Pope Benedict on the Beauty of Being Baptized in the Holy Spirit
From Zenit on Pope Benedict's comments after Mass on Pentecost Sunday (thanks, Ed, for bringing it to my attention)
"In effect, Jesus' whole mission was aimed at giving the Spirit of God to men and baptizing them in the 'bath' of regeneration," the Pope said. "This was realized through his glorification, that is, through his death and resurrection: Then the Spirit of God was poured out in a super-abundant way, like a waterfall able to purify every heart, to extinguish the flames of evil and ignite the fire of divine love in the world.
"The Acts of the Apostles present Pentecost as a fulfillment of such a promise and therefore as the crowning moment of Jesus' whole mission. After his resurrection, he himself ordered his disciples to stay in Jerusalem, because, he said, 'In a short time you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit'; and he added: 'You will have the power of the Holy Spirit, who will descend upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Galilee and Samaria unto the ends of the earth.'"
Church's baptism
Benedict XVI said that Pentecost is thus, "in a special way, the baptism of the Church who undertakes her universal mission beginning from the streets of Jerusalem with prodigious preaching in the different languages of humanity."
"In this baptism of the Holy Spirit," the Pope continued, "the personal and communal dimensions -- the 'I' of the disciple and the 'we' of the Church -- are inseparable. The Spirit consecrates the person and at the same time makes him a living member of the mystical body of Christ, participant in the mission to witness to his love."
This consecration and insertion into the mystical body of Christ, "is actualized through the sacraments of Christian initiation: baptism and confirmation," he said.
"In my message for World Youth Day 2008, I invited young people to rediscover the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives and, therefore, the importance of these sacraments," the Holy Father added. "Today I would like to extend this invitation to everyone: Let us rediscover, dear brothers and sisters, the beauty of being baptized in the Holy Spirit; let us be aware again of our baptism and of our confirmation, sources of grace that are always present."
Comments?
posted by Sherry W @ 8:54 AM
4 Comments
Links to this post
4 Comments:
Hi, Susan:
It's "both-and" isn't it?
We receive the Spirit because baptism has joined us to Christ and to his body the Church so *in that sense* "us" is prior but all the language of Scripture and the Tradition also emphasizes the Spirit is also given to individuals. If not, personal discernment would have no place in our tradition.
Of course the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Church and the indwelling in individuals can never be opposed so the Church is an important corrective for individual aberrations.
But I have run into Catholics who assume that charisms, for instance, are *only* communal and not also individual but that makes nonsense of conciliar and magisterial teaching that every baptized person should be discerning the charisms they have been given for the sake of others.
The irony being that it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit dwelling in an individual (who received the Spirit as part of their immersion into the Body of Christ) that gave rise to the religious order or community with its communal charisms.
So the community of the Church is the vehicle through which God bestows the Spirit on an individual who may go on to found a community centered around the charisms and call of the founder, etc.
We must hold the two realities together, I think, to faithfully reflect the Church's teaching and the Spirit's work in this area.
When I read this I was reminded of Michael Himes' discussion of the third of our baptismal promises in "Mysteries of Faith." Himes suggests there is significance in the linkage in the promise between the Holy Spirit and the Church - we are asked to affirm our belief in the Holy Spirit and the holy Catholic church. The question we are really asked, says Himes, is: "Do you believe that the Spirit of God is present in the world, not first, and foremost in your or in me, but first and foremost in us? Do you believe that the Spirit dwells primarily not in individuals but rather in the community?" The question reminds us that we are made as communal beings and that that Spirit is present in us. (I talk more about Himes' discussion of our three baptism promises in a post I made on my blog at Easter. The link is: http://susanjoan.wordpress.com/2008/03/23/alleluia/
Sherry,
Glad you found the other Pentecost sermon by the Pope.
Did you happen to read the Pope's sermon at St. Patrick's cathedral, in which he prayed for a "new Pentecost" in the US?
"Shades of Pope John XXIII," says I.
Having read that and then reading that the same pope "is encouraging the faithful to rediscover the beauty of being baptized in the Holy Spirit", I fully expected that people would have looked skyward for tongues as of fire.
I hope that the prayer for a new Pentecost was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit. That should increase the odds that it WILL happen.
.ed.
Sherry:
Yes, "both-and" is exactly right and you express beautifully here something that was percolating in me when I wrote to comment (but did not have time to focus on this morning).
Thanks.
Susan
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home