May Year B. The Season of Power reveals the manifested power given by Christ through the authority of his name and the gift of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus ascends to the Father He sends us the Holy Spirit that we might be one with him and the Father. The signs of believers show God’s power and a conversion of heart. The readings include the 4th-7th Sundays of Easter, the Ascension and Pentecost. Living Seasons of Change was hosted by Patti Brunner with Msgr. David LeSieur on KDUA-fm.
To Listen audio: Season of Power
Outline of Season of Power
Season of the Power reveals the power of the Spirit.
Witness of a Life Teen retreat explanation of Mark 16 and signs of the believer
The conditions are “ripe” for the fullness of truth to be revealed.
The working of the Spirit can be relied upon.
See the promises and the instruction to act through the Spirit in these passages.
Speaking the Name of the Lord evokes the Most Holy Spirit—as baptized Christians we have been given the right and the duty to do so.
Discussion of the Ascension speaks to the “why”: so Jesus could take his place at the Father’s right hand, so that the Redemptor/Savior might take us into his heart and join us with the Father.
Space and time are overcome by the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. It is thus that we know that we are one.
Discussion of the Pentecost: the signs that manifest in the Acts of the Apostles.
Note that through time many people have manifested these gifts to build up the Church and to reform it when that was needed.
The beauty of the gifts is conversion of hearts.
The fruit of the Spirit—while being found throughout the Christian’s life—are most greatly manifested when the charisms and gifts of the Holy Spirit are truly accepted and applied.
All are called to be prophets and accept the Lord’s word into their hearts.
[For assigned liturgical readings see below. [i]]
Transcript Recorded April 24, 2009
Patti Welcome to Living Seasons of Change and the Season of Power. I’m Patti Brunner and my co-host is Msgr. David LeSieur, a priest of the Catholic Church in the diocese of Little Rock. Liturgical readings this season reveal the power of the Holy Spirit sent to us by Jesus, as He ascended to sit at the Father’s right hand, and reveal the power available through the name of Jesus. Our listeners can find the readings and the references from our show today at PatriarchMinistries.com. Welcome, Monsignor!
Msgr. David LeSieur
Thank you, Patti. Today we continue our discussion of the Easter Season with the 4th to the 7th Sundays of Easter and the feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost. These readings provide a real powerhouse for us to follow.
Patti Brunner
Indeed they do! We are empowered through the gift of the Holy Spirit and by the Name of Jesus. Since we are in the year of Mark, year B, Mark Chapter 16 is the gospel we read on the Feast of Ascension. It highlights this power. We are to consider power a sign of our belief in Jesus.
Msgr. David LeSieur
Jesus spoke these final words, in Mark 16: 17 to 20, to the eleven apostles: “‘These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents (with their hands), and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.’ So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.”
Patti:
“In the Name of Jesus believers will drive out demons, speak new languages, handle serpents, drink deadly things without harm, lay hands on the sick and they will recover.” What’s your take on that gospel? Msgr.:
Don’t play with snakes. Some people do, you know. Some churches handle snakes, get bit and die.
Patti:
In 2007, I gave one of the talks at the Upper Classmen Retreat for Life Teen, and we went into these verses a little bit. I asked them, “How many of you are believers?” And all their hands went up. Then I read them these signs of a believer. When I asked, “how many are doing these things?” There was dead silence. So, we took it a verse at a time. “How many ‘speak new languages’, pray in tongues?” Several adults and a few teens raised their hands.
Msgr. David LeSieur
That’s a lot more common than handling snakes!
Patti Brunner
I reminded them of Paul’s shipwreck, when he was loading the firewood and the snake bit him and how everyone thought he was going to die[i]” and when nothing happened to him their realized he was powerful.
Msgr.:
“He shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm.
Patti:
As far as drinking deadly stuff without harm, I asked, “How many of you have done something that should have killed you, but it didn’t?” Half the hands went up.
Msgr.:
Usually in cars.
