Notes, Thoughts and Reflections: May 2014

Saturday, May 31, 2014

The Ascension of the Bridegroom

Reflections on the Readings

The Ascension of the Lord - June 1, 2014 - Year A

The Ascension of the Bridegroom

(That you may know)…What is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come…

The Ascension of our Lord is a love story filled with promise and hope for the Church that awaits with joyful expectation for His return. Shortly before He ascended to His Father, Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled…In my Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:1-3)

Jesus speaks with the love of a bridegroom promising to return for his waiting bride once everything is ready for her. Lest we think that his promise, "I'll never leave you nor forsake you," is not real, St. Paul invokes upon the Church his prayers, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened." (Ephesians 1:17-18) The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, which the Ascension precedes and anticipates, is the Promise of the Father assuring us that we will not be left comfortless in the interim. He has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it; that we are His; the recipients of His holy affection. (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 2:13-14)

The spiritual nuptial agreement was signed, sealed and delivered in the outpouring of our Redeemer's affection on the Cross on which He gave himself for us. When the veil of his flesh was pierced with the sword, forthwith came blood and water, and underscores the consummate truth that Christ is himself the Savior of the Church.

In the earliest understandings of the Church the mystery of marriage is an icon of Christ united to his bride, the Church. The sainted Apostle Paul explained and challenged the husbands of the first century Church at Ephesus to "love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her." What manner of love did Christ lavish upon the Church? Paul says, "Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:25-27)

The great and holy mystery of love is explained in how a husband is to love his wife as his own body for he who loves his wife loves himself. There is a completion of a husband's understanding of who he is and who he is to be in the self giving nuptial embrace. A man truly in love with his wife exhibits a healthy self image for no man ever hates his own flesh in that he is to love his wife as his own body; he is to nourish and cherish the bride in his arms, as Christ does the Church for we are members of his body as a bride is one with her husband in his embrace. When a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, the two become one flesh. This is a profound mystery in that it also refers to the spiritual nuptial embrace of Christ and His Church. For in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. (Ephesians 5:28-32; 1:7-8)

Since the day Christ Ascended the Church lives in the awareness that Jesus entered into heaven itself to appear in the presence of God for her. On our behalf Christ entered into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, and secured for us our eternal redemption. With the immeasurable greatness of his power we proclaim his love and mercy and invite the sons and daughters of this age to look up and to see Him who is high and lifted up. For He who ascended far above all principalities and powers and every name that is named this very moment sits at the Father's right hand and will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly awaiting for him, as a Bride adorned for her husband. (Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:28)

Dennis Hankins is a parishioner at Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral, of the Diocese of Knoxville, TN. Prior to uniting with the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil 2006, Dennis served as a priest in the Charismatic Episcopal Church. E-mail Dennis at: dennishankins@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter: @dshankins or visit him at: www.dennishankins.com

Friday, May 23, 2014

The Family Spirit

Reflections on the Readings

Sixth Sunday of Easter - May 25, 2014 - Year A

By Dennis S. Hankins

Readings For This Sunday

The Family Spirit

But in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:15-16)

The inspiring Easter hymn He Lives declares in the opening verse: I serve a risen Savior with the Chorus ending in a crescendo: You ask me how I know He lives: He lives within my heart. The only way to sing this hymn is to do so by standing up. You want all the diaphragm stretch room you can get to give that last line of the Chorus all of the punch you can give it - He livesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss withinnnnnnnnnnnnnn my hearttttttttttttttttt!

Don't think for a moment that a good Pentecostal misses an opportunity singing this hymn with uplifted hands in praise punctuated with "Alleluias and Thank you Jesus!" As a fourth generation Pentecostal, I know about these things!

I've been thinking a lot lately about my relationship with the Lord. The reading from Peter's Epistle today prods me on in this effort. The incomparable Spiritual, 'Lord, I want to be a Christian' expresses the deep prayer of my heart and the depth of meaning found in this verse 'but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord':

Lord, I want to be a Christian

in my heart, in my heart.

Lord, I want to be a Christian.

In my heart, in my heart,

Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.

Lord, I want to be more loving

in my heart, in my heart.

Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart.

In my heart, in my heart,

Lord I want to be more loving in my heart.

Lord, I want to be more holy

in my heart, in my heart.

Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.

In my heart, in my heart,

Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.

Lord, I want to be like Jesus

in my heart, in my heart.

Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.

In my heart, in my heart,

Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.

