Pentecost 2011

Pentecost 2011 “Out of the believer’s heart” (John 7:37-39)

What proceeds from your heart?

What do your nourish and cultivate and cherish in your innermost being? What you choose to hold within is what by default you bring forth to your family, friends, acquaintances and to the wider world.

Jesus knew this about us first hand. He abandoned the ineffable delights of the Heavenly realm and surrendered all of his divine power and knowledge so he could experience life as we experience life: moment by moment in the duality and uncertainty of time.

From the eternal realm Jesus saw the original choice we made to separate from God. He saw that choice enter into the world of cause and effect. He saw how the effect upon the human heart is a terrible pain that distorts every aspect of our being. He saw and he acted.

Jesus, the co-eternal Beloved of the Eternal Father, came to earth at a particular time in a particular place as a particular person in order to experience the brokenness of human existence. He did this so he could heal that brokenness.
Jesus heals our brokenness in two ways. The first way is called Justification. Jesus never sinned. He never sinned because he never made the choice to separate from the Eternal Father. Jesus did suffer the consequences of humanity’s original choice to separate from God.

Jesus bore the particular sin of every human being on the Cross at the moment of his death. During his life, during his thirty three years living on this planet, he also suffered the recycled pain our species inflicts on itself.

He never participated in this terrible pattern of sin, the action and reaction of Original pain at work in the human heart in the world of cause and effect. He did suffer the consequences. He suffered constant insult and abuse from people who rejected him. He suffered constant misunderstanding and demand from people who wanted him to give them power and wealth.

Most of all, Jesus suffered the betrayal of love from every human being he met.
Jesus is the love of God in human flesh. Jesus is the sure and certain truth that God just doesn’t have love- God is love. Jesus is the co-eternal Beloved for whom God the Father created all of us and each of us. There is no human being whom God does not love and whom Jesus does not cherished.

Whoever you are and whoever you have chosen to become, Jesus is the love of God the Father reaching out to you. You are the love of God the Father designed to hold the love of the co-eternal Son and to share that love with him.

A twentieth century song states: you always hurt the one you love. You always hurt the one who loves you the most. Other people may find you irritating and dismiss you. Only the one who really loves you can feel the pain you bring forth from the depths of your soul through the distortions of your heart.

Jesus endured this pain from his enemies, from his friends and from his family and from us. No one then and no one now considers who Jesus is.

People then and now seek to define Jesus according to our needs and desires. And, we seek to define Jesus from the place of Original Pain from the Original Choice we made to separate from God. As we do this, we miss the very plan, pattern and purpose for our lives.

That is why the co-eternal Son of God was willing to come to earth and accept the pain humanity inflicted upon him and still inflicts upon him. The great love of God in Jesus Christ bears all human sin, recycled pain, suffering and death then transforms it back into life, eternal life.

The process by which the co-eternal Son applies this transformation to individual souls is the Holy Spirit.

On Good Friday on the cross, the Son sealed the breach of original separation.
On Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit into the souls of those who chose to enter into the new life Jesus offers all people.

As the Holy Spirit entered into the souls of the Apostles, He created the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. People did not create the church. The apostles were content to return to their fishing business. They were intent on grafting the New Covenant of Jesus Christ into the Synagogue and the Temple.

The Church is a divinely created organism that temporarily takes form in the world in an institutional form. The Church that the Holy Spirit is forming is the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ.

The twofold purpose of the church is the two fold action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the faithful. That two fold purpose is the salvation and sanctification of souls.

The salvation of souls is the gift of reunification with God Jesus offers. The sanctification of souls is the purification of the heart and the transformation of the soul that the Holy Spirit offers. This is grace. Grace means gift.

The Holy Spirit is the co-eternal third person of the Eternal Trinity. His purpose is to transform us in love, by love and for love. His purpose for the church is to keep us on message. We have a job to do. We are easily distracted. The Holy Spirit speaks through the Bible, the sacraments, the liturgy, the saints, and through the faithful to call the institution away from these distractions and back to the plan of salvation.

The Holy Spirit is working in each of us to bring us clarity of thought, purity of heart and singleness of will.

It is the Holy Spirit, who has shared the eternal love of the Father and the Son, who passionately and charismatically seeks to pour into our hearts that touch of transcendence by which we can experience the same love that is the very essence of the divine.

To use a more mundane but no less real image, the Holy Spirit is teaching each of us how to love. He teaches us how to love God, other people and ourselves. He not only teaches- he transforms. He takes the broken aspects of our lives and initiates a healing process. He offers to change our very desires. He will, if we give him permission, convert our sins back into their original virtue.

To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to experience the passionate desire to be the love of God at this time and in this place.

It is as we seek this transformation that our hearts find relief from the pain of separation and the recycled suffering human sin inflicts on the world.

On Pentecost, the apostles experienced conversion, purification and transformation in a very powerful, visual, audible and tangible way. They entered the room fearful and confused. They left the room filled with the wonder and awe of divine love and holiness. They went into the city and proclaimed the love of God in Jesus Christ. Within a single generation they had taken that Good News into Europe, Africa and Asia.

The same Holy Spirit who inspired and empowered the apostles is here with us today. He offers us the same level of conversion, purification and transformation in divine love and holiness.The choice is ours. It is as we choose to be filled by the Holy Spirit that we experience a thirst for God. It is as we experience that thirst that we come to the altar to drink deeply of the grace of God in the sacramental Presence of God. And, it is as we release the pain in our hearts to be healed and transformed in grace that our hearts become springs of living waters for us and for everyone in our lives.

It all starts when we hear Jesus’ words, believe his words, and receive his words into our hearts. It becomes real for us as we pray” Lord Jesus Christ, release the power of the Holy Spirit in my soul that from my heart you may pour forth overflowing rivers of blessings.” Amen.