ペンタコストと武士道精神：神の“神風特攻隊”が聖霊に力付けられて飛び立つ日

私の洗礼名かつ堅信名はフランシスコ。平和と調和を愛し、荒廃しはじめていた西欧の教会の建て直しに励んだアシシの聖フランシスコに因んだものですが、多くの日本人にとって、フランシスコという名は、イスパニア出身で、最初の布教先であった天竺から危険をかえりみずに遠い異国の日本へ１５４９年１２月８日にやってきて布教した聖フランシスコザビエルの名前としてのほうがお馴染みでしょう。実はこのフランシスコザビエルというイスパニアのイエズス会士は、戦国武将織田信長もどこか心打たれるところがあったといわれる“かえりみはせじ”の信念に燃えていた男です。だから、フランシスコという名を冠する以上、宣教師としての私もそうでなくてないけません。実際、フランシスコザビエルは伝道布教へ“出陣”して依頼、まずインド、続いて、ジャワ、更に日本へ。そして、次の“攻略地”であった中国への伝道の旅路において病に倒れ、イスパニアはピレネーの山岳にある故郷バスクの土を再度踏むことなくその信念の人生を全うしました。

こうした背景もあり、今日のお話はペンタコストに因み、フランシスザビエルのような宣教師になったつもりでさせていただきます。

だから今日の私“お説教”は気合が入っています。そして、この気合っていうのは実はペンタコストの意味する聖霊の力なんです。

まあ、“ペンタコストと武士道精神”という演目のはじめの部分はいいとしても、後半の、“神の‘神風特攻隊’”という部分は刺激的かもしれませんが、そのほうがいいでしょう。刺激のない説教なんて子守唄同然ですからね。説教するお坊さんや牧師さんにとって居眠りしている人が観衆の中にいることほど辛いものはありませんから。。。

それでは、はじまり、はじまり。

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主に賛美！そして、聖霊の降臨に感謝！

今年の５月１５日、日曜日、はペンタコストという聖霊が天からエルサレムにいたキリストの弟子達へ降り注がれ、弟子達に後戻りができない変化が起きたことを記念する日です。この神秘的な現象はイエスが復活してから５０日目に起こったので５０を意味するギリシャ語からペンタコストといわれ、イエスの昇天後から１０日目です。

さて、信者にとってこのペンタコストという日は、死することをも躊躇せず覚悟を決めた“神風特攻隊”出陣のような日である、と言うと、皆さんはどう反応されるでしょうか？恐らく信者の方でもそのようなペンタコストの考えは前代未聞だとおっしゃる方が多いかと思います。そうだからこそ、この機会において一発“爆弾”を落としておき、こうした人達の未だ開いていない心の部分に風穴を開けてみたいとおもいます。

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キリスト教をあまり知らない人、また、キリスト教徒であっても、クリスマスやイースターに対しては何か特別な感じを抱きつつも、ペンタコストについてはあまり感じない人も結構います。しかし、聖霊により敏感で聖霊による教会刷新に熱心な信者にとってペンタコストはクリスマスやイースターに並ぶ特別な日というよりも、寧ろ、これらとはかなり違う意味がある日です。というのは、クリスマスとイースターにおいて主キリストが主体であるのに対し、ペンタコストの主体は私達だからです。

そもそも、ペンタコストはイエスの復活から５０日間にわたるイースター（復活祭）の締めくくりの日でもあり、イースターとは切っても切れない縁があるのです。つまり、イースター抜きにペンタコストは語れないということです。しかし、イースターそのもの十字架でのはりつけによるイエスの死なくしては語れないこと、更に、イエスの死はイエスの誕生なしには語れないよううに、どどのつまりは、ペンタコストはイースターとクリスマス双方と関連付けなければなりません。

