Easter3-A6 Homily by Fr. Gabor
In today’s readings there is a definite focus on the Holy Spirit, which is very appropriate, because after Jesus’ resurrection His role in the life of the church gradually increases.
Why does the Holy Spirit become so important? Because He is the one who gives life to the newly converted who are baptised and so He is the one who gives life in general to the emerging new community, and that community is the Church, and that Church seriously lives a baptismal resurrected life, a sign that its members are energised by the Holy Spirit. We profess in the Creed that He is the giver of life, not only the giver of natural life, but also of your supernatural baptismal resurrected life. Can you say that your life is energised by the Holy Spirit in you, in other words can you say that your life reflects clearly that you are baptised and that you no longer live for yourself and only those you love, but for Christ and then for others (see Mt 5:46)? If yes, then you are already living a resurrected life, and Jesus’ death and resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit was not in vain.
Jesus also tells the disciples that He will always be with you until the end of time (Mt 28:20), and He promises that the Father will send the Spirit to remind you of all that He has said (John 14:26). So Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to bring Himself close to you. He also breathes the Spirit upon the apostles and authorises them to forgive and so bring about reconciliation between God and men and between people. (cf. John 20:21-22). When you receive absolution the priest reminds you of this as he says: ‘God the Father of mercies through the death and resurrection of His Son has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins…’ So without the Holy Spirit there is no forgiveness of our sins.
The new emerging community is also characterised by a life of grace, which means that they live by all the graces that the Holy Spirit gives them, some of which I have already mentioned, such as forgiveness. He also gives them at their baptism His seven gifts, like the gifts of understanding. In the Gospel reading we hear about how the disciples of Emmaus receive the gift of understanding as Christ explains the Scriptures to them from God’s perspective. The same happens through the apostles: they teach, the people hear the voice of God and receives the gift of understanding, and realise that Jesus is truly the Messiah. They also show clear signs of the gift of courage as they sell everything and follow Christ and so risk their lives, because the persecution of Christians begins at this time. They also live out the gift of piety as they become reverent towards everything that is connected with Christ. In addition they also receive specific charisms (Romans 12: 6-8, 1 Corinthians 12: 7-11, Ephesians 4: 7.11-12; 1 Peter 4:10-11) , which appear in various forms, like teaching, help, organising the works of charity, etc. and they live in accord with these graces.
These people who once lived from the Law now live from the graces of the Holy Spirit, and this is the difference between living as a mere follower of the Law and living the life of grace. The life of grace is the only way to fulfil the Law, because the Law, the Ten Commandments are divine commandments, so only God can fulfil them, therefore you need divine help, like grace to fulfil something that is divine.
For some reason most people in today’s church ignore the Holy Spirit and His graces. But in order to be like the church of the apostles, in terms of being just as energised by the Spirit’s graces and be alive, we really need to shift our focus back to studying and using the graces of the Holy Spirit, and then we will produce more of the fruits of the life of grace.
[There is a difference between the gifts and the charisms of the Holy Spirit. The seven grifts or graces of the Holy Spirit are given to you at your baptism, to be used for your personal growth in holiness. Three of them are gifts to be able to see reality with God’s eyes: such as divine knowledge, divine wisdom and understanding, The Spirit also gives you 1 gift for decision making: the gift of counsel, and 3 gifts for inspired actions: gifts of courage, piety and fear of the Lord. If you know what exactly these gifts are and how you can use them for your personal growth in holiness then you will automatically bear the fruits of these graces. In our churches we started with the young people the Pope Francis Faith Award which helps them to know these gifts and to know how to use them. I wish there was an adult version as well.
On the other hand the Charisms are given to you to build up and heal the body of Christ (2 Cor 6:16; cf. 1 Cor 3:16-17; Eph 2:21., Catechism par. 798). Jesus himself and the early Church is hugely charismatic in the sense that they use the charisms. The apostles use the charisms of teaching, knowledge and miracle working very clearly in the first reading, as they teach the people with divine wisdom and knowledge and understanding, which could only come from God as they were not theologically trained. In the Gospel reading Jesus beautifully shows the charisms of teaching, evangelisation, divine knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures so much so that the disciples’ hearts burn as they hear Him speaking and they finally understand the real meaning of the Scriptures. This is what you feel when you are touched by someone’s charism in a powerful way and this is how you can affect people’s life when you use the graces of the Holy Spirit.]
You may wonder about what is the indicator of living the life of grace? Well, there is a clear connection between the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruits, and the 9 fruits are much more recognisable in your life than the actual graces: the 9 fruits are Christ’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. So when you produce these you are living the life of grace. The connection between the 7 gifts and the 9 fruits is like the connection between the 7 roots of a tree and the 9 fruits in the crown of a tree (See picture). The 7 roots symbolise the gifts of the Holy spirit and the 9 fruits symbolise the fruits of the Holy Spirit. King David bore many of these fruits and that’s why the apostles bring him as an example for the early church when they explain Christ’s Lordship.
So as you realise the life of grace become hugely important after Easter. It is a shift from following mere letters towards living from what comes directly from God. The graces are the channels of God’s life to us from above. So it is important that you focus back on these graces and that you recommit ourselves to living in accord with them
In today’s readings there is a definite focus on the Holy Spirit, which is very appropriate, because after Jesus’ resurrection His role in the life of the church gradually increases.
