Human Spirit: Helpless but not Hopeless, Isolated but not alone

Photo by the author

The adversary is all around us, but unfortunately neither we can catch it nor can we tame it. And that adversary is none other than Corona. As we reached 100 days since the  first Corona lockdown and all the ills that brought to us, the humanity is suffering silently. Many of our dear and near one's not only lost their lives but also left their families in such a void and emptiness. There are also families who are unable to meet their ends: Either because they have no labour or whatever they produce in their farms cannot be marketed. Life has come to a standstill for many but for others life is as usual. Because either there is corona or no corona, they neither toil nor attempt but their barns are always full.

In this context, we are moving ahead with our life: A life full of uncertainties and chaos. Our civilisation has put in our mind  is that we see our  worth when we to do something. When we don't do what we usually do then we feel worthless, useless and meaningless. We cannot make sense of our life. It is like going to work without having our usual morning coffee. Always something is missing, something is empty. 

St Paul - A Man of Reason and Knowledge

Statue of St Paul in Piazza San Pietro, Vatican

On the 29th of June every year the Catholic Church commemorates the solemnities of two formidable pillars of the nascent early Church Sts Peter and Paul. In our earlier post, I dealt with St Peter, and in this blogpost, I would like to describe St Paul briefly and compare both the Saints whose memories we celebrate together.

Unlike St Peter, St Paul was a man of his own making. We know by his own accounts in the New Testament especially from his accounts of his conversion in Acts (9:1-18; 22:3-16; 26: 4-23). These make 4 observations about his life. First, it is the God who takes the initiative. It was Jesus who knocked Paul from his horse: “I am Jesus” (Acts 9:5; 22:8; 26:15). As Augustine insisted, if we but turn to God, that itself is a gift of God. We do not choose Him; He chooses us.

Saint Peter: Pillar of Faith and Action

Statue of St Peter at the Piazza San Pietro, Vatican

The Month of June is liturgically rich one. On the 29th of June, the Catholic Church celebrates the solemnities of two important saints of the Church - St Peter and St Paul. According to St John Henry Newman their shared feast reflects the importance of organic development. Both the saints founded the churches and built the emerging communities of disciples incorporating the creative tension between tradition and creativity, dogma and praxis. In this blog post, I would like to concentrate on St Peter and in the next one on St Paul and do a bit of comparison. As Luke's Acts of the Apostles suggests both Peter and Paul are the central figures in the expansion of the church from Jerusalem into the Mediterranean world in spite of their flawed characters.

Jesus chose Simon Peter specifically to lead his Church, and at first glance this would seem an odd choice. Even though he may not appear to be our first choice but for Jesus he was his beloved, worthy and right choice. Jesus works out a strategy through Peter to continue the mission right up to our times through his successors. Being ever impulsive, ever withdrawing from his initial commitment, Peter could be compared to a candle in the wind. However, inflaming with the Spirit, Jesus, before and after his resurrection, makes Peter fisher of men. 

Saint John the Baptist: A Prophet and more than a Prophet

Even though our Church celebrates in the month of June the feasts of St Justin the martyr, St Boniface, St Barnabas, St Anthony of Padua, St Aloysius Gonzaga, Sts Thomas More, John Fisher and other English saints, St Cyril of Alexandria, Sts Peter and Paul, among them St John the Baptist stands out as a man of great boldness and veracity. He is a prophet with difference.  He is one of the major figures of our Church whose feast we celebrate with solemnity not once but twice. First being his birthday on the 24th June another being his beheading on the 29th of August.

However, there are a number of lessons that we can draw from him.

The Virgin and Child with St John the
Baptist by Sandro Botticelli probably
about 1482-98

John the Baptist – the John the Baptizer. John was a figure of transition, precursor of the Lord “the caesura between the Period of Israel and the Period of Jesus.” He belongs to both: to the Period of Israel by circumcision and incorporation into the Israel of God; to the Period of Jesus because he inaugurates the age when salvation was to be accomplished.  John’s whole life, John’s short life, was spent going before Jesus to prepare his ways. 

Gabriel had told Zechariah to give his promised son the name John (Lk 1:13). An appropriate name, for in Hebrew it means “Yahweh is gracious.” This child would “filled with the Holy Sprit, even from his mother’s womb,” would become an ascetic of Israel, would walk “in the power and spirit of Elijah,” would turn many Israelites to their Lord. (1: 15-17)

Sacred Heart of Jesus: Make Our Hearts unto Yours

                     Original painting on Sacred Heart of Jesus with Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint Louis Gonzaga, circa 1770, José de Páez, Mexico, 1727-1790

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Devotion from our Christian Tradition
Heart is the seat of emotions. The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which was encouraged by the mediaeval mystics and promoted by St Gertrude, St Margaret Mary Alacoque, St John Eudes, St Claude de la Colombiere and others, represents a devotion to Jesus in his human nature. In recent times,  Jesuit theologian Father Karl Rahner and the Servant of God Father Pedro Arrupe had keen devotions to the Heart of Jesus. Moreover, they promoted the devotion to the Heart of Jesus post World War II  and post Vatican II through their roles as theologian and Superior General of the Jesuits.  All these people call out for us to reconcile our life with that of the Lord’s promises.  It is a symbol of God's perfect love for all humanity, which is part of the mystical tradition of the spiritual theology in our Christian Tradition. Even though the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus suffered cardiac arrest in recent decades still it is relevant and important to pump fresh life into our spiritual and mystical life. 