そもそも、天の父なる神は先ずイエスという第一のParakletosを聖霊を乙女マリアの穢れ無き体に注ぎ込むことでLogosをイエスという生身の人間としてこの世に送り込み私達と交わるようにしました。しかし、私達はイエスを受け入れることができず、ついに“始末”してしまいましたが、イエスは死界から聖霊の力により復活し、また私達と交わるようになりました。始め私達は復活の意味が分からず、怯えと懐疑心でイースターを迎えましたが、復活後のイエスとの度重なる密度の濃い交わりにより徐々にそれまでの私達の煩悩により閉ざされた心が開き始め、イエスを心底から受け入れられるようになりました。それを認識したイエスは聖霊の降臨を父なる神の約束であるからそれが実現するまでエルサレムで待機するように命じ、また、この聖霊の降臨により私達がイエスの証言としてこの世界の果てまでどこへでも伝道することになるとも預言し、天の父の元へと昇天していきました。勿論、黙示録にあるように、再降臨を通して再会することをも約束して。そして、辛抱強く待っていたところ、ついにこの聖霊による降臨が実現し、私達の集いは教会として新たなスタートを切りました。これがクリスマスとイースターと関連付けたペンタコストなのです。

ペンタコストの聖霊降臨により、信者はそれまでとは違い、世界の全ての言葉によりイエスの福音の教えをイエスの証言者として話せるようになったのです。ただ、ここで忘れてはいけないのは“証言者”ということばは新約聖書の言語であるギリシャ語では”殉教者“という意味があり、つまり、イエスの証言者たるものは殉教してもあたりまえであり、その覚悟で聖霊に導くままに世界のどこへでも送り込まれるということなのです。こういった言い方をすると違和感を感じる人にいるでしょうが、はっきりいってペンタコストとは、イエスの兵士として私達は悪霊がはびこるこの世界のどこへでも悪霊との戦いへ生きて帰ってくることがないと覚悟して出兵する”特攻隊員“なのです。普通の人間は、このようなことに怯えてしまい、逃げることを考えるでしょうが、聖霊の降臨を受け、聖霊で満たされ、その様々な恵みで”武装“し、聖霊の力で強化されていれば、怯えることはありません。寧ろ、神の栄光の為であれば喜んで殉教できるようになるのです。

つまり、ペンタコストというイエスの復活より５０日目の日、聖霊が降臨し、私達信者に降り注がれ、私達の心をその力と恵みで満たすことにより、私達を主キリストの為のmartyrとして聖霊という誘導波が導くままに神の国の建設の邪魔をする悪霊と戦う為に飛び立って出陣する日なのです。使徒伝２：１－１１にあるように、ペンタコストにおける聖霊は旧約聖書創世記１：２にあるような天地の創造前夜の水の上を吹きまくる強い風（ruah）を彷彿させる強い風の如くすごい音と共に降臨してきました。勿論、この“風”の源は天の父なる神であり、こうした意味において聖霊とは“神風”といえましょう。そして、神、キリスト、の兵士として陣中で待機していた信者はこの聖霊という“神風”の力によって世界中へ飛び立ち、神の国の邪魔となる神の敵と勇敢に戦い続けるのです。それは、教会というペンタコストの聖霊降臨によって命を得生まれた、パウロがコリント人への第一の手紙１２章でいうようなキリストの体に例えられる、教会という聖霊で満たされた信者の共同体がこの地における神の国の基盤をも防衛することです。この教会という共同体を内外の敵から守ることは、黙示録に記された、キリストが最高の王として再降臨する際に新郎として娶る新婦を守ることでもあるのです。その為の戦いをする”神風特攻隊“の出陣がペンタコストなのです。

かつての特攻隊員は、“大君の辺にこそ死なめ、かえりみはせじ”と歌いましたが、ペンタコストの日に聖霊で満たされ出陣する神の“神風特攻隊”は“キリストのようにこそ死なめ、かえりみはせじ”と歌いながら飛び立っていけます。

キリスト教徒の本懐である武士道精神の基本はペンタコストにあり！といえましょう。

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カトリックの宗教教育にも長年携わってきた私は堅信の秘蹟を受ける為の準備教育を行う際、よくこの話しをし、本当に主キリストの“神風特攻隊”として“かえりみはせじ”に“出陣”していける１４歳ぐらいの子供達だけを推薦します。この“出陣”の覚悟ができていない子供は“落第”させ、覚悟ができるまで推薦しません。ということは、私は、或る意味では、主キリストの為の勇敢な“神風特攻隊”の育成をする教官であるといえましょう。カトリックのしきたりにおいて、堅信の秘蹟とは、武家の男の子が元服し、自分の刀を授かる、ということのようなものです。生半可な武士道精神しかない男の子には元服はありませんし、当然、刀を持たせるわけにもいきません。同じように、ペンタコストと比較される堅信の秘蹟は、生半可な信仰心しかない子供には受けさえることはできません。主キリストの“神風特攻隊”としての資質があることを証明できた子供だけが与えられる元服の刀に象徴できるものがペンタコストの証に例えられる堅信の秘蹟なのですから。

