Homily
Monday 2nd Week of Easter, Fr.
Udoekpo, Michael Ufok@ Shsst
Readings:
Acts 4:23-31; Ps 2:1-3, 4-7a, 7b-9; John 3:1-8
The Role
of the Holy Spirit in the Church of Easter
(1)Last
week, during my homily in one of the daily Masses I made mentioned that in the
earlier chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, Luke presents the story of our
Risen and merciful Lord as recommending continuity in faith to his Apostles. Our Risen Savior authorizes the beginning of the Church. He Charges his Apostle to stay in
Jerusalem, where the Church will begin. He promises them the Holy Spirit, which
we anticipates at Pentecost.
(2)As we
meditate on today’s scriptures, just
heard, I want to humbly draw our attention to the fact that whereas, our Risen
savior is the chief character of the Gospels, the Holy Spirit working through
the Apostles ( Peter, Paul, John and
others) remains, rather, the
dominant character in the Acts of the Apostles, our first reading.
(3) In
fact, a friend of mine, who taught me Luke-Acts once said, that “Acts of the
apostles could more appropriately be entitled the “Acts of the Holy Spirit””.
Which is true. In today’s first reading, Peter and John who were persecuted for
the sake of the Gospel had gone back to their community, taking refuge in the
Lord. Their only defense was prayer using Psalms 2, and 146. We are told the
Lord intervened with the gift of the Holy Spirit. They were shaken and were all
filled with the Holy Spirit of Easter which enables them, which gave them the
audacity of hope, to continue to preach the risen Lord with boldness without fear.
(4)So
also Nicodemus, a Pharisees and a crypto- Jewish Christ’s believer in today’s
Gospel of John 3:1-8. At night he sneaked out and had a believing encounter with
Christ, who taught him “unless one is born from above, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.” But as a lawyer he literally
misunderstood being “born from above”, with the Greek word “anōthen to
mean physically-biological re-birth, or re-born “again.”
(5).
But, thanks to our Lord who quickly corrected him that, that he meant “unless
one is born of Water and the Holy Spirit), ruah/qadosh hagios, which is
at the heart of Acts of the Apostles, he she cannot enter the kingdom of God.
(6) Isn’t
amazing how the Holy Spirit works? In John 12:32 Jesus, speaking about his
crucifixion had once predicted, “When I lifted on earth I will draw all people
to myself.” On the foot of the cross, especially the burial narrative of Jesus,
guess those who were there—Joseph of Arimathea and this very Nicodemus of John
3. Despite his initial resistance and
skepticism the Holy Spirit brought him to a new rebirth just as it had
empowered Peter and John. It is this same Spirit that guides us in what we do
here!
(7)Yesterday,
on the Feast of Divine Mercy, the Holy Father, Pope Francis was very blunt,
simple and pointing in his homily, as usual. Stressing the need to listen to
the voice of the Holy Spirit and be attentive to the weak, the poor and the
needy, of our communities, especially in this time of Pandemic, he said, “ On this feast of Divine Mercy, the most beautiful
message comes from Thomas, the disciple who arrived late; he was the only one
missing. But the Lord waited for Thomas. Mercy does not abandon those who stay
behind. Now, while we are looking forward to a slow and arduous recovery from
the pandemic, there is a danger that we will forget those who are left behind.
The risk is that we may then be struck by an even worse virus, that of selfish
indifference. A virus spread by the thought that life is better if it is
better for me, and that everything will be fine if it is fine for me. It begins
there and ends up selecting one person over another, discarding the poor, and
sacrificing those left behind on the altar of progress.”
(7) In other words, in spite of the ongoing
challenges, our responses to one another, our ideals and
scale of values, all aspects of our life, our studies and formation, will look
different, if we welcome the Spirit to be our guide and our counselors. What
the Holy Spirit achieves in us is a spiritual not a physical rebirth. We do not
re-enter our mother’s womb. Rather an inner change takes place which activates
our hidden potential and sharpens what had become dull and boring, to make us
what we are meant to be, “salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.”
