Tuesday of Easter Week

Lectionary: 262

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you,

in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins;

and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is made to you and to your children

and to all those far off,

whomever the Lord our God will call.”

We heard in yesterday’s gospel that the women immediately recognized Jesus as the divine Son of God and  prostrated themselves in homage. In today’s first reading we hear of the Holy Spirit of God, who also appears unexpectedly and deserves the same worship. These astonishing mysteries are born of our Jewish tradition in the crisis of Jerusalem. During that terrible Passover, the disciples of Jesus saw the Son of God raised from the dead even as they were born again of the Holy Spirit.

Stories of Jesus’s appearance after his resurrection are mistakenly called resurrection accounts. They are commissioning stories. In every case, the disciples witness the risen Lord and are sent – commissioned -- to announce the Good News. Easter means nothing if the Word doesn’t spread like wildfire from one witness to another.

I worked with a fireman once to burn some small fields in Minnesota. Fire sometimes spreads through the canopy of the trees or the upper layers of grass without descending to the lower layers of vegetation. Fire workers ignite the grasses downwind from the field, so that the fire moves against the wind rather than with it. That slows the fires progress and makes it burn hotter and more thoroughly.

Likewise, the Spirit of God wants to penetrate our hearts as it passes through our lives. Historically, tragically, the gospel has sometimes flown overhead without actually changing lives, as when conquistadors introduce the Church to "mission territory." Although they act in the name of God their real intentions may be pillage and rape. Today’s Christians sometimes assail vulnerable peoples with the market values of capitalism. Instead of building congregations to worship God, they promote a western cult of the individual, accentuating competition and personal success. Nothing good can come of that.

As we celebrate the Easter Octave of solemnities, we must take time, as Mary Magdalene did at the tomb of Jesus, to recognize both his familiar affection for us and his new authority over every aspect of our lives. We invite the Lord's fiery Spirit to transform the dross metal of our hearts to the pure gold of self-sacrificing love.