by His grace we will be rendered capable to understand the depth of
the Father and of the Son.
c) The Text:
15, 26
When the Paraclete comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit
of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness. 27 And you too will
be witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning.
16, 12
I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to
bear now. 13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the
complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say
only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come. 14 He
will glorify me, since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine.
15 Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he reveals to you
will be taken from what is mine.
3.
A MOMENT OF PRAYERFUL SILENCE
I keep silence, From time to time I repeat in a low voice: “Come
Holy Spirit”.
4.
SOME QUESTIONS
a) “When the Paraclete will come”. Jesus
immediately places me in front of a very concrete reality; He opens before me a
new time, a diverse time and tells me that this is a time of waiting in my
life. The Paraclete is about to come, the Holy Spirit. Why Lord, have I always
waited for you for such a short time, why has my attention toward you been so
weak, so hypocrite? You send someone to look for me and I am not even aware, I
do not even show any interest.
b) “And you too will be witnesses”. Jesus
affirms this, addressing himself to his disciples of that time and of today. He
speaks precisely to me and tells me: “You too will be a witness”. I am afraid,
you know it. Why lose importance before others: my companions in school, in the
university, in my team, my friends, who invite me to go out with them? Why this
great difficulty? Cannot I be a Christian just the same? You are my beginning
and my end: you are my whole existence! How could I not be your witness, Lord?
How can I continue to keep silence in this way?.
c) “He will lead you to the complete truth”. I have
always programmed very minutely when I move, my decisions to change; I have
always been able to do everything alone. And now, Lord, you tell me that
Another One will guide me. This is not an easy choice, I confess it. But I want
to try, I want to accept you, Oh you who are Love. I allow myself to be taken
hold of by your Spirit. Will He lead me to the desert, as he did with you (cf.
Lk 4, 1)? Will he open my life, as he opened the womb of the Virgin Mary (Lk 1,
35)? Will he invest me as he did with Peter, with the others, with all who
believed in the preaching, as it is narrated in the Acts of the Apostles? I do
not know what will happen to me, but I want to say yes to you.
5.
A KEY FOR THE READING
* The Holy Spirit Paraclete
At first sight this term may seem a bit strange; it confuses me,
it disorientates me. I know that it is a Greek word which is quite diffused,
already from ancient times, a bit in the whole Mediterranean world. Saint John
used it above when he said: “I shall ask the Father, and He will give you
another Paraclete, to be with you for ever” (Jn 14, 16) and revealing that the
Spirit comers to console, to remain with them, to defend and to protect. Here,
though, in this verse, there seems to emerge a diverse nuance: the Spirit
presents himself to us as the Advocate, that is, the One who is at our side in
the judgment, in the accusation, in the tribunal of persecution. We know it,
the whole story, also that of our days, bears in its heart the accusation, the
contempt, the condemnation for the Lord Jesus and for all those who love Him.
This is the daily story of all. At the bench of the accused, at the side of
Jesus , we also sit. But not alone. We have an Advocate. The Spirit of the Lord
comes and acts in the judgment in our behalf: He has discourses, renders
witness, tries to convince and to prove. His work is immense in our midst, for
us. Before the Father, our Advocate is Jesus, as John writes in his first
Letter (1 Jn 2, 1); but before the world, our Advocate is the Spirit, whom he
sends to us from the Father. We should not prepare our defence beforehand (Lk
21, 14), thinking that we can excuse ourselves alone, but we have to make
space, within us, for the breath of the Holy Spirit, allow him to be the one
who speaks, says, proves. Paul also had to have this hard experience; he writes
this in his second Letter to Timothy: “The first time I had to present my
defence, no one came in to court to support me; Every one of them deserted me”
(2 Tim 4, 16). and it is truly like that: there is no defence for us, no
innocence, liberation, true freedom from jail, except in the intimate
relationship with the Spirit of the Lord. He comes sent to us, in order that we
may allow ourselves to be taken up by his presence, as in an embrace, as in an
intimate and intense relationship of friendship, of trust, abandonment and
love.
* The Witness
I begin to understand, continuing to accept, in my heart, the
words of this Gospel, that the relationship of us, disciples with the Holy
Spirit has as its purpose to render us capable of giving our witness on Jesus.
