Holy Spirit – Agent of Forgiveness:
Optional Memorial of St. Angela Merici
(Heb 9:15-28; Ps 98; Mk 3:22-30)
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There is a saying, “The stronger the sun; the sharper our shadow.” That saying fits the readings today, readings that contrast the sun of faith and belief, with the dark shadows of unbelief.
The author of Hebrews is very clear on the sunshine in our lives that can only be Jesus, who is the mediator of a new covenant, a new, life-giving and powerful intimate relationship with God. It is a relationship of forgiveness of all our sins, and an experience of the very life of the Trinity available to those who truly believe in Jesus, who come to him for that forgiveness, and who eagerly await his coming again.
All the covenants God made with the Israelites of old, were found wanting and inadequate. Based so much on law, ritual, and commandments to be kept conditionally but which were most often broken, they failed to transform and change the human heart. Rather, they led to a legalism and externalism that deadened the human spirit rather than liberate it.
The new covenant was a breath of fresh air, that leads the psalmist to sing out a new song of liberation and freedom, for the Lord is victorious.
The gospel of Mark puts a focus on the result of those old covenants – the shadow of unbelief of the scribes and Pharisees. Their reliance on the observance of even minute regulations and law over the call to love, their love of the law over the law of love, and their resistance to the love of God present before their eyes in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, compelled them to make the ridiculous claim that Jesus was in cahoots with the devil himself, a claim Jesus easily refuted.
What is worse is that, as Jesus points out, refusal to believe in him and his Spirit, who is the agent of forgiveness, leads one down the blind alley of being unable to receive the forgiveness offered by the very same Spirit. That becomes the unforgiveable sin of the scriptures. When one refuses to believe in the agent of forgiveness, one closes oneself off from being able to receive that forgiveness, and so one is stuck in the doldrum of unbelief, dark, shadowy and unforgiven.
How fortunate we are to have been given the gift of faith in Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, who freely gives a share in the eternal life he shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit to those who believe in him and await his return.
Today the church honors St. Angela Merici, recognized as the founder of the Ursulines, an order which has done much significant ministry in Western Canada. I have been privileged to collaborate with the Ursulines over the years, and to have had one as a spiritual director. Born in 1474 near Brescia, Italy, Angela and her sister were orphaned as teens. When Angela’s sister, Giana Maria, died suddenly, Angela became a Franciscan tertiary, praying fervently for the repose of her sister’s soul. When Angela became aware of the need for education for girls, she and several friends began to teach girls in their homes in the hope of improving social conditions. Angela inspired other in the work of education. Together they formed a religious association. Most of the consecrated women continued to live with their families, with no solemn vows, habit, enclosure or community life, although they did meet for instruction and worship. Angela died in 1540. In 1545, the Company of St. Ursula was officially recognized by Pope Paul III. She is a patron saint of orphans, the sick and the physically challenged.
The Eucharist is an act of faith in Jesus as living Word and sacrament. Even as we celebrate, we are sharing in his forgiveness and healing, free to enjoy a quality of life he alone can give, a life lived in the light of love and far from the shadows of the false pride and self-reliance of the scribes and Pharisees.
