4 GIFT OF COUNSEL

We have already seen how God, through the Gifts of Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding, INFLUENCES OUR CONSCIOUSNESS about the things of this earth and of supernatural realities. We thereby share in God’s perspective and appreciation.

It is through the Gift of Counsel that the Holy Spirit MOVES OUR CONSCIENCES so we make godly, prudent, decisions about what God wants us to do or avoid doing.

Thus we are more than SPECTATORS on the boundaries who know everything but don’t have to do anything. We are PLAYERS on the field, who have to make decisions and take the consequences. Through the Gift of Counsel the Spirit enables us to discern what God expects of us and to act accordingly.

The schooner with its sails hoisted is our metaphor for our being responsive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. From this it follows that if the sails are in tatters, though hoisted, they will be useless.

FOR THE MOST PART WE ARE ONLY OPEN TO THESE GIFTS WHEN WE ARE IN A STATE OF GRACE.  Even so, thank God, the Holy Spirit can touch the minds and hearts of even the worst of sinners and move them to repentance!

 Prompted by the Spirit the Prodigal Son came to his senses and resolved, "I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;" (Lk.15.18).  Even so, thank God the Holy Spirit can touch the minds and hearts of even the worst of sinners and move them to repentance!

The Holy Spirit gave him the courage (Gift of Fortitude) to journey back home – no matter how his father might receive him. You see how several of the Gifts come into play at the same time according to the circumstances. Think of our schooner hoisting sails of various shapes and sizes according to the waves and the wind.

When speaking of the Gift of Counsel the Church refers to that occasion when Jesus said to His disciples, " You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as evidence to them and to the gentiles. But when you are handed over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes, because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you," (Mtt.10.18).

On such occasions the Holy Spirit enables us to draw upon a deeply imbedded awareness that has become second-nature to us through our habitual closeness to God. He finds for us the appropriate words and the courage to voice them.

To shift our attention from crisis situations to the everyday living of you and me I quote Paul writing to the Colossians, "We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will, with all wisdom and understanding that His Spirit gives. Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and always do what pleases Him," ( Col.1.9).

Peter and Isidore O.P.

3 GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE

‘He knows the price of everything and the value of nothing!’ Something’s only precious to him if it’s costly. It’s impossible for him to appreciate beauty, love and unselfishness because no-one can put a price tag on them. He values a work of art because it cost a fortune, not because it’s beautiful.  Success is measured by his wealth and the costly status symbols he can amass. Something is worthwhile in so far as it’s profitable.  Such people have got their priorities very wrong. 

 The Holy Spirit’s Gift of Knowledge enables us to get them right.   If the gift of understanding enables us to penetrate the Mysteries of Faith and gives us an instinctive insight into the divine, the Gift of Knowledge helps us to identify with God’s approach to His creation. Quite simply He ‘saw that it was good, very good.’  He delighted in His handiwork –and so should we.  Even the smallest and most obnoxious of pests such as rats and cock-roaches are expressions of God's creative love.

Any prayer urging us ‘to despise the things of this world’ is an insult to the Creator of Heaven Earth.  Instead, we should see them as reflecting the glory of God.

Through the Gift of Knowledge we instinctively share God’s perspective on His creation.  Like the wise merchant we're satisfied only with the priceless pearl -the Kingdom of Heaven.  We have the God-given sensitivity to recognise it and the wisdom to sacrifice  everything to obtain it. On the one hand we mustn’t so glorify created things that they become what is most important in our lives. Instead of leading us to their creator we would remain satisfied with what His creatures have to offer.  That’s idolatry.  The Gift of Knowledge helps us to avoid that pitfall.  And so St. Paul urges us, 'Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, ³for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your^* life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. (Col. 3. 1-4 ).

It also keeps us aware of the dignity of the created world, brought into existence out of God’s exuberant love.   He has made us its custodians, responsible for treating it with respect, protecting it, developing it and sharing its fruits, which belong to the whole of humanity.  The gift of knowledge should make us sensitive to the dignity of the whole of creation and prevent us  exploiting and damaging it. 

Above all, through this gift we instinctively share God’s love for our fellow human beings.  They are His children, our brothers and sisters, made in His image and likeness.  The Gift of Knowledge helps us to treat people with God’s love, respect and compassion. It causes us to recognize their dignity as persons, and not to regard them as sex objects to be exploited.  This gift enables us to value and protect even the most insignificant part of God’s creation.   That is very much the theme of Pope Francis’s encyclical. ‘Laudato Si.’

