Gospel for Sunday, May 23 Luke 24: 35-48
PENTECOST
35And they (editor’s note: the disciples of Emmaus) narrated what had happened along the way and how they had recognized it in the breaking of the bread. 36While they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said: “Peace be with you!”. 37Shocked and full of fear, they thought they were seeing a ghost. 38But he said to them: “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your heart? 39Look at my hands and feet: it’s really me! Touch me and look; a ghost doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you can see I have.” 40Saying this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41But since they still did not believe for joy and were filled with amazement, he said: “Do you have anything to eat here?”. 42They offered him a portion of roasted fish; 43he took it and ate it in front of them. 44Then he said: “These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you: all things written about me in the law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures 46and said to them: “Thus it is written: Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and in his name conversion and forgiveness of sins will be preached to all peoples, starting from Jerusalem. 48Of this you are witnesses.”
Luke 24: 35-48
Dear Sisters and Brothers of the Misericordie, I am Carlo Miglietta, doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it).
Also today I share with you a short meditation thought on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
John 15,26-27; 16.12-15
“We haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit!” (Acts 19.2), some disciples say to Paul in Ephesus: many who call themselves Christians today could respond in the same way. It is not for nothing that the Holy Spirit has been called “the Great Forgotten”. Yet in the “Creed” we always reiterate: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, who is Lord and gives life”, and in the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer we define it as the “First gift to believers”!
THE HOLY SPIRIT, TRINITARIAN LOVE
At the beginning of everything there is not a solitary God: there is communion, dialogue. We cannot think of the Father without the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the Trinity there is a wonderful and continuous dynamic of love. The Holy Spirit is the Love between the Father and the Son, and between the Son and the Father. But among the Divine Persons there is not only a mutual gift (missio ad intra), but love overflows externally, in the creation and salvation of the world (missio ad extra).
GOD CREATES US OUT OF LOVE
Creation is a Trinitarian event: not only the Father, but also the Son participate in it (“Everything was made through him and without him nothing was made that exists”: Jn 1.3; cf. 1 Cor 8.6; Col 1.15-17; Eph 1.3-4; Heb 1.2; Col 1.15; John 1.15; John 8.58; Wis 7.21; 9.9; Pr 8, 22-31; Sir 24,3) and the Holy Spirit, who has hovered over the waters since the beginning (Gen 1,2), who creates everything (“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, by the breath of his mouth every their host”: Ps 33,6) and that makes everything subsist (“Take away their spirit and they die… You send your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth”: Ps 104,29-30; If he… called his spirit to himself and withdrew his breath, all flesh would die instantly and man would return to dust”: Job 34,14-15; “Your incorruptible spirit is in all things ”: Wis 12,1).
GOD SAVES US THROUGH LOVE
The incarnation occurs through the work of the Holy Spirit (Lk 1.35; Mt 1.18.20). The mission of the Son is revealed at baptism, when the Spirit descends on Jesus (Mt 3.16-17), manifesting his double dimension as royal Messiah (Ps 2.7) and prophetic (the Servant of IHWH: Is 42.1 = Mt 12,18). From then on, the Spirit “remains upon him” (Jn 1.32) and imprints all his work (Mt 4.1; Luke 4.14. 16-20; 10.21): and all his words “are Spirit and life” (Jn 6:36). And it is the Spirit who brings about his resurrection (Rm 1,3-4).
THE SPIRIT OF LOVE IS POURED UPON US
In the Old Testament we often find examples of close relationships between two characters, one of whom dies or disappears from the scene and the other takes his place, collecting his spirit: Moses and Joshua (Dt 34.9), Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings 2,9.15)… At his death on the cross, Jesus pours out the Spirit on believers (Jn 19,30: “He sent out the Spirit”; cf. 7,38-39); and the Spirit is the great gift of the Risen One (Jn 20.22; Acts 1.9-11; 2.33). For John, the one he calls “another Paraclete” (Jn 14.16) is another Jesus. And since the Paraclete can only come when Jesus leaves (Jn 16.7), the Paraclete is the presence of Jesus when Jesus is absent.