Peter's words are within the context of Christian trial and suffering. Such times in the life of the Christian can create bitterness in the heart. Left unchecked, bitterness suffocates the joy of Christ and we begin to gasp for the immaculate air of holiness we once breathed. Bitterness spawns thoughts of reprisal. Where is Christ when these things take over our heart? On the outside knocking on the door of our heart.

Out of the heart bereft of Christ come evil thoughts, murderous plans, and revengeful and spiteful ambitions. This is why Peter exhorts us to pay attention to the Holy Guest in our lives - to the life he gives us in his love. Proverbs 4:23 says: Keep you heart with all vigilance; for from it flow the issues of life. This is why we need another Advocate; Comforter; the Helper that Jesus talks about. For the Holy Spirit helps us to pray and to be bold as a witness for Christ. Through the Spirit we become a dwelling place for God; to be the face, hands, and voice of Christ. He sanctifies our hearts and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we call Jesus Lord and invite others to love Him too.

And what will we say whenever someones asks us to give a reason for the hope we have in Christ? We need the Holy Spirit to give us the words we are to speak. In those moments we can pray, "Come Holy Spirit and help me to say what Jesus would say. And help me to say it how he would say it; with gentleness and reverence."

The New Testament is full of references to our life that is in Christ; for example - If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation… And when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives He does help us to daily be alive in Christ. Because if Christ is alive we live also! And we're talking about life that is abundant and joy that is unspeakable! This is what the Holy Spirit inspires.

Preparing his disciples for the time of His Passion and Ascension, when he would no longer be visibly present Christ says that he will not leave his followers orphans but will send to them another Advocate, the Spirit of truth. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make us one with the Thrice Holy Family for when the Holy Spirit comes, Jesus says, "On that day you will know that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you." Amen.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Chosen and Precious

Reflections on the Readings

Fifth Sunday of Easter - May 18, 2014 - Year A

By Dennis S. Hankins

Readings For This Sunday

Chosen and Precious

Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5)

I've been thinking about my relationship with Jesus lately. Whether I have that first love kind of relationship with Him? I remember the ardor of my heart when I first loved him and desired to know Him more and more and to make Him known. So it's a kind of spiritual checkup I'm embracing. Am I truly focused and looking unto Jesus? Do I really believe that there is no other name under heaven in which is my only hope of being saved? And do I seek to be docile to the movements of the Holy Spirit in my life, inviting Him to teach me, to guide me, and through my life glorify Jesus? In my worship do I recognize Him in the breaking of the bread or do I just think Mass is almost over?

How about you? Maybe you've had similar questions. Have you thought about it lately? Do you believe it is possible to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? When you pray, do you ask the Holy Spirit to lead you, to guide you into all that is real and true about Jesus?

In her book, Forming Intentional Disciples, Sherry Weddell recounts interviewing leaders in a parish of a large city in Canada at the Pastor's request. Described as a gifts interview, the goal of the conversation was to help leaders in the parish to recognize the gifts God has given them to help build the kingdom of God. During this process Weddell was interviewing a Catholic woman who also was president of the local Catholic women's group. Getting no where Weddell asked her, "Could you briefly describe to me your lived relationship with God at this point in your life?" She thought about it for a few moments and responded, "I don't have a relationship with God."

Well. Are you as speechless as I am? Just how does someone with the claim of Christ on them through baptism become president of the Catholic Women's group without a 'relationship with God?' More importantly, how is it that anyone could grow up in Church and never be assisted to hear God's voice in their soul and know him in their heart?

There is statistical evidence that suggests that this is a huge reality within the Church. In her book, Sherry Weddell explains that, "Less than half of Catholic adults are certain you can have a personal relationship with God. Thirty percent of Catholic adults don't believe in a personal God. Many Catholics do not believe in the God at the heart of the Catholic faith."

In the second reading Peter exclaims, "Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men, but in God's sight chosen and precious." Never would I have ever imagined that 30% of Catholic adults don't believe in a personal God. The New Evangelization surely must begin first within our parishes. Newness of faith must begin in conversions of those in our own pews. And the faith must be rekindled in those who believe. For when we speak of reaching the unchurched and the under-churched we cannot give what we do not have.