We are united unconditionally with the Holy Spirit, we are grasped by Him,
taken up in His fire, which is the reciprocal Love of the Father and of the
Son, so that we too may become luminous, that we also may be sources of love in
this world.
To render witness means to affirm clearly, giving the proofs.
The first one to do this, continually, is the Spirit, every place, at all
times; he acts with power, in us and around us. He is the one who moves the
hearts, who changes our distorted and hardened thoughts, who brings us closer,
reconciles, impels to pardon, to union; He is also the One who heals the soul,
the psychic, the sick body and heart. He is the One who teaches, trains and
makes one docile, renders wise and simple, the poor, the pure. He gives witness
of the Lord Jesus, the Saviour, through all his actions, soft touches of love
and of communion on our desolate and dry earth. He certifies of the Crucifix,
of the Suffering one out of love; He calls out concerning the Risen One, who
has conquered and stepped on death for ever; He gives witness of the Living
One, of the Glorified One of the One who is with us until the end of time.
Behold, this is the witness. The Spirit introduces this in our world, brings it
to us; we cannot remain indifferent, continue to doze, to choose a bit here and
there. He is the truth. And there is only one truth: that of God, His Son Jesus
Christ. We are called to give witness of all this, that is to place, to commit our
life, out of love, for this truth. To give witness is to become martyrs, out of
love. Not alone; not by our own strength, by our own wisdom. “You will also be
my witnesses”, says Jesus. But our wisdom can only exist within the witness of
the Holy Spirit; they are not parallel witnesses, but lives fused together:
that of the Spirit and ours. This takes place before the infinite tribunals of
the world, every day of our life, then, it becomes a sacred place, almost a
sanctuary, of the witness to the Lord Jesus. It is not important to carry out
great enterprises, to show wisdom and intelligence, to attract crowds of
people; no, one thing alone suffices: to tell the world that the Lord is alive,
that he is here, in our midst and to proclaim his mercy, his infinite love.
* The Father
The contact with the Holy Spirit, to allow ourselves to be
embraced and invaded by Him, leads us to the Lord Jesus; it leads us to his
Heart, to the source of His love. And from there we go to the Father. We had
nothing, we were not able to bring anything with us, coming into this world and
now, behold, we are loaded with gifts! Impossible to contain them all. It is
necessary to allow them to over flow, to flow outside, toward the brothers and
sisters whom we meet, or even if only to have a brief experience of life.
The Spirit speaks of Jesus and uses the words of the Father; He
repeats to us what He hears from the womb of the Father. His dwelling is the
Father, his house; and coming to us, the Spirit brings with Him the print, the
seal of that dwelling, of that place of infinite communion, which is the womb
of the Father. And we understand well that this is our house; we recognize the
place of our origin and of our end. Receiving the Spirit of Jesus we rediscover
that we also come from the Father, that we are born in Him and we live in Him.
If we seek ourselves, if we want to find the way, the sense of our life here,
all this is written in the words which the Spirit pronounces for us, within us,
concerning us. It is truly necessary to have a great silence in order to be
able to listen to understand him. It is necessary to go back to the house, to
rethink finally in our Father and to say, within ourselves: “Yes, it is now
enough! I have wandered far away from you for a long time, I have been lost… I
will go back to my Father”. I see how many wonders the Spirit of truth can act,
that my Lord Jesus Christ sends me from the Father. It will not be Pentecost,
if I do not allow myself to be taken up by Him, to be led by Him to the womb of
the Father, where Christ is already waiting for me, where the fire of the Holy
Spirit is already burning for me.
6.
A MOMENT OF PRAYER
PSALM
68
(The tenderness of the Father is the dwelling of the poor)
Response: Abbà Father, I am your son!
I pray to you, Yahweh,
at the time of your favour;
in your faithful love answer me,
in the constancy of your saving power.
at the time of your favour;
in your faithful love answer me,
in the constancy of your saving power.
Answer me, Yahweh, for your faithful love is generous;
in your tenderness turn towards me;
do not turn away from your servant,
be quick to answer me, for I am in trouble.
in your tenderness turn towards me;
do not turn away from your servant,
be quick to answer me, for I am in trouble.