The term “parakletos” can have multiple meanings: as the passive of “parakalèin” it is the “called neighbor”, the defense lawyer or better, in John, the witness in favor in a trial; in active form “parakalèin” is “he who comes close”, the protector, the friend, the consoler; related to “paraklesis”, he is the one who exhorts, who encourages. It is no coincidence that Jerome, translating the Gospel into Latin in the so-called Vulgate, preferred to maintain the simple transliteration from the Greek, “paracletus”, to maintain all the meanings.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (Jn 14.17; 15.26; 16.13; 1 Jn 4.6; 5.6), interior teacher of the disciples, who not only reminds them of the teaching of Jesus (14 ,26), but makes them understand it, guiding them to the whole truth (Jn 16,13). Furthermore, he bears witness to Jesus against the world (Jn 15.26), and puts the world under judgment regarding sin, justice and judgment (Jn 16.8-11). The Spirit proceeds from the Father, who sends it in the name of Jesus (Jn 14,16.26): but Jesus also sends it autonomously (Jn 15,26; 16,7): the Catholic Ecumenical Councils will conclude that “it proceeds from the Father and the Son ”.
The Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of Christians; in John 14:16-17, in a stupendous crescendo, it is not only stated that He is with (“half”) the believers, but that He is near (“para”) of them, or rather in (“en”) them: they thus became “Pneumatophores”, “Bearers of the Holy Spirit” (Rm 8,9-11; 1 Cor 3,16). The Church itself is a “living temple of the Spirit” (Pref. VIII per annum).
The Holy Spirit completes the creational project by making us children of God (Mt 28.20; John 3.5-8; Rom 5.5; Tit 3.5-6; Gal 4.6).
It is above all “in the Liturgy,… that the virtue of the Holy Spirit acts in us through sensitive signs” (LG, n. 50): the Holy Curé of Ars said: “The sacraments that Christ instituted would not have saved us without the action of the Holy Spirit”. And this is why in the celebration of each Sacrament the fundamental moment is the “epiclesis” (from “epi-kalèo”, “I invoke above”), that is, the supplication to the Father to send the Holy Spirit through the Son, to complete his outpouring of blessing and consecration.
TRANSFORMED BY THE SPIRIT OF LOVE
Life according to the Spirit is the condition of the Christian (Rom 7.6; 8.14; Gal 5.25). The Spirit of Love that dwells in believers (Rm 5,5) transforms them into new men (“You must be renewed in the Spirit… and put on the new man, created according to God in justice and true holiness”: Eph 4, 23-24):
– Love: “The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us as a gift” (Rom 5.5); the Spirit founds the Church (Gal 3.3), which must become the place of agape (1 Jn 4.20; 3.17; Mt 10.40; 25.40.45; Mt 22.37-38; Rm 13, 9-10; Gal 5,14; Col 3,14; 1 Pt 1,22) in unity (Eph 4,3-4; 2,2; 1 Cor 2,10-15) and in the pluralism of gifts (1 Cor 12; 14), in an authentic “ministry of the Spirit” (2 Cor 3,6.8);
– Hope: Christians are men of hope and optimism (Col 1.15; Tit 2.13; 2 Cor 4.13-14; 5.1-8; Mt 5.3-12): the Spirit The Holy One who is in us is the “firstfruits” (Rm 8,23) and the “earnest” (2 Cor 1,22; 5,5; Eph 1,14) of salvation and resurrection (Rm 8,11; 1 Cor 15, 43.46);
– Joy: Christians are men of joy always, in every circumstance, even in suffering (Is 9.2; 12.2-6; Zeph 3.14-18; Mt 9.15; Mk 2.19; Luke 5,34; Jn 3,29; Jn 16,22,24; 15,11; 17,13; 1 Jn 1,3-4; Acts 5,41; 2 Cor 7,4; Phil 2,17-18; Col 1 ,24; 1 Thess 1,6; 5,16; Phil 4,4-5; Heb 10,34; Jas 1,2; 1 Pt 4,13);
– the Mission: filled with the Love of God, believers overflow it to their brothers (Acts 2.1-12; 5.32; 15.28; 6.3.10; 7.55; 8.15-17.29.39; 9 ,17; 10,19.44-47; 11,15f; 13,2-4.9; 16,6-7; 20,23): the Spirit is “the strength to be witnesses to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1, 8).
Woe to us if we deserve Stephen’s reproach to the Jews: “O stubborn and pagan people at heart, you always resist the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 7.51). It is therefore necessary: “to live and be nourished by the Spirit…, to walk in the Spirit,… to let oneself be guided by the Spirit, to be docile instruments in the hands of the Spirit, sonorous harps of prayer, fruits of the Spirit… Only in this way does the Christian constitutes a “letter written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God” (2 Cor 3.3)” (Pedrini).
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.