The Sacred Heart was a powerful devotion that combated against the French Revolution, Communism and threats to family life. Pope Pius IX made it a feast of the universal church in 1856, and Pope Leo XIII consecrated the entire world to the Sacred Heart in 1899. The devotion reached its peak in Pius XII’s 1956 encyclical Haurietis Aquas (You Shall Draw Waters), which placed God’s passionate love for humanity at its center.

Corpus Christi: Cosmic Christ is All in All - Living and Sharing

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi: Readings - Deuteronomy 8:2–3, 14–16; Psalm 147:12–15, 19–20; 1 Corinthians 10:16–17; John 6:51–58

The Disputation of the Blessed Sacrament, by Raphael (1583-1620)

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Human body as vulnerable, communicable and sacramental

The feast of the Corpus Christi enshrines our devotion to the Holy Eucharist. The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ manifests our personal experience of that God-Man who gave himself to us wholly and totally. Moreover, it is the same Lord who gave us a reason to remember and celebrate that holy mystery of his life, passion, death and resurrection. Without the Eucharist, we have no Jesus; without the body and blood of Christ there is no Holy Eucharist. Therefore the feast of the Corpus Christi brings us one with him as a global Catholic Community. Our human bodies struggle with life and death. Nonetheless, God embraced the human body to bring salvation, thus became flesh and lived among us. Interestingly, God chose human vulnerability of the body as way of communing with us, communicating with us and finally that same body He gave us sacramentally that we integrate with him completely. By consuming Jesus who spoke words of Spirit and life, the words of eternal life, we too might inhale them. (John 6:63, 67).

Blessed Trinity Labouring in Us with Love

The Most Holy Trinity Sunday - Readings: Exodus 34:4–6, 8–9; Daniel 3:52–56; 2 Corinthians 13:11–13;  John 3:16–18

(The vision of St Ignatius of Loyola of the Blessed Trinity at La Storta, Rome, painting by Arul Anthony, SJ, 2018)

Holy Trinity is our God

The God whom we Christians worship is Holy Trinity. When I say that I pray to God means I am praying to the Blessed Trinity. When I say that I am praying to Jesus means I am praying to the Blessed Trinity. When I tell others that I am praying to the Holy Spirit, that means I am praying to the Blessed Trinity. The question of the Most Holy Trinity intrigues all of us because of the composition of this word "Trinity" itself: Three in One and One in Three. By virtue of its very difficult and complex composition often we find hard to grapple with this mystery. Fortunately, God is a mystery and not a puzzle or myth. Our scriptures give us ample evidences to tell us who that Triune God is. Jesus in the Gospel of St John speaks at length on God the Father and Holy Spirit. Jesus also speaks about his relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit (John, Ch 14 -16). The very moment of his Baptism at river Jordan we see the Holy Spirit resting on Jesus in a form of dove and the voice of the Father from heaven speaking, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Mt 3:17).  Even  though intricacies are involved in understanding the concept of the Holy Trinity, however down the ages Christian faithful have grappled with this holy mystery. Moreover, it is the Holy Spirit who has helped in understanding the Triune God (Rom 8:26; 2 Cor 2:14). 

Come, Holy Spirit and Renew the Face of the Earth!

Pentecost Sunday: Readings - Acts 2:1–11; Psalm 104:1, 24, 29–31, 34; 1 Corinthians 12:3–7, 12–13; John 20:19–23

(Pentecost, Juan Bautista Maíno created between 1615-1620)

The Meaning of "Spirit"

One of the names referring to God is the "Holy Spirit." God is three in one - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is not a myth but a mystery. St Paul would say to us that the Holy Spirit makes us to call God as  Abba. "And because you are sons/daughters, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Gal 4:6). Therefore, there is an external divine support in us which makes us children of God. Both in Hebrew ruach and Greek pneuma the words for "spirit" are the same as the words for "breath" and "wind." In fact in English word "spirit" comes from Latin meaning "breath". For example, "the spirit left him" or "he breathed his last".  "Inspiration" and "respiration" have the same root. There is interconnectedness between breath and active life. When a person’s body stops breathing, it also becomes inactive and dies. Breath is the outward manifestation of activity and life. There is intimate connection between breath and active life.

Ascension: Go and be Jesus to All

The Ascension of the Lord: Readings - Acts 1:1–11; Psalm 47:2–3, 6–7, 8–9; Ephesians 1:17–23; Matthew 28:16–20

Ascension of Jesus, by John Singleton Copley.

