Friday after pranzo is free until Monday morning. I am participating in two bus trips; one on Saturday to the Abbeys of Montecassino and Casamari, and on Sunday to Subiaco. I guess there will many more pictures on Monday.
In the meantime, Fr. Fuellenbach's presentation continues to open up new ideas and insights into faith and spirituality. Also, tonight I have homework. He gave us 9 single-spaced pages to read and reflect on for tomorrow's classes. That means my blog will be a bit shorter tonight. I will travel home with the notes - you will get them sometime in the future, be assured.
Notes for Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Fr. John Fuellenbach, SVD
Father John began with an image that gave me chills:
THE GOSPELS ARE WRITTEN IN THE LIGHT OF THE EASTER CANDLE.
Are you reading this catchumens? And the rest of the parish too?
THE GOSPELS ARE WRITTEN IN THE LIGHT OF THE EASTER CANDLE.
I have to admit that I missed a few of Fr. John's statements after this because of the important images that this line teaches.
For me, the most powerful moment in the life of our worship is that time when the power of the Spirit descends on the church - the baptized and on those about to be baptized - on Holy Saturday Night. We are all standing in the church after the mob has stood around the fire and has processed into the church chanting, "Christ, Our Light", "Thanks be to God". The Easter proclamation is sung and the community's faith is consecrated in the natural light of the Easter Candle and the flame which has been shared by all who seek the Spirit. It is this worshipping church which prayed together and celebrated together the resurrection of the Christ. This experience of Faith and Worship, two to four generations later, was preserved in the Gospels. The Gospels, therefore are the story of the early Christian community's witness to the Risen Christ, which we celebrate at Easter and at every gathering of the community for Eucharist.
The light of the Easter Candle enlightens us;
The light of the Easter Candle inspires us to live the message of Christ,
The light of the Easter Candle is our guide to opening up the kingdom in our time.
The light of the Easter Candle is the light on the way to the kingdom forever.
Tonight I'm thinking of the Canditates and sponsors and catechists who are working together to approach the saving waters of Baptism and make their profession of faith as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am already anticipating the thoughts of my absence on that special night for you and for our community at St. John Neumann. I'll be concelebrating the Easter Vigil with Pope Benedict, but I think my heart will be with you.
OK - back to Fr. Fuellenbach
What is Jesus about?
- Man of the Spirit
- Social Prophet
- Teacher of alternative wisdom
- Movement founder - Table Fellowship
- Jesus the man is a creation of the Spirit
- Jesus becomes bearer of the Spirit
- Jesus is the giver, the dispenser of the Spirit
The Spirit is upon us from the first moment of creation. In Genesis, God breathes the life Spirit into the nostrils of Adam.
- At the Annunciation: Mary is not the point of this story. Mary's willingness to receive in her body the fruits of the Holy Spirit and her acceptance of the Spirit which will come upon her is what this story is really about. Christ is conceived by divine power of the Holy Spirit.
- In the meantime, the Spirit is present in the parents of John the Baptist who is conceived in his parent's old age. In the Scripture this is always a sign that God bestows his spirit on his people in order to accomplish something wonderful.
- John the Baptist's ministry speaks of his baptism of water, but the Messiah will Baptize with fire.
- Jesus is baptized by John but it is God who sends the Holy Spirit on him and will remain with him until the end. Everything that Jesus does is in the Spirit. The fullness of the Spirit remains with him permanently. In the Old Testament, the prophets speak through the power of the Spirit but the spirit does not remain with them.
- After Jesus' baptism, he retreats to the desert where the Spirit is tested. All the realities of the world which stand as opposite of the unconditional love of God and the defenseless love which he will teach is laid before Jesus: power, wealth, omniscience. Jesus rejects them all.
- He now goes back to the place where he was born as the beginning of the ministry. Luke 4:16-21. He goes to the synagogue where he was reared and takes up the passage of Isaiah and proclaims, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, therefore he has anointed me. He sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives. Recovery of sight to the blind and release to the prisoners. To announce a year of favor from the Lord." We need to understand what he is doing. From his first teaching, Jesus is reminding them what their own tradition says. He is including all the people that the community has rejected: the poor, captives, sinners, (the blind had to have sinned to incur the wrath of God in this way.), criminals, and redemption. (A year of favor was a festival that would take place once each generation where all debts were forgiven. You had a new start.) Then he tells them that this passage is now fulfilled. The people like what they hear. "Is this not Joseph's son?" In other words, this is the homeboy who's done good. This is maybe not the response that Jesus wants to elicit from this crowd. Jesus probably thought they would be upset by saying that the ancient scripture was now fulfilled, so he must take it to the next level. He now hits them in the face with the times that the spirit was rejected by them, the times when they rejected God, and so God bestowed his mercy on gentiles. This enrages them. Jesus sets the stage for the release of the spirit on the world - His death on the Cross.
- Jesus' mission is to release the Spirit on the World. At the moment of Jesus' death on the cross, the gospels report; Matthew 27: 50. "Jesus cried out in a loud voice, and then gave up his spirit. Luke 24:46. "Jesus uttered a loud cry and said, 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. John 19:30b. "Then he bowed his head, and delivered over his spirit."
- Pentecost: Jesus bestows the spirit on the disciples and makes them alter christus, other Christs. He reminds them of what he had said earlier. Fr. John says the better translation would be, "I came into the world to throw fire. (Hence the title of one of his books, Throw Fire.
After the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, the disciples were hiding because they were afraid. The law was that when an insurrectionist was convicted and executed, his "disciples" were hunted down and put to death as well by their association with him. I never knew this bit of history. Doesn't it make sense that the disciples were afraid and hiding? But Jesus who now appears to them, talks to them, even eats with them, releases the Holy Spirit upon them.
