Pentecost Sunday

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. For Christians, this feast is immediately associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, which is our First Reading.

The name Pentecost is taken over from a Jewish festival which celebrated the conclusion of seven weeks which began with the presentation of the first fruits of the barley harvest during the Passover celebration (Leviticus 23:15–16; Deuteronomy 16:9). In the book of Numbers (28:26) the Jewish festival of Pentecost is called the day of first fruits which concludes feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22). On this day, a second first fruits offering was made. The “first fruits of the wheat harvest” (Ex 34:22) were presented along with burnt offerings (Numbers 28:26, Ex 34:22) followed immediately by “the bread of the first fruits” (Leviticus 23:20) which was made from the initial wheat harvest.

Offering himself as a sacrifice at the Passover, Jesus is both the Lamb of God (John 1:29) fulfilling once for all the Passover sacrifice, and the first fruits lifted up and offered to the Father (John 12:32). Is Christ also the “the bread of the first fruits”?

For the ancient Israelites, "first fruits" meant more than merely the first-to-be-born of the herds and flocks or the first ripe harvest. They believed that the whole was contained in the first part (Rom 11:16). By offering the first fruits, the whole of the crops or the herds we sanctified. Using this way of thinking the whole is contained and even concentrated in the first fruits. By joining himself to our humanity, Jesus is able to offer all of humanity in his divine sacrifice as the head of the body.

Our Gospel reading is a bit puzzling as Jesus clearly gives the Spirit to his apostles in John 20, yet the event described occurs immediately after Jesus’ Resurrection and not later at Pentecost. Do we have two Pentecost events? 

We do have two distinct offerings of the Spirit. This is clearly not the same event as Luke narrates in Acts 2, and we seem to be missing the idea of waiting and universal empowering. Using John’s Gospel as a reference St. Augustine offers a solution.

In his Sermon 265, St. Augustine, observes that in John 7, Jesus proclaims that the one who believes in him shall have, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him’ (John 7:38). This passage of John is actually the reading for the Vigil of Pentecost.

This is not an exact quote from the Old Testament, but alludes to Jesus as a type of Moses who gave water from the rock in Exodus and Numbers (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11) and as the new heavenly Temple pictured in Ezekiel 47:1. In the book of Revelation, John tells us the Jesus becomes the Temple in heaven. (Cf John 4:10, 14; 19:34, Revelation 21:22 and Isaiah 12:3).

St. John explains Jesus’ comment by noting,

“He [Jesus] said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:38)

Reflecting on the idea that the Spirit had not yet been given, since Jesus had not been glorified, St. Augustine notes that there are two glorifications. The first glorification was according to Christ’s human nature, because Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. The second glorification takes place when Christ ascended into heaven before the eyes of His disciples. He actually mentions a third glorification as Jesus returns to judge heaven and earth.

St. Augustine notes, Christ was “glorified twice, by His Resurrection and by His Ascension; twice, too, did He give the Holy Spirit” (Sermon 265.7). In our Gospel today, Jesus “breathed on” his apostles, and they received the Holy Spirit and then after his Ascension he sent the promised Holy Spirit on the entire Church. The Catechism notes this double fulfilment, “On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit, a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost. [Cf. Jn 20:22; Acts 2:1–4] (CCC 1287).

St. Augustine askes, “Why did the Lord give the Holy Spirit twice?” He answers honestly, “I do not know why He did this,” yet St. Augustine does offer his own theory. He is quick to say this is only his opinion. “Holy Spirit was given twice for the purpose of commending to us the two precepts of charity” (Sermon 265.8).

These precepts of charity are first to love God, and then to love your neighbor. This idea makes is interesting. The first outpouring of the Spirit would be for the conversion of the heart leading to the love of God, while the second is an empowering for witness and service (Acts 1:8).

This is probably not a clear-cut distinction, but one of emphasis. There is an element of service even in John 20, as we see the power to forgive sins imparted to the Apostles. Jesus imparts to them the authority and grace to confer the sacrament of Confession.

The preface for this Mass echoes this same two-fold sentiment.

For, bringing your Paschal Mystery to completion,

You bestowed the Holy Spirit today

on those you made your adopted children

by uniting them to your Only Begotten Son.

