The Holy Spirit Receives Equal Worship

 

The Council of Nicaea confessed the divinity of the Son, “true God of true God” and “of one Being with the Father.” But it did not address the divinity of the Holy Spirit. A few years after the Council of Nicaea, Macedonius, Patriarch of Constantinople, the new imperial capital, denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. This led to the Second Ecumenical Council meeting in Constantinople in 381. It completed the profession of faith of Nicaea, adding to the original text that the Holy Spirit is “Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and is worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son.” In words that bear an undeniable kinship to the language of Scripture, the Creed, following Paul (2 Cor 3:17), describes the Spirit as “Lord.” and following the Gospel of John (Jn 6:63), as "Giver of Life." The Creed also says that the Holy Spirit "proceeds" from the Father (Jn 15:26) and that "he spoke through the prophets" (2 Pet 1:21).

To affirm that the Spirit is Lord (Kyrios in Greek, a translation of the Hebrew term Yahweh, "the only Lord": Deut 6:4) is to say that he is God. And to affirm that he is the giver of life is to say that he has the power of the Creator. To say that he proceeds from the Father is to deny that he is a creature. The last sentence contains the clearest testimony to the divinity of the Holy Spirit: he receives the same worship and glory as the Father and the Son, worship that can only be given to God.

Although it is not easy to represent each of the persons of the adorable Trinity in human terms, since everything we say about God falls far short of who He is, it is important to make it clear that the Spirit is not an impersonal force or a divine energy, but a divine person. Only one person can mediate between persons, in this case between the Father and the Son. Christians also relate to each of the divine persons in a personal way: we are children of the Father, brothers and sisters of the Son, and friends or temples of the Spirit, for a friend is one who fills my heart with joy and changes my life.

The Holy Spirit is the love of God poured into our hearts. It is the way God makes Himself present in our lives: filling our hearts with joy, attuning our intelligence to God's way of thinking, enabling us to love unconditionally, filling us with strength to be witnesses of Jesus Christ, and sustaining our hope in the midst of difficulties. For this reason, we address the Spirit, just as we do the Father and the Son, in the second person: "Come, Holy Spirit," or "Enlighten me, Holy Spirit."

Christian life is animated by a mysterious and invisible being, yet always personal. The Spirit is the living presence of Jesus after his ascension into heaven. On the day of his Ascension, Jesus had commissioned his followers: "Go and make disciples of all nations." To these weak and rude men, the Divine Spirit gave the eminent knowledge of the Gospel (Jn 14:26: "The Spirit will teach you all things") and the strength for apostolic heroism.

May the month for Mary, Model, Teacher, and Mother

Traditionally, in the Catholic world, the month of May is dedicated to Mary. Mary is a name of Hebrew origin that means "exalted" or "chosen of God." Therefore, it is a very appropriate name to designate the one chosen by God to be the mother of his Son. For this reason, "all generations call her blessed" (Luke 1:48).

Furthermore, Mary is a good model of Christian life. The Second Vatican Council calls her the "exalted Model" of the Church, "a model of all the virtues for the entire community of the elect." Indeed, she "in a certain sense unites within herself and reflects the most radical demands of faith..., continually progressing in faith, hope, and love, and seeking and obeying God's will in all things" (Lumen Gentium, 65).

Precisely because she is a good model, she can also be described as a teacher of Christian life and a teacher of humanity. Good teachers are not simply those who limit themselves to offering facts and knowledge, but those who are examples of life for their students. Vatican II, quoting Saint Ambrose, says that Mary's life "is a teaching for all" (Perfectae Caritatis, 25). If her life is a teaching, she must necessarily be a teacher. Undoubtedly, her teaching began with the education of her son, as all mothers on earth do: they are the first to teach their children, and this teaching marks their lives forever. But more than Mary as the educator of the child Jesus, I now want to note Mary's role as an educator of the Church, in line with what Vatican II affirms: Mary "cooperates in the education of believers" (Lumen Gentium, 63). Mary is a good teacher because she does not teach "from outside," without being involved in her teaching. She brings about in her life what she invites. If she teaches us to fulfill Jesus' will, it is because she is the first disciple and the first convert.

In addition to being a Teacher, Mary is also the Mother, not only of Christ, but of all the Christian faithful. At the end of the Council, Paul VI gave an important speech in which he proclaimed Mary the Mother of the Church: "We proclaim Mary most holy Mother of the Church, that is, Mother of all the People of God, both of the faithful and of the pastors who call her loving Mother, and we wish that from now on she may be honored and invoked by all the Christian people with this most great title." Paul VI says that this title finds "its justification in the very dignity of the Mother of the Incarnate Word." This motherhood of the Incarnate Word extends to the Church, for Mary is "the mother of him who, from the first instant of his incarnation in her virginal womb, became the head of his mystical body, which is the Church. Mary, therefore, as the mother of Christ, is also the mother of the faithful and of all pastors; that is, of the Church."

