MAY 21, 2017
7:30 AM, 5:30 PM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
Statics is the branch of engineering mechanics that analyzes the forces and torques acting on a physical system that is in static equilibrium with its environment. In other words, the structure or system isn’t going anywhere; and by design, it shouldn’t be going anywhere.
Granted, this is a simplification that is used early on in an engineering curriculum to allow a student to begin to learn how to design structures – like buildings or bridges – that are mostly stationary.
Now, anyone who’s ever been in a high-rise building; or driven on a bridge in high winds, knows that structures are rarely stationary. And in fact, it is disastrous to design a structure so rigid that it is unable to experience an appropriate amount of give and take with natural movements in the environment.
Nonetheless, the study of statics allows a student to gain familiarity with structural and supporting members and to gain some knowledge of various aspects required to construct basic physical systems.
Today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter.
In today’s Gospel taken from St. John’s Gospel chapter 14, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of truth.” He uses a word, translated here as “Advocate,” literally (from the Latin) someone who speaks for a person or for a cause – colloquially a supporter or a proponent.
The word here in the Greek is (parakletos and is) sometimes translated as comforter or consoler. Comfort comes from the Latin (con + forte) and means to give someone strength. Consoler is also from the Latin (con + solare) and means to give someone support.
Our modern lives are often structured in such a way that we have no place for rest … no room for relief. Yet, if we find ourselves ready to collapse under the weight of many responsibilities we need to seek relief from the Holy Spirit – the Third Person of the Trinity – He whom Jesus calls the “Advocate” to be with us in those times when we need extra strength and added support.
Without the spiritual help of the Holy Spirit, we most certainly will have difficulty not only in living the Christian life; but also in just getting through the day.
The Holy Spirit comes to us in Baptism – our first experience of His strength and support. Yet, more specifically, we associate the Holy Spirit with Confirmation – in which we receive the Holy Spirit in a way that fortifies and builds us up for mission – to be apostles – in the world.
Through Baptism, we have been made sharers – partakers – in the Divine Life of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. United with Christ as members of His Body, we receive adoption as daughters and sons of the Father; and through our participation in the Trinitarian mystery of the Godhead, are filled with the Holy Spirit.
By our connection with God – who in His being is Love – we are then able to love as we are called to love; and to live in His love – through our sharing in God’s being.
As we heard in the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit led the early Church from Jerusalem, through Samaria in the north, and out into the world. We must allow the Holy Spirit to direct us to be firmly rooted in our faith, yet flexible enough to follow the promptings of the Spirit.
In the Epistle, St. Peter tells his listeners, and us as well, to be able to “give an explanation … a reason for our hope.” The words here mean “a word from,” and “the word.” And so, by keeping Christ in our hearts, we will have a clear conscience – which might also be translated as “to give clear knowledge or understanding.” And so, again, we see the action of the Holy Spirit in imparting His gifts to the Church.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray for a deeper outpouring of the Holy Spirit – given to us at Baptism and strengthened at Confirmation. May the gifts of the Spirit build upon our the foundation we have laid, so that we might allow the Holy Spirit of God to fill us with His power, to transform us into the image of Christ – members of the household of God the Father … and filled with the grace, and mercy, and love of the Holy Spirit.
7:30 AM, 5:30 PM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
Statics is the branch of engineering mechanics that analyzes the forces and torques acting on a physical system that is in static equilibrium with its environment. In other words, the structure or system isn’t going anywhere; and by design, it shouldn’t be going anywhere.
Granted, this is a simplification that is used early on in an engineering curriculum to allow a student to begin to learn how to design structures – like buildings or bridges – that are mostly stationary.
Now, anyone who’s ever been in a high-rise building; or driven on a bridge in high winds, knows that structures are rarely stationary. And in fact, it is disastrous to design a structure so rigid that it is unable to experience an appropriate amount of give and take with natural movements in the environment.
Nonetheless, the study of statics allows a student to gain familiarity with structural and supporting members and to gain some knowledge of various aspects required to construct basic physical systems.
Today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter.
In today’s Gospel taken from St. John’s Gospel chapter 14, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of truth.” He uses a word, translated here as “Advocate,” literally (from the Latin) someone who speaks for a person or for a cause – colloquially a supporter or a proponent.
The word here in the Greek is (parakletos and is) sometimes translated as comforter or consoler. Comfort comes from the Latin (con + forte) and means to give someone strength. Consoler is also from the Latin (con + solare) and means to give someone support.
Our modern lives are often structured in such a way that we have no place for rest … no room for relief. Yet, if we find ourselves ready to collapse under the weight of many responsibilities we need to seek relief from the Holy Spirit – the Third Person of the Trinity – He whom Jesus calls the “Advocate” to be with us in those times when we need extra strength and added support.
Without the spiritual help of the Holy Spirit, we most certainly will have difficulty not only in living the Christian life; but also in just getting through the day.
The Holy Spirit comes to us in Baptism – our first experience of His strength and support. Yet, more specifically, we associate the Holy Spirit with Confirmation – in which we receive the Holy Spirit in a way that fortifies and builds us up for mission – to be apostles – in the world.
Through Baptism, we have been made sharers – partakers – in the Divine Life of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. United with Christ as members of His Body, we receive adoption as daughters and sons of the Father; and through our participation in the Trinitarian mystery of the Godhead, are filled with the Holy Spirit.
By our connection with God – who in His being is Love – we are then able to love as we are called to love; and to live in His love – through our sharing in God’s being.
As we heard in the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit led the early Church from Jerusalem, through Samaria in the north, and out into the world. We must allow the Holy Spirit to direct us to be firmly rooted in our faith, yet flexible enough to follow the promptings of the Spirit.
In the Epistle, St. Peter tells his listeners, and us as well, to be able to “give an explanation … a reason for our hope.” The words here mean “a word from,” and “the word.” And so, by keeping Christ in our hearts, we will have a clear conscience – which might also be translated as “to give clear knowledge or understanding.” And so, again, we see the action of the Holy Spirit in imparting His gifts to the Church.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray for a deeper outpouring of the Holy Spirit – given to us at Baptism and strengthened at Confirmation. May the gifts of the Spirit build upon our the foundation we have laid, so that we might allow the Holy Spirit of God to fill us with His power, to transform us into the image of Christ – members of the household of God the Father … and filled with the grace, and mercy, and love of the Holy Spirit.