Why does the Holy Spirit become so important? Because He is the one who gives life to the newly converted who are baptised and so He is the one who gives life in general to the emerging new community, and that community is the Church, and that Church seriously lives a baptismal resurrected life, a sign that its members are energised by the Holy Spirit. We profess in the Creed that He is the giver of life, not only the giver of natural life, but also of your supernatural baptismal resurrected life. Can you say that your life is energised by the Holy Spirit in you, in other words can you say that your life reflects clearly that you are baptised and that you no longer live for yourself and only those you love, but for Christ and then for others (see Mt 5:46)? If yes, then you are already living a resurrected life, and Jesus’ death and resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit was not in vain.
Jesus also tells the disciples that He will always be with you until the end of time (Mt 28:20), and He promises that the Father will send the Spirit to remind you of all that He has said (John 14:26). So Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to bring Himself close to you. He also breathes the Spirit upon the apostles and authorises them to forgive and so bring about reconciliation between God and men and between people. (cf. John 20:21-22). When you receive absolution the priest reminds you of this as he says: ‘God the Father of mercies through the death and resurrection of His Son has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins…’ So without the Holy Spirit there is no forgiveness of our sins.
The new emerging community is also characterised by a life of grace, which means that they live by all the graces that the Holy Spirit gives them, some of which I have already mentioned, such as forgiveness. He also gives them at their baptism His seven gifts, like the gifts of understanding. In the Gospel reading we hear about how the disciples of Emmaus receive the gift of understanding as Christ explains the Scriptures to them from God’s perspective. The same happens through the apostles: they teach, the people hear the voice of God and receives the gift of understanding, and realise that Jesus is truly the Messiah. They also show clear signs of the gift of courage as they sell everything and follow Christ and so risk their lives, because the persecution of Christians begins at this time. They also live out the gift of piety as they become reverent towards everything that is connected with Christ. In addition they also receive specific charisms (Romans 12: 6-8, 1 Corinthians 12: 7-11, Ephesians 4: 7.11-12; 1 Peter 4:10-11) , which appear in various forms, like teaching, help, organising the works of charity, etc. and they live in accord with these graces.
These people who once lived from the Law now live from the graces of the Holy Spirit, and this is the difference between living as a mere follower of the Law and living the life of grace. The life of grace is the only way to fulfil the Law, because the Law, the Ten Commandments are divine commandments, so only God can fulfil them, therefore you need divine help, like grace to fulfil something that is divine.
For some reason most people in today’s church ignore the Holy Spirit and His graces. But in order to be like the church of the apostles, in terms of being just as energised by the Spirit’s graces and be alive, we really need to shift our focus back to studying and using the graces of the Holy Spirit, and then we will produce more of the fruits of the life of grace.
[There is a difference between the gifts and the charisms of the Holy Spirit. The seven grifts or graces of the Holy Spirit are given to you at your baptism, to be used for your personal growth in holiness. Three of them are gifts to be able to see reality with God’s eyes: such as divine knowledge, divine wisdom and understanding, The Spirit also gives you 1 gift for decision making: the gift of counsel, and 3 gifts for inspired actions: gifts of courage, piety and fear of the Lord. If you know what exactly these gifts are and how you can use them for your personal growth in holiness then you will automatically bear the fruits of these graces. In our churches we started with the young people the Pope Francis Faith Award which helps them to know these gifts and to know how to use them. I wish there was an adult version as well.
On the other hand the Charisms are given to you to build up and heal the body of Christ (2 Cor 6:16; cf. 1 Cor 3:16-17; Eph 2:21., Catechism par. 798). Jesus himself and the early Church is hugely charismatic in the sense that they use the charisms. The apostles use the charisms of teaching, knowledge and miracle working very clearly in the first reading, as they teach the people with divine wisdom and knowledge and understanding, which could only come from God as they were not theologically trained. In the Gospel reading Jesus beautifully shows the charisms of teaching, evangelisation, divine knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures so much so that the disciples’ hearts burn as they hear Him speaking and they finally understand the real meaning of the Scriptures. This is what you feel when you are touched by someone’s charism in a powerful way and this is how you can affect people’s life when you use the graces of the Holy Spirit.]
You may wonder about what is the indicator of living the life of grace? Well, there is a clear connection between the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruits, and the 9 fruits are much more recognisable in your life than the actual graces: the 9 fruits are Christ’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. So when you produce these you are living the life of grace. The connection between the 7 gifts and the 9 fruits is like the connection between the 7 roots of a tree and the 9 fruits in the crown of a tree (See picture). The 7 roots symbolise the gifts of the Holy spirit and the 9 fruits symbolise the fruits of the Holy Spirit. King David bore many of these fruits and that’s why the apostles bring him as an example for the early church when they explain Christ’s Lordship.
So as you realise the life of grace become hugely important after Easter. It is a shift from following mere letters towards living from what comes directly from God. The graces are the channels of God’s life to us from above. So it is important that you focus back on these graces and that you recommit ourselves to living in accord with them
