The Monks Of Norcia-Newsletter:

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May 9, 2012
 

Below you'll find Fr. Basil's homily from last Sunday, which foreshadows Pentecost.  In case you missed it, last month Fr. Cassian was honored at the Institute for Religous Life's National Meeting with the Pro Fidelitate et Virtute Award.  If you'd like to see the video of his insightful acceptance speech, click here.

Finally, here is a listing of past homilies which you may not have seen. 
 

Maundy Thursday: The Connection Between the Paschal Lamb and the Lamb of God by Fr. Cassian	Good Friday: The Importance of Silence in the Context of Good Friday by Fr. Cassian
Easter Vigil:  The Fact of the Resurrection and Our Response by Fr. Cassian	Easter Sunday:  An Analysis of the Sequence by Fr. Cassian
Second Sunday of Easter: The Good Shepherd by Fr. Thomas	Third Sunday of Easter: The Paradox of Suffering Today for the Sake of Tomorrow by Fr. Benedict

The Consolation of the Holy Spirit
by Fr. Basil Nixen, O.S.B.
Monastery of San Benedetto, Norcia, Italy

                Each one of us knows the pain of separating from our dear family and friends.  Each time the road of our life takes us far away from our parents, siblings, friends, children, or spouses, we experience deep down the suffering of this separation.  We are filled with nostalgia and we strongly feel their absence.  We feel incomplete and alone, and sometimes just barely endure the loneliness caused by the absence of a loved one.  Often, we try to remember and preserve something special of theirs, like a photo or a particular item.

            Such objects, even if they’re inexpensive, have an enormous value for us and we guard them with great care and attention.  These things, though, are not able to fill the void left by the absence of the loved one.  What’s necessary to have is their spirit, or actually, their heart, inside of us to actually feel their desired presence.  Unfortunately, it’s not possible for us humans to spiritually live in the hearts of our loved ones in a way that we’re simultaneously present and joined to one another.
 
                It’s precisely in this, in the limit of human relationships, that the transcendent power of God manifests itself in today’s Gospel.  In this Gospel, Christ announces to his disciples his imminent departure:  “But now I am going to him who sent me” (Jn 16:5).  It is shocking news, and immediately the Lord sees the anguish which threatens to overwhelm his friends and disciples: “But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts” (Jn 16:6).  Try for a moment to think about the times when you have had to distance yourself from your loved ones and you will know full well the feelings which the disciples had on that occasion.

            In fact, Jesus had become everything for them:  this is why the pronounced separation provokes such great sadness.  He was their best friend, and thus says to them: “but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (Jn 15:15).  He was their beloved master, and thus his disciples were used to calling him “Rabbi” (cf. Jn 1:38,49; 6:25; 11:8; Mc 9:5).  He was their father, who warned them and taught them with great affection, and thus Christ called them “Little children” (Jn 13:33), and he comforted them saying, “I will not leave you orphans” (Jn 14:18).  He was their older brother who guided them towards the Father, and thus he says to St. Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, “go to my brethren and say to them: ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (Jn 20:17).  Above all, he had become their principle Counselor, source of strength and of courage in the midst of the difficulties of this world.  He says to his disciples:  “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me” (Jn 14:1).

            In the sadness of this separation, though, Jesus comforts his disciples with the promise of another counselor.  And so Jesus says: “And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you will know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you” (Jn 14:16-17).

            The departure of Jesus in terms of his bodily presence, therefore, is not a reason to be sad; instead, it is a cause of great joy.  And this is exactly what the Lord promises when he says: “I tell you the truth; it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7).
 
                Christ sends us the Counselor, that is the Holy Spirit, in union with his Father.  In fact, the Holy Spirit is the special promise of the Father (cf. Acts 2:33; Eph 1:13; Lk 24:49), the gift which allows us to know him more intimately, “for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor 2:10).  The good fathers of this world show their goodness towards their children giving them the most precious gift, that of personal love.  The Lord says to earthly fathers: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Lk 11:13).  Given that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (Jas 1:17), as we heard in today’s epistle, it is clear that the best gift that the Father can bestow is that of his Holy Spirit, through whom the Father and the Son are able to dwell in us (cf. Jn 14:23).
 
                How eager, therefore, should we be to receive this Spirit!  O how we should implore the Father for this perfect gift!  We should say, therefore:  Come, Holy Spirit!  Fill the hearts of thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.  Send forth thy Spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.  Amen.  (The Monks Of Norcia:here)