“Apotres.cathedrale.Amiens“. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
We are in an interesting week. We are in that Sunday between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost. It is the week where nothing happened, but because the apostles were waiting for something to happen, it was not ordinary, just expectantly uneventful.
However, for us this transition is not one of waiting for the Holy Spirit to come upon the Apostles, but a reminder of when He came upon us in our baptism and confirmation. What is significant about this event? It represents a transition from the exclusive role of prophets to be the bearers of the message of God to all of us being given that role.
Now the question is how and why do we deliver that message.
Well, first we need to understand what is the root of our message. What is the difference between being a believer and a non-believer? The answer is simple, a non-believer thinks in three dimensions and a believer thinks in four. That simple difference is the difference between life and death.
If we think only in three dimensions and we do not believe in God, but believe that all that exists is all that you and I can see, then all our choices will be based on that simple understanding. Ultimately, since our entire existence can be summed up in a maximum of maybe at best 100 years, we must make the best of it. If someone gets in our way, we must take them down to ensure they are removed as obstacles to our life and maybe even suffer punishment for what they did to us. If you look carefully this is the way the world works. The more you buy into that thinking, the starker the consequences for those who offend you or you offend. Where this world is most obvious is the stark reality of street criminal gang life. Hence you hear stories of people shot for their sneakers, or killed for drugs or revenge etc. The killings in Santa Barbara were an intensely stark example of this way of thinking.
However, if we think in four dimensions, and believe in an after-life and seek to prepare ourselves for it, then our life will be based in doing what we can here to ensure things go well there. We may suffer here, but if that suffering leads us to greater joy there, then so be it. Believers are in preparation for the next life, non-believers are living their only life.
Our role as Catholics is to testify to the people of this world, that there is more to experience than three dimensions offer.
But here is where the catch comes in, the world rejects our understanding of the universe.
If you have ever seen the movie Inception, it is based on a fictional principle where people can insert themselves into other people’s dreams. However the mind of the person being visited sees the visiting person as an intruder, much like the body sees a foreign substance as an intruder and it seeks to destroy it.
Our world works the same way. It seeks to ward off those who bring another vision into it. Jesus warned that He is not from this world and St. John warned that neither are we. We have been chosen by God to testify to others in this world that there is an alternative to what one can find in this world and that is Christ and the salvation he promises.
We suffer, as Peter says, for we are the intruders in a world that rejects our presence and what we have to offer. However, like the foreign body of penicillin, if we do not live our message, then those in the world are self consumed by the disease of three dimensional thinking.
We have a calling to live our lives as people of faith, so that others may come to understand the truth that we know and find the life that we seek and that the world does not offer. If however, we do not live our calling, someone else will and their way will be destructive.
If we don’t teach people the truth about Christ, then others will teach their truth and that truth will be destructive to them.
Look at all the people who are not here and should be, what truth are they listening to, embracing and where is that truth leading them. When things go wrong where can they turn for comfort? Where can they turn to see the greater truth that is beyond what the three dimensional world has to offer.
Do you see the importance of bringing this message to others, do you see the importance of you being here? I hope so.
How will you prepare for the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit next week? What will you do to open yourself to His grace in your life that you may teach others to recognize the truth and seek it?
Fr. Carr is an alliance member of the New Song Community (Canção Nova). He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MA and is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find at his website. He also has a regular radio program on WebRadio Canção Nova. Which he podcasts on Mixcloud and here on Catholicismanew.
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