Sunday, April 27, 2008AD
Sixth Sunday of Easter
A Happy New (
New York Catholics are still rejoicing as we recall Pope Benedict’s visit to us last weekend. He left us many memorable thoughts and experiences during his 2 ½ days among us.
When he spoke to the young people at the Seminary last Saturday, he quoted the opening line from our second reading this weekend. His predecessor, St Peter, in the first papal encyclical, First Peter, said and the Pope quoted, “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” The words sound mystifying and yet, they have a relevance that we, as Easter people, need to ponder and celebrate and live daily.
To sanctify means “to make holy”. Recall how we said that the word “holy” is related to the English word, “whole”. To sanctify means “to bring fulfillment, integration, wholeness, unity.” In a real sense, believe it or not, to sanctify means to have your act together, to live in relationship with the Transcendent God, the earth, others, and self.
Par excellence, Christ Jesus is the One Who has His act together. Yet, remember how we learned in catechism class that we are sanctuaries of the Holy Spirit? We recall our belief that God the Father and Christ Jesus are everywhere, that we are somewhere, that God the Father and Christ Jesus live in us now and we live in God the Father and Christ Jesus now.
Back in the first century, the heart was considered the part of the personality in which our basic orientation to life was centered. In essence, what St Peter is saying and Pope Benedict is re-iterating is to live each moment with our basic orientation that God the Father and Christ Jesus live within us and are present in the very fiber of our lives.
Recently, Denis Edwards, an Australian theologian commented on the geometric leaps of knowledge that modern people are getting on the vastness of the universe. (Back in the early days of the Hebrew Scriptures, some people thought that the
Yet, through the Incarnation of Christ Jesus, not only has humanity been charged with the glory of God with us. Blessed Hildegard of Bingen was onto this 750 years ago. Through the Holy Spirit (which she called Viriditas, green-ness) something is happening in all creation. She said almost 800 years ago, Christ Jesus is the pinnacle of humanity. Humanity is the loving and thinking heart of the earth (and by extension, all the universe). The Australian theologian comments that since Christ is the pinnacle of humanity and humanity is the pinnacle of creation, then, in reflection, the Incarnation takes on a deeper significance, viz., the Deep Incarnation. Because God became united with creation in Christ Jesus, all creation is permeated with the Presence of the Divine. When we reflect on the Immanence of God (God’s Presence in all reality) and the Transcendence of God (God’s beyond reality), we can only rejoice that we are, indeed, living in a new moment in human history.
As Pope Benedict said at Dunwoodie, “On the day of your baptism you entered into the holiness (cf. preceding column!). …You were incorporated into Christ. You were made a dwelling place of God’s Spirit…I ask you. What are you seeking? What is God whispering to you? The hope that never disappoints is Jesus Christ… Show the world the reason for the hope that resonates within you. Tell others about the Truth that makes you free.”
This Saturday, we commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Challenge of Peace, when new terms were coined for our Catholic conscience. Such include “consistent life ethic”, “seamless garment”, “disarmament of the human heart”, “a new moment in human history.” As St Peter and Pope Benedict both remind us this Easter day, the new moment in human history can be a happy moment when we realize that God is present in all reality and God is Life and Love. When we realize that God and Christ Jesus are present within us in the Viriditas of the Holy Spirit, it is indeed a happy new moment. God is with us. Imagine what that means! 042708AD jfq
