Daniel Meynen ...
a Catholic priest at your service ...
Pastoral service
Maybe you have questions about the meaning of life ?
Maybe you are an unbeliever and you have questions about the Catholic
faith ?
Maybe you are a Christian but your faith is weakening or you are beginning to experience doubts about your faith ?
Maybe you want to be a priest but you have questions about whether God is calling you to a religious life ?
Maybe you have left the Church for a time and you want to come back to the faith ?
Maybe you are asking yourself what is this Church that some people are
denigrating ?
Maybe your world seems black and you have lost all hope in your life ?
Maybe you just have questions that you believe a Catholic priest can
answer ?
If so, don't be afraid to ask me any questions you might have.
I am at your service. I want to give you a helping hand !
Every week, I write a homily on the gospel of Sunday.
If you want to receive it by e-mail, send me a mail with the mention HOMILY.
Every Friday Wednesday evening (hour of Brussels), you will receive the homily of following Sunday.
Here my homily for Pentecost Sunday
Gospel : John 20, 19-23 :
On
the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being
shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and
stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had
said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples
were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be
with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he
had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy
Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you
retain the sins of any, they are retained."
Homily :
"On the evening of that day, the first day of the week..."
Today it is Pentecost Sunday ! It is fifty days after Easter--but not
exactly fifty. No, between Easter and Pentecost there are only forty
nine days, that is to say, exactly seven complete weeks. So, Easter and
Pentecost are two feasts which are celebrated on Sunday, a fact which
is not without significance. Indeed, Sunday is the first day of the
week, the day that corresponds to the first of the six days used by God
in order to create the world and all the universe. It means that the
feast of Pentecost is celebrated in memory of the first creation. This
feast is like a celebration of new creation ! The Holy Spirit whom the
Lord sends us
this day enters the Church in order to realize a new creation in us, in
order to make us new creatures, renewed and restored in the
Resurrection of Christ !
"...the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews..."
The disciples are reunited at home, where the Last Supper was
celebrated. Indeed Saint Luke says in the Acts of the Apostles that,
after the Ascension, the disciples "returned to Jerusalem" and that,
"when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were
staying" (Act. 1, 12-13). And later he adds: "When the day of Pentecost
had come, they were all together in one place." (2, 1) So, the Apostles
and the disciples stayed at home the day of Pentecost. Saint Luke
continues, "And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And
there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on
each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." (2,
2-4) Therefore, in the same place, in the same house where the Last
Supper took place, the Holy Spirit came to rest upon the Apostles and
upon the disciples.
"Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has
sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on
them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
Yes ! On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes upon the Apostles
in the same place where they were invested of their ministerial charge
by Christ in person. There is a very narrow link between the Sacrifice
of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit enters the
Church, it is to strengthen us for the testimony that we must surrender
to the Truth that is Christ in person. The Holy Spirit is given to us
so that we might become firm in our faith to the Truth to which we must
testify as followers of Christ. If the mission of Christ continues and
is performed daily in the Church, it is by the workings and strength of
the Spirit who was given to us ! That's why, after having said, "As the
Father sent me, I also I send you," the Lord blew upon the Apostles to
give them the Holy Spirit, "Receive the spirit Holy, there said he."
"All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together
with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."
(Acts of the Apostles, 1, 14)
When the Spirit of God arrived on the day of Pentecost, Mary, the
Mother of Jesus, was there with all the Apostles, the disciples, and
the holy women who had followed the Lord throughout his public life.
So, in the presence of Mary, and united with her in prayer, the
Apostles received the Holy Spirit. How can we deny this action of the
Spirit of God who today renews his coming at the time of the creation
of the universe, a coming related by the Holy Scripture saying, "the
Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters"
(Genesis 1, 2) ? How can we not associate Mary (which means "maria" in
Latin, that is to say the "sea" this stretch of water surrounded by the
grounds) with these mysterious waters described in the book of Genesis
as that which constitutes what we could call the first aspect of the
creation ?
When the Spirit of God entered on the day of Pentecost, the first
person he sought was Mary, who was not an Apostle, but his dear and
sole spouse ; indeed, on the day of the Incarnation, when Mary became
the Mother of God and Christ, she was received as the spouse of the
Holy Spirit.
So, on this very holy day of Pentecost, as we prepare to celebrate the
Eucharist of the Lord, let us appeal to Mary, the Mother of Jesus and
of us all, and ask her to not only prepare us to receive Christ in the
Eucharist, but also for her aid in maintaining the continuing presence
of the Holy Spirit in the Church of God and in the World.
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