 Peter and Isidore  O.P.

2 GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING

“Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand,”  (Is. 41. 10). 

The prophet Isaiah’s comforting words floated into my mind as I lay semi-conscious in a hospital bed.  Although as a Dominican I’d spent years reflecting on the sacred Scriptures it was only in this moment of personal crisis that God’s words spoke directly to me, reassured me and comforted me in my need. What was so familiar suddenly came alive for me, took on a new depth of meaning.

What I experienced was wonderful, but not extraordinary for a Christian.   At baptism we become God’s children and share His own divine life.   We receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. These give us a divine instinct to think and behave like God.  The closer we are to God, the more we become like Him.

The gift of understanding enables us to penetrate ever more deeply into the mystery of God and of His work of salvation. Certainly we believe in these mysteries.  But through the gift of understanding they touch not just our minds but our hearts.  That can transform our lives.

That happened on the road to Emmaus, as the risen Lord walked and talked with two disciples.  As they told Him of their distress at Jesus’ crucifixion He explained to them how the Scriptures had foretold His death and resurrection. Although they knew the Scriptures they hadn’t made the connection with His Passion.   But on reflection everything fell into place.   Thanks to the gift of understanding they exclaimed,

“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”     (Lk. 24.32).

As a priest I’ve often marvelled at the way the gift of understanding enables devout young children and unlettered adults to go to the heart of the deepest of mysteries. Without being learned theologians they can recognise and love Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament; they can talk freely with Him in their prayers. With a God-given instinct they can tell if something is against the faith, without their being able to explain how.  And the great reassurance for the preacher is that the gift of understanding can enable his listener to get something helpful out of even the worst of sermons!

Peter and Isidore O.P.

 THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

1 WISDOM

Finding Jesus in the Temple is counted as one of the Mary’s joys; losing Him as one of her sorrows, as it would have been for any parent. Who would blame Mary for affectionately chiding Him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Your father and I have been looking for you anxiously."
Astonishing that He replied, "Did you not know I must be in my Father's house?" Jesus, being not only the Son of Mary but also Son of God, thought the time had come to introduce them to the bewildering idea that He had this lofty relationship with His Heavenly Father. With His feet firmly grounded, Jesus, through the Gift of the Holy Spirit, Wisdom, was here setting His life priorities from God's perspective rather than from a very down-to- earth 'Nazareth- Carpenter-shop' perspective. (Lk. 2).
God wants His Gift of Wisdom to give all of us, both young and old, an instinctive, powerful intuition of what He intends for us and expects of us.
Through Wisdom we come to value properly those things we believe through Faith. The truths of the Christian Faith are more important than the things of this world. Wisdom helps us to order our relationship to the created world properly by loving creation for the sake of God, rather than for its own sake.
St Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians raises our understanding of the Gift of Wisdom to a much higher level – one that enables believing Christians to accept and make sense of the Crucifixion of Jesus. To Jews it was the weakness of being a failure; to the gentiles it was meaningless nonsense.
"We are preaching a crucified Christ, to the Jew an obstacle they cannot get over, to the gentiles foolishness, but those who have been called, a Christ who is both the power of God and the wisdom of God."(1 Cor 24 ).
Surely, only this Gift of Wisdom could have inspired Paul to write to the Philippians, "Because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss. For Him I have accepted the loss of all other things, and look on them all as filth if only I can gain Christ,"(Phil. 3.8).

The Gift of Wisdom enables us to recognize, appreciate and live according to God's priorities. It gives us a sense of wonder at the mystery of God, which St. Paul expresses most powerfully when he exclaims, ““O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and untraceable His ways! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counsellor?”    (Romans 11. 33-34).   This will all happen if we keep our sails hoisted, so that we are propelled by the breath of the Holy Spirit. 
Peter and Isidore O.P.

PREPARING for PENTECOST

In preparation for the feast of Pentecost I will post a series of meditions on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, composed by my recently deceased brother , Peter, and me.  I dedicate these postings to Peter's memory and the joy of working with him.

I shall never forget that glorious day when  my twin brother, Peter, a fellow Dominican, were  standing  on the deck of a schooner   sailing  between the W. Indian islands  of Grenada and  Carriacou.  There, at the foot of the mast we gazed up at the sails embracing the strong breeze  that enabled   our boat to  carve  its way through the waves towards our destination.