Patti:
Or drugs or alcohol; I was surprised. I said, “That’s because you are a believer and the Lord is protecting you!” But we can’t continue to take God’s protection for granted. The enemy is really trying to destroy their generation with “snakes and poison” because God is outpouring His Holy Spirit on their generation. The enemy is trying to destroy them through abortion, addictions to drugs, alcohol and media, through tearing apart their families, tempting them toward suicide, pornography, and premarital sex.
Msgr.:
– and consumerism; all kinds of things.
Patti:
On this handling serpents, I said, “You know, the Lord is going to have you go places that seem dangerous, going around people that you don’t like and don’t want to be around; You will handle evil people. You will handle evil situations.”
Msgr.:
That’s a good way to look at that.
Patti:
It’s handling danger.
Msgr.:
But not foolishly, not foolhardily! Not daring or tempting the Lord. I think that’s a good example because kids at school probably handle serpents a lot: People who want to lead them astray. The drug ad says “Just Say No.” So, like handling a deadly serpent, just don’t drink it. “Drinking deadly poisons without harm.” You wouldn’t do that purposely.
Msgr. David LeSieur
I remember some years ago – I was a fairly new priest –when the 5th Sunday and John 15:1-8 fell on Mother’s Day, and I thought, “Being a mother, carrying that child within you, that child is like a branch on the vine. The mother is the vine and the child must be connected to her in order to have life.” I remember bringing that out, that connection between the mother and the child before it’s born. The umbilical cord is so life giving and so necessary. It is no different with us and Jesus. We are just as needy or just as dependent upon His grace as an unborn child is to its mother while it’s being carried. Receiving the Eucharist is where that vine feeds you. That’s the connection for the branch. In receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus, the Bread of Life as He says in John 6, that’s how the vine feeds us. Without that connection, Jesus says, we can’t do anything.
Patti:
“Without Me, you can do nothing.” So, we’re told to act in the name of the Lord, to do all these wondrous deeds in the name of the Lord. We are challenged to do more through His power that He has given us; to rely upon the working of the Spirit.
Msgr.:
‘With Me what can you not do?’ He wants us to bear fruit. It is a beautiful image.
Patti Brunner
On the feast of Pentecost we have the choice of two Gospels from John. Both show the working of the Spirit. John 15 & 16 tell us that “The Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth. He will speak what he hears.”[ii] We can always rely on the Holy Spirit.
Msgr. David LeSieur
The other choice is John 20:19-23 which is set during the evening of the resurrection. “He breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them…”[iii]
Patti Brunner
Several readings of this season show the promises and the instruction to act through the Spirit. 1st John 4, on the 7th Sunday, reminds us that God is love” and “This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit”[iv] The presence of the Spirit, in a person who believes, confirms that he or she is one with God.[v]
Msgr. David LeSieur
On the feast of the Ascension, Ephesians 4 reminds us “Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” That measure is immense. He gave individual gifts or charisms to men, and to the Church He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors & teachers.[vi]
Patti Brunner
Throughout this season our first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles, showing us how the Apostles act with power, their lives transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit and through the power of the Name of Jesus. When you speak the Name of the Lord you do indeed evoke the Most Holy Spirit—as baptized Christians we have been given the right and the duty to do so.
Msgr. David LeSieur
On the 4th Sunday of Easter we hear Peter explain to the Sanhedrin how he healed someone. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit said, “It was in the name of Jesus Christ…that this man stands before you healed.” There is no other name under heaven ” by which we are to be saved.”[vii]
Patti Brunner
Before he healed the man, Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold but what I have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ. Stand up and walk.” So, it’s done with the power of the name of Jesus and the power of the Spirit, too.
On the 5th Sunday 1 John chapter 3 tells us, love not just “in word or speech but in deed and truth” “we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask”. Because we “believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us” “We know he remains in us from the Spirit” [viii]
Msgr. David LeSieur
That echoes the gospel on the 6th Sunday from John 15:9-17 “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love” “I have told you everything I have heard from my Father” “I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.”