This same Spirit, as the Church came to birth,

opened all peoples to the knowledge of God . . .

The Holy Spirit imparts to believers both an interior intimacy with God as his adopted children, and an empowerment for service and mission.

In the Old Testament tradition, the desire voiced by Moses in the book of Numbers, that God would pour out his Spirit on all peoples (Numbers 11:29) came to be treated by the ancient Israelites as a prophecy of a future time when there would be a dramatic outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh. With the coming of the Messiah there was a widespread expectation that the ‘Spirit of prophecy’ would be poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28-32; Jeremiah 31:34; Isaiah 32:15; 44:3; Ezekiel 39:29).

This lavish outpouring of the Spirit would be brought about through a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15) or Messiah King (Isaiah 11:1-9; 61). Jesus uses Isaiah 61 as a kind of mission statement for his ministry in Luke (4:18-19, 7:19-22). St. Peter uses the promised outpouring of the Spirit in Joel 2:28-32 to interpret the events at Pentecost in Acts 2:16-21.

St. Luke describes the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2:1-13 by way of analogy. While the disciples are gather together in prayer in the upper room, the Spirit manifests himself with a sound like a mighty wind, and they see tongues like fire divided and came to rest on each of them. All of them were “filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to speak in different tongues.”

The sounds and commotion of this event caused a crowd of pious Jews to take notice, and the Spirit inspired proclamation by the apostles astounded the crowds because “each one heard them speaking in their own language” (2:6). Luke cites a very geographically diverse list of pilgrims in Jerusalem who are each able to hear the disciples each in his own language and dialect.

The implications of this filling of the Spirit have generated a great deal of debate among Christians. It seems clear that it involved an empowerment for mission, but the further implications of the event are seen in its interpretation by Peter in his Pentecost sermon which follows in Acts 2:14-41.

The appearance of the Holy Spirit generates both interest and scorn from the crowd of Jewish pilgrims and this facilitates Peter’s ability to preach to a large crowd. Peter connects this event to the expectation or ‘promise’ of the prophet Joel (2:28-32) that God would someday pour out his Spirit on all flesh.

St. Peter’s sermon causes a large number of pilgrims to be “cut to the heart.” The crowds asks Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do?” Peter’s response is a summary of rites of conversion and initiation in Acts. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38).

As the Catechism reminds us, the essential elements of Christian initiation include; “proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of faith, Baptism itself, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and [finally] admission to Eucharistic communion” (CCC 1229). 

 We can see four elements; faith, repentance, Baptism and the Reception of the Holy Spirit. These four essential elements then lead to the fullness of Eucharistic communion and an ongoing life in the Spirit. The sacramental elements of Baptism and Confirmation presuppose the need for faith and repentance, which the Catechism calls conversion, as our means of cooperation with the grace of these sacraments.

In Acts 2:28 Peter specifically links Baptism to the sacramental grace for the ‘forgiveness of sins,’ “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins . . .”

While the Holy Spirit is clearly active in all stages of conversion there is a definitive and complete reception of the person of Holy Spirit in Baptism. This reception is completed through the laying on of hands by the apostles. Allowing these graces to flourish in our soul is a process that requires our ongoing cooperation.

What does the Holy Spirit mean to each one of us today? 

We must struggle to open ourselves fully to God’s grace. Baptism gives us the gifts of the Holy Spirit which make our soul capable of submitting to God and entering into friendship with him (John 15:15). Fostering these inspirations of grace should be the object of our prayer and our intense desire. 

 Although God will grant these inspirations in greater or lesser degrees, they are not an optional extra for the Christian life but the secret to holiness and the decisive means for spiritual progress. Each one of us, based on the grace of our Baptism, is called universally to a life of holiness which leads to mission in the world.

Our life in the Spirit begins by God’s grace entering the depth of our hearts. We are created in “the image and likeness” of God. The human heart was created with a God-shaped hole in it. Like the first man, Adam, we are alone, like a lover seeking our beloved. When we find our beloved, we break forth in spontaneous praise and thanksgiving.

God has created human love to be a reflection of his own divine love. We can each ask ourselves, has my love for my beloved grown cold? Let us fan the flames of this love with praise and thanksgiving in the intimacy of our prayer and in the great thanksgiving, the Eucharist.

