THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER


SUNDAY, SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE   

Acts 1:12-14; Ps 27:1,4,7-8; 1 Pet 4:13-16; Jn 17:1-11

The Prayer of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The readings express the yearning of the earth for the spiritual regeneration that the Father planned to accomplish for us. The deep yearning expressed by creatures is already a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to material creation that he brought into existence and sustains as a new beginning of a spiritual life for human beings. We lost our spiritual life with God when our first parents disobeyed the injunction of God not to eat of the forbidden fruit. Their disobedience, which denied them participation in the banquet of the Lord, served by his word, made them participants in the sinful communion of demons. That is what sin makes us, communicants in the cup of the devil. In his infinite mercy and compassion, God the Father promised us redemption through his Son, when He promised to bring forth another woman who would champion the enmity of God’s people and the evil serpent who deceived Adam and Eve. The promised woman and her seed would drink of the cup of God’s will and serve it only to the redeemed of God. Through the woman and her son, an eternal communion with God would be established among men. This would make the Holy Spirit of communion dwell perpetually in our land.

The promise of eternal salvation became a reality in the Blessed Virgin Mary and her son, Jesus Christ. Her Immaculate Conception corresponds with the promise of God to put enmity between the woman and the serpent; the sinless life of the Son of Man, her seed, confirms the fulfilment of the ancient prophecy. Through the woman and her seed, that is, the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, a new earth is created where righteousness or uprightness is at home. Since this is totally of the Lord’s doing, we understand these two as constituting the land where the Holy Spirit dwells forever. Thus, among the gathering of the disciples of our Lord in Jerusalem, Mary is found among them as the seed of the new life. She was among them, not to receive the Holy Spirit, but to intercede on their behalf for the coming of the Holy Spirit on those her dear Son has redeemed and prepared for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. “There were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son of James. All these joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” They joined in prayerful desire for the fulfilment of God’s will and promise for a new heaven and earth that the perpetual presence of the Spirit of the Living God will characterise.

Our communion of prayer with the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the principle of the renewed earth, is very important and necessary. She who is full of grace is full of the Holy Spirit, for grace is the unction of the Holy Spirit; Grace is the presence of God with us to accomplish his holy will. The Holy Spirit filled her to conceive the Son of Man, who is the head of the mystical body. She remained filled in the upper room to bring forth the members of the mystical body, which she conceives through the salvific works of Jesus Christ, her Son, our Lord. Saint Peter conceived of the presence of the Holy Spirit as the divine presence with us to accomplish God's will. “If you can have some share in the suffering of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed. It is a blessing for you when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ, because it means that you have the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God resting on you.” The desire to accomplish the will of God in all things is what characterises the woman and her Son.

The willingness to accomplish divine will is a foundation for the reception of the Holy Spirit. Hence, the work of Jesus Christ and his blessed mother is totally geared to this end. The woman and her Son propagate the divinely established enmity between them and the ancient serpent and sin, its seed. The spread of this enmity is the promotion of the heavenly kingdom on earth, making it the kingdom of God. This is the glory of the Son that he prayed his heavenly Father to grant him. “Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you; and, through the power over all mankind that you have given him, let him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him. And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” The only way we show our knowledge of God is by doing his will. The one who accomplishes the will of God is the one with grace and in communion with the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Holy Spirit is given so that we may accomplish the will of God. We must not just desire the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; we must desire to fulfil the will of God in our lives. This desire prompts God to send forth the Holy Spirit. The psalmist expresses it alternatively. “There is one thing I ask of the Lord, for this I long, to live in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to savour the sweetness of the Lord, to behold his temple.”         

Let us pray: Graciously hear our supplications, O Lord, so that we, who believe that the Saviour of the human race is with you in your glory, may experience, as he promised, until the end of the world, his abiding presence among us. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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