Patti Brunner
Each of these scripture tie together how we are empowered through the Name of the Lord,
Msgr.:
The name is a powerful indicator of a person. ‘Jesus’ means “Yahweh saves”. To speak in someone’s name or to act in someone’s name means that you are acting either in their stead, with their permission, or you are acting with power they have given you.
Patti:
It’s an authority. Like you are an ambassador for that person whose name you use.
Msgr.:
Yes, if the leader, the president or God, Himself, gives you a commission or a mission to do, you are invested with the authority to do it in the ‘name of’. So, whenever the priest baptizes, it is in the ‘name’ of the Father, Son and the Spirit. When the priest offers absolution, it is in the name of the Father, of the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Patti:
We don’t act on our own but by the one who sent us. Jesus says that, too. “I only say what I hear the Father says.” Jesus is sent by the Father then we are sent by Him. The 7th Sunday’s gospel, John 17, Jesus prayed, “Father, keep them in Your Name You have given Me so they may be one.” “I protected them in Your Name that You gave Me.”[ix] So, Jesus is telling us His Name, His authority, came through the Father.
Msgr.:
Yes. “I do only what I see the Father do.”
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Patti Brunner
Welcome back, I’m Patti Brunner and I’m talking with Msgr. David LeSieur. Tell us, Msgr., why did Jesus need to ascend to the Father? Why did He leave us?
Msgr.:
In John’s Gospel 16:7, Jesus says, “It’s better for you that I go; otherwise, the Spirit cannot come into you.[x] He left so He could send the Spirit. The Spirit is Jesus’ presence. Our physical bodies limit us; can’t be at two places at once. But in the spirit, there is no place Jesus can’t be at any time, at the same time. His ascension into Heaven and His leaving us was necessary so that we have access to Him at all times. If He had remained on earth, He might have stayed in Galilee or Jerusalem. We would all have to go to Jerusalem to see Him or He would have to come here and we wouldn’t be able to see Him for the crowd, like the Holy Father. When the Holy Father comes you can barely see him.
Patti:
As He took His place at the Father’s right hand we are one with Him, one in His Body, so He is taking us and joining us with the Father. That’s a wonderful place to be our intercessor[xi].
Msgr.:
That’s true.
Patti:
When Jesus ascended into heaven space and time were overcome by the Spirit that keeps us connected to His Glorious Body as He is reconnected to the Father.
Msgr.:
We say that the Pentecost is the birthday of the Church; and we also say the Spirit is the soul of the church. You know, your soul keeps your body together. At death, the soul leaves, and the body begins to decompose. If the Spirit ever left the Church, there would be no Church; it would just fall apart. The Spirit keeps Jesus’ body together, the Church, the Mystical Body. So, it was important for Jesus to ascend to the Father where He could intercede for us and so He could send the Spirit to enlighten us, to teach us more of what Jesus was teaching us and, also, to keep us together in life.
Patti Brunner
The life of the body is the soul; the Spirit is the soul of the Church which keeps the Church together, heading the same direction.
Msgr. David LeSieur
It’s interesting to me that Jesus left the earth at the time the body was formed. It was like a gestation period—Jesus’ ascension into heaven to the birth 10 days later at Pentecost, according to Luke. The Spirit came and formed this body, the Church, in Jesus’ absence. So, He is still present in His body but it is the Spirit that leads and guides and keeps it altogether.
Patti:
He stayed on earth only long enough to give witness to His Resurrection. He is instituting the Body of Christ as He leaves and sends the Spirit. The Spirit is the key to the presence of Jesus among us. The priest invokes the Holy Spirit at Eucharist to bring the Real Presence.
Msgr.:
Right, Epiclesis over the gifts that they may become the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We invoke the Holy Spirit to do it.
Patti:
In a similar way we invoke the name of Jesus when we want tap into the power He gave us to carry out His commands.
