 |
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati Main Page || The Catholic Telegraph || Live Letters index |
Live
Letters Pentecost |
The Catholic Telegraph
June 9, 2000The Christian feast of Pentecost celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles which energized them and enlightened them and impelled them to set out into the whole world to bring the news of the salvation that God had effected through Jesus. But Pentecost was also a Jewish feast. It commemorated God’s gift of the law on Mt. Sinai to Moses and the Jews.
In view of that, it’s appropriate that our second reading for Pentecost in year B is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, because Galatians is about the relationship between Jewish law and Christian salvation. Paul’s basic point in Galatians is that the Mosaic law is ineffective for gaining divine favor and that salvation comes to us through Christ as a gift that constitutes freedom from the detailed constraints of the Jewish law. Toward the end of the letter, Paul deals with the practical moral consequences of this Christian teaching. This Sunday’s reading is taken from that part of the letter.
Paul is dealing with three intertwined subjects here. One is the Law, the complex of commands that God gave to Moses whose purpose, according to Paul, was not to bring salvation but to provide religious and moral norms that the Jews were, in fact, unable to observe. The second subject of our passage is the flesh which signifies not just bodily or sexual matters, but the whole human creature, mind and body, left to itself and dominated by natural, earth-oriented tendencies. The third subject that Paul treats here is the Spirit, the love and energy of Father and Son Who is given to believers at their baptism and Who serves as enlightenment and impulse for our implementation of the life of Christ that is in us.
Paul begins with a basic principle: if you live as the Spirit directs, you will not have to gratify the demands of the flesh. This is not to say that we are free to do whatever we please, since the flesh and the Spirit are hostile to each other and cannot both be responded to. One excludes the other. Then Paul lists "the works of the flesh." In one way or another, all these moral deviations are acts of selfishness, putting ourselves ahead of God and our neighbor, making our wants the center of our existence. This kind of behavior, he says, is simply incompatible with the kingdom of God. On the other hand, there are the acts and habits that result from the Spirit living in us. These are all outgoing, self-sacrificing qualities that extend the love of God beyond our personal sphere and send God’s love into the wider world. The law is irrelevant in this context, Paul says, because those who have the Spirit are not obliged by the law and because the law is concerned with sins rather than virtues. If we belong to Christ, the flesh is dead in us, as dead as the crucified Christ. If we belong to Christ, we live in the Spirit and must conduct ourselves accordingly.
To say that we have received the Spirit is not to say that all moral and spiritual struggle is now foreign to us. The basic direction of our lives is oriented by the Spirit, but our flesh (in the Pauline sense) still clamors for recognition. Spirit and flesh are not "opposed to each other" merely as abstract ethical principles, but as potent energies in our day to day existence. There are times when some of the items on Paul’s list of the works for the flesh seem more than a little attractive to us, at least when they are dressed up in their more appealing costumes. These are times when the items on the list of the fruits of the Spirit seem totally unattractive. Yet we know that the Spirit of Christ is more powerful than the flesh and that the outcome of our moral struggles is guaranteed as long as we stay in touch with the Spirit, if we "follow the Spirit."
And how do we "follow the Spirit" in practice? We follow the Spirit by staying in touch with Father, Son, and Sprit through prayer, not just in times of trial but as part of the ordinary fabric of our ordinary life. God should be our constant friend and companion rather than vice-president in charge of crisis management. We follow the Spirit by cultivating a sense of confidence in the Spirit’s presence and guidance in our lives. This doesn’t mean running away from making decisions or refusing to take responsibility for ourselves, but living in the assurance that the Spirit is part of the ordinary processes of our moral life. We follow the Spirit by being attentive to the moral quality of the elements of our life. Which of the options that confront me are good? Which are bad? Which one will bring the kingdom closer to me? Which will bring the kingdom closer to my world?
Pentecost marks the end of the Easter season. Now we enter Ordinary Time when we walk with Jesus through His public life and through His ongoing ministry that reaches to the end of time. It’s good to know that we are accompanied by His Holy Spirit.
###
Conversation Questions
In what ways do I struggle with the flesh (in the Pauline sense)?
In what aspects of my life do I experience the action of the Holy Spirit?
###
Main Page
|| The Catholic Telegraph || Live Letters index
Copyright © 2000 Archdiocese of Cincinnati.