This is not just a Catholic problem. Emma Green in The Atlantic describes a nearly one million member decline in the Southern Baptist denomination over the past decade. Citing a decline in baptisms the task force for the denomination wrote, "we are not being effective in winning and discipling the next generation to follow Christ." Their report included the fact that in 2012, 60 percent of their churches reported that they didn't baptize anyone aged 12-17, and 80 percent reported that they had either zero or one baptism of someone aged 18-29. The task force of Southern Baptist ministers concluded, "We have a spiritual problem."

I remember the year I came into the Catholic Church. It was at the Easter Vigil, 2006. I recall the priest at that time lamenting that "This is the first year since I became a priest that I have not baptized someone."

We have a spiritual problem.

Do we all share the Father's joy about his Son, our Saviour, in whose sight Jesus is 'chosen and precious.' And in that joy we are brought together through baptism to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God our Father through Jesus Christ. We don't just go to Church; we are the Church. Being a Christian is above everything else about being a new creation in Christ Jesus. And when we come together it is to be more fully formed into the likeness of Christ by hearing the apostolic teaching, embracing each other in genuine Christian fellowship, and praying together and seeing Christ in the breaking of the bread.

My dear brothers and sisters, invite Jesus into your heart. Anyone can do that. Everyone should. Let us say to Him who is chosen and precious in the Father's eyes, "Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Come in today. Come in to stay!" That's not a Catholic prayer. It's not a Protestant prayer. It's a good prayer to pray anytime whether Catholic or Protestant; if necessary with every heart beat. Amen.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Healed by His Wounds

Reflections on the Readings

Fourth Sunday of Easter - May 11, 2014 - Year A

By Dennis S. Hankins

Readings For This Sunday

Healed by His Wounds

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. (1 Peter 2:24-25)

It is a strange analogy. We do not easily equate wounds with a good result. Peter grasps a deeply held understanding of the efficacious sacrifice of Christ when he says, "By his wounds you have been healed."

Following at a distance, Peter positioned himself to see what would become of Jesus. Settling nearby, Peter warmed himself by a fire recently kindled in the midst of the courtyard. Someone recognized him, a maid, who exclaimed to his embarrassment, "This man also was with him." But he denied it.

Before the interrogation of Jesus ended that evening long ago, a second person and then a third also recognized Peter as one who also followed Jesus. That third time really got to him. Someone insisted, "Certainly this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean." Peter responded forcefully with a measured and passionate statement, "Man, I do not know what you are saying."

It was Peter who first confessed, "You are the Christ." It was such a high and spiritual moment. The air seemed filled with rapturous joy as this revelation of who Jesus really is captured the imagination of all of the disciples. But now, like a straying sheep, Peter found himself grasping the sword when Jesus was arrested, and cutting off the right ear of Malchus, a servant of the High Priest.

We can imagine the intense emotions that Peter was struggling to contain and to understand; the billowing, stormy waves of confusion cascading in the mind of this closest associate of Jesus; the heart of a man who desperately wanted to be close to Jesus in this terrible hour but couldn't because he was not yet filled with perfect love. And now, at this third time, Peter's retort, "Man I do not know what you are saying," the cock crows, and the Lord turns and looks at Peter. And Peter remembers the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times."

And Peter left the warm fire in the courtyard and the warmer, loving eyes of Jesus to find a place where he could weep his bitter tears.

Peter reflected a long time on that evening before he wrote the Epistle we read from today. But 30 years or so of apostolic preaching and prayer prepared Peter to write about suffering, and relationships and how to conduct ourselves in a Christian way in both. That's why he could write about Jesus so movingly and such things so convincingly. Like this that we heard in the second reading:

Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly.

It is Peter who helps us to understand just how much Jesus wants to heal us from the inside out. So that when we face uncomfortable and sometimes hostile situations we can be like Jesus. That we might follow in his steps and respond without guile on our lips. But when we hear that Jesus, led like a sheep to the slaughter, opens not his mouth, we are challenged. That whole eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth thing wants to take over more often than we want to admit. But Christ took our sins - our hatreds, our prejudices, our sour and pitiful power charades, our arsenal of weapons of massive self importance, our blindness to the image of God in us and our neighbors - Christ bore all of these sins in his body on the Tree. To heal our souls. To rid our hearts of the dark blots, our wretched blindness, and our self ingratiating opinions.

The great mystery of the Christian religion is that we find salvation in the wounds of Jesus. For we are healed and redeemed not by corruptible things like silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Christ. He himself bore our sins on the Tree so that we might have life, and have it abundantly. Indeed, he is the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls. By his wounds we are healed.

And we all said, "Thank you, Jesus."

Amen.