FEAST OF THE THE HOLY TRINITY

As we celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity, it is good to remember that we belong to a great family, whose love comes from the Holy Trinity. As we walk along, we should remember the the teaching of some of our ancestors in faith.

St. Athanasius (293-373 ad), who became Bishop of Alexandria in 328 was a great defender of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which was defined in the Council of Nicaea.

Light, radiance and grace are in the Trinity and from the Trinity 

It will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition, teaching and faith of the Catholic Church, which was revealed by the Lord, proclaimed by the apostles and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built, and if anyone were to lapse from it, he would no longer be a Christian either in fact or in name.

  We acknowledge the Trinity, holy and perfect, to consist of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this Trinity there is no intrusion of any alien element or of anything from outside, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and created being. It is a wholly creative and energising reality, self-consistent and undivided in its active power, for the Father makes all things through the Word and in the Holy Spirit, and in this way the unity of the holy Trinity is preserved. Accordingly, in the Church, one God is preached, one God who is above all things and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as Father, for he is principle and source; he is through all things through the Word; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit.

  Writing to the Corinthians about spiritual matters, Paul traces all reality back to one God, the Father, saying: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone.

  Even the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the Father through the Word. For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. Similarly, when the Spirit dwells in us, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us too, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text: My Father and I will come to him and make our home with him. For where the light is, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is, there too are its power and its resplendent grace.

  This is also Paul’s teaching in his second letter to the Corinthians: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just as grace is given from the Father through the Son, so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in the Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit, we possess the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Spirit himself.

YOU DID NOT RECEIVE A SPIRIT OF SLAVERY

THE FEAST OF PENTECOST: Ro 8:8-17

Judging the past by the standards of the present

In this society in which we live today, it is a commonly accepted attitude to judge and condemn the past by the values and the philosophies of the present; and that is done with a spirit of pride and self-righteousness. Then, if there is a possibility of getting some money and gaining some profit, a crusade is started, which becomes the centre of attention of all the media. Many times, people who have nothing to show in service to their fellow human beings are the ones who mostly speak out, demanding justice and compensation. If one is or was in a position of leadership, then he is crucified, and nothing will be accepted as a possible justification. Whoever stands in front of people must be a perfect and blameless hero, if such a person can be found. The basic truth that all of us are weak and sinners is forgotten.

However, if these so outspoken people were there, they would have submitted with total subservience, and would be lost in the crowd, without making any impact which would be worthy taking notice of.

Paul seen and judged by today’s culture

This comes to mind, as I think of Paul, the great Apostle, who became great in spite of or because of his weakness and sin, being human like all of us. Nowadays, we find people who accuse Paul of all kinds of things, mainly of bigotry and male chauvinism, even misogyny. They would like Paul to be a twenty first century philosopher or politician promoting all the latest ideas of this new age. However, to see the relevance of Paul for today, we must look at him in the Jewish and Roman societies in which he lived at the beginning of the first century ad.

Paul’s experience of the Holy Spirit

As we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, we can see Paul as a great product of the Holy Spirit, and we should listen to his very profound teaching about and his deep experience of the Holy Spirit.

Echoing the words of Christ, Paul wrote to the Romans that "the Spirit of God has made his home in you (Ro 8:9). That fact transforms us, making of us children of God:

"Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God." (Ro 8:14-16).

Baptised in one Spirit, we have the dignity of children of God

We are children, so we are not slaves, meaning that we cannot be oppressed and trampled upon. Our dignity must be respected. Paul is very clear on that. This thinking was a totally radical thinking, in the Greco-roman culture, with a society built upon discrimination and slavery. Paul was not a politician and he was not in power to create fair political and social structures; he was just a wandering preach, moved by his deep love to Jesus Christ, and he offered only what he could offer: Jesus Christ, as Saviour and Redeemer.

According to Paul, we are all made into one, without discrimination, based on tribe, nation, race, language, culture or even sex: 

"For in the one Spirit we were all baptised into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit." (1 Co 12:13) And "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:28).

A deep experience of the Holy Spirit will lead us to recognise Jesus' face in all the people around us, opening our hearts to them and seeing in them the common dignity of children of God. 

The experience of Pentecost teaches us that, in spite of different languages, races and cultures, we are all called to be one and to rejoice together as we proclaim God's praises and sing his glories.

SENT BACK TO THIS EARTH, WHERE WE MUST BE WITNESSES OF CHRIST

THE FEAST OF ASCENSION: Act 1:1-11

Is religion the opium of the people?

There are people who see religion as evil, accusing it of promoting obscurantism and robbing people of their right to make their own destiny. According to marxist teaching, "Religion is the opium of the people". For all those who based their political ideology in the marxist theory, this statement sounds like a truth beyond any doubt, being repeated at any moment. In the communist countries, it was part of the daily menu of attack on religion. I remember that, in Mozambique, during the first years of independence, religion was dismissed as a backward force and as an obstruction to development, promoting the submission of the poor and filling them with false hopes.

However, such a picture of the Christian faith is very much one-sided and far from the historical truth. Any serious historian, even the unbelievers, recognises that, through most of the centuries of Christian presence, the faith in Jesus Christ has been a source of inspiration, promoting culture and leading to enlightenment.

