Pastor Notes May 28
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May 30, 2023We celebrate the birth of our Christian Church with Pentecost Sunday, and our readings for this weekend announces the gift of our calling as ‘community.’ When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. (Acts 2:1). For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of the one Spirit.(1Corinthians 12:13) Jesus said to them, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me so I send you.(John 20:22). Pentecost Sunday, fifty days after Easter Sunday, often is lost amidst Spring activities, graduation, ending of the school year. Symbolizing the Holy Spirit, people attending church wear red, and sometimes the readings are proclaimed in different not languages emphasizing the aspects of the beginning foundation of ‘Church’ as innumerates in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Concerning the early Church besides the noted persecution of believers, the following aspects of those communities who gathered after Jesus Ascension give us pause as to the strength of our Christian foundation.
As the early Church began to form it was multi-racial, experiencing a unity across various ethnic boundaries.The early church was multi-racial and experienced a unity across ethnic boundaries that was startling. Secondly, as ‘believers’ were criticized, excluded, persecuted and killed for their beliefs, they nonetheless formed a Church community which emphasized forgiveness and reconciliation. Early Church believers never sought vengeance against those who persecuted them. Nor did they ridicule or taunt those who chastised them; a remarkable movement away from the expected norms of retaliation which was culturally prevalent at that time.
Thirdly, as the followers forming the early Church were expected to care for the poor within a believer’s family, they outwardly offered help to all the poor, regardless of race or beliefs. In fact, during the devastating plagues the followers of Christ did not flee the cities; rather, they stayed and took care of the sick and dying often at the expense of their own life. Fourth, though abortion was extremely rare in the time surrounding the beginning of our Christian Church, unwanted babies were left to die by what is called ‘infant exposure:’ thrown onto garbage heaps left to die. Christians often saved those infants and raised them.
Finally, the Roman culture at the time allowed married men to engage in physical relationships outside of their marriage. Such was considered ‘normal’ behavior, because the physical appetite was irresistible. On the other hand, the early Church proclaimed the sanctity of physical relationships was a bond between two individuals in a heterosexual marriage.
In the early Church those who choose to follow Christ Jesus, proclaimed their faith became the deepest identity of self, above that of a particular race, gender or class. All members of the early Church were equal in Christ. A radical challenge to the social structure at the time, enforcing class distinctions and rights or lack there of. On this, the birthday of the Church, our foundation inherited from those early believers set up a standard worthy of our faith, efforts, outreach, and hope in our ‘advanced’ culture. Practically speaking, the Holy Spirit, our Advocate, was alive and well in the early Church; and certainly persists within the Sacraments and Christian community we are called to share today. Of those early apostles? Peter was crucified upside down. Paul was beheaded in Rome while James (son of Zebedee) suffered the same fate in Jerusalem. Philip, Andrew and Simon the Zealot were also crucified. Thomas was speared to death, Bartholomew was skinned alive and then beheaded, and James (son of Alphaeus) was stoned and clubbed to death. Many believe Jude and Matthew were martyred by either stoning, beheading or stabbed to death. Of course, Judas Iscariot hung himself. John, the youngest disciple, is believed to be the only apostle to die of natural causes.
In 2003 Pope John Paul II provided this inspiring summary of Pentecost: “The Church of Christ is always, so to speak, in a situation of Pentecost: she is always gathered in the Upper Room in prayer, and at the same time, driven by the powerful wind of the Spirit, she is always on the streets preaching.” And Pope Francis, in his homily on Pentecost Sunday, 2018, said, “Plenty of people promise change, new beginnings, prodigious renewals, but experience teaches us that no earthly attempt to change reality can ever completely satisfy the human heart . . . .Yet the change that the Spirit brings is different. It does not revolutionize life around us, but changes our hearts.”
However you enjoy this Memorial Day Weekend, may we graciously hold in memory the deceased veterans who sacrificed for our freedoms and democracy, and for the hope of peace within other countries. Eternal Rest grant unto them O Lord. May they rest in peace. Gracious God,
On this Memorial Day, we pray for those who courageously laid down their lives for the cause of freedom. May the examples of their sacrifice inspire in us the selfless love of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless the families of the fallen troops, and fill their homes and lives with Your strength and peace. In union with people of goodwill of every nation, embolden us to answer the call to work for peace and justice, and thus, seek an end to violence and conflict around globe. We ask this through your name. Amen. (Jesuit Resource: “A Christian Memorial Day Prayer”) God Bless, Fr. Tim