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最後までご静聴ありがとうございました、というか、最後まで居眠りせぐにお読みいただきありがとうございました。それでは、今日はここでお開きに。

Pentecost- Concluding Eastertide to Celebrate Trinity and Corpus Christi

Happy Pentecost!  This feast is the conclusion of the Eastertide, as well as the beginning of our new life as the growing and evolving Church. At the same time, this is also the “graduation from God’s military academy” to be sent out in battle fields throughout the world to fight against God’s enemy – Satan. We are now loaded with weapons and ammunitions as we have received the Holy Spirit – the power and fire that drive us.  As it is renewable, we can fill ourselves again and again, as necessary, until this battle is done with our victory, to pave the way of Christ to return as the King of the Universe, our Commander in Chief.

As this feast also marks the threshold into the longest Ordinary Time for the rest of the liturgical year, it is also a good time to reflect Pentecost in the context of the liturgical calendar.

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The flow in the liturgical calendar upon the Resurrection until the feast of the Coronation of Our Lady as the Queen of Heaven, reflects the Glorious Mysteries of the Holy Rosary: the Resurrection of the Lord, the Ascension of the Lord, the Pentecost (the coming of the Holy Spirit), the Assumption of Virgin Mary, and the Coronation of Our Lady. Ever since the beginning of this liturgical year with the Advent Season until the Resurrection Sunday, we have gone through all other mysteries of the Holy Rosary. As the remaining mysteries are about Mary, thus fear in the liturgical year, we have come to better understand who our Lord, Jesus Christ, is. 

Following the four weeks of Advent, we celebrated 40 days of the Christmastide, which concluded with the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the Fourth Glorious Mystery of the Holy Rosary.  During these 40 days in reflecting on the incarnation of God in the flesh of Jesus through the immaculate body of Mary, we also celebrated the feast of Epiphany (the first appearance of the incarnated God to the Gentiles) on the 12^th day of Christmas and the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is the First Luminous Mystery of the Holy Rosary, marking the end of the Christmas season of the liturgical calendar.

With the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, as the First Sunday in Ordinary Time, the first part of the Ordinary Time began and continued until the eve of Ash Wednesday. On the Cycle C, we reflected on the first miracle of the Lord, which is the Second Luminous Mystery of the Holy Rosary, as well as the fourth epiphany, given the Nativity of the Lord as the first epiphany, the Presentation of the Lord as the second epiphany, the visitation by the Magi as the third epiphany and the first epiphany to the Gentile.  In other words, from the Nativity on, we have reflected on various epiphania moments, when the invisible God manifested visibly (phainein – to show, to appear visibly) above (epi) the surface the invisibility.

During this first segment of the Ordinary Time, we saw Jesus being baptized to be commissioned to embark upon his public ministry, the Holy Spirit resting upon him and endorsed by the voice of the Father,  Jesus turning water into wine during a wedding banquet at Cana,  Jesus beginning to preach at the synagogue in his hometown, Nazareth,  Jesus being rejected by the people of Nazareth as a result of his preaching, and Jesus coming to Capernaum, making miraculous catch of fish and recruiting his disciples.  Then, we began the Lenten season with Ash Wednesday to be reminded of our need for humility and penance, to be inspired to fight against Satan’s temptations into sins by the example of Jesus, and various episodes of Jesus’ involvement in the contrast of sanctifying grace and sins. Then, during the Holy Week, upon celebrating Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem by waving palms, shouting, “Hosanna in the highest!”, we reflected how quickly our excitement for the coming of the Lord into Jerusalem turned into our hatred-filled anger at him, demanding the Roman authority, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”.  However, in commemorating the Holy Thursday as the Maundy Thursday, we were reminded that the Lord instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the Fifth Luminous Mystery of the Holy Rosary, as the darker hours were about to begin, and that we have received the Lord’s mandatum novum, to love one another as he has loved us. Nevertheless, we have betrayed him by abandoning him to the hands of Satan’s servants, thus reflecting the entire Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary for the Paschal Triduum. Thus, our stubborn sinfulness killed the Lord on Good Friday. Yet, God turned this darkest event as a pivotal momentum for salvation.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was raised from the dead (i.e. Romans 8:11) on the third day for God’s salvific scheme to continue beyond Jesus’ death. Thus, Eastertide began, with the Resurrection of the Lord, the First Glorious Mystery of the Holy Rosary. Yet, the disciples first reacted to the Resurrection with fear and skepticism.  Jesus had to offer peace and pour his breath upon them to lift their fear. He also had to let Thomas, who was extremely skeptical, to touch his own wound marks to help him believe. As these episodes of the disciples tell, coming to terms with the Resurrection was not easy. Nevertheless, the disciples gradually were able not only to understand the Resurrection but also appreciate Jesus Christ as the Lord in his relation to the Father and the Holy Spirit,  ready to be transformed into the Church and be sent out on mission to all nations, by the time of his Ascension.

