How do I make sense of important feasts like Pentecost, the Trinity and the Body and Blood of Christ? My question is always the same. How do I break these feasts out of their 'holy jackets' and make hearts burn? It is a challenge but Pope Francis has told us to work hard and use contemporary language to explain our relationships with God through these feasts.
At Pentecost we celebrate the initiative of the Holy Spirit to empower the Church. The Holy Spirit, symbolised by fire brings us a profound understanding that Jesus was God and is present in us. History shows the Holy Spirit has always taken the initiative to break us out of sterile ways of thinking that inhibit the Good News. The best example is the work of St Paul called by God to become the apostle to the non-Jewish world.
The Catholic Church has become a world Church; it no longer belongs to Europe, we have a new way of thinking about ourselves as Catholics. For many people, Archbishop Oscar Romero of Central America is already a saint by popular acclaim, not only in El Salvador, but around the world. Blessed Mother Teresa of India (of Albanian descent) already belongs to us as a saint. These are men and women who responded to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; no one in the whole world is 'safe' from the Holy Spirit!
The Feast of Corpus Christi solemnly celebrates the tradition and belief in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and calls us to focus our attention on the Eucharist.
This feast is often relevant for people who have been tortured, spent years in prison and suffered injustices. There is a solidarity between what they have suffered and the sufferings of Jesus. He understands suffering, humiliation, betrayal by a trusted friend.
How does a person who has been tortured and betrayed respond to the care and touch of another person? This is a question that had never occurred to me until recently when I was speaking to a professional masseuse who works voluntarily with victims of torture. This is his way of responding to their suffering and it is an extension of Jesus’ own words, This is my body, given for you. We can extend His words to include all acts of physical care and love between people and for people. These are holy, physical acts but we do not think of them that way. Maybe it's time we did.
The Feast of the Trinity is celebrated a week after Pentecost Sunday and is about the profound relationships in one God and our relationships with one another. St John Paul II at an audience at the Vatican on 14 November, 1979 said that we become the image of God in our active collaboration in the family, in the workplace and in society. I may be wrong but we have never given enough attention to the importance of simple actions in the Church and consciously valued them.
I am constantly reminded of the love and care that families have for one another; it is not always easy going, sometimes it is heroic service. Our faith explains that when and where we see loving actions, we know God is present. We are all made in the image of God.
Fr Gary Walker
director@columban.org.au
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LISTEN TO: From the Director - Breaking feasts out of their jackets (Duration: 4:86mins, MP3, 1.87MB) |
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