Gathering the Scattered of the Earth
May 20th, 2021
“The Spirit does not unify us as clones, but as unique pieces of the same great mosaic puzzle. Together we are a richer work of God’s art.”
It’s somewhat hard for me to fathom that we are almost through the Easter season. Nevertheless, this coming Sunday is Pentecost and it feels like we just finished celebrating Easter. Perhaps it is because I have been dealing with the emotions of my own transition alongside so many of your own emotions, as well as beginning the physical realities of moving. Time flies when you’re juggling! But whatever the reason I feel as though the Easter season has flown by.
Each year our Easter season ends with the great Feast of Pentecost. It is a time when we look to moving away from the Jesus who has a deep encounter with friends (while a waiting world has yet to hear of him) and begin to move into the era of the Spirit, where all of us find equal access to God. As Jesus walked the earth, he was closer to some and unknown by others. The Spirit of God, on the other hand, is equally accessible to all people. Because of this we really need to acknowledge that others’ experiences of God are each puzzle pieces of a greater mosaic that help to unlock larger images of God’s grace and mercy.
I’ve included this week, a song that we’ve heard once before during the pandemic in the Touchstones. It is entitled “To The Mothers In Brazil” and is a wonderful juxtaposition of cultures. We hear a well-known Marion prayer in Latin (“Salve Regina”) set by Gunnar Eriksson, a Swedish composer in the unmistakable rhythms and harmonies of South American music. The result is striking and moving. It reminds us that Catholicism is, by its truest nature, universal and no one culture owns it.
It is interesting for me when I hear theologians argue about whether the church should be viewed as born out of Good Friday, or born out of Pentecost. Good arguments can be made for both but certainly, our catholicity comes from this Pentecost moment and we celebrate it as we reach out universally to find how others experience God, grace and community.
God Bless,
Fr. Pat
The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words.
While the people were migrating in the east,
they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.
They said to one another,
“Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire.”
They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city
and a tower with its top in the sky,
and so make a name for ourselves;
otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.”
While the people were migrating in the east,
they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.
They said to one another,
“Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire.”
They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city
and a tower with its top in the sky,
and so make a name for ourselves;
otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.”
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower
that the people had built.
Then the LORD said: “If now, while they are one people,
all speaking the same language,
they have started to do this,
nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do.
Let us then go down there and confuse their language,
so that one will not understand what another says.”
Thus the LORD scattered them from there all over the earth,
and they stopped building the city.
That is why it was called Babel,
because there the LORD confused the speech of all the world.
It was from that place that he scattered them all over the earth.
that the people had built.
Then the LORD said: “If now, while they are one people,
all speaking the same language,
they have started to do this,
nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do.
Let us then go down there and confuse their language,
so that one will not understand what another says.”
Thus the LORD scattered them from there all over the earth,
and they stopped building the city.
That is why it was called Babel,
because there the LORD confused the speech of all the world.
It was from that place that he scattered them all over the earth.
To the Mothers in Brazil
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