+ We recall today that our first reading remains narrative
about post-Pentecost events: and so today we see Paul
going down to Ephesus. Here we have the classic outline of apostolic ministry
presented: ask a leading question: did
you receive the Spirit when you became believers? The classic answer among
the worldly is: we have never even heard
that there is a Holy Spirit. Well then, how
were you baptized? With the baptism of John (an incomplete and non-salvific
baptism), although it is a start for his is a baptism of repentance, but for those baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus a whole new world opens up
and a transfigured person becomes a child
of God and heir of heaven – and he is now in the right ballpark to begin
his/her transformation into the fullness of the image and likeness of God that
he/she already is.
We then see Paul baptizing
about a dozen of the Ephesians in the name of the Lord Jesus (and his Father
and their Spirit) and the Spirit rushes upon them and they speak in tongues and prophesy and they begin a brand new chapter in
their lives: and the Christian community is firmly established there.
In the gospel passage, now
pre-Pentecost, and even pre-Passion, Jesus says to his Apostles you may think everything is clear to you now
about me and my mission; but wait, shortly you will be thrown into chaos and
confusion – but take heart I have overcome all chaos and confusion: I have
overcome the whole world: and one day when the Spirit finally comes – you will
truly know the entire story – and you will rejoice and you will be my witnesses
about it to the ends of the earth.
We are witnesses in our own
right to the real presence of Jesus – as he comes to us in the depths of our
hearts in silence, in stillness, in solitude as he comes in the Scriptures, as
he comes in the Eucharist, as he comes in good deeds done for love of him!
May we always seek God, by
seeking what he seeks: the poor, the
orphaned, the hungry and the forsaken! And may God bless us all and fill us
with his Holy Spirit!
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