St John tells us that “the wind blows where it pleases,” and that “so it is with everyone that is born of the Spirit,” (Jn. 3.8).  Now it has been said the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit may be compared to the sails of a boat eagerly awaiting the breeze that would be its driving force.
In this scenario we can see ourselves as being  like the crew of the schooner with the choice of hoisting the sails  so that  their boat might  carve its way through the waves or leaving the furled on deck while their anchored boat anchored, rocking gently in  port. The obvious parallel is laid-back, lack-lustre Christians or   ones eager to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Our  Heavenly  Father want us to be activated by the Gifts of  the Holy Spirit which we received at our Baptism. It was then we became   Temples of the Holy Spirit – dynamic people who would lead lives that gave great  glory to God.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches): “ By the Sacrament of Confirmation the baptized are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength  of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed,” (1285).
The Catechism also tells us:
“The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David.¹⁰⁹ They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations,” (1831).

Now we are going to attempt to deepen our understanding and appreciation of their role in our lives. At Baptism we received these gifts. When we were Confirmed  these gifts perfected and activated so as to enable us to lead fully Christian lives.

The idea of being endowed with spiritual gifts is to be found in the writings of the Prophecy of Isaiah. The recipient of these gifts would be the One Almighty God promised sent to His Chosen People.
 “A shoot will spring from the stock of Jesse, a new shoot will grow from his roots.  On him will rest the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and insight, the spirit of counsel and power, the spirit of knowledge and fear of  the Lord:    his lie in fearing the Lord. His judgement  will  not be by appearances. his verdict not given on hearsay, (Isaiah 11).
Elsewhere Isaiah tells us this person would claim to be anointed by the Spirit of God: “The spirit of the Lord is on me for the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the news to the afflicted, to soothe the broken-hearted,  to proclaim liberty to captives, release to those in prison… to comfort all who mourn,” (Is.61).
These  prophesies become exciting as we realize that according to the Hebrew text of the Old Testament  “Messiah” was the word used of one anointed as king, priest or  prophet. The equivalent word in Greek of the New Testament is “Christ.”
Of  all the passages  from Sacred Scripture Jesus could have chosen to read in the Synagogue in Capernaum  He selected, “The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted...” Dramatically He exclaimed,  ‘This text is being fulfilled today  even while you are listening.(Lk.4).  Through and through His humanity was briskly alert to the impulses  of the Holy Spirit in the service of His Heavenly Father.
The Church would have us know that we ourselves are caught up in this Messianic thrust of energy – like the schooner opening its sails to the wind. After the water of Baptism had flowed over our brows we were anointed with Chrism, ‘As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.’
Loaded with such spiritual Gifts it is up to us to let God do great things in us and through us!
Isidore and Peter O.P.

4th SUNDAY IN LENT B

                                                       
                                                  GOD  SO  LOVED THE  WORLD

'He's got the whole world in His hands’.  

So I sing as I prepare my sermon!. On my desk is a small rubber ball. I take it in my hands and gaze at it intensely. In my imagination I see God’s world  with  oceans and land masses painted upon it.

 I see  God affectionately admiring this work of art, the world He has created. It is beautiful, is lovely…and so is everyone, everything within it.  He made every human being in His own image and likeness. Like Him we are capable of person-to-person relationships – with Him first of all, most of all, with us joining Him in loving  other persons. 

ALL OTHER PERSONS, precisely because God is love and all of us  are His god-like beloved children.  God’s human family  all of us are siblings to one another...inescapably. God, not we, did made it so. God made as lovable to Himself and to one another. He made us to enjoy loving Him and to enjoy loving one another. God does not hate. He loves. When talking about God’s creation, hatred should be unmentionable, so should, spite, and jealousy. These ugly sentiments lead to retaliation and revenge.

God will never cease to love His world together with each of the seven and a half billion people on the face of the earth being uniquely precious to God, each loved by God...so much that  He sent His Son to join us. By becoming Man, Jesus, became Brother Jesus to each of today’s tremendous crowd and to the billions upon billions now deceased and to those yet to be born. All made to be loved by Jesus, to love Jesus, and in so doing all to  love one another.

The bond of love between God and mankind was first broken by the original sin of the original couple, Adam and Eve. The love bond within the human family was first broken when Cain murdered his brother, Abel. Since then, even to this very moment the bonds within the human family have been, and are still being, fractured and fragmented, within the home, the neighbourhood, the nation, between nations.

The differences within the human family which are and always will be the glory of God’s creation, have been become grounds for division - , gender, race, complexion, culture, nationality, social class, political allegiance and, not least, religion. The friction expresses itself through aggression, exploitation, anger, jealousy, greed, violence and lust. Every violation of humanity is an offence against God, the Lord of all creation. 