The second principle would be to genuinely ask for holiness. Pray to God and ask Him with a sincere desire to become holy. Invoke the intercession of the saints and of your guardian angel, that you might find the path to holiness.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you” (Matt 7:7). St. James writes, “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2b). Let us ask God for this marvelous gift.

Finally, we must renounce our tendency to manage ourselves. We might call this docility to God’s will or docility to the Holy Spirit. As we pray the words, “Come Holy Spirit,” this Sunday let us be like our Blessed Mother as we learn to trust and open ourselves up to the wonderful plan God has for our life. 

 Along with Mary, we must cry, “Lord, let it be done to me, according to your word.”




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The Ascension of our Lord

The Ascension of our Lord, celebrates the entry of Jesus’ humanity into divine glory in heaven, which took place forty days after his Resurrection (Acts 1:3). Liturgically, this feast is exactly 40 days after Easter, on Ascension Thursday, but most US dioceses celebrate this feast on the following Sunday.

When we think of the Paschal mystery of Christ we tend to think first of his suffering, death and resurrection. We think of Christ’s sacred Body and Blood which Christ freely offered in sacrifice for our sins. 

Properly understood, however, the Paschal mystery includes Christ’s entire incarnate life from his conception and birth to his glorious return to the Father in his Ascension. Jesus enters into heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father, to rule for all eternity as King of Heaven and Earth.

We might rightly see this as a fitting end to his life on Earth but there is a much more profound meaning to the Ascension. I don’t know about you but, at first I wondered why the Ascension is so important.

The Catechism reminds us Christ accomplished the work or redemption “by the Paschal mystery of his blessed Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and glorious Ascension” (CCC 1067). The final work of ascending into heaven is an essential part of the whole process of the Paschal mystery.

St. Thomas reminds us in his famous hymn Adoro Te Devote

O loving Pelican! O Jesu Lord! Unclean I am but cleanse me in Thy Blood; Of which a single drop, for sinners spilt, Can purge the entire world from all its guilt (St. Thomas Aquinas).

In his limitless power and mercy, God could have saved us all by asking Christ to shed a single drop of his blood.

Yet in order to more fully demonstrate his love and mercy in a way that we would understand, God chose to become fully human and to endure the frailty and limits of earthly life. He freely chose to suffer torture at the hands of the Roman soldiers, and finally to endure the most painful death, in order that we would see with our frail human eyes the importance of this sacrifice. In order that we might more fully understand his love.

Likewise, when Christ rose from the dead, he could have done so completely healed of his wounds. Yet even in his glorious risen body, Christ chose to appear to his disciples, still bearing these wounds.

The sacred wounds of Christ are a visible manifestation of his love for us. Christ even entered his exalted state in Heaven with these same wounds (Revelation 5:6). These wounds are not just tokens of his love, but trophies of his victorious love for each one of us. These ugly gaping wounds are transformed into something beautiful and a sign of his victorious love for us.

If we think about what was necessary to satisfy the debt of our sins, we might begin in human terms thinking about paying off an enormous human debt. We might imagine someone working their whole life to pay off millions, or perhaps in our modern world, some gifted soul managing to pay off hundreds of billions. The problem is, because we are talking about paying a debt owed to God himself, we are essentially talking about an infinite debt for each one of us. In reality we mean billions upon billions of infinite debts for the sins of all humanity.

What kind of sacrifice would be necessary to pay this debt?

Only God himself could make this kind of satisfaction on our behalf. Jesus, who is fully God, chose to become a man, to join himself to our humanity. He did not just pay off our debts as some distant benefactor. This is not a heavenly trust fund for our benefit.

Furthermore it is not merely something external. God did not say, “Well you are still pretty much a putz, but I have paid off your debts, so now you are a forgiven putz.” After Jesus made a satisfaction for our sins through his own once for all sacrifice on the cross, he saved us by joining himself to us, so that we are slowly transformed from within, and become like him.

We are not still the old person with a coat of whitewash paint. St. Paul reminds us, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Co 5:17).

As we are reminded in Romans, we are literally joined to Christ through Baptism.

“Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in the newness of life” (Rom 6:3–4, cf. Rom 6:8-11, and Galatians 3:27).

Baptism forgives our sins, and in cooperation with this grace, joins us to Christ through the Spirit for all eternity (Acts 2:38). Jesus has become the pattern of our salvation, the new Adam (Rom 5:15). We are a new creation and have been joined to a new Adam. It is in him, and with him and through him that we are saved, by being brought into Communion with him. This communion transforms us from within.

St Gregory of Nyssa points out that Jesus became the firstborn of the new spiritual creation. Taking up the image of firstborn and first fruits from the book of Exodus, this implies that by his bodily Ascension into heaven, Jesus becomes a kind of first fruits or firstborn offering to the Father.

In the book of Leviticus, the first fruits barley offering was the signal to begin the countdown to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, 50 days after the barley wave offering. "Beginning with the day after the sabbath, the day on which you bring the sheaf for elevation, you shall count seven full weeks; you shall count to the day after the seventh week, fifty days (Leviticus 23:15–16). At Pentecost second first fruits offering of wheat was made (Exodus 34:22) followed by “the bread of the first fruits” (Leviticus 23:20) which was made from the initial wheat harvest.

Jesus ascended on the 40th day (Acts 1:3), and sent the Spirit ten days later at Pentecost (Acts 2:2-4). The intervening nine days between these events were a period of prayerful waiting and watching (Acts 1:4). This is the origin of the practice of praying nine day novenas.

For the ancient Israelites, "first fruits" meant more than merely the first to be born of the herds and flocks or the first ripe harvest. They believed that the whole was contained in the first part which was offered (Rom 11:16). When the first part was offered to God, then the whole of the crops or the herds were sanctified along with it. Using this way of thinking the whole is contained and even concentrated in the first fruits.

We often see this way of thinking in the New Testament. We are joined to Christ’s Body and he is the Head (1 Corinthians 12:13) . He is the Vine and we are the branches (John 15). The consecrated Bread which we eat in the Eucharist is a participation or communion with Christ (1 Cor 10:16-17).

By offering his own sacred humanity to the Father, Jesus makes a way to sanctify the whole of humanity. Jesus becomes the new or second Adam (Rom 5:15). By entering the heavenly Temple in his sacred humanity, Jesus consecrates and the new creation initiated in the incarnation. Christ offers and sanctifies his humanity and becomes for us the font and origin of ascended life.

St. Thomas Aquinas notes that, “Christ's Ascension is the direct cause of our ascension, as by beginning it in Him who is our Head, with whom the members must be united” (ST, III, 57, 6). Aquinas highlights three effects of the Ascension. First by his Ascension Christ prepared a way for us to enter heaven (John 14:2). Secondly, just as the high priest entered the sanctuary into God's presence to represent the people, Christ entered heaven to intercede for us. And finally, enthroned in heaven as God and Lord, Christ will send down gifts upon men (Eph. 4:10).

What does the Ascension mean for each of us personally?

In the Acts of the Apostles we are told that the Ascension is directly related to the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples are promised that in a few days they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). This baptism would be the source and power of their ministry. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). Mark likewise affirms that “These signs will accompany those who believe” (Mark 16:17, cf. John 14:12) with a list of supernatural deeds of the Spirit to follow.

The Ascension allows Christ to release from heaven the promised Holy Spirit. As his disciples we are called to imitate his ministry of preaching the Gospel and healing the sick (John 14:12). Through the Spirit we are enabled to enter into a new intimate relationship with God, to become friends of God (John 15:15). The Spirit now within us cries out ‘Abba father’ in our hearts (Romans 8:15).

The Ascension is an invitation to a new level of intimacy with God. It is the font and origin of a new ascended life. Earlier in John’s Gospel Jesus declared, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink” (John 7:37), John tells us that Jesus “said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive” (John 7:39).

Do you thirst for greater intimacy with God? Then come to Jesus and drink. Jesus wishes to offer each one of us a personal Pentecost. Lord Jesus, come by your Spirit and fill the hearts of your faithful.



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Love brings joy to obedience

I have spent a good deal of my life as a teacher, in public school, then as a college instructor, and catechist. I also trained and supervised instructors.

