Posted by The WORD in other words (2009) by Fr. Bernardo Collera, SVD – Catholic Trade Manila
Monday 6th Week of Easter
After that fateful 9-11 incident in New York, the whole of America, if not the world started to live in dread of terrorism. We are all witnesses to the extra stringent measures implemented for security reasons: inspections here and there without let-up – in malls, airports, bus and boat terminals, business centers and other prominent areas, and wherever large gatherings of people are to be held. Canine bomb sniffers have been employed and made available immediately on call.
The promotion of life by defending it from the threats of terrorism thus became typical of this third millennium. This is because we all live in a time when killing people is done in the name of God, as a way to worship God, so to say.
The late Pope John Paul II, in convoking a prayer assembly of religions and religious leaders in Assisi months after the incident declared “Never again to killing in the name of God!” Already in here we see the words of Christ fulfilled: “…the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God.” Indeed, what Pope John Paul II did was to testify to the human dignity Christ restored by His living sacrifice on the Cross. The Pope was able to do this because the Holy Spirit, the Advocate of Christ’s love witnesses in us, with us and through us.
In the text that we read today, Christ exhorts us to remember that “I told you (this).” The Holy Spirit is thus the memory of Christ, constantly stirring us to remember all that He did for mankind and all creation for that purpose – in His time: for those before He was in the flesh, and all the generations after He rose from the dead.
The coming of the Holy Spirit to us at baptism, most especially at Confirmation, and at other sacraments affirms the truth that just as God took on a human body, so will the Holy Spirit “need” a body whose faculty to remember He can use to bring us back to all that Jesus said and did for us.
It is thus imperative that we too keep tab with our memory of Christ by our active life in the Church. How do we do this? Constant and faithful prayer, reading of Scriptures, understanding the teachings and thoughts of the Catholic Church, actually experiencing the Word of God in our lives and sharing God’s ways in our lives, and apostolic reaching out. In short, Christian witnessing.
When we live out our fidelity to Christ in the Church, God the Holy Spirit won’t have the difficulty to help us tie things together in our memory – the memory of Jesus Who so generously and so self-effacingly offered His life for us – not to kill people to worship God – but to have Himself killed so all may worship God alive.
Indeed when we so live this way, Christ in the Spirit becomes not just a memory but a reality, empowered by the same Spirit that stirred Him to love, live and serve life – in us, with us and through us.
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