Msgr.:
We do it in the name of the Lord with the guidance and help and strength of the Holy Spirit for the Father’s glory. The Trinity is there. We pray to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that gathers us together to pray. Jesus didn’t come to do it all Himself. He equipped us to continue His work. He left the earth so He could send the Spirit; but I think, also, to give us responsibility to act in His name. I think Jesus says to us, “This is your Church, too, and you have to act. You have to take some responsibility for it. I’ll help you do it but I want you to grow and take on responsibility as an adult Christian.”
Patti:
As we look at the history of the Church we can see how the gifts of the Spirit, those charisms of healings, miracles, prophecy and so on, are stirred up in a generation or in a particular person. If we read the lives of the saints, we can see how there will be a pocket of saints in a particular time when either the society has gotten decadent or the church has gotten complacent or has poor leadership.
Msgr.:
You have people like St. Francis of Assisi and Dominic and then you have people like Catherine of Siena. I even think you have the Protestant Reformation. When you don’t listen to a prophet things happen. The Lord will correct what needs to be corrected through raising up people. Why did the Pentecostal churches rise up in the 1900’s[xii]? They use the gifts. They speak in tongues. They do healings. The Catholic Church has all that but we don’t apply it very much except sacramentally. The sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is formalized prayer for healing. There are plenty of Catholics who pray in tongues and who do prayers of healings. We have it here at our church.
Patti:
At the vigil of the feast of Pentecost we hear Jesus say about the Spirit in John’s gospel, “Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me.”[xiii] There is a passion when the Lord stirs up those gifts but if you don’t constantly give back out what you have been given, the flow, the lava, hardens on the top sides and quits flowing. There is a fire underneath that has provided that lava, but it hardens when it sits where it is. That’s the way the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the signs of the believers, happen in our church. They come and go whenever there is an eruption of the Spirit. The eruption, the flow, changes the landscape. Everything you can imagine yields to the power of God, yields to the will of the Spirit; and then things kind of settle down.
Msgr.:
I just wonder if the church is on the brink of a new era; simply because of the condition of the world. The world has never been in great shape, let’s face it, since the time of Adam and Eve, but there are periods in history when the Church is very, very much needed and the gifts of the Spirit are greatly needed. I think we might be on the brink of something big, here.
Patti:
I think so, too. Anytime I minister to youth, the Lord seems to give me that message. “This is the generation. Be open. Be ready. Be willing.”
Msgr.:
And we have to trust that the Lord is not going to let His church be destroyed.
Patti Brunner
Oh never! Right!
Msgr. David LeSieur
It’s His body. It will never happen. We want to be part of the life, of the body, by using our gifts, not letting them stagnate. I loved your image of the lava, hardening, then flowing. The fire is there but sometimes too much air gets to it and it hardens it and cools it off. The air might be the society that we live in, or the times we live in, but the fire is definitely going to be there.
Patti:
If you are away from the molten lava long enough, it covers up and grass grows on it. The Hawaiian Islands were formed by volcanoes. It can be beautiful but without the flow it stops growing.
Msgr.:
You don’t know what is simmering beneath the surface. Look at St. Helen’s. The eruptions do change the landscape; that’s for sure. I really like that image. The Spirit does a lot of recreating when changing the face of the earth.
You know we can cool the Spirit. That is such a powerful image of lava. It burns everything it touches but it can cool off and get hard.
Patti:
As it mixes; sometimes that’s our problem. The problem Solomon had was mixture where he mixed his faith with the alien gods around him.
Lava, when it mixes with air and cool temperatures, hardens. So, we lose the intensity, when we mix head knowledge and pride or complacency or worldly influence.
Msgr.:
Sure, too much influence. The world can cool the Spirit.
Patti:
Definitely! Quench the Spirit. Personally, it’s peaks and valleys; when I make a commitment to pray in tongues every day for a little bit, even though at first it’s almost a chore, all of a sudden I notice my life is changing. Intensity is coming. It’s just like it’s jump-starting your spiritual life by doing that praying, yielding to the Spirit.