The Conclave

 

Tuesday, May 6, is the last day to celebrate the funeral for Pope Francis. On Wednesday, May 7, the Conclave to elect a new Bishop of Rome begins. Once the funeral is over, dioceses and parishes are invited to celebrate Masses "pro eligendo pontífice," that is, Masses for the election of the Roman Pontiff. The Mass, to be held Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. in St. Peter's Basilica, presided over by Cardinal Re (the same one who presided over Francis' funeral), will be attended by all the cardinals. In the collect prayer for this Mass, the prayer that gathers the sentiments of the celebrating assembly, three words appear that we can consider three great principles that the elected bishop will then have to implement according to his character and the needs of the Church: holy zeal for the faithful, reverence for the people, and healthy government.

How can the next Pope not be concerned about world hunger, poverty, migrants, peace, understanding among peoples, ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, the good progress of the Church, and the joyful proclamation of the Gospel? Or has Francis been preoccupied with other things? In short, concerned with proclaiming the Gospel, aware that the Gospel is not only or primarily a matter of doctrine (what do those who yearn for or ask for a Pope concerned with "sound doctrine" mean?), but a matter of life in love, because that is Jesus' commandment and the great sign by which his disciples are known.

It is said that the Pope is chosen by the Holy Spirit. But it is also the result of negotiations, sometimes tense, between the electors. Because the Holy Spirit always uses secondary causes. He does not act directly. He does not send WhatsApp messages, nor does he speak through the mouths of the most rigorous. The action of the Holy Spirit must be seen in consensus, in discernment, in agreements. The Pope will be elected directly by the Cardinals, after each one has discerned in conscience whom to vote for, a vote also conditioned by their character, their experiences, and their expectations. What the Holy Spirit will do is bring out the best in the chosen one, guiding and shaping their character, their vision of things, and their concerns. The Spirit acts through listening to the Word, prayer, attention to the signs of the times, listening to one's brothers and sisters, personal discernment, and freedom.

We Are An Easter People, Moving Through A Good Friday World

 

The world is full of the misery and pain of Good Friday. We only have to open our daily newspapers, turn on the television to the nightly news … for fresh reminders of the violence, cruelty, want, and need that permeates our world. We have only to examine and reflect on our own lives, our own trials and tribulations, our own cares and woes. We have only to consider how we relate to each other and to our world neighbors.

But we are Easter people, and we are supposed to be different.   There are some distinctive characteristics about Easter people that keep us in close touch with this Jesus who says to a grieving Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” Jn 11,25–26. 

Easter people are believers. We believe not only in the possible, we believe also in the impossible. We believe that the lame were made to walk, and the mute made to speak, that lepers were cleansed and the blind received their sight…. We can believe also that with the helpful presence of God’s Holy Spirit, we are strengthened and sustained on our earthly pilgrimage. Further, we can believe that we can fashion new lives committed to love, to peace, to justice, and to liberation for all of God’s people.   

Easter people grieve and need to be comforted. And, yes, Easter people get angry … but we must seek to channel that anger in constructive ways. Be angry enough to say and to seriously mean, I will commit my life to living out the Baptismal Covenant: seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving my neighbor as myself, striving for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being.   

Easter people hang in until the end. Like the women who stood by the cross, Easter people live by the words of the old spiritual: “I will go, I shall go to see what the end will be.” Benedictine nun and poet Mary Lou Kownacki (1941–2023) embraces this resurrection wisdom:   Easter grabs us by the throat and shouts, “Live.” The radiant Jesus who leaves the tomb challenges our complacency with the forces of death, be they hopelessness, fear, discouragement, or lack of will. Don’t let death have the last word in your story, Jesus urges. None of us has the right to sleep in death.

Even if there is no angel to help you, grab the door of the tomb that holds you back and rip its seal. There's too much goodness in you that still needs to rise, and there’s too much work in the world that still needs to be done. I have been surprised and amazed at my new understanding of Lent this year. I always jumped to the joy of Easter without truly experiencing the wilderness and suffering of Lent. Events like the COVID epidemic and other times of isolation have revealed to me the deep spiritual growth that can come from solitude, silence, and emotional wilderness.                       

Pope Francis's great testament, the Synod of Synodality.