I recall once observing a young instructor in an adult education class who blurted out a controversial remark during his talk. His comment was unnecessary and very ill timed. When he did this, he literally lost his class for 10 minutes. Everyone in the room stopped listening to his talk, and began talking to each other at their tables about his remark. To put this in modern terms, he triggered the entire class with his comment.

Witnessing this, reminded me that we bring our own thoughts and ideas with us when we listen to someone talk. Therefore, I want to ask you to pause for a minute and think.

What thoughts come immediately to mind when you hear Jesus say these words?

“Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,

and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;

yet the word you hear is not mine
but that of the Father who sent me."

This may not be the case for you, but sometimes I wonder if these words reinforcing the idea that, God wants me to earn his approval by being good, or by obeying him. After all does not Jesus say, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him?”

While I do not believe that I save myself by being good, it is also true that God still requires a response. I must offer my faith, my repentance, and my surrender to Him. Ultimately, this is about relationship. What is my identity in Christ? Is God the type of person who wants me to earn his approval by being good, or by obeying him?

I imagine many of you have found yourself motivated like this. Could you be struggling to be a good person so that you will earn God’s approval? Perhaps you have never reflected on this, but… does your identity in Christ lead you to earn God’s approval by being good? If so, what is the fruit of seeing God in this way?

If I allow myself to begin thinking this way, the motivation for being good is a certain fear or insecurity that God might reject me if I am bad. If I have experienced previous rejection or shame, then in order to avoid those feelings, I work hard to be a good person so that I will not feel anxious.

If I am not careful, I could find myself struggling to be a good person so that God will look at me and approve of me. Perhaps you have never reflected on this. Has this ever happened to you? 

Have you ever tried to earn God’s approval by being good?

If you are the kind of person who feels successful at being good, then you might say to yourself, “I obeyed God, therefore I am accepted.” It is as if you are say, “God you should accept me, because I am basically a good person.” When things are going well, we feel confident in our relationship with God. Very often, however, when we are doing well we also become proud and we lack patience with those who are struggling and seem to fail at being good.

Very few of us, however, are completely successful at being good. If we think that God accepts us only if we obey him and are good, then how do we react when we fail? How do we respond to the feelings of shame when someone corrects us? If our whole identity is tied up in being a “good person” we often either become angry or discouraged and depressed when criticized, because it attacks our identity.

1. False identity in Christ.

Thinking that God wants us to earn his acceptance, flows from a false identity in Christ. God does not want us to understand our relationship with him as being, neutral or even negative. We do not need to earn his favor before having relationship with him. The truth is exactly the opposite. “I am accepted, therefore, I obey.” We are accepted! 

I obey God not to earn favor or things from God, but to get God himself, and to delight in my relationship with him as a child of God. After all God accepted me first without any merit on my part.

2. God loved us first

Even when we are in midst of failure, God loves us first. As St. Paul reminds us, “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The plan of God’s love for us, reaches back to the beginning of time. Ephesians reminds us; “He chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will” (Ephesians 1:4–5). God is not grudgingly fulfilling his promise to love us and always on the verge of changing his mind depending on how we behave.

When God created the first man and woman in the image and likeness of God, he knew they would fall and had already planned to have Christ become the new Adam to take their place and to redeem the image of God. God’s plan of love for each one of us existed before creation itself.

He has always wanted to adopt us as his children. As Ephesians reminds us, God “destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1: 5).

3. In the presence of God, we experience delight or joy

This is a natural truth. In the presence of goodness, beauty and truth we spontaneously experience delight and awe. Beautiful music, beautiful art, even witnessing an amazing athletic performance spontaneously makes us praise what we see, and even causes us to want to share that feeling with others. Everything in our life that is truly good, beautiful, or true is a reflection of the goodness, beauty, or truth found in the creator.

We are not an afterthought, or some unwanted and unexpected child. We are destined, chosen, or elected like the people of God in the Old Testament. The Lord told his people in Deuteronomy, they were not chosen because they were especially good or obedient beforehand, but “because the LORD loved” them (Deuteronomy 7:7-8). They became God’s children out God’s abundant love and mercy.