Msgr.:
It’s yielding. I don’t guess you know what you are saying?
Patti:
Oh, no.
Msgr.:
That’s a prayer language. It’s the Spirit.
Patti:
Our reading from Romans 8 at the Pentecost vigil calls it “inexpressible groanings.”[xiv]
Msgr.:
Groanings. I love that passage because it shows the Spirit is praying within us.
Patti Brunner
During this season we also get the results of a couple of dramatic conversions: Paul and Cornelius.
Msgr. David LeSieur
On the 5th Sunday of Easter, Paul returns to Jerusalem reporting his vision. He speaks boldly the name of Jesus in Damascus and Jerusalem.[xv] .
Patti Brunner
He’s showing his conversion by witnessing in the name of the Lord. The Christians of Jerusalem are not too pleased to see him. They are still frightened about his persecution of believers before his beautiful change of heart.
Msgr.:
He has a bad reputation for hunting down Christians. It’s as if God took all Paul’s energy, which was considerable, and simply redirected it. He didn’t loose an ounce of energy, his zeal, it was just redirected.
Patti:
On the 6th Sunday we have the conversion story of the Gentile Cornelius and his entire household. While Peter was preaching among them, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to his words. They began speaking in tongues and glorifying God. So, Peter ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ[xvi].
Msgr.:
In responding to this powerful preaching by Peter, they were so open that the Spirit came into them and the next thing was to be baptized.
Patti:
It was a baptism of the Spirit first and then a baptism of water. God wants the conversion of our hearts.
Msgr.:
Exactly! In the case of adults who come to baptism, like in RCIA, they already have the gift of faith. That’s what brings them there in the first place. Baptism celebrates the faith that you want to accept and ratify and firm up. Cornelius’s household were given the gift of faith by listening to Peter preach and thus opened their hearts to the Spirit.
Patti:
It’s interesting that the sign of the Holy Spirit being there was that they were speaking in tongues and glorifying the Lord.
Msgr.:
Pentecost!
Patti:
Pentecost, the wonderful image of the tongues of fire and being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in the different tongues as the Spirit manifests!
So, we are getting a taste of Pentecost a couple of weeks in advance, to prepare to receive that fullness. I’m sure you have met a lot of people that truly have had that conversion of heart, that are filled with the Holy Spirit, and have that baptism of the Holy Spirit, that fullness of God’s grace. It pours out love to want to do for others, to want to do for the Church. I’m sure a lot of the ministries of our parish are run by people with that fullness of love – they want to love one another, do whatever they can do.
Msgr.:
And many of them feel like they can’t do enough. It’s not like they are doing the minimal to just get by. Their cup is running over and they feel like they are not doing enough and would do more if they could, if they had the resources or the time or whatever. I think those are the people who have experienced that change of heart and are really trying to fulfill the command to “love one another as I have loved you” and to be Jesus’ friends not His servant. I think a servant keeps a commandment letter of the law, out of obligation. “I’m supposed to do this or I’ll be punished if I don’t” but a friend does it out of love.
Patti Brunner
The reading from Galatians on the feast of Pentecost reminds us that the fruit of the Spirit is love. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”[xvii] The fruit of the Spirit—while being found throughout the Christian’s life—are most greatly manifested when the charisms and gifts of the Holy Spirit are truly accepted and applied. On Pentecost we have the chance to read I Corinthians chapter 12, which in its fullness has that wonderful list of nine gifts of the Spirit: words of wisdom and knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues.[xviii] It reminds us there are many gifts but the same Spirit; and each of us is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the good of all.
Msgr.:
If we could just know that and believe it, there would be no jealousy: that this person has that gift and I don’t. There is no room for jealousy if you really believe the Spirit gives as the Spirit wishes from one person to the next. Many different gifts but the same Spirit; “To each the manifestation of the Spirit is given.”[xix]
Patti:
Exactly! Just like God promised through his prophet Joel that we hear at the Vigil: “Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, young men shall see visions”[xx] Paul tells us that God is partial to the gift of prophecy when in 1st Corinthians chapter 14 he tells us to pursue love and strive for the gifts but above all the gift of prophecy.[xxi] It is through the gift of prophecy that we to accept God’s word in our hearts.
