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WORD FOR MISSION Every week CIAM offers
to lay, religious people and priests an itinerary of reflections on the
Sunday Liturgy in a missionary prespective. These are elements for a
missionary meditation, individual or in community, on the Word of God ,
which constantly and surprisingly continues to enlighten, strengthen
and sustain the missionary journey of the Church, for the life of the
World
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The Spirit
Opens Hearts
and Frontiers
Pentecost Sunday Year B – 04.6.2006 Acts 2,1-11 Psalm 103 Galatians 5,16-25 John 15,26-27; 16,12-15
Reflections Initially the Jewish feast of Pentecost – seven weeks, namely 50 days, after Easter – was the celebration of the wheat harvest (see Es 23,16;34,22). Later on, the remembrance of the promulgation of the Law on Mount Sinai was added. Thus Pentecost moved from being a farmers holiday, to being an historical celebration: a memorial of the great covenants between God and the people (see Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah 31,31-34, Ezechiel 36,24-27…). Beside noting a change in the calendar, it is important to acknowledge the new perspective in dealing with the law and the way to understand and live this covenant. The law was a gift of which Israel was proud, but it was a transitory and insufficient stage.
It became necessary to move forward in interiorizing the law, a journey that reached its apex in the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is given to us, instead of the law, as the true and definitive source of new life. Christian Pentecost celebrates the gift of the Spirit, “who is Lord and gives life.” Israel became a people rallying by the law. In the family of God the fusion no longer comes from an external command, albeit an excellent one, but from the inside, from the heart, in virtue of the love that the Spirit gives us, “because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” (Rm 5,5) Thanks to Him “we are children of God” and cry out: “Abba, Father!” We are the people of the new covenant, called to live a new life, by virtue of the Spirit who makes of us the family of God, with the dignity of children and heirs (Rm 8,15-17).
This dignity must be matched by a correspondent style of life. Paul (second reading) describes in concrete terms tow different and opposite styles of life, according to each one’s choice: the works of the flesh (v. 19-21) or the fruits of the Spirit (v. 22). For those who belong to Jesus Christ and live in the Spirit there is only one choice: “We walk with the Spirit.” (v. 25)
The Spirit sets individuals and human and Christian groups on their journey, by renewing them and transforming them from within. The Spirit opens the hearts, purifies them, heals and reconciles them, makes them go beyond all borders, leads them to communion. It is a Spirit of unity (of faith and love) in the plurality of charisms and cultures, as we see in the event of Pentecost (first reading), in which unity and plurality are wedded, both of them being gifts of the same Spirit. Different people understand one language common to all of them (v.9-11). St. Paul clearly credits the Spirit with the power to make the Church one and diverse in the plurality of charisms, ministries and operations (see 1Cor 12,4-6). The Church faces the timeless challenge to be catholic and missionary, to move from Babel to Pentecost, as Benedict XVI teaches us. (*)
The Holy Spirit is most certainly the greatest fruit of Easter in the death and resurrection of Jesus: He breathes it on to the disciples (John 20,22-23). It is the Spirit of the forgiveness of sins and the Spirit of the universal mission. Even more, he is the protagonist of mission (see RMi chap.3; EN 75ff) that Jesus entrusted to the apostles and to their successors. The Spirit is always at work: in the simple and hidden daily missionary activity, and in more solemn moments. I’m thinking, for instance, of the 3rd American Mission Congress (CAM – 3), that even now is being organized and planned for August 2008 in Quito, Ecuador, in the hope of “renewing the event of Pentecost in the local Churches,” in view of a more solid involvement in the new evangelization and in the mission ad gentes.
For such a mission the Spirit is given to us as a guide “to the entire truth” and as the Consoler (Gospel). More, also the Spirit’s power of healing and making whole is connected to its creative and purifying activity. It is a concrete and effective power, that creates a special sensitivity in the missionary world, even though discernment is not always easy. At times the healing power involves the body as well, but more often than not it touches the human spirit, healing internal injuries and offer the balsamic effect of peace and reconciliation.
The word of the Pope (*) “The Holy Spirit gives understanding. Overcoming the "breach" begun in Babel - the confusion of hearts, putting us one against the other - the Spirit opens borders. The People of God who found its first configuration on Mt Sinai, now becomes enlarged to the point of recognizing no limitations. The new People of God, the Church, is a people that derives from all peoples. The Church is catholic from her beginning and this is her deepest essence… The Church must always become anew what she already is; she must open the borders between peoples and break down the barriers between class and race. In her, there cannot be those who are forgotten or looked down upon. In the Church there are only free brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. The wind and fire of the Holy Spirit must continually break down those barriers that we men and women continue to build between us; we must continually pass from Babel - being closed in on ourselves - to Pentecost.” Benedict XVI Homily on Pentecost Sunday, 15.5.2005
In the Missionaries’ Footsteps - 4/6: Afonso Mwembe Nzinga, king of Kongo, the first African king to be baptized (1491). - 5/6: St. Boniface, bishop and martyr (675-754), British monk, great evangelizer of Germany, bishop of Magonza, buried at Fulda. - 6/6: St. Norbert (1080-1134), bishop of Magdeburg, founder, missionary in France and Germany. - 6/6: St. Marcellinus Champagnat (1789-1840), founder of the Little Brothers of Mary (Marist Brothers), for the education and formation of youth. - 8/6: Bl. James Berthieu, (1838-1896), French Jesuit priest, missionary in Madagascar for over 20 years; died as martyr in Ambiatibé. - 8/6: Bl. M. Teresa Chiramel Mankidiyan (1876-1926), Carmelite from Kerala (India), founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family, for needy youth. - 9/6: Bl. José de Anchieta (1534-1597), Jesuit priest, born in the Canary Islands, missionary and apostle in Brazil, founder of the city of São Paulo.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Edited by Fr. Romeo Ballan, mcci - Former Director of CIAM, Rome Website: www.ciam.org “Word for the Mission” ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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