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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.

The Holy 'Goose'

Thursday June 10, 2010

The source of the following is unknown but I received it recently courtesy of John Codd. Let’s consider it a belated contribution to the celebration of Pentecost. There are a couple of theological inaccuracies at the beginning of the article that do not detract from the goose as a metaphor, e.g., it is doubtful that Jesus intended to establish the church as we know it. Christianity was more a movement within Judaism. Jesus probably intended to reform Judaism…the church came as a response to the teaching of the apostles and so in truth which is why the Church is called an ‘apostolic’ church. The earliest Christians continued to engage in Jewish practices until conflicts arose between the Judaizers and the non-Jewish Christians… No need to get bogged down in this… All things considered, the goose is superior to the dove in most respects. Read on and ejoy...!

The word Pentecost means “fifty days”—therefore it was and is celebrated fifty days after Passover. In the book of Exodus (23:14-17) Pentecost was listed as a harvest festival. Later the feast was given the historical identity of celebrating the giving of the law—the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. Jesus chose a harvest festival to send the Holy Spirit and start his church. This makes sense—in Matthew (9:37-38) when Jesus said, “the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” At the historic feast of the harvest, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to empower the apostles to be laborers of the harvest.

In the scene described by Luke in Acts, the Holy Spirit came down as tongues of fire and rested on the 120 disciples (Acts 1:15). They spoke all kinds of different languages so that every Jew attending the Pentecost feast heard their message in his native language. There is another significant multi-lingual story in the Old Testament—the tower of Babel. (Genesis 11:1-9). This is the story of when arrogant men thought they could build a tower to reach God. God created confusion by changing their language from one to many. When it was time to declare the mighty works of God, everyone heard in their native tongue. Language separated the people at Babel and united them at Pentecost.

This was the second time in just ten days that the disciples were given the gift of the Holy Spirit. The first gift was the power given from the Lord himself to forgive sins. What a fantastic gift—the sacrament of reconciliation. Reconciliation is one of the priestly duties. To use modern language, Jesus described part of the job description for every priest and provided the authority to do it. Even though the disciples were given this power, and the power has been passed down for 2,000 years, it was not sufficient to witness the gospel to evangelize, to start the church. The disciples needed further sanctification from the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said (Acts 1:5), “For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will baptized with the Holy Spirit.” All Catholics, every one of us, share this second gift through baptism and confirmation. For hundreds of years, a dove has represented the Holy Spirit. Depictions of the Trinity in art picture the Holy Spirit as a dove. But, a dove is just too sweet, too sentimental to represent the powerful Spirit of God.

The Irish had it right when it came to Pentecost. In the old Celtic tradition, the Holy Spirit is represented by a wild goose. Geese are not controllable, they make a lot of noise, and they have a habit of biting those who try to contain them. Geese actually fly faster in a flock than on their own, meaning they have more energy when they are in community. They also make excellent guard dogs.

The spirit is like a goose. It comes demanding to be heard. Its’ song is not sweet to many. It requires difficult action. The spirit drives people together to form communities, demanding that we support and travel with one another. The spirit often forces those on whom it rests to become noisy, passionate, and courageous guardians of the gospel.

Pentecost is the wild goose of a Patrick risking his life to evangelize the Emerald Island, a Dorothy Day being carried off to prison demanding justice for the poor, an Oscar Romero who was assassinated preaching the gospel to those in power, or a Nelson Mandela who spent most of his adult life in prison because he demanded equality and freedom, or a Cesar Chavez demanding dignity for farm workers.

The noisy goose of Pentecost has descended on disciples of every generation making them noisy, irritable people fighting for justice, welfare reform, running drug clinics, helping people find jobs and leading of support groups. The disciples bitten by the goose of Pentecost look hard and take supportive action for the homeless, aliens struggling in our midst and ex-convicts. The very people many of us ignore. They are easy to ignore because we are shielded by our comfort and our own security. These geese point out the inequities and upset us-they nip at us in our comfort.

We need to be nipped. We live in a carefully crafted and controlled world. We see images all the time of sophisticated people drinking, young people shopping, gorgeous homes, and luxury cars. These powerful images help create our tiny isolated comfortable world. No advertiser would dare show us who makes their products in the third world or suggest we are a small minority of affluence in a world of hunger. By not seeing or paying attention we are content.

Then, along comes Pentecost and loudly crashes through our closed doors and high walls of safety and lands mightily on the Church. The spirit burns into our consciousness, that if we the Church are to be anything like Jesus Christ we must bring harmony and dignity to all peoples. We must speak for justice.

The Spirit tells us that the church—you and I—like the master himself must identify with the poor and needy and know deep in our hearts that caring for others is the birthmark of the church. If we don’t meet this measurement we are false. The trouble is that we have forgotten all that. Somehow we have tamed the spirit, banked the fire, and tamed the dove. We go along seduced by the gentle cooing; until every once in a while we hear a wild goose honking.

The Pentecostal goose is noisy, vulgar, and loud but reminds us of the Good Samaritan or the Rich Man and Lazarus. The goose calls out prophets who remind us to care for the orphans, the widow, the poor, and the needy. The heart of the gospel is precisely those words of Jesus we call the works of mercy. Remember what James said: “Faith without works is dead.”

The Celts were on to something: the feast of geese. Noisy dirty geese that shout for the Lord and bite those who would exploit the weak. They would also gather in community for worship and love. The next time we hear geese flying overhead, think of Pentecost and what we must do to live as disciples. Remember the symbols of Pentecost: red for passion, fire for action, and a common language of mercy and compassion.

That’s what Pentecost is all about.

And those honking prophets remind us that those symbols are the marks of the Church yesterday, today, and forever.