John's gospel is especially beautiful: Jesus comes to them and says, "Peace be with you. "
Fr. John says that the translators should have not translated the Hebrew word, "Shalom", in the gospels; it should have been left the way Jesus spoke, like the hebrew words are not translagted elsewhere in the crucifixion story. "Shalom" is much richer in meaning than simply peace, which can mean just an absence of conflict or struggle. "Shalom" also means I have an acceptance of you. It means that Jesus is not condemning the disciples but continues to love them as they are; filled with fear, confusion, and doubt.
Then Jesus breathed on them, "Receive the Holy Spirit". They would have known that the gesture of breath was the same gesture that gave life to Adam in the Genesis story. The second Adam now gives them new life. The apostles have now become new creations in the Holy Spirit.
John's gospel continues with the gentle acceptance of Thomas' doubt, the mention of many other signs not recorded here, and the brief return of the apostles to their former way of life - fishing. In a kind of "this is the last straw", push-over-the-edge gesture, Jesus allows them to catch a huge amount of fish. It becomes for them the sign of the new life upon which they are about to embark.
And finally, the dialogue with Peter. Three times Jesus asks him, "Simon, son of John do you love me?
Three times Peter says, "Yes Lord, you know that I love you." Three times Jesus says, "Tend my sheep." "3" is the divine number in the scriptures and symbol of perfection as God is perfect. 3 as in the Trinity is the perfection of the relationship of love which is God. 3 is the number of times that Peter denied Jesus - perfectly. Now Peter is the one called to devote his life to the perfect love of the heavenly Father who:
- loves unconditionally
- forgives unconditionally
- present unconditionally with compassion
Jesus in the Social Prophet:
At the time of Jesus, the convenant relationship with God was irretrievably broken. Covenat had come to mean an unbending and strict justice. There was no equality.
Christian anthropologists speak of what it means to be human in light of our creation by God:
We are Body and Spirit; and we must enter into right relationship with God, with myself, with others, and some include these days, with nature. We know we are in right relationship when they are "life-giving" and not "life-taking"
And so in Jesus' time, there arose a series of "kingdom movements" which included:
- Exclusivity - Pharisees and Saducees
- Violence - Zealots
- Judgments - St. John the Baptist - repent, (although he realized who the messiah was)
Jesus wants to restore the right covenant with God.
Jesus asks is Matthew 12:42ff, "Who is my mother?" Jesus not showing disrespect to his mother, but he is putting aside clanishness.
When Jesus is told, "Happy the woman who bore you, and the breats that nursed you." Jesus replies, "Happy those who know the will of God and put it into practice." (paraphrase) Jesus is actually praising his mother here because he knows what she has done by following the will of God.
Galatians 3:27-28. St. Paul understands what Jesus is attempting to do. And so he can write that all barriers of social classes, race, gender have no place in the kingdom. Through Baptism, we share in the right relationship (read covenant) with God from the first covenant, but especially the new covenant of Christ and the Spirit. In parables like the Good Samaritan, Jesus breaks down the restrictions placed upon people by the law, convention, attitude, and customs. Jesus gives this parable to illustrate what the inquirer should have known already.
In an aside, Fr. John said: "Jesus never gives an answer when you can answer yourself"
For Jesus, justice is not "getting what I deserve", rather imitating the unconditional love of God.
Jesus the Wisdom Teacher: The Bible has a huge body of "wisdom" writing which includes poetry, prose stories, short one-line sayings, and parables. For some scripture scholars, the entire message of Jesus and God are ultimately found in the parables. There are 36, and possibly 42 if the one sentence "the kingdom of God is like..." in Matthew are included. Parables are offered because they are where we learn a God Image.
Jesus breaks all the molds of convention, and even common sense. People who would have heard the parable of the lost sheep would have thought Jesus was out of his mind. Luke 15 is addressed to the scribes and pharisees. When you think of it - why would a shepherd risk 99 sheep to find one who will probably be only a carcass when he gets there. It was economically stupid to risk the whole flock for one who was probably destroyed by wolves or lions anyway. The God Image is the God who loves each individually for his own sake. The parable is told for its shock value.(Remind me someday to tell you about the story of the papal nuncio who wanted to do a confirmation in Australia to a community of sheep herders) Hey people. I'm going to tell you something so absurd that now, maybe I will jolt you and you'll pay attention to the next thing I'm going to tell you. Then we hear the story of the woman who finds the lost coin. The God Image is a God of JOY. The scribes and pharisees could have cared less about the some woman who couldn't keep track of her possessions and probably would not have related to a joyful God. But now comes the big guns: the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
What is the God image here? The unconditional lover, the unconditional forgiver, the unconditional presence of compassion.
Jesus is breaking the mold of the social order and changes everything. He never offers what society looks for.
The world looks for success and demands competition;
Jesus looks for faithfulness and demands compassion.
Jesus preaches an Alternative Wisdom - a relationship with God that is totally new from the Old Testament: The wrathful punishing, vengeful God.
Jesus is the incarnation of a merciful and generous God.
In this new Covenant, the wisdom is to be in right relationship with God.
- God loves unconditionally: This does not depend on me or on anything I do.
- I am unconditionally loved: The only security in a Christian's life is knowing God's love for me.
- My neighbor is unconditionally loved.
Well so much for the short posting. I am going to quit for now and take this up tomorrow.
The next area of discussion is a small question (yeah, right!!!)
What happens at the moment you die?
I have some reading homework to do. So I am going to take this up tomorrow. I'm fearing that the material we hear tomorrow will put me terribly behind. I may be only to do some of it. You may all have to wait until I get back and let's talk about this over pasta and refreshment in the hall.
Buona notte a tutti.