 After twelve years of an intense pontificate, which left no one indifferent, Pope Francis has passed away. It is a good time to thank God for this Pope, who has opened doors and paths that will undoubtedly mark the life of the Church in the coming years. There are doors that, once opened, are difficult to close. And paths that point in a direction that perhaps the deceased Pope was unable to follow as he would have wished, but which are there, inviting others to follow them.

All Popes have had their admirers and their critics. Since the present leaves a greater mark on us than the past, it might seem that both Francis's admirers and critics have been louder than those of previous Popes. I don't think so. It just so happens that today, with social media, news, sometimes fake, spreads very quickly and with much shouting. John XXIII was also simultaneously admired and criticized. He was hailed as the "Good Pope," but it was also said that it would take at least a hundred years to undo the mess that was the Second Vatican Council.

Francis has been a good continuator of that Council, aware that we are no longer in the 1960s, but in new times, with new problems, or with the same old problems exacerbated: immigration, poverty, inequality, war. The Pope took sides from the outset, recalling that the Gospel is good news for all, but that the poor are its privileged recipients, and that by serving them, we are serving Christ himself.

Two words could characterize this pontificate: encounter and mercy. Encounter with God, of course, and encounter with every human being, who is a sacrament of God, in their specific reality of difficulty. Encounter above all with those who are distant, to make it very clear to them that the doors of the Church are open to them. This requires welcome, hospitality, attentive listening. And embracing people with mercy. Mercy that must also be applied when administering the sacraments, that of reconciliation, of course. But also the other sacraments: because the Church, as the Pope said, is not a customs house, but a house with open doors.

Are there still things to be done? Naturally. But this Pope has achieved one thing: opening paths of dialogue, opening doors so that everyone can be heard. Today, we can speak normally about a series of topics that once seemed taboo: the role of women in the Church and their presence in government positions, the need to overcome clericalism, lay ministries, seeking realistic solutions to the lack of priests, welcoming those who feel excluded and misunderstood because of their human or family situation, the need for a Vatican Curia in which service is decisive. Surely, many issues that are currently in the spotlight still need to mature and be tested. It remains important that we listen to one another, that we can speak without disqualifying one another. Synodality is the very essence of the Church. Possibly Francis's great testament was the Synod of Synodality.

Overcoming death - Resurrecting to an Eternal Life

 

Today's man has arrived Or he's coming to believe himself to own of everything. The science, the technique, the progress and above all, money is giving us security to life and the problems.

We are convinced that sooner or later we will be Owners of everything around us and we will dominate everything. But death comes and we Leave to shrum. Death breaks all our projects and ends with that We thought we had.

And death is nothing but the warning that we are people, we are creatures; that is, we are of God. Whether we want it or not; life does not belong to us in absolute property. Only God is owner and lord of life and death.

This looks like a inevitable tragedy for the human person, It is not for those who have faith: for faith He says it is possible to possess life and even dominate death itself.

Faith shows us Christ as the man you have been able to overcome death, for at all times He has owned himself during his lifetime. It's more. He's promised that the very power over death that follows in his footsteps in life, for all He who believes in Him already has eternal life.

That's why there's nothing but one means of overcoming death, of resurrecting to an eternal life: Believing in Christ is the condition to live with the safety of resurrecting.

And believing in Christ is more That admits a truth or fulfill rites and obligations. Believing in Christ It is to try to live his own life, it is to commit himself, as He, to the defense of the poor and needy. It's opening up to others, no to use them, but to serve and help them.

A person like that, a life Thus, it cannot end in death, but in the Resurrection, like Christ.

Death

Brothers and sisters: an event Sad and painful: the death of a relative, friend, Our acquaintance.

It's already sadly. significant that these have to be the only occasions when we get to meet, to see us, to be able to chat for a while, those of us who stumble many times in the street, at work and we don't stop for a single moment to talk.

We're in a life. So busy, so busy that these occasions have to come in in order to be able to stop for a while, leaving even the things and jobs we think essential and urgent.

I say it's sadly Significantly, because, it seems to me that, as Christians, it is also sad that For many, let's funerals the only moments we enter the church; for others, quite a few too, the only moments when we Let's stop thinking about something other than money, welfare, comfort, To live well.

For some it may be the moment they realize that this life is not everything to the person, because death ends with all the projects and all the illusions of the person.

Yes, folks, death is something hard and sad, but it can be a call from God who we don't hear. All the other calls he makes us in the busy life we've got.

Don't think I want to get in. Fear: what I'm trying to do is make you think people are for something else What to eat, to win fun.

We can do a lot of things. More important in this life, such as concern for others, to build a fairer and freer society and, above all, we can love each other making this life happier, more cheerful, more dignified for everyone.

Why lock us in Our pride or our selfishness? Why separate us u hate each other, if we can join and love each other.