In celebrating the Pentecost, upon the Ascension of the Lord, we conclude the Eastertide, on this 50^th day from the Resurrection Sunday.  This is the day when the promise of the Father (Luke 24:49) came upon the disciples.  

Ascension was, in fact, an indispensable precondition for Pentecost, reflected in these words of Jesus: Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you (John 16:7).  Ascension also indicates that the we, the disciples today, are spiritually mature enough and know Jesus enough to be able to stand on our own feet, no longer feeling insecure, even without physical presence of Jesus.  In fact, Ascension marks the end of epiphanies, which started with the Nativity.

On the physical level, Ascension may be seen as a separation from the risen Christ. It is a view of those who have no faith and those whose faith is very immature. I juxtapose Ascension to Jean Piaget’s concept of object permanence in his cognitive development theory, as Ascension indicates that our post- Resurrection faith growth has reached the point where we feel secure and understand the risen Christ’s constant presence with us beyond his physical presence.  This way, we can appreciate Christ’s presence with us through the Holy Spirit, the Advocate.  The Greek word for Advocate, the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised for Pentecost, parakletos, means “called to be with” besides “advocate” or “counselor”, thus,  assuring of his permanent companionship with us until the end of time (Matthew 28:20b) and the meaning of his name as Immanuel (God with us, Matthew 1;23).  Whether visible (physical) or invisible (spiritual), the presence of the risen Christ is constant and permanent, as he is the Advocate to us.  In this regard, the presence of Christ, from visible to invisible, is compared to the spectrum of electromagnetic waves, including ultraviolet, visible light, and infrared.  Through series of epiphany, from the Nativity to the Ascension of the Lord, Christ, who is light (John 8:12) , is compared to the visible light.  Otherwise, God is invisible to human eyes and so is the post-Ascension Christ. The range of the visible light in the vast spectrum of electromagnetic waves is very small, sandwiched by ultraviolet and infrared.

What is the promise of the Father for the Pentecost?

The Father’s promise for the Pentecost is the gift that Jesus spoke of (Acts 1:4). It is, indeed, the Advocate to be with us forever (John 14:16), reflecting Matthew 28:20b, and the spirit of truth (John 14:17).  This Advocate is the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in Jesus’ name, who teaches all things and reminds us of everything that Jesus has taught (John 14:26).

Jesus further explained, “For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit”(Acts 1:5), echoing what his cousin, John the Baptist said, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire”(Luke 3:16). Therefore, the Holy Spirit that comes on the Pentecost is what baptized into, after being baptized with water.

What does it mean to be baptized with the Holy Spirit – or as John the Baptist said, to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire?

