Today's scriptures bring us a clear message:
The times, they are
a-changin'!
Some of us who were around 52 years ago
heard that message in
our society and in our church.
It was January 13, 1964,
when Bob Dylan's
prophetic song was released.
It spoke to the mood of the times,
reflecting
protests across America.
And in our church the Second Vatican Council was
half over,
calling for a change to
the way our Church had been doing
things.
We heard ourselves called the “people of God.”
We heard about
Catholicism's long tradition of social justice
based on the right and dignity
of all people.
We were called into dialogue with other Christians,
a call
that continues
as we begin the Week of Christian Unity
tomorrow.
________________________________________
Today we hear Isaiah
prophesy,
after the Jewish people returned from exile:
God is in charge,
he reminds the people,
and justice will shine forth!
And we hear, in
John's Gospel,
with its highly developed Christology,
about the Cana
wedding.
Two weeks ago we heard about the epiphany—
the manifestation of
God among us—
in the star over the stable.
Last week we heard about the
epiphany I
n the voice over the waters at Jesus' baptism—
another
manifestation of God among us.
Now we have a third epiphany
as the water
of ritual purification
turns into the good wine of celebration,
sign and
symbol of the hope
that what has gone wrong with the tradition
can and
will be renewed to become even
greater.
________________________________________
Each of these
manifestations of God, these epiphanies,
reveals a foundational truth.
As
the International Theological Commission put it last year,
“the faithful have
an instinct for the truth,
which enables them to recognize and
endorse
authentic Christian doctrine and practice,
and to reject what is
false.”
So the magi follow the star.
Jesus listens to that inner voice
telling him he is a child of God.
The disciples see the meaning of the wine
out of water and begin to
follow him.
Throughout the
scriptures,
throughout all the religions of the world,
the observation
holds:
God can and does speak to each and every
person.
________________________________________
First century
Judaism
sprouted a good number of variant communities
because people could
see the contradiction
between what they knew to be holy
and what they saw
and experienced
in some of their Temple leaders and civic rulers.
What
happened to Jesus' disciples to give them strength to go on—
in spite of the
crucifixion and the persecution—
was their experience of God's presence in
their lives.
Jesus' way made sense to them.
Why?
It was their instinct
for the truth,
their sensus fidelium—the sense of the
faithful.
________________________________________
These days people are
walking away
from the Roman Catholic Church and other mainline
religions.
Why?
It's their sensus fidelium.
People living in this 21st
century world,
with 21st century science and 21st century society,
find
themselves in a 15th century religion.
The world is real.
Their religion
becomes more and more unreal.
People experience God in their lives—like Jesus
did—
and God in other people,
sometimes Catholics but also in other
Christians
and in people of other faith traditions
and in people of no
organized faith at all.
And in their patriarchal, hierarchical Catholic
Church
people sometimes find too little celebration of,
or even
recognition of,
the validity of their own experience of God
and too many
rules
aimed at celebrating someone else's experience of
God.
________________________________________
Even so, many of us
stay.
We believe, as our tradition teaches—
from Augustine to Hans Küng to
Pope Francis—
ecclesia semper reformanda—
the Church is always
reforming.
We have hope.
And we try to live the change we hope
for.
________________________________________
People who are seeking
authentic religion
are listening to the prophets of real
faith,
theologians like Ilia Delio and Elizabeth Johnson;
ecclesiologists
like Rick Gaillardetz;
pastoral folks like Jim Bacik and Joan
Chittister;
and here in our Holy Spirit Community,
spirit-filled and
spirit-driven people—
each one of you,
with your unique gifts and
charisms
and open minds and open
hearts.
________________________________________
God is good.
And we
are the people of God.
--
Holy Spirit Catholic Community
Saturdays
at 4:30 p.m.
Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
at 3925 West Central Avenue (Washington
Church)
www.holyspirittoledo.org
Rev. Dr. Bev Bingle,
Pastor
Mailing address: 3156 Doyle Street, Toledo, OH 43608-2006
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