4. In relation to obedience, the experience of God’s love, brings joy to obedience.

When I experience relationship with God, in a certain sense I feel his pleasure. I delight in my relationship with him as a child of God. I am confident not in my own wobbly performance but in the sure fact that God accepts me without any merit on my part.

St. Paul tells us that in order to create our own family resemblance as sons and daughters of God “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Roman 5:5). The Holy Spirit is transforming and renewing us from within. 

Writing to the Corinthians, St. Paul reveals our new identity in Christ, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17–18, cf. 2 Cor 5:17).

Yet this inheritance something we need to “take possession of” (Ephesians 1:14). It requires our cooperation. We need to have the “eyes of our hearts enlightened” by the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:18). We need to begin in humility, and detachment and to spend time with God in prayer.

Notice that when Jesus says,

“Whoever loves me will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

He continues,

and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

Jesus explains that this promised indwelling will be the Holy Spirit who will “to teach us” and “remind us” of Jesus’ way of life and will give us peace.

Our obedience is the fruit of our cooperation with an inner transformation of our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Our obedience is our inheritance as sons and daughters of God. It is a revelation of our family resemblance. Flowing from interior awareness of God’s love and acceptance, our obedience is an act of grateful joy. It is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Love brings joy to obedience.

Does all of this sound a bit complicated? Would it not it just be easier to tell people to obey the rules? The problem is, without understanding our identity in Christ, rules without relationship lead to anxiety, anger, pride, an ultimately to rebellion. St. Paul reminds the Galatians, “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). But love brings joy to obedience.

We must begin by saying, “I know that I am God’s child and that he loves me. Even if I sometimes fail to be “good,” it is not my performance that is identity, but my relationship with God.”

Yet, St. Paul cautions the Galatians, “Walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). How do we know if we are guided by the Spirit or walking by the Spirit? By the fruit of our life (Galatians 5:22-23). As Jesus says, “Whoever loves me will keep my word.” The power to do this however comes through relationship with the indwelling of Spirit. As Jesus said, “we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” Once again, love brings joy to obedience.

As we anticipate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in two weeks, let us open our hearts anew praying, “Come Holy Spirit! Renew the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in us the fire of your love.” Fill us with your love, so that we might experience the joy of life in you as your child. Let me rest in your love.




Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C (Lectionary: 57)
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“Love, and do what you want?

Like some of you perhaps, I grew up in the 1960 and 70’s. “Love” was a very popular idea. In 1968, the Beatles released their hit song “All you need is love.” The culture of the 1960’s understood “Love” as something very personal, private, and sentimental. Many people seemed to think that as long as you attempted to cultivate a kind of warm sentiment in your heart towards others, called love, you could pretty much do whatever you wanted.  In the words of this Beatles song “There's nothin' you can do that can't be done/ Nothin' you can sing that can't be sung.”

I wonder if the Beatles read St. Augustine, who once famously said “Love, and do what you want?”[1] This is one of St. Augustine’s most famous, and often abused and misquoted lines.

No one who has actually read Augustine’s homily, where this quote appears, would think he meant that one could "do as you please" as long as you have the right sentiment. The line is a rhetorical flourish on Augustine’s part, intended to shock his listeners. For Augustine, love is not merely a sentiment but a rightly ordered virtue. If you like, there is a kind of grammar to love. In the mind of St Augustine, love needs to be rightly ordered to be a genuine kind of love.

We might want to note that as humans our capacity to love is quite diverse. We can love our dog, or football, or perhaps even wine or cars. When it comes to loving people however, we generally talk of family and friendship. In a more special sense, we have deeper relationships in which there is a lover and a beloved. Love is not something fuzzy and disengaged from our life. We cannot love what we do not know.[2] Knowledge of the other thing or person leads to a kind of desire to be closer and to grasp the thing we see, or in the case of persons, to allow them to enter our thoughts and feelings and so in a sense become part of us. We hold them in our heart and we join ourselves to them in love.

As I mentioned, rightly ordering our love for St. Augustine is a way of acknowledging the movement of our heart with its desires. The things that we do, or our behavior is always a response to what is going on in the heart – of what we love. If our heart I rightly ordered, then it seeks to love God and neighbor. This movement begins in our heart but is supernaturalized by God through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Sacramental grace and interior conversion lead us to new life.