Nowadays, the atheist communist ideology  has been substituted by a prevalent wave of materialism and hedonism, which dismisses religion and God altogether as empty and useless talk. Religion and God may have a hidden place in the privacy of one's live, but they should not be allowed to play a detrimental public role in society.

Jesus’ last message

The first reading on the Ascension Sunday gives us some insights about the true dimension of the Christian faith and of its role in society.

As Jesus was giving his last instructions, the disciples asked about the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. Jesus answered, as he had answered before, that he had nothing to do with that. He did not come for political power, and his Church should not get political power. That is not the mission he entrusted to the Church. And we can say that history passes a harsh judgement on those times when the Church was deeply involved in politics, having her own state.

Power and wealth are not the values by which the Church should be guided. They are great values for the people of the world, to which some dedicate their lives with all their mind and their heart. Power and wealth do not bring true happiness and peace, but are a constant source of struggles, fights and wars.

To the Church, Jesus gave the mission of being his witness, by word and by deeds. And in order to be true witnesses, Jesus sent upon his disciples the Holy Spirit. We must be witnesses of God's merciful love, shown to us in Jesus Christ.

Why are you looking into the sky?

As Jesus disappeared from the eyes of his disciples, we are presented with a last scene. They remained there in ecstasy, looking up to heaven, as if they were going to be taken up as well. However, two men dressed in white came to question them: "Why are you standing here looking into the sky?" They were turned back to this world in which we live. They assured them that Christ will come again, but we must prepare for his return (Second Coming), by turning our eyes and our hands to this world in which we live.

Surely, we need an experience of the risen Lord, and we must live in expectation, ready for his coming. But this expectation leads us to work hard for the Kingdom of God, so that God's glory may be felt present among us. We were given the task of being witnesses and of proclaiming the Good News.

As our feet are still here on earth, our eyes cannot look only to heaven and loose sight of the reality in which we live.

Our Christian faith is not a drug that keeps us dreaming and completely out of touch with the reality that surrounds us; instead it demands a commitment to work hard for the Kingdom of God, being like the yeast that transform the whole dow.  If we look up to heaven and contemplate Christ is to turn back with renewed strength, committing ourselves to the transformation of this world, illumined and guided by the light received from Jesus Christ.

FAITH AND CULTURE

VI EASTER SUNDAY: Acts 15:1-2,22-29

Throughout the history of the people of Israel up to the time of Jesus and beyond, faith and culture were inseparable, in such a way that to believe in Yahweh was the same as to be an Israelite and, later on, a Jew. It is not surprising that the attempt to break out of this straightjacket, liberating the faith from the Jewish culture, would provoke a very big crisis.

In fact, as soon as the Gospel spread among the Gentiles, with Christian communities being formed among them, a big crisis emerged, becoming a cultural and religious conflict of big proportions. In this conflict, Antioch and Jerusalem represented two opposite camps, which were like two blocks crushing against each other through a common faulty line. The Church in Jerusalem, being mainly (or even exclusively) constituted of Jews, revered, accepted and followed all Jewish religious traditions. Their faith was embedded into the Jewish culture to such an extent that they could not see or accept the difference between the two. On the other side, the Church of Antioch, where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians, was constituted mainly of gentiles, who knew very little about the Jewish culture and who saw no reason to follow it. But that was unacceptable for the Jewish Christians, who started a deliberate effort to impose the Jewish culture on the gentiles, thus provoking a big conflict that would affect the life of the Church for ever.

THE COMPROMISE AT THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM

The Council of Jerusalem, reported in Acts 15, was called to find a way out of the crisis, by accepting (or imposing) a compromise, which in the whole was greatly favourable to the gentiles. However, in spite of that compromise having been suggested by James, the leader of the Jerusalem Church, the majority of the Christian Jews did not accept it.

The conflict went on and on, making the apostolic work of Paul more and more difficult and dangerous. In fact, we may say that the Church of Jerusalem would come out victorious, if it was not for the loss of influence, due to the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple by the Roman army. The Church of Jerusalem, with its traditional and fundamentalist attitude, was the source of the conflict, keeping the freedom of the Gospel prisoner of their narrow minded nationalism. 

THE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST FINDS A HOME IN ANY CULTURE, BEING ALSO A CHALLENGE TO ALL CULTURES.

Throughout the centuries, the Church has  experienced similar situations, where faith and culture are seen as one, and where culture informs the religious experience to such an extent that the difference cannot be seen, leading to an effort to impose as matters of faith what are in fact only features of a specific culture.

We must remember that faith in Jesus Christ can be lived in all cultures, never identifying itself with any one culture, and always standing as a challenge to all cultures.

THE COMFORT OF THE OLD MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO ACCEPT THE NOVELTY OF THE GOSPEL

However, we must be aware that the fundamentalist and traditionalist mentality still pervades the life of the Church, making it difficult to recognise and accept the challenges brought by the novelty of the Gospel. The sense of  safety and security given by the religious traditions leads to see a threat and a betrayal in any search for new ways to express and live the faithfulness to the Gospel. The comfort of the old makes it difficult or impossible to accept the new, making change very difficult.