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| From Pixabay / Public Domain. |
Newly arisen from the
dead, Christ gave us his body and his breath, which is the Spirit for the
forgiveness of sins.
For Pentecost Sunday:
John 20:19-23
Today in the Gospel, we return with the first disciples, the whole
Church and the Spirit to the day of the Resurrection itself, the first Easter
Sunday.
Newly arisen from the dead, Christ shows to us HIMSELF and the power of the
Holy Spirit.
First, he shows us his BODY— with open wounds in his hands and his side.
It is his real BODY, arisen from the dead.
Secondly, he BREATHES on us, and says: Receive the Holy SPIRIT.
Thirdly, he says: Whose SINS you FORGIVE
are forgiven them....
Thus, three great things: the human BODY, the BREATH or SPIRIT of God, and the FORGIVENESS OF SINS.
We see these three also in the beginnings of human life on earth: BODY, BREATH, and SIN.
In the book of beginnings, Genesis, we see the Lord create the universe and humanity.
In the beginning, the Lord God formed of dust from the earth a BODY.
Just so, the first great sign the Risen Lord shows in his
Resurrection Gospel is the BODY.
In his Resurrection, he shows us his real BODY— raised from the dead
and now everlastingly glorified, but a real human body nonetheless.
Genesis tells us that after the Lord God shaped the first human
body from the earthen elements, he then BREATHED his own BREATH, the SPIRIT of Life, into the earthly human BODY.
So, in the resurrection of Christ, the second important sign is
the BREATH of God, the giving of the SPIRIT.
In his Resurrection, the Lord BREATHES out the Holy BREATH, the HOLY SPIRIT, upon the beginnings
of his Church which is his BODY— just as at the beginnings of all humanity the Lord had BREATHED his SPIRIT into humanity’s
earthen BODY.
But after the first beginning, Genesis shows us that living
humanity went on to SIN against God.
So, the third sign in the resurrection of Christ is the commission
to FORGIVE SINS.
And so, in the Resurrection of Christ, God creates our humanity
all over in a new way: the human BODY, the BREATH or SPIRIT of God, and the FORGIVENESS OF SINS.
The apostles were the first to know these truths and pass them on.
On the first Pentecost Sunday, fifty days after Christ rose from
the dead, God publicly revealed these truths and their power in the midst of
the apostles and the whole Church.
The Resurrection of Christ together with the Power of the Spirit
is the New and Everlasting Truth of the Human Race— the New Beginning of the
human race.
The New Beginning is handed over to us.
It is planted in us and we are planted in it in the sacraments,
especially Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist.
Most especially in the Eucharist, our real BODIES receive the promise
and the beginning of resurrection, and God’s Spirit BREATHES within us.
In the Eucharist, the present world of bread and wine comes to an
end.
In the Eucharist, there is only the reality of Christ in his Real
Body and Real Blood with the unity, truth and power of the Holy Spirit.
We eat and drink the glory that God offers to his sons and
daughters.
What will we do with our bodily lives, what will we do with the
Holy Spirit and the glory that God has already given us— the glory that we eat,
drink and celebrate this day?
What will we do?
Turn. Love. Repeat.