It is to receive power in order to become Christ’s witness to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8), as Jesus explained to the disciples, right before he ascended into heaven.  Namely,  Pentecost, the sending of a gift of Father’s promise in Jesus’ name, baptizing us, the disciples today, with the Holy Spirit and fire, is to empower and commission us to be sent out to all over the world to build the Kingdom of God. This purpose of the Pentecost – to be empowered to become Christ’s witness to the end of the earth, reflecting these commanding words of Jesus, “..go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”(Matthew 28:19-20a). In this regard, Pentecost is reflected not only in the Sacrament of Confirmation but also in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, given , “Ite, Missa est” (Go, Mass is ended – God, it is dismissed) at the dismissal in the Concluding Rite of Mass.  In fact, according to St. Ephraim, the faithful received the Holy Spirit and fire also by receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist. He explains:

'Take, all of you eat this, which My word has made holy. Do not regard as bread that which I have given you; but take, eat this Bread, and do not scatter the crumbs; for what I have called my Body, that it is indeed. One particle from its crumbs is able to sanctify thousands and thousands, and is sufficient to afford life to those who eat of it. Take, eat, because this is my Body, and whoever eats it in belief, entertaining no doubt of faith, because this is My Body, and whoever eats it in belief eats it in Fire and Spirit. But if any doubters eat of it, for him it will be only bread. And whoever eats in belief the Bread made holy in My name, if he be pure, he will be preserved in his purity; and if he be a sinner, he will be forgiven.' (St. Ephraim, Homilies 707)

After all, it makes sense to see the Sacrament of the Eucharist in light of the Holy Spirit, as St. Ephraim does, because, by definition,  a Sacrament is an outgoing visible and tangible sign of the invisible Holy Spirit. In regard to the Sacrament of the Eucharist, it is bread and wine transubstantiated into Corporis et Sanguinis Christi – the Body and the Blood of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  For this Eucharistic transubstantiation to take place during the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, the presiding priest says, following Sanctus, “You are indeed Holy, O Lord, the fount of all holiness. Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ” .(Eucharistic Prayer II)  During this prayer, the epiclesis takes place, as the priest calls upon the Holy Spirit to come down upon the bread and wine to transubstantiated into the real Body and Blood of Christ. This Eucharistic transubstantiation epiclesis is juxtaposed to the coming down of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples on Pentecost, empowering them and changing their lives forever.  As bread and wine are transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Christ, the Sacrament of the Eucharist, through epiclesis during the Liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass, the communion of the disciples in the Upper Room in Jerusalem was turned into the nascent Ekklesia, the Church.

Pentecost is the day that the Father is sending down the Holy Spirit, not like dewfall but rather more like the mighty wind from heaven (Acts 2:2), perceived by the disciples like tongues of fire parting form the driving wind (Acts 2:3). Upon this down-pouring of the powerful Holy Spirit from the Father in heaven, the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in different tongues, enabling them to proclaim (Acts 2:4). What was so astonishing about this Pentecost phenomenon was that these disciples, who are Galileans, were actually speaking languages of various nations, where expatriate God-revering Jews were, under heaven (Acts 2:5-7). These devout Jews, who came from these nations, to witness the disciples speaking their nations’ tongues were in complete bewilderment and wondering what this means (Acts 2:8-12), while some of them ridiculed the disciples, thinking that they were drunk (Acts 2:13).

While the disciples first reacted to the Resurrection of the Lord with fear and skepticism (i.e. Luke 24:4-5, 36-43; John 21:24-29), the devout Jews from various nations reacted to the disciples speaking in their nations’ languages, on Pentecost, with sheer wonder and amazement, while some of them reacting with ridicule out of ignorance. This contrast reminds that those who have not yet received the promise, as well as the gift, of the Holy Spirit cannot understand what Pentecost is about – what the Holy Spirit empowers us into and enables us to do. Namely, those who have not received the Holy Spirit cannot understand the birth of the Church, as it is what Pentecost resulted in, through the empowered disciples speaking in various tongues.  The gift aspect of the Holy Spirit and how it is related to the Church is so well-explained by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12. In this entire chapter, Paul first describes how one Spirit, namely the Holy Spirit, brings many gifts, including the gift of wisdom, the gift of knowledge, and the gift of discernment. Then, he explains that the Church is like a pluralistic unity of many gifts that stem from the same one Holy Spirit, with an analogy of one body of many intricately interrelated parts.  Furthermore, Paul tells that the Church, composed of the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, is a pluralistic unity of many gifts, as well as the Body of Christ.

During these 50 days of the Eastertide, we have come to know Jesus better. On Cycle C, we were reminded that how the disciples reacted to the Resurrection of the Lord for the first three Sundays.  These Gospel stories (John 20:1-9, John 20:19-31, John 21:1-19) point us to the disciple’s gradual understanding of the Resurrection – from fear and skepticism to joy and reconciliation, further into commissioning, as the Third Sunday Gospel ends with the risen Jesus appointing Peter  to play the role of the shepherd for Christ’s sheep, who belong to the Father,  reflecting John 10:1-18, the Good Shepherd narrative.