Come to my side, redeem me,
ransom me because of my enemies.
ransom me because of my enemies.
The humble have seen and are glad.
Let your courage revive,
you who seek God.
For God listens to the poor,
he has never scorned his captive people.
Let your courage revive,
you who seek God.
For God listens to the poor,
he has never scorned his captive people.
Let heaven and earth and seas,
and all that stirs in them, acclaim him!
For God will save Zion,
and rebuild the cities of Judah,
and people will live there on their own land;
the descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there.
and all that stirs in them, acclaim him!
For God will save Zion,
and rebuild the cities of Judah,
and people will live there on their own land;
the descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there.
7.
FINAL PRAYER
Thank you, Father, for the coming of the Consoler, the Advocate;
thank you for his witness of Jesus in the world and in me, in my life. Thank
you because it is He who makes me capable to receive and to bear the glorious weight
of your Son and my Lord. Thank you, because He guides me in truth, He hands me
over to the whole truth and reveals to me the Word which you yourself
pronounce. Thank you, my Father, because in your goodness and tenderness you
have joined me, today and you have attracted me to you, you have made me enter
in the house of your heart; you have immersed me in the fire of the Trinitarian
love, where you and your Son Jesus are only one in the infinite kiss of the
Holy Spirit. I am also here and because of this my joy is overflowing. I pray
you, Father, make me give this joy to all, in the loving witness of Jesus, the
Saviour, every day of my life. Amen.
SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOST
SUNDAY, MAY 24, JOHN 20:19-23
(Acts 2:1-11, Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13)
SUNDAY, MAY 24, JOHN 20:19-23
(Acts 2:1-11, Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13)
KEY VERSE: He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (v 22).
TO READ: On the fiftieth day after Passover, the Jews celebrated Shavuot, the feast of the "first fruits" of the harvest, and to commemorate the giving of the Torah on Sinai. The Christian feast of Pentecost, which occurs 50 days after Easter, marks the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples (Acts 2:1-4). In John's Gospel, the resurrection, ascension and the descent of the Spirit occurred on the same Easter Sunday. It is most likely that the disciples were gathered in the upper room where the Last Supper had been held. But they were fearful that the emissaries of the Sanhedrin would come to arrest them. Upon seeing the Risen Lord, the disciples were overjoyed. Just as the breath of God created Adam, the first human being (Gn 2:7), Jesus breathed forth the Spirit creating the new people of God, the Church. Empowered by the Spirit, Jesus' disciples were sent forth to bring peace through the reconciliation of sinners. The novena in honor of the Holy Spirit is the oldest of all novenas. It was first made at the direction of Our Lord himself when he sent his apostles back to Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost. Addressed to the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, it is a powerful plea for the light and strength so sorely needed by every Christian.
TO REFLECT: In what ways has the Holy Spirit empowered my life?
TO RESPOND: Holy Spirit, help me to bring peace and forgiveness to others.
The outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost is called the birthday of the universal Church. Through the Spirit the Church realizes her call to preach the Gospel of Christ to the whole world. The Feast of Pentecost brings the Easter Season to a close.
Sunday 24 May 2015
Pentecost Sunday. R.
Acts 2:1-11. Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth—Ps 103(104):1, 24, 29-31, 34. 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13. John 20:19-23.
Acts 2:1-11. Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth—Ps 103(104):1, 24, 29-31, 34. 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13. John 20:19-23.
‘How do we hear them
preaching in our language about the marvels of God?’
Spirit of God, I especially
ask myself if I am fully aware of your presence in my inmost being.
May I continue to deepen this realisation in my daily living. Then I can more realistically become a gift for all those with whom I come in contact. Help me to understand more and more your presence in others, and lead me to be more attentive to your inspiration at all times.
Quieten my heart so that you, Spirit of life, truth and wisdom, can work in and through me and be the means by which you may make yourself known to others who are in need of your grace. May your consolation and refreshing peace renew our hearts now and always
May I continue to deepen this realisation in my daily living. Then I can more realistically become a gift for all those with whom I come in contact. Help me to understand more and more your presence in others, and lead me to be more attentive to your inspiration at all times.
