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Daily Scripture

+ 7th Week of Easter

Much ado about nothing or, is there something to it?

Readings: Acts 19:1-8 Psalm 68:2-7 John 16:29-33

Paul traveled through the interior of the country and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They answered him, “We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” [Acts 19:1-3]

Depending on one’s sacramental theology and pastoral practice, this text has been variously interpreted. For example, those who work with the RCIA (catecheumenate) hold that the sacrament of Confirmation should be administered with Baptism as it was in the early Church. It is one of the sacraments of initiation—Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. The Eastern Rite of the Roman Catholic Church has retained the tradition of administering all three at Baptism. Yes, the infant receives a small piece of the Eucharist bread. And so in the Eastern Rite, there is no formal celebration of First Holy Communion at the age of reason or Confirmation by the bishop at whatever age the local diocese has determined the age of maturity appropriate for Confirmation. All three sacraments are administered shortly after birth.

Others feel that the celebration of First Communion and Confirmation at a later age ensures the participation of youngsters in parish religious education programs – at least until Confirmation. In this case, many Catholics view Confirmation as the completion of or graduation from religious studies.

In recent years I have become convinced that the RCIA folks and the Eastern Rite Catholics have it right. All three sacraments of initiation should be administered together. First Holy Communion and Confirmation have become more social than spiritual. I do not mean to suggest that there is no connection or that there should be no celebration after sacramental ceremonies but for many, the accent is on the wrong syllable.

The path from Baptism to Christian maturity is life-long and the benchmarks for progress are not easily measured by grouping children by age or grade level for a period of preparation that is largely academic.

This is not to suggest that religious education is optional. Faith development is unique to each person within the context first of family and then of parish. Religious education / formation is intended to provide insight into faith development at an age-appropriate level.

Catholicism has become ‘child-centered’ the result of which, we have an adult population whose religious and spiritual development stopped at Confirmation.

The celebration of Eucharist is the primary setting for faith formation. Religious education is a necessary component but detached from Eucharist, it remain just another subject to master.

Of course this all assumes that the parish celebration of the Eucharist is truly inclusive and meaningful rather than just an empty ritual. The parish at worship should be a rendition of a community of faith that strives to live its faith ‘in the town square’ as I mentioned in Sunday’s homily.

Notwithstanding my commitment to religious dialogue, I do believe that effective dialogue is based on the assumption that although both parties are knowledgeable about the topic. Though they may have different perspectives, they are not based on ignorance of the subject.

Seventh Sunday of Easter 'B'

Sunday May 24, 2009

Living the Mystery, ‘Again for the First Time’

Despite a brief interruption by the Feast of Ascension, there is a certain sameness in the scriptural texts on the Sundays between Easter and Pentecost.

Perhaps it was in the mind of the editors of the lectionary that we transition from Easter to Pentecost gradually so that we might ponder at length and in some depth, the mystery of the resurrection enabling us to experience it in a new way as never before on the feasat of Pentecost next weekend.

The word ‘mystery’ is rooted in the Greek word, ‘mysterion.’ It’s a word that conveys a deeper reality or truth that the English word is unable to satisfy but which music and poetry can convey in some way and ritual can choreograph through movement and dance. Of course, nature combines all three in the symphony of creation—so much so that we can even smell the breath of God and catch the rhythm of God at play.

In reality, the Resurrection, the Ascension and Pentecost are all one mystical event but we can’t grasp it in one celebration. We need to unpack each piece, as it were, not to explain the mystery but to be absorbed into it. This is what it means to live the mystery of God who constantly intervenes in our lives in extraordinary but more often in ordinary ways.

It is impossible to be fully human without living fully in God. Perhaps this is why so many of us become so frustrated in our search for human fulfillment.

Carl Jung was on to something when he attributed the failure to negotiate the significant passages of life to a disconnect between nature and the spirit at the core of our being. We in the Christian Catholic tradition refer to this core as the ‘soul,’ the principle of life. The great contemporary spiritual master, Richard Rohr, calls our effort to get to know God as “soul work,”—the pursuit of holistic growth in the Spirit.

Rohr said we need to approach the Scriptures with humility and read them reverently through literal, allegorical, moral and mystical interpretation—literal being the least significant.

In his lecture entitled, “Bearing the Mystery — Knowing and Not Knowing,” Rohr quotes Hienrich Zimmer: “The best things cannot be talked about; the second best things are almost always misunderstood because they point to the first best thing and so we spend our lives talking about the third best things — sports and the weather.” Consequently we ‘put in time’ at liturgy instead of putting quality time into our liturgy.

Getting involved in theology and spirituality can be very challenging indeed. In the western world, we seem to have the desperate need to figure it all out — to have it explained in detail with scientific proof. Dante waited until very end of his life to write the third portion of the Divine Comedy — ‘Paradiso’ which, Rohr points out, is the least read of all three — hell, purgatory and paradise.

When we come to worship we are invited into a world of mystery (mysterion) about which we have so little understanding. Preachers not knowing everything there is to know about God, search for the right words to speak but must have the humility to acknowledge our ineptitude in the face of God’s awesome presence. Perhaps he would do better to sing a song, blow a horn or simply call attention to the symphony of creation that surrounds us today.

All too quickly we succumb to the temptation that we have heard it all before and so we shut down.

Now more than ever during this time of technological know-how and cybernetic frenzy, we need to come to these two tables — the table of God’s word and the table of Christ’s presence in Eucharist to be touched by the “Mysterion” that is God’s life in us and our life in God.

This is what John was writing about in his first letter. To live in God is to live fully and is demonstrated by our love for others. Defining God is not possible until we have first experienced God. But experiencing God is impossible without loving one another or at least striving to do so.

Speaking of ‘cyberspace’ I came across this quote a couple of years ago and stored it in my disk memory:

“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more—continuing. We know that it does not take ‘everyone on earth’ to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second or hundredth gale.”

“One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. A soul on deck shines like gold in the darkness. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, can cause proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these is to be fierce and to show mercy toward others. Both are acts of immense bravery and of greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.” [Clarissa Pinkola-Estes, from “Do Not Lose Heart.”]

Again, I recommend “Three Cups of Tea – One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism One School at a Time” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, published by the Penguin Group, NY, 2006]