For the rest of the Sundays, with the Fourth Sunday of Easter being the Good Shepherd Sunday, as its Gospel reading is taken from the Good Shepherd narrative of John 10, we reflect who Jesus, whose Resurrection we have been celebrating during this festive Easter season, is, in his relation to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, by the end of the Eastertide, if you have faithfully followed the Sunday Gospels, you have a good grasp on who Jesus is in his relation to the Father and the Holy Spirit, while you are empowered by the promise and gift of the Holy Spirit, who is a new Advocate, whose essence is the same as the Son, who is one with the Father.  We also understand that an effect of Pentecost is that we become the new one Body of Christ, the Church, with many gifts of the Holy Spirit integrated in one communion, continued to be nourished by the Eucharist, enlightened by the Word, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, we are also ready to celebrate the Trinity Sunday, followed by the Corpus Christi Sunday, as we celebrate the Pentecost Sunday, to conclude the Eastertide.

Upon receiving the powerful Holy Spirit, we are now filled with many gifts and power of the Holy Spirit. This divine power now in us is the fire of love that burns in our heart. As this love that burns our heart is the love of God in its essence, it shall endure forever, as reflected in Psalm 136 and 1 Corinthians 13:8. As we are no longer just us, but now essential constituents of the Church, as One Body of Christ, what characterizes us is the love that never fails but endures forever.  

Besides being the Church of love and mercy, characterized love, we are also the militant Church, because now Satan begins to increase his attacks on us. Satan is now aware that we are more aligned with God, upon receiving the power of the Holy Spirit.  To Satan, this is quite bothersome and fight to separate us from God, namely, to destroy the Church. We must defend the Church,  for the sake of the greater glory of God.

In this battle for God, our weapon is love, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Because our love endures, reflecting the divine love that endures forever, our weapon and power in fighting against Satan will never run out. We are truly resilient, thanks to Pentecost – infusion of the power of the Holy Spirit, making us the earthly being of love, just as Jesus was. On Pentecost, we are commissioned to be sent out various battle fields to remove obstacles to the growth of the Church, destroying the works of Satan, until he is turned into powerless (Revelation 20:2).

Lent-Eastertide Journey Completes with Pentecost: A Pastoral Psychological Perspective

Veni, sancte spiritus!  Veni creator spiritus! Come Holy Spirit!

We awaits the coming of the Holy Spirit. We wait for the Holy Spirit to be poured upon us! We prepare for Pentecost to conclude the 50 days of Eastertide.

Eastertide is the post-resurrection spiritual journey for us to cultivate and renew our object relation to Jesus, through prayer and reflection of his Word. In fact, given the continuity between Lent and Eastertide, in terms of the nature of our spiritual journey, Pentecost is the finale of the Lent-Eastertide spiritual journey from Ash Wednesday, passing the Paschal Triduum into the post-resurrection Eastertide toward Pentecost – so that we can stand on our feet to bear witness of the Lord, whom we are so intimate.

Through this blog article, I want to reflect our spiritual journey toward Pentecost juxtaposing the flow of the Eastertide Gospel readings to a path of object relationship development in psychology.

So, let’s begin the review with this question:

What did Lent prepared us for?     Of course, Easter!

So, we spent 40 days from Ash Wednesday, purifying our hearts, cleansing our sins, letting our sinfulness and defilement die, projecting on Jesus, the Lamb of God, who died on the Cross.  That was Lent. Then, on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, by the power of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father.  Our new life with clean heart also sprung upon letting our old sinful life die. That was how the 50 days of Eastertide began, as Lent gave its way to Easter.

Then, what has Eastertide prepared us for?  Ascension and Pentecost!

For the first 40 days of Eastertide, we have gotten much closer to Christ, the risen Lord.