On this Ascension Sunday, the Church commemorates an important event among the Easter narratives that is of Jesus being taken up into heaven. At the first instance this event tells us that the story of the empty tomb does not end with Jesus' appearances to his apostles and close friends and relatives. Jesus now meets his dear one's in a community. Secondly, Jesus is taken up when they were together and from their midst he is taken up into heaven, to the place which belongs to him permanently. He ascends to His Father and our Father. Therefore there is a community dimension to this feast of Ascension of the Lord. As someone said, that the Resurrection, like the Ascension, is into Heaven, or to put it boldly the meaning of the Ascension is to show us that the Resurrection is into Heaven. All the Easter narratives are fascinating, challenging and intriguing. Because of their nature, character and description. 

Presence of the Holy Spirit in the physical absence of Jesus

Ascension of our Lord is a precursor to the anointing by the Holy Spirit.  “In a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5), says St Luke.  Without the Ascension the Holy Spirit will not come down upon the apostles and later on to us as well. One leads the other.  Two things happen here. Firstly, in order to live that divine life we must receive the Holy Spirit. Secondly, we will receive the Holy Spirit provided we are purified by the Baptism. Jesus says,  "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19).  The scriptures tell us how the Ascension took place in Jerusalem. Both St Luke in the Acts of Apostles and St Matthew in his gospel tell us. But it's very difficult to grasp what this Ascension is all about.  I would say this way: Until the ascension Jesus appeared to the disciples both human and divine form. However, after his Ascension, Jesus is no more seen as human. In other words, Jesus does not appear to anyone as a human person. Interestingly,  the Gospel discourses on Easter narratives tell us that Resurrected Jesus is there and not there. Take for example: Jesus appearing to Mary of Magdeline. She recognises him first as gardener and then Rabbouni, Teacher (John 20:11-18). For the disciples of Emmaus Jesus appears to them as fellow walking companion, then interpreter of scriptures and finally as priest, while breaking of the bread (Luke 24:13-35). Jesus appears to his disciples while fishing as a man who knew very good fishing, stranger, then as a cook and finally their master (John 21: 1-14).  Resurrected Jesus appeared also to his disciples when they were together in a room  as a ghost, then hungry man, finally as their master. (Lk 24:36-48).

Ascension of Jesus becomes all in all
Ascension of Jesus tells us very poignantly that once he is taken up, Jesus become all in all. His divinity is manifested completely, wholly and fully. Jesus is no more in human form here. During the apparitions of the resurrected Jesus the space of his manifestation was limited especially in and around Jerusalem and Galilee. Jesus' movements and presentation happens only in limited places. Between the resurrection and the Ascension, Jesus appears to specific people at specific places and times. Now, with the Ascension, Jesus becomes present to all in a profound and deeper way. With the ascension of Jesus he becomes completely accessible to everyone and anywhere. There is no more constrains of space and time. He is beyond any sort of limitations that the human mind can think of. In the words of St Paul to the Colossians, "Christ is all and in all" (Col 3:11). The Ascension reminds us of our trinitarian baptism, an acknowledgment of God above (Father), with us and by our side (Son) and within us (Holy Spirit).

Jesus goes high and becomes visible to all. 
"They were still staring into the sky when suddenly two in white were standing near them..." (Acts 1:10). The disciples were always accompanied even when their master Jesus was taken up very high. Always comfort is given when you look for it. Grace is handed down to you when you seek it.  Interestingly, until Jesus was taken up into heaven he was visible only to select number of people and territorial boundaries were restricted. However, with the ascension, we see the more Jesus goes high, he becomes visible to all by breaching the territorial boundaries. This happens that he might share in the life of God fully, and so that in him, we too could share the life of God. In our life too, the more far we are from our loved one's with physical distance often they become close to us!

Farewell brings out deepest emotions and the memory is solid and lasting.
Jesus spends precious moments with his close one's for the last moment before he would be taken up. In Acts of the Apostles, Luke mentions of Jerusalem but in gospel he mentions about Bethany, where as for Matthew on a mountain in Galilee, for Mark not on a particular place. Mountain is a place of revelation, a place of meeting God. Jesus often prayed on the mountains whether it is Mount Tabor or Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 14:23, Mark 6:46, Luke 6:12, John 6:15). In fact, Jesus calling his disciples on the mountain means he is calling us to experience something different, someone who is divine. He is calling us to go up and choose higher things. These last moments are very precious to them because they would carry his message to the ends of the earth. Even we when we bid farewell to someone who is close to us, we become emotional and sad. We remember after sometime how the person bid farewell to us. Usually, we remember the first and last memories  of meeting very vivid and become attached to us!

Go and be Jesus to all.
The event of Ascension is not an end in itself. But a new start. The risen life is not only without the misery and pain, without sickness and death but of peace, joy and truth, with a new entirety. In other words, with resurrection and ascension of Jesus tell us to start with a new beginning not just an “afterlife” but a real life, which would be greater and more intense and more joyful life than we have ever lived here on earth.  It is a new creation; a new beginning. Jesus gives a new mission of preaching the good news to all and to the ends of earth. In other words, to be Jesus to all. To imitate his words and actions not only in one's life but also in the lives of others.

- Olvin Veigas, SJ
24 May 2020