The ties of love that bind us to God are stretched, ruptured, by the sinful decisions by mankind. And yet God never has decided to cease loving each one of His beloved children, the massive crowd of human beings, and never will. "I shall not forget you. Look, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands,” (Isaiah 49.15).

 As proof positive of God’s total sincerity today’s Gospel tells us, “This is how God loved the world: he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life,” (Jn.3.6). In Jesus there is the  sublime bonding between the divine nature and the human. Jesus claims for Himself  unsurpassable  love, “No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you,” (Jn.15.i3).

 "God our Saviour "wants everyone to be saved and reach full  knowledge of the truth.⁵ For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between  God and humanity, himself a human being, Christ Jesus,  who offered himself as a ransom for all". (1 Tim.2.4).

Calvary spells love; Calvary love spells love everyone – the only possible healing of a vicious, fragmented, broken world such as we have today

Peter Clarke, O.P.

THE 3RD SUNDAY OF LENT B

                                                THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE

Like so many pious Jews Jesus had gone up to Jerusalem to celebrate the most sacred festival – the Passover – the annual celebration of the liberation of their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. Jewish pilgrims would make their way in large numbers  towards Jerusalem, towards its Temple – the House of  the One True God – to their minds the most sacred, the most significant building on earth. 

Pilgrims saw themselves as reliving that awesome night when God carried out His threat to kill the first born male- human and livestock if Pharaoh refused to let the Hebrews go. Each family  had  either to bring its own lambs, pigeons  or cattle or purchase these at the Temple.   

 Expenses also included a Temple Tax and a fee for killing the offering.  The ‘unclean’ pagan coins used in day-to-day transactions were not acceptable in the Temple.  These had to be exchanged for ‘clean’ Jewish coins. In all these transactions the money dealer would deservedly take his ‘cut’ and then more.  There was so much swindling going on.

And this is what Jesus found when He burst upon the scene. He was unknown to the Jerusalem Temple crowd. According St. John’s Gospel the first time Jesus really caught anyone’s attention was at the Wedding Feast of Cana. 

And then He makes His presence known in the Temple. And there He was enraged at what going on in the House of  God. He did His utmost to put an end to it. “Making a whip out of cord He drove them all out of the Temple, sheep and cattle as well, scattered the money changers’ coins and knocked their tables over,“ (Jn.2.15).

Jesus was obviously extremely angry – but He didn’t ‘go overboard! He was filled with righteous indignation. To His mind the most haloed place on earth for Jews, the Temple in Jerusalem, the House of God, was being desecrated. 

And what is more, this abrupt interruption had come when pious Jews were expressing their boundless gratitude to God, their great reverence for God. He had delivered their ancestors from bondage. He had fulfilled His promise to give them a land they could call their own.

Jesus justified Himself with sharp words, “Stop turning my Father’s house into a market place!” “MY FATHER’S HOUSE!”  To pious onlookers it would have seemed that Jesus was putting Himself on a par with Almighty God; and that He was behaving as one with the authority of the Son of God, as one with a stake in His Father’s property. 

To imply that the one true God had an offspring was blasphemy. To do so within the Temple, the very House of God, would have  made matters worse.

 It is remarkable that no-one there and then challenged Jesus for speaking in this way. Later in John’s Gospel we  read that the Jews were intent on killing Him, “because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He spoke of God as His own Father and so made Himself God’s equal,” (John 5.18).

In this reflection I’ve limited myself to considering the incident of the cleansing of the Temple. I have not touched on the second portion of the Sunday Gospel – Jesus prophesying His Resurrection.

From the anger of Jesus I come to the conclusion that there’s FAR TOO LITTLE RIGHTEOUS ANGER in the world today and FAR TOO MUCH UNRIGHTEOUS ANGER. What think you?  

After hearing of Jesus vigorously protesting at the lack of reverence being shown to the House of God I see the need for us to consider whether there be indifference, amounting to irreverence, in the way we present and conduct ourselves in the House of God, where 

Jesus, the Son of God is actually present in the Eucharist.

And finally, while the Jews challenged Jesus to show His credentials that authorized Him to throw His weight around in the Temple, I would suggest that we ponder on this person Jesus – who defended the sacredness of the Temple, who was crucified, who rose from the dead, the Son Man, the Son of God –the Paschal Lamb who has taken away the sins of the world.

God bless you.

Peter Clarke, O.P.