Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (I Peter 1:10-16; Mark 10:28-31) In his novel The Shack, William Young describes the Holy Spirit as a young Asian woman who like an electron in an atom seems to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Young’s Spirit differs remarkably from his portraits of the Father, a joyful hulk of a woman, and the Son, the classical Jewish carpenter. No doubt, the Spirit as a wispy maiden, as well as the Young’s conceptualization of the Father will offend sensibilities. But there is no way to adequately describe the central mystery of faith. Today’s reading from the First Letter of Peter twice mentions the Holy Spirit. The Spirit inspires Old Testament prophets with indications of Christ’s paschal event. The Spirit also moves the apostles to preach the gospel to the people with insight into their needs. The reading might have added, but didn’t, that the Spirit enables Christian holiness by illuminating the world’s allurements. We are wise to develop a habit of daily prayer to the Holy Spirit. The Father may seem distant at times, and the Son perhaps too righteous to approach with our persistent faults. But the Spirit, as sure to come as the morning sun, will see us through any trial.