PENTECOST
PENTECOST 5/11/08 7:30
A few years ago, I read a novel entitled Mosaic by John Maxim. The plot centered on trying to use people with so-called multiple personalities to train one of those personalities to become sociopathic assassins, feeling no remorse, no regret, no prick of conscience at all.
(I do read spiritual books too).
What made me think of this novel is St. Peter. I thought of Peter because he seems to be a man with two distinct personalities, a split which, I’m willing to bet, you can identify with. I know I can.
There is Peter who, like a gypsy, left everything to follow Jesus but who whined like a spoiled child, Now that we’ve left everything, what’s in it for us?
There is Peter whose faith was as dynamic as lightning so that he dared to walk on water but whose doubt had the magnetic pull of quicksand so that he sank.
There was Peter whose confidence was as sturdy as a oak tree so that he assured Jesus that even though everyone would abandon him, he (Peter) would be there supporting Jesus. Yet his confidence crumbled like a sandcastle in a high tide so that he ended up denying Jesus three times in a row.
Yet with the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the split was healed and Peter was made whole so much so that, a few verses down from where our first reading ends today, as he stands up and addresses the huge crowd, 3,000 were converted and baptized that very day! It must have been as noisy as a livestock auction. Or as someone remarked, St. Peter must have had a water hose to baptize that many in one afternoon.
But the point of the story is the power of the Holy Spirit in Peter’s words.
(Makes me wonder about the impact of my own homilies).
That’s what the Holy Spirit did for Peter and does for you: the Spirit makes you whole.
Remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Olives, he said to his three chosen disciples, The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak? And St. Paul echoed these words when he said, That which I want to do, I don’t do and that which I don’t want to do, I do.
There is a split in you, like two scorpions in a bottle turning against each other, and that split needs to be made whole. I suspect that there is a bit of Jekyll and Hyde in all of us.
And the Holy Spirit who comes into you as a fire, cauterizes this psychic wound in you and merges your flesh and spirit until you become whole.
Bob Hulteen in his essay, “Nouwen’s Symphony of Movements.” quotes the wonderfully insightful spiritual writer Henri Nouwen, “The often painful paths to wholeness come in movements from loneliness to solitude, from hostility to hospitality, from illusion to prayer.
John Navone in his book, The Jesus Story, reminds us that “through the Holy Spirit we can internalize the values of the Jesus story.”
Isn’t this what you want to do? Make the values of Jesus your values?
Jesus’ value of sacrifice even to the cross substituted for your annoyance at the slightest inconvenience. Jesus’ value of compassion replacing your icy indifference. Jesus’ value of forgiveness supplanting your steel-hearted grudge-bearing.
On this Mother’s Day, aren’t these the values you want to inculcate in your children as you try to bestow on them the gift of wholeness.
On this feast of Pentecost and every day, ask the Holy Spirit, dwelling within you, to help you to put into effect his inspirations, his power, his stamina, his energy so that you will live the values of Jesus as perseveringly as someone running a 26 mile marathon, that you will live his values as a whole person, keeping in mind the holiness is wholeness.
HUMOR ; An artist asked the gallery owner if there had been any interest
in his paintings on display at that time.
“I have good news and bad news,” the owner replied. “The good news is that a gentleman inquired about your work and wondered if it would appreciate in value after your death. When I told him it would, he bought all 15 of your paintings.”
“That’s wonderful,” the artist exclaimed. “What’s the bad news?”
“The guy was your doctor.”
THOUGHT: Always make Jesus’ values your values.
A few years ago, I read a novel entitled Mosaic by John Maxim. The plot centered on trying to use people with so-called multiple personalities to train one of those personalities to become sociopathic assassins, feeling no remorse, no regret, no prick of conscience at all.
(I do read spiritual books too).
What made me think of this novel is St. Peter. I thought of Peter because he seems to be a man with two distinct personalities, a split which, I’m willing to bet, you can identify with. I know I can.
There is Peter who, like a gypsy, left everything to follow Jesus but who whined like a spoiled child, Now that we’ve left everything, what’s in it for us?
There is Peter whose faith was as dynamic as lightning so that he dared to walk on water but whose doubt had the magnetic pull of quicksand so that he sank.
There was Peter whose confidence was as sturdy as a oak tree so that he assured Jesus that even though everyone would abandon him, he (Peter) would be there supporting Jesus. Yet his confidence crumbled like a sandcastle in a high tide so that he ended up denying Jesus three times in a row.
Yet with the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the split was healed and Peter was made whole so much so that, a few verses down from where our first reading ends today, as he stands up and addresses the huge crowd, 3,000 were converted and baptized that very day! It must have been as noisy as a livestock auction. Or as someone remarked, St. Peter must have had a water hose to baptize that many in one afternoon.
But the point of the story is the power of the Holy Spirit in Peter’s words.
(Makes me wonder about the impact of my own homilies).
That’s what the Holy Spirit did for Peter and does for you: the Spirit makes you whole.
Remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Olives, he said to his three chosen disciples, The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak? And St. Paul echoed these words when he said, That which I want to do, I don’t do and that which I don’t want to do, I do.
There is a split in you, like two scorpions in a bottle turning against each other, and that split needs to be made whole. I suspect that there is a bit of Jekyll and Hyde in all of us.
And the Holy Spirit who comes into you as a fire, cauterizes this psychic wound in you and merges your flesh and spirit until you become whole.
Bob Hulteen in his essay, “Nouwen’s Symphony of Movements.” quotes the wonderfully insightful spiritual writer Henri Nouwen, “The often painful paths to wholeness come in movements from loneliness to solitude, from hostility to hospitality, from illusion to prayer.
John Navone in his book, The Jesus Story, reminds us that “through the Holy Spirit we can internalize the values of the Jesus story.”
Isn’t this what you want to do? Make the values of Jesus your values?
Jesus’ value of sacrifice even to the cross substituted for your annoyance at the slightest inconvenience. Jesus’ value of compassion replacing your icy indifference. Jesus’ value of forgiveness supplanting your steel-hearted grudge-bearing.
On this Mother’s Day, aren’t these the values you want to inculcate in your children as you try to bestow on them the gift of wholeness.
On this feast of Pentecost and every day, ask the Holy Spirit, dwelling within you, to help you to put into effect his inspirations, his power, his stamina, his energy so that you will live the values of Jesus as perseveringly as someone running a 26 mile marathon, that you will live his values as a whole person, keeping in mind the holiness is wholeness.
HUMOR ; An artist asked the gallery owner if there had been any interest
in his paintings on display at that time.
“I have good news and bad news,” the owner replied. “The good news is that a gentleman inquired about your work and wondered if it would appreciate in value after your death. When I told him it would, he bought all 15 of your paintings.”
“That’s wonderful,” the artist exclaimed. “What’s the bad news?”
“The guy was your doctor.”
THOUGHT: Always make Jesus’ values your values.
posted by The Ronald | 2:23 PM
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