Quieten my heart so that you, Spirit of life, truth and wisdom, can work in and through me and be the means by which you may make yourself known to others who are in need of your grace. May your consolation and refreshing peace renew our hearts now and always
MINUTE MEDITATIONS
Make Room for Jesus
|
Let us never tire, therefore, of seeking the Lord—of letting
ourselves be sought by him—of tending over our relationship with him in silence
and prayerful listening. Let us keep our gaze fixed on him, the center of time
and history; let us make room for his presence within us.
May
24
St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi
(1566-1607)
St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi
(1566-1607)
Mystical ecstasy is the elevation of the spirit to God in such a
way that the person is aware of this union with God while both internal
and external senses are detached from the sensible world. Mary Magdalene de'
Pazzi was so generously given this special gift of God that she is called the
"ecstatic saint."
She was
born into a noble family in Florence in 1566. The normal course would have been
for Catherine de' Pazzi to have married wealth and enjoyed comfort, but she
chose to follow her own path. At nine she learned to meditate from the family
confessor. She made her first Communion at the then-early age of 10 and made a
vow of virginity one month later. When 16, she entered the Carmelite convent in
Florence because she could receive Communion daily there.
Catherine
had taken the name Mary Magdalene and had been a novice for a year when she
became critically ill. Death seemed near so her superiors let her make her
profession of vows from a cot in the chapel in a private ceremony. Immediately
after, she fell into an ecstasy that lasted about two hours. This was repeated
after Communion on the following 40 mornings. These ecstasies were rich
experiences of union with God and contained marvelous insights into divine
truths.
As a
safeguard against deception and to preserve the revelations, her confessor
asked Mary Magdalene to dictate her experiences to sister secretaries. Over the
next six years, five large volumes were filled. The first three books record
ecstasies from May of 1584 through Pentecost week the following year. This week
was a preparation for a severe five-year trial. The fourth book records that
trial and the fifth is a collection of letters concerning reform and renewal.
Another book, Admonitions, is a collection of her sayings arising
from her experiences in the formation of women religious.
The
extraordinary was ordinary for this saint. She read the thoughts of others and
predicted future events. During her lifetime, she appeared to several persons
in distant places and cured a number of sick people.
It would
be easy to dwell on the ecstasies and pretend that Mary Magdalene only had
spiritual highs. This is far from true. It seems that God permitted her this
special closeness to prepare her for the five years of desolation that followed
when she experienced spiritual dryness. She was plunged into a state of
darkness in which she saw nothing but what was horrible in herself and all
around her. She had violent temptations and endured great physical suffering.
She died in 1607 at 41, and was canonized in 1669.
Comment:
Intimate union, God's gift to mystics, is a reminder to all of us of the eternal happiness of union he wishes to give us. The cause of mystical ecstasy in this life is the Holy Spirit, working through spiritual gifts. The ecstasy occurs because of the weakness of the body and its powers to withstand the divine illumination, but as the body is purified and strengthened, ecstasy no longer occurs. On various aspects of ecstasy, see Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, Chapter 5, and John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, 2:1-2.
Intimate union, God's gift to mystics, is a reminder to all of us of the eternal happiness of union he wishes to give us. The cause of mystical ecstasy in this life is the Holy Spirit, working through spiritual gifts. The ecstasy occurs because of the weakness of the body and its powers to withstand the divine illumination, but as the body is purified and strengthened, ecstasy no longer occurs. On various aspects of ecstasy, see Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, Chapter 5, and John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, 2:1-2.
Quote:
There are many people today who see no purpose in suffering. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi discovered saving grace in suffering. When she entered religious life she was filled with a desire to suffer for Christ during the rest of her life. The more she suffered, the greater grew her desire for it. Her dying words to her fellow sisters were: "The last thing I ask of you—and I ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—is that you love him alone, that you trust implicitly in him and that you encourage one another continually to suffer for the love of him."
There are many people today who see no purpose in suffering. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi discovered saving grace in suffering. When she entered religious life she was filled with a desire to suffer for Christ during the rest of her life. The more she suffered, the greater grew her desire for it. Her dying words to her fellow sisters were: "The last thing I ask of you—and I ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—is that you love him alone, that you trust implicitly in him and that you encourage one another continually to suffer for the love of him."
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