As he did to the disciples walking to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), Jesus has helped us better understand his teaching through the Gospel readings throughout Eastertide (John 20:1-9 (Easter Sunday); John 20:19-31 (2^nd Sunday of Easter – Divine Mercy Sunday); Luke 24:35-48 (3^rd Sunday of Easter); John 10:11-18 (4^th Sunday of Easter – Good Shepherd Sunday); John 15:1-8 (5^th Sunday of Easter); John 15:9-17 (6^th Sunday of Easter); Mark 16:15-20 (Ascension – Ascension Sunday in place of the 7^th Sunday of Easter); John 17:11b-19 (7^th Sunday of Easter)) .  For the first three Sundays, Jesus assured us that he is risen and comforted us. Then, for the rest of Sundays during Eastertide, until Ascension, Jesus explained his object relations with the Father and with us.  Jesus described his object relation with the Father as a secure attachment. Then, Jesus describes his object relation with us in the same pattern as his with the Father – a secure attachment. For this, he used a metaphor of a shepherd and sheep. He also used another metaphor of the vine and its securely attached branches. For the shepherd-sheep relational metaphor, the Father is the one who commissioned the shepherd and provided sheep. For the vine-branches metaphor, the Father is the vine grower.

Upon describing his object relations with the Father and us, Jesus goes on to explain the essential quality of the relationship that put the Father, him (the Son), and us.  He tells that it is agape – as in his mandatum novum (John 13:34).  During the Last Supper, Jesus first demonstrated what he means by loving each other as he has loved through his washing of the disciples’ feet (John 13).

Jesus reiterated the new commandment to love one another as he has loved to tell us what it means to be the branches attached to him the true vine.  It is what makes our relationship to each other harmonious. And, Jesus further challenges us to take this loving each other command to the level of sacrificing our own lives for each other, as he, the Good Shepherd lays his own life for his sheep.

With this, Jesus feels that we are ready to handle his departure – until his return (parousia)  at the end of time.  He thinks that now our attachment with Jesus is secure enough to let Jesus return to the Father to be seated at the right hand of Him. In an analogy of developmental psychologies of Jean Piaget, now our spiritual growth is mature enough to recognize Jesus’ constant close presence, even though he is no longer physically present.  So, using Piaget’s term,  I call that now we are at the point of spiritual object permanence. Of course, as John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth describe what secure attachment between a mother and her child enables, it is our secure attachment with Jesus enabling us to know that his physical absence in our sight does not mean abandoning.  To put it in Erik Erikson’s term, our secure attachment with Jesus means a firm trust between us. And, the secure attachment, characterized with mutual trust, enables us to attain spiritual object permanence, upon his Ascension.

In fact, for the 4^th Sunday (Good Shepherd Sunday), 5^th Sunday, and 6^th Sunday, the Gospel readings  are aimed for us to ensure that we cultivate healthy object relation with the risen Christ, characterized with our spiritual maturity founded upon secure attachment to Christ and based trust. Because of this foundation,  by the end of the 6^th week of Eastertide, Jesus feels confident about our spiritual maturity to demonstrate our spiritual object permanence to accept his Ascension, without suffering from traumatic grief.

When Jesus died on the Cross, we suffered from traumatic grief, compounded with our guilt and remorse for our sins, which killed him. Our grief was so severe, in part, due to a lack of our spiritual maturity and not developing health object relation with Jesus upon trust-based secure attachment.  However, this time, we have grown in faith and matured in spirit, as we have cultivated healthy object relation with Christ, based on trust-filled secure attachment, upon his resurrection.

So, here we are, we are able to let Jesus depart from us through Ascension, so that he can move on to his eschatological mission as his next call by the Father.  It is reflected in Revelation 19, the Parousia.  This is, in fact, foretold in John 14:1-4, 28.  Jesus makes it clear in these verses of John’s Gospel that his Ascension is to prepare for the end of time and to secure our place in heaven upon the Judgement.

Additionally, Jesus also explains meaning of his Ascension in regard to the Holy Spirit, which completes the object relations of Jesus with us in Trinity.

Basically, Ascension of the risen Christ is an absolutely necessary step for  Parakletos to come to us.