Like the five-fold ministries that were given in one of the earlier readings; some were apostles, some were teachers. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are to help us to identify our uniqueness in the Lord, and that we each have been given a unique purpose in the Lord, and the Spirit is going to provide what is needed for us to move forward.
Msgr.:
Often we look at what other people can do and we forget that we are doing something, too. That’s another way to quench the Spirit by being jealous of someone else’s gifts without realizing our own.
Patti:
I’m sure there is tremendous spiritual warfare going on when we have something telling us, “Why, you’re no good. You’re not holy. If you were holy, you would be able to do what that person is doing.”
Msgr.:
Meanwhile, your gift is just sitting there, not doing anything, cooling off.
Patti:
Right! When what is given to you may be your ability to reach out to a single person. That might be your whole focus; what the Lord has prepared you do, to touch the life of one particular person. Remember Ananias, the baptizer of Paul? He had a vision and a word from the Lord. Even though he was afraid, he reached out to Paul and Paul went forth and changed the world in the name of Christ.
Msgr. David LeSieur
Ananias laid hands on Paul and prayed for him. In turn Paul prays for us that God the Father “may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.” He says, “May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory”[xxii]
Patti:
On Pentecost the apostles were able to “speak different tongues as the Spirit enabled them,”[xxiii] these charisms, listed in I Corinthians 12 as tongues and interpretation of tongues, are saying what the Holy Spirit says, whether you understand what you are saying or not. The gift of prophecy allows you hear what the Lord says and understand what He is saying. Divine inspiration is when you speak into your life what you are hearing. I know when you are preparing your homily you get that inspiration. You speak what you hear into our lives.
Msgr.:
This is what Jesus did too. He speaks with the Father and hears what the Father is saying. The Spirit does the same thing. And through the Spirit so do we.
Patti:
It’s an exciting time, this Season of Power! Monsignor, will you close our show with a blessing?
Msgr. David LeSieur
[blessing]
Patti
Thank you Monsignor. To get a copy of the references in today’s show or to read the Liturgical readings please check the website patriarchMinistries.com and to listen to this show or previous broadcasts click paduamedia.com and Living Seasons of Change.
Other references: [xxiv]
[i] Acts 28 NAB 1 “the island was called Malta. 2 The natives showed us extraordinary hospitality; they lit a fire and welcomed all of us because it had begun to rain and was cold. 3 Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire when a viper, escaping from the heat, fastened on his hand. 4 When the natives saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man must certainly be a murderer; though he escaped the sea, Justice * has not let him remain alive.” 5 But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were expecting him to swell up or suddenly to fall down dead but, after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.
[ii] John 15:26-27; 16:12-15 “The Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth. He will speak what he hears.”
[iii] John 20:19-23 Easter evening. “he breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them…”
[iv] 1 John 4:11-16 “God is love” “This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit”
[v] Lector commentary “The presence of the Spirit in a person who believes confirms that he or she is one with God.”
[vi] Ephesians 4:1-13 “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” “Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift” “”He gave gifts to men”” “And he gave” apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors & teachers.
[viii] 1 John 3:18-24 love not just “in word or speech but in deed and truth” “we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask” because we “believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.”
[ix] 7th John 17:11b-19 Jesus prayed, “Father, keep them in your name that you have given me so they may be one” “I protected them in your name that you gave me.”
[x] John 16: 7 But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
[xi] 662″And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, “entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he “always lives to make intercession” for “those who draw near to God through him.” As “high priest of the good things to come” he is the center and the principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven.
