The Fullness of the Holy Spirit
Pentecost Sunday
The church wakes up to an amazing message this morning. Look around and see who has been called. Listen to the voices of those who proclaim Jesus is Lord. You’ll find no race of people left out; you’ll find no language on earth un-
fit to proclaim the glory of God. We call Pentecost Sunday the “birthday of the church.” In many ways, the church is still being born. Only when we all know the peace Jesus offered in today’s Gospel will we really know the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Bishop Salazar Administers the Sacrament of Confirmation to Candidates — April 23, 2016
St. Paul assures us in today’s second reading that “all of us have been given to drink of the one Spirit.” When we look around us in the church we should see everyone. But we don’t. Not yet. What is holding us back from fully embracing the one Body of Christ? When will we see our differences as manifestations of the same Holy Spirit?
Readings for the Week
Monday: Jas 3:13-18; Ps 19:8-10, 15; Mk 9:14-29
Tuesday: Jas 4:1-10; Ps 55:7-11a, 23; Mk 9:30-37
Wednesday: Jas 4:13-17; Ps 49:2-3, 6-11; Mk 9:38-40
Thursday: Jas 5:1-6; Ps 49:14-20; Mk 9:41-50
Friday: Jas 5:9-12; Ps 103:1-4, 8-9, 11-12; Mk 10:1-12
Saturday: Jas 5:13-20; Ps 141:1-3, 8; Mk 10:13-16
Sunday: Prv 8:22-31; Ps 8:4-9; Rom 5:1-5; Jn 16:12-15
Treasures from Our Tradition
“Order” and “presbyter” are not everyday words in our vocabulary, since we think of order as a quality of life rather than a collective noun, and “priest” usually does just fine in everyday conversation. Yet each word has deep roots in our tradition. At an ordination we select men for service to the community. Ordo is a Latin word drawn not from pagan religious life but from Imperial Rome. It meant a distinct body standing apart from the people, such as a body of people responsible for civil governance, senators for example. Think of the selectmen or board of governors in your civic home, and you will get the idea. The church borrowed the term to describe the place of certain people within the people of God, thus the “order of deacons,” “the order of presbyters,” and even “the order of virgins, catechumens, widows, neophytes, penitents,” and so on, as distinct groups within the church. Just as ancient Rome had various uniforms for the ranks and stations in civil life, so too did certain garments give clues to membership in an “order” in the church. So, our tradition favors the idea of an ordination liturgy not as receiving something so much as being received. This is clearly expressed in the liturgy. The “kiss of peace” is given only by the ordaining bishop and priests to the newly “ordained,” not by the faithful, the deacons, or the concelebrating bishops who are present.