Three readings offering 27 verses of texts, 6 verses of a Psalm, and added to all this, a poem-prayer, the Sequence, as a second Response!
Overwhelming riches – and overwhelming is the word!
How can one choose a theme?
How can we focus on a single verse, or topic, for reflection?
Of course, the Spirit is at the heart – no, he is THE heart – of today’s message.
What saint Paul writes to the Galatians in the 2nd reading (Gal.5:16-25) is what has retained my attention.
“Since the Spirit gives us life,
let us walk under the guidance of the Spirit.”
Paul tells the first Christians that there are in us what he calls ‘tendencies’ – inclinations or dispositions –
that lead us into a way of being that is not what we are meant to be.
The apostle gives them 15 different names, no less! and he says clearly:
“There is a clash that prevents you from doing whatever you want.”
We know it from experience, very often we do not manage to master those tendencies,
we do not succeed in overcoming those inclinations.
So, we need to allow the Spirit to guide us on the way God wants us to follow.
He is the one who will enable us to be… reconciled with our best self!
So, “Let us walk under the guidance of the Spirit,” indeed!
We might be astonished at the outcome of walking with this Companion!
Note: Another reflection on a different theme is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/pentecote-annee-b-2021/