Maybe through the suffering and the tragedy around us, there's something emerging that's deeper and more beautiful than we could have ever imagined.
"6 (or 7?) ways the Spirit is a-movin'..."
April 1, 2020
I have a love-hate relationship with the news nowadays. Okay, maybe it's not so much love as it is Stockholm Syndrome in the sense that I can't seem to stop consuming more and more information about the coronavirus and the ways that it's shaping and shifting our world. I don't like to admit it, but I just can't seem to stop.
"Raise your hand if you love Middle School Youth Group!"
And let me tell you — the toll is heavy. There's only so many times you can click refresh on a page that has nothing but bad news and scary infographics. There's only so many times you can read words like "exponential curve", "epicenter", "makeshift morgue", and "we just don't know". There's just honestly only so much heartache your heart can take.
But I think maybe it's time for something new. (And I don't just mean limiting the amount of news I'm taking in, though that's probably a good start!) I mean that I'm beginning to actually see something new emerging in the midst of this global pandemic, and I believe that this is the work of the Spirit. Paul writes in our reading for today that "those in the flesh cannot please God", and maybe he's right. Maybe the way things are in this whirlwind of a human existence are, well, broken.
High schoolers making cards for detainees at the GEO Aurora Detention Center
But maybe, as Paul writes, the answer to this brokenness just might be the Holy Spirit. Maybe through the suffering and the tragedy around us, there's something emerging that's deeper and more beautiful than we could have ever imagined. Maybe the Spirit is doing something profoundly new and is moving in so many ways — at least 6 or 7! — in the world and, most especially, in you and me.
Let's reflect together and, at the very least, take a break from the news.
Love,
john livingston
Director of Youth Ministry
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Brothers and sisters:
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you.
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you.
"Were I the Perfect Child of God"
by T. Alonso & M. Mahler
Sung by the Music Ministry and parishioners of MPB at Mass on April 6, 2014.
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