23^rd Sunday in Ordinary time: September 5, 2010

Wisdom 9:13-18b Ps 90 Philemon 9-17 Luke 14:25-33

Our Gospel acclamation today pleads, “Lord teach me your statues, teach me your laws.” In fact in the next few Sundays we will be making that same plea to see the face of God, to know the commands of the Lord. But what happens when we know the commands of the Lord and fail to keep them? Jesus gives us hope in the parable of the Good Shepherd and the Prodigal Son – and in the real life situation of the public sinner Zaccheus who wants to see Jesus.

Our first reading from Wisdom has a similar plea – but on a rather pessimistic note. It inquires who will know the mind or God, who will fathom the counsels of the Lord. Obviously not man, since human wisdom is worthless. However later on the reading from Wisdom gives us hope. This is centuries before the mystery of the Holy Trinity is revealed. Wisdom says, “Who has learned your counsel unless you God, send us the holy spirit from on high.” Although it does not refer to the Holy Spirit, as we know from faith and dogma, we get goose bumps when we read about this “holy spirit from on high”

The young prophet as we sing in the popular hymn: “Here I am Lord” – tells the Lord that he will go, if God leads him. We know the counsels and will of God because the Holy Spirit inspires us. St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, ch.2 will tell us that we comprehend, what is truly God’s, through the Spirit. He tells us further that we have received this Spirit of God and not the spirit of the world.

A parish priest went to a confirmation Class and asked “Who or what is the Holy Spirit?” The boy shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know.” Well, go home and ask your mother, said the parish priest. So the boy did so. The mother was a little irritated. She wanted to know whether she was being tested. The Holy Spirit is a dove. He was nailed to the cross. That mother, as a young girl was confirmed, received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps all she could remember was the beautiful dress, the pictures, the gifts of a prayer book, rosary, and cash. But other than that, she was like the Ephesians in the Acts 19:2 "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

It is because of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we can call God –Abba , Father and we can also pray: “Your Kingdom come, your will be done”- since we know the will of the Father. We come with confidence before the Lord because as we read in Hebrews, God who at various times and in various places spoke to us through the prophets, now in the fullness of time, has sent us his Son. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This same Word promised us that when he returned to the Father, he would send us the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not renege on his promise. We imagine the Holy Spirit in many ways – which are rather unhelpful.

Holy Spirit is a dove. But the dove flies away

Holy Spirit is fire. It can be extinguished.

Holy Spirit is a cloud. But it can and does float away.

Any material or tangible image will fall short of the description of Holy Spirit who is the Love between Father and Son. Intangible though the images and words might be, the Holy Spirit is vital when we pray: Lord teach us your statues, Lord show us your face.

It is precisely, this Holy Spirit that inspires those words of Paul as he writes to his friend Philemon to ask him to receive in love, the runaway slave, Onesimus. With our present knowledge, we wonder why Paul did not speak about the Abolishment of Slavery. However we have to remember that slavery was not abolished until the mid nineteenth century in our times. It took so long. A change of that magnitude would not even enter Paul’s thought process.

In our Western world today, we look with surprise at the caste system in India, or the way women have to wear a head to toe covering when appearing in public, or when women are condemned to be stoned to death for adultery – and even when they are raped in some middle Eastern countries. It is difficult to get into the mindset of these countries who consider these laws necessary to keep order and harmony.

In writing to Philemon, Paul is proposing a new order. He says in Christ there is no distinction of Jew or Gentile, Slave or Free, Male or female. All are brothers and sister and members of the Body of Christ. And so he asks Philemon (whose name has its roots in “philos”- love)  to accept the one time slave, Onesimus (whose name has its roots in “onus” or burden.)

Our Gospel also calls on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the gifts of Wisdom, understanding and knowledge. Jesus does not say this specifically, but he gives two examples: Building a tower, fighting a war.

At first sight they might seem examples of times past. However, those who live in downtown Toronto, have witnessed in the last five years – 40 and 50 storied buildings going up all over the place, even in areas we thought not possible. Most of them have succeeded – and people have moved into these apartments, condominiums even before the flowerbeds, rock gardens, and swimming pools have been put in. But we know that some did not think and plan as the builder of the Tower in the Gospel. They had to find a buyer to bail them out, - and they left as they filed for bankruptcy.

As for fighting a war. We realise now that both Iraq and Afghanistan were doomed to failure. We did not, and do not know the language, the culture, the terrain of these countries. The Russians, who knew all three, were expelled from Afghanistan after 8 years and a loss of men/women and Russian pride.

Few believe the rhetoric of our politicians and leaders who have sent our armies to these places. Those whose sons and daughters have been sent there, want to believe it is a worthwhile cause. Perhaps it is. However there is always and unspoken “but….”

And so whether it is a major undertaking like building a tower, or waging a war – or as in the case of most of us: small issues but nevertheless, issues which make a major impact on our lives – we need the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so that we can know the Counsel of the Lord, so that we can discern what the Lord wills.

Come O Holy Spirit and renew the face of the Earth

it and renew the face of the Earth