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Discover Hope With
Us
Do you know the
Church's great mystery
tale?
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At this time in the Church’s
year we take part in a liturgical
mini-series as we celebrate the feasts
of the Lord’s Ascension, Pentecost,
Holy Trinity, and Corpus Christi. This
liturgical mini-series is a classic
mystery tale containing all the
violence, betrayal, love, and suspense
of the typical mystery series we so
enjoy on television.
by Sr. Mary Lea Hill, FSP
The prequelFirst, there
was a prequel to our series (the
Feast of the Annunciation and the
Nativity) in which we learned of an
angelic announcement and a virgin
birth followed by a deadly pursuit by
a jealous ruler. Silent years
followed, but eventually gave way to
the immergence of a man of power and
mystery who performed signs and
worked wonders, and who spoke for God
yet was condemned and crucified. In a
surprise ending this man rose alive
from the grave.
The plot thickensThe
plot thickens in these days as we
pick up again with some unprecedented
events. The hero of our mini-series,
none other than Jesus himself, has
not only risen from his grave, but
now lives a new form of life, never
seen before. He passes through locked
doors, yet can be touched as we all
can, and he eats. Jesus walked and
talked with the disciples after his
resurrection, but his destiny was to
return to God the Father’s kingdom
and so on May 5 we celebrated the
startling day of Jesus’ Ascension.
His parting words were “I will be
with you always.” How would this be
possible? How can he leave this world
and yet remain with us always? Only
God’s Wisdom would have devised the
perfect plan. At the Last Supper
Jesus explained his plan. Bread and
wine would become Jesus’ Body and
Blood at the words of consecration
said by the priest “in memory of Me.”
This miraculous presence of Jesus
takes place every day at Mass in the
Eucharist, but we solemnly celebrate
it annually at the feast of Corpus
Christi. This is one of the many
secrets of the Master-author of our
liturgical mini-series.
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We are enveloped in this sacred mystery
as well. It is our story, and even
more, it is our living pulse, the
breath we take, our daily prayer. In
fact, prayer is our personal response
to God’s
mystery.
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Another
big reveal Jesus did make, however, is
that God is a Trinity of Persons. There
is the Father with whom all believers are
familiar. There is the Son who came to
our world as one of us, our Savior and
our Brother. The third Person is the most
mysterious because his revelation is so
unfamiliar to us. We know this Divine
Person as the Holy Spirit. As a spirit he
comes to us in signs such as fire, a
dove, or a wind. We cannot see him, nor
can we comprehend him, but we can see the
effects of his activity. On the day of
Pentecost, the Holy Spirit made his
entrance on gusts of wind – powerful,
stirring wind that penetrated the members
of the nascent Church to their very
souls. He shook the foundations of their
life and belief before settling over each
of them as a living flame. God uses our
senses to enliven our belief, too, as we
see at every celebration of the
Eucharist. He continues to manifest
himself to us through signs and wonders.
Every sacramental celebration brings us,
soul and body, into contact with the
loving Mystery we call God.
The story continues
The
original drama of creation with all
the events of redemption from the
Easter Resurrection to the Ascension,
from Pentecost to Corpus Christi is
filled with the life of our Triune
God. We are enveloped in this sacred
mystery as well. It is our story, and
even more, it is our living pulse,
the breath we take, our daily prayer.
In fact, prayer is our personal
response to God’s
mystery.
The Feasts draw us into our own
future
In these four feasts the Church is
trying to draw us into our own
future. After the original
Easter event Jesus left his
disciples to ascend to the kingdom
of his Father. This is our future
event as well. We will be called
home one day. For now Jesus has
promised that he will be with us
all days. What better promise have
we in this life? That little
thought is enough of a meditation
on the feast of Christ’s Ascension
to keep us on track.
The celebration of Pentecost
is next when we recall the early
disciples trying to figure out how
to reach out to the whole world
with the message of Jesus. They
were hiding together in the same
room where they had shared the Last
Supper with Jesus. The Holy Spirit
had to literally come and sweep
them out into the real world, into
the mission Jesus had given them.
If those close friends of Jesus
needed an extra boost, how
unsurprising if we need a little
more of the light and breath of the
Spirit to live out our commitment
to Christ. The Spirit is the breath
of our faith so we need only
breathe to have his strength become
our strength.
Holy Trinity is the feast day of
relationships. God is a
three-person relationship: God the
Father loves the Son from all
eternity and their very love for
each other is the Holy Spirit.
Don’t even try to understand this
greatest of mysteries except to
imitate it in your own
relationships: when we love and are
loved by another, there exists a
living love between us. This is a
shadow of the Trinitarian
relationship. Rejoice that we are
so loved by our God and that we
have been baptized in the name of
the Blessed Trinity. A simple daily
celebration of this feast is to
make well the Sign of the Cross
remembering that we belong to the
God of relationships.
The
feast of Corpus Christi, or the
Body of Christ, is
the moment of truth for the
believer. Jesus said over bread and
wine: “This is my body,” “This is
my blood.” “Do this in remembrance
of me.” These are living words by
which we remain one with Christ.
Whenever we receive Holy Communion,
we are receiving the living Jesus
within us, not just a memorial, but
a reality. The gentle Jesus made it
so simple for us. Only our pride
will keep us apart from Jesus; we
are drawn to Him by our weakness.
He promised to be with us always in
what seemed an impossible dream,
but Jesus devised the perfect plan
to make it a reality.
The Bottom LineIn
these days of great and wonderful
feasts let us remember that we have
been given the gift of faith at our
baptism. Belief is there for the
taking. Always trust yourself to
believe. God’s grace, that is His
true Self, is there to invite you
in to relationship. Come as you
are! Come with an open heart: be
present, be engaged, be
yourself!
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Wondering how to
open your life more and more to the
Holy Trinity?
Pray
to the Holy Spirit
Bookmark or
Download this Digital Magazine of 9
Days of Prayer
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