For St. Augustine, this grace is the source of Christian love.  God loved us first. While we were still sinners, Jesus Christ came and sacrificed himself for our sins (Roman 5:8, 1 John 4:9). By this sacrifice, we received his love. Love is born in our hearts as we receive his gift.

As St. John notes in his letter, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7–8). St. Augustine comments, “Love is from God and Love is God. … But when you hear from God, either the Son or the Holy Spirit is understood.” [3] As St. Paul tells us, “hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). The newness that Jesus refers to in our Gospel is the supernatural grace of the Holy Spirit working through his disciples as they imitate our Lord. “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (John 13:34).

This love only occurs in relationships. It involves a lover and the beloved. The foundation of love is relationship. As St Thomas notes, “But the effect of love, when the beloved object is possessed, is pleasure: when it is not possessed, it is desire” (STh., I-II q.25 a.2 resp.).  

For Christian love, that relationship is first with God. It is the mission of the Son to make this relationship possible. Jesus makes it possible for us to know God and enter a relationship with him.  More than this even to enjoy friendship with him (John 15:15).  

Yet it is the specific continuing mission of the Holy Spirit to share God’s love with us in the realm of desire (Romans 5:5). Love is not merely an intellectual knowledge of the faith followed by obedience, but certain inclinations and desires, even passions of the heart towards God. The Son reveals the saving knowledge of God, while the Spirit imparts God’s desire, as we all return to the mercy and love of Father. In the end, the love of God is a personal experience of each of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. “If you see charity, you see the Trinity”, wrote Saint Augustine. (De Trinitate, VIII, 8, 12).

We must grasp the newness of this relational idea of love. Love does not act out of fear and obey God in order to gain his acceptance. Rules without relationship, do not lead to love.  Instead, the beloved experiences love and acceptance and with joy obeys out of love.

We obey God in order to deepen our relationship with him.  Humility demands that I recognize my shortcomings and failures, but at the same time, I must depend on God’s grace to overcome these faults, trust in his love for me. He has made me a child of God (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:16).

My heart is not something I need to reject or suppress in order to be holy, but a living canvas upon which the Holy Spirit slowly paints a new and deeper understanding of the world as God sees it.  By redeeming and rightly ordering our hearts, we are able to embrace all of the creation, which God has made good from the beginning. By rightly ordering the things of creation, we avoid the sin of idolatry, and offer them back to God in praise to the Creator.

As St. Augustine notes,

“Think of ordinary human love; think of it as the hand of the soul. If it’s holding one thing, it can’t hold another. To be able to hold something it’s given, it must let go of what it is already holding.” [4]

In friendship and love with God, how can we allow our human loves to be truly the hand of the soul?  This can only occur in interior surrender to God in our prayer. “Lord, your will be done not mine.” Yet if our friendship with God has grown, we will know that he loves us, and trust that he desires only good things for his children (Matthew 7:11). As Jesus reminded the crowds a few chapters earlier in John, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Lord, you created life in all its beauty and abundance. May we praise you Lord, as we stand in awe of your Greatness. We trust in your love for each one of us. Let my heart rest in your love and may this love overflow to the world around me!

 

 Notes

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[1](dilige, et quod vis fac) Saint Augustine, Homilies on the First Epistle of John (Tractatus in Epistolam Joannis Ad Parthos), ed. Daniel E. Doyle, Thomas Martin, and Boniface Ramsey, trans. Boniface Ramsey, vol. 14, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2008), 110.

[2] “For if it does not know itself, it does not love itself.” Augustine of Hippo, The Trinity, ed. Hermigild Dressler, trans. Stephen McKenna, vol. 45, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1963), 274.

[3] Saint Augustine, Homilies on the First Epistle of John (Tractatus in Epistolam Joannis Ad Parthos), ed. Daniel E. Doyle, Thomas Martin, and Boniface Ramsey, trans. Boniface Ramsey, vol. 14, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2008), 108.

[4] Saint Augustine, Sermons 94A–147A on the New Testament, ed. John E. Rotelle, trans. Edmund Hill, vol. 4, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Brooklyn, NY: New City Press, 1992), 258.

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