[xii] http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/char/abrief.htm [note: ref no longer available] In 1901 at Bethel Bible College, Topeka, Kansas, Agnes Ozman received what she called the baptism of the Spirit and spoke in “tongues.” The practice then became part of the Holiness movement of the church in the United States. In 1906, tongues were spoken on Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California, and out of these two events in 1901 and 1906 grew the mainline Pentecostal denominations which are still with us today (Assemblies of God, etc.). [also see references at http://expentecostals.org/history.htm] [note: ref no longer available]
[xiii] John 7:38-39 “38 Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.'” 39 He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive.
[xiv] Romans 8:22-27 “Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings”
[xv] Acts 9:26-31 Saul after conversion returning to Jerusalem reporting his vision & how he spoke boldly in Damascus the name of Jesus. In Jerusalem “spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord” The church “with the consolation of the Holy Spirit” grew .
[xvi] Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 Cornelius house; Peter: “God shows no partiality…whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable” “The Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word…speaking in tongues and glorifying God” Peter “ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ”
[xvii] Galatians 5:16-25″The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”
[xviii] 1st Corinthians 12: 8 To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9 to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts
of healing by the one Spirit; 10 to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues.
[xix] 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 “different …gifts but same Spirit” “to each the manifestation of the Spirit is given”
[xx] Joel 3:12 “Then afterward I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; 2 Even upon the servants and the handmaids, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.”
[xxi] 1 Corinthians 14:1 “Pursue love, but strive eagerly for the spiritual gifts, above all that you may prophesy.”
[xxii] Ephesians 1: 17 “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. 18 May the eyes of (your) hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones”
[xxiii] Acts 2:1-11″tongues of fire…filed with the Holy Spirit…speak different tongues as the Spirit enabled them””
[xxiv] References and Resources
Please note that CCC refers to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, English translation, 2nd Edition,©1994, 1997. United States Catholic Conference, Inc., Libreria Editrice Vaticana. [see link]New American Bible (NAB) readings are referenced from the Lectionary for Mass, for use in the dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition ©1997, 1970 by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. [see link]Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright ©1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
Acts 28 NAB 1 “the island was called Malta. 2 The natives showed us extraordinary hospitality; they lit a fire and welcomed all of us because it had begun to rain and was cold. 3 Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire when a viper, escaping from the heat, fastened on his hand. 4 When the natives saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man must certainly be a murderer; though he escaped the sea, Justice has not let him remain alive.” 5 But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were expecting him to swell up or suddenly to fall down dead but, after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.” Father John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., Story available: http://www.dailycatholic.com/issue/nov18key.htm Father John Hampsch Column November 18, 1997, volume 8, no. 33 “High Octane Healing”
John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine” “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” John 15:26-27; 16:12-15 “The Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth. He will speak what he hears.” John 20:19-23 Easter evening. “he breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them…” 1 John 4:11-16 “God is love” “This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit”Workbook for Lectors and Gospel Readers Year B 2009 by Mary A. Ehle p196. Copyright 2007. “The presence of the Spirit in a person who believes confirms that he or she is one with God.”Ephesians 4:1-13 “Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift” “”He gave gifts to men”” “And he gave” apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors & teachers. 1 John 3:18-24 love not just “in word or speech but in deed and truth” “we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask” because we “believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.”John 17:11b-19 Jesus prayed, “Father, keep them in your name that you have given me so they may be one” “I protected them in your name that you gave me.” John 16: 7 But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.CCC 662 ”And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, “entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he “always lives to make intercession” for “those who draw near to God through him.” As “high priest of the good things to come” he is the center and the principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven. http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/char/abrief.htm [ref no longer available] In 1901 at Bethel Bible College, Topeka, Kansas, Agnes Ozman received what she called the baptism of the Spirit and spoke in “tongues.” The practice then became part of the Holiness movement of the church in the United States. In 1906, tongues were spoken on Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California, and out of these two events in 1901 and 1906 grew the mainline Pentecostal denominations which are still with us today (Assemblies of God, etc.). [also see references at http://expentecostals.org/history.htm]Pentecost Vigil John 7 “38 Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’ 39 He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive.”Romans 8:22-27 “Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings”Acts 9:26-31 Saul after conversion returning to Jerusalem reporting his vision & how he spoke boldly in Damascus the name of Jesus. In Jerusalem “spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord” The church “with the consolation of the Holy Spirit” grew.
Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 Cornelius house; Peter: “God shows no partiality…whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable” “The Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word…speaking in tongues and glorifying God” Peter “ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ”.
Galatians 5:16-25 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”
1st Corinthians 12: “8 To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9 to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; 10 to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues.”
1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 “different …gifts but same Spirit” “to each the manifestation of the Spirit is given”
Joel 3:1 “Then afterward I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; 2 Even upon the servants and the handmaids, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.”
1 Corinthians 14:1 “Pursue love, but strive eagerly for the spiritual gifts, above all that you may prophesy.”
Ephesians 1: 17 “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. 18 May the eyes of (your) hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones”
[i] Assigned Readings per Sunday [see link for full reading]
4th Sunday of Easter
Acts 4:8-12 The stone rejected has become the cornerstone. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit said, “it was in the name of Jesus Christ…this man stands before you healed” There is no other name under heaven “given to the human race by which we are to be saved.”
1 John 3:1-2 love bestowed, “be called the children of God”
John 10:11-18 “I am the Good Shepherd” “I will lay down my life for the sheep”
5th Sunday of Easter
Acts 9:26-31 Saul after conversion returning to Jerusalem reporting his vision & how he spoke boldly in Damascus the name of Jesus. In Jerusalem “spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord” The church “with the consolation of the Holy Spirit” grew .
1 John 3:18-24 love not just “in word or speech but in deed and truth” “we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask” because we “believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us” “We know he remains in us from the Spirit”
John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine” “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”
6th Sunday of Easter
Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 Cornelius house; Peter: “God shows no partiality…whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable” “The Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word…speaking in tongues and glorifying God” Peter “ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ”
1 John 4:7-10 “God is love.” Jesus is the revelation of God’s love for us.
John 15:9-17 “If you keep my commandments , you will remain in my love” “I have told you everything I have heard from my Father” “I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you” “Love one another”
Ascension of the Lord
Acts 1:1-11 “You will be baptized by the Holy Spirit” “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” Witness to “the ends of the earth” “He was lifted up and a cloud took him” Discusses Easter Pentecost and Ascension.
Ephesians 1:17-23 Blessing. “give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him” may you know the riches of glory. Christ is now “far above every principality, authority, power and dominion and every name that is named”orEphesians 4:1-13 “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” “Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift” “”He gave gifts to men”” “And he gave” apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors & teachers.
Mark 16:15-20 “signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons” speak new languages, handle serpents, drink deadly without harm, “lay hands on sick and they will recover”
7th Sunday of Easter
Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26 120 disciples pray and choose Matthias to take the place of Judas.1 John 4:11-16 “God is love” “This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit” John 17:11b-19 Jesus prayed, “Father, keep them in your name that you have given me so they may be one” “I protected them in your name that you gave me” Your word is truth” “Consecrate them in truth”
Pentecost Vigil
Genesis 11:1-9 Tower of Babel
or
Exodus 19:3-8a, 16-20b “Moses, if you hearken to my voice”
or
Ezekiel 37:1-14 dry bones Ezekiel
or
Joel 3:1-5 “sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men dream, young men visions” a remnant
Romans 8:22-27 “Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings”
John 7:37-39 “Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me…the Spirit”
Pentecost
Acts 2:1-11 “tongues of fire…filed with the Holy Spirit…speak different tongues as the Spirit enabled them””1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 “different …gifts but same Spirit” “to each the manifestation of the Spirit is given” or Galatians 5:16-25 Warning about the works of the flesh. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” John 20:19-23 Easter evening. “he breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them…” or John 15:26-27;16:12-15 the Advocate will testify to me. The Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth. He will speak what he hears.
