Year II
SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
 |
| Fr. Thomas Merton, ocso |
First
Reading 1 Corinthians
12:1-27
Responsory 1
Cor 12:9-10; 7:4
The Spirit gives one the gift of wise speech, another the gift of healing,
the power
to work miracles, or the gift of prophecy. + In each one the Spirit is manifested in a particular way for the good of
all, alleluia.
V. There is a variety of gifts, but they come from the same Spirit. + In each one ...
Second
Reading
From the writings of
Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O. (The NewMass, 117-119)
Life in Christ
When we speak of "life
in Christ," according to the phrase of Saint Paul, It is no longer I who
live, but Christ who lives in me, we are speaking not of self-alienation but of
our discovery of our true selves in Christ. In this discovery we participate
spiritually in the mystery of his resurrection. And this sharing of the death
and resurrection of Christ is the very heart of the Christian faith and of Christian
mysticism.
I came, said Jesus, that
they may have life. The life he came to bring us is his own life as Son of God.
And because of his resurrection he received the power to communicate to us all
his Spirit as the principle of our own life and the life of our own spirit. The
uncreated image, buried and concealed by sin in the depths of our souls, rises
from death when, sending forth his Spirit into our spirit, he manifests his
presence within us and becomes for us the source of a new life, a new identity,
and a new mode of action.
This new life in us is
an extension of Christ's own risen life. It forms an integral part of that new
existence which he inaugurated when he rose from the tomb. Before he died on
the cross, the historical Christ was alone in his human and physical existence.
As he himself said, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Rising from the dead, Jesus
lived no longer merely in himself. He became the vine of which we are the
branches. He extends his personality to include each one of us who is united to
him by faith. The new existence which is his by virtue of his resurrection is
no longer limited by the exigencies of matter. He can now pass through closed
doors, appear in many places at once, or exercise his action upon the earth
while remaining hidden in the depths of the Godhead: yet these are only
secondary aspects of his risen life. The primary aspect of his risen life is
his life in the souls of his elect. He is now not only the natural Christ, but
the mystical Christ, and as such he includes all of us who believe in him.
Christ living in me is
at the same time himself and myself.
From the moment that I
am united to him in one spirit there is no longer any contradiction implied by
the fact that we are different persons. He remains, naturally and physically,
the Son of God who was born of the blessed Virgin in Nazareth, who went about
doing good, and who died on the cross two thousand years ago. I remain the
singular person that I am. But mystically and spiritually Christ lives in me
from the moment that I am united to him in his death and resurrection by the
sacrament of baptism and by all the moments and incidents of a Christian life. This
union is not merely a moral union, or an agreement of wills, nor merely a
psychological union which flows from the fact that I keep him in my thoughts.
Christ mystically identifies his members with himself by giving them his Holy
Spirit.
Responsory 1 Cor 12:6-7.27
There are different ministries but the same God who accomplishes
all of them in
everyone. + The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one in a
particular way for the good of all, alleluia.
V, You are the body of
Christ; each one of you is a member of it. + The manifestation of
...
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