Up to this point, the Holy Spirit was pneuma, which is a neutral term in Greek in the New Testament. Preceding the New Testament time, the Holy Spirit was ruah, which is a feminine Hebrew word, ever present since before God began His creation (Genesis 1:2). Ruah also gave life to Adam, as it came in the form of Creator God’s breath, as ruah is the divine breath of life (Genesis 2:7). At that moment, the prototype of flesh (clay) became the living flesh as the Holy Spirit, ruah, was infused in, animating it. This scene in Genesis is evoked again, on the evening of Jesus’ resurrection, as the risen Lord put his breath (pneuma) upon the disciples, calling his breath as the Holy Spirit (John 20:21-22), as in the Gospel reading for Pentecost Sunday.

In this regard, as what ruah Elohim the (the breath/life/ Spirit of God) did to clay to become animated flesh of Adam in Genesis 2:7 is renewed as the risen Jesus breathes upon his disciples in John 20:22, as a precursor to Pentecost.  With these scriptural connection, now we can see  ruah Elohim, pneuma, and parakletos are essentially the same.  Also, considering these to be on the same spectrum running from the Genesis on to the point of Pentecost, we now understand  how ruah Elohim (the breath of God in the Old Testament) evolves into parakletos (the Holy Spirit, as Advocate, Comforter, and Counselor, as promised by Jesus through Ascension for Pentecost) , though these are the same pneuma tou theo/theopneustos (the breath of God, the God-breathed condition).  Focusing on this consistency of the Holy Spirit, stemming from the very beginning in Genesis is so critically important for us to attain spiritual object permanence upon Ascension and for parakletos to come upon us on Pentecost.

Understanding the consistency of the Holy Spirit is the very essence of our object relation with Jesus, the Son, and the Father. Thus, this is the bottom line of our object relation to the Triune God.  In this, we understand that manifestation of God may transmorphs or even transmogrify but God Godself in His essence as in the ruah-pneuma-parakletos consistency is immutable, as Thomas Aquinas’ argument in Summa Theologica Question 9.

Just before Jesus Ascends, he assures, too, that we are never be left like orphans (John 14:18). Upon his departure from us in flesh, he also promises that we will remain with us in spirit, given the consistence in Jesus’ messages in John 14:16,20, 15:4, and Matthew 28:20. For this, he teaches us that Pentecost, the infusion of the powerful Holy Spirit, ruah-pneuma-parakletos, upon us is a proof of his pre-Ascension promise, which we have come to better understand through the Eastertide Gospel readings.

So, Jesus instructs to be still and wait for the Holy Spirit to come and to be poured upon us. Namely, this is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that fortifies the effects of the Sacrament of Baptism.

Jesus had to Ascend for Pentecost to happen on us as said in these words: “Unless I go away, the Parakletos (Advocate, Counselor, Comforter) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7).

Now, what does Pentecost equip us  for with the Holy Spirit as the power, as said in Acts 1:8?

Mission!  It’s our mission to build the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven!

The Gospel reading for Ascension (Mark 16:15-20), which is also comparable to Matthew 28:16-20, sums up what Ascension prepared us for, which is Pentecost, does.

As Jesus’s physical presence on earth goes away from the world through Ascension,  Pentecost becomes possible to take place  in the world so that we, the believers, receives the power and whatever else necessary to carry on the mission of the Lord – until his eschatological return (parousia) in Revelation 19. The mission is to build the Kingdom of God, the web of agape-filled object relations with one another, reflecting the Father-Son secure attachment (i.e. John 10:30, 38; John 14:10; John 17:21). Its ultimate essence is agape that is strong enough to give our own lives for our love objects, as exemplified by Jesus (John 10:11, 15:13). What makes our agape strong enough to be able to lay our own lives down for each other, our love objects in our object relations in faith, is the Holy Spirit as the power (Acts 1:8) and shepherding of Parakletos (John 14:26).

As the He breathed into the clay to bring life to Adam (Genesis 2:7), and impregnated Mary with God incarnate, Jesus, the Son (Matthew 1:18), as risen Jesus breathed upon the disciples (John 20:22), the Father is about to pour his mighty ruah-pneuma upon us on Pentecost, as our Parakletos to give new birth to the Church, whose fabric is our agape-based object relations. 

So, upon receiving the powerful Holy Spirit poured upon us, we become so energized and loaded with manifold gift of the Holy Spirit. Our response to Pentecost, therefore, is charismatization!

Through charismatization by the Holy Spirit, we have become more mature being in faith, fuller in our agape-based object relation in our Triune God – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.