Pentecost Sunday Year C - 19/5/2013 - Gospel: Jn 14:14-16;23b-26
The same image
The account of the Creation in the book of Genesis makes the claim that we are made after the image of God. God's image and ours are not just looking alike but it is the same image and bears the same spirit. Our image and the Church's image derive from the same source, the image of God. The Spirit of God breathed on us to give us life. It is the beginning of the birth of the human race. After the resurrection and the Ascension, Jesus on the Pentecost gives God's Spirit to the Apostles. It breathed life into the Apostles that gave birth to the Church. Each of us bears the image of God and share the same Spirit Jesus gave.
For we bear the same image and the same Spirit of God we share the same mission. It is the mission of the Church and it is also the mission of each one of us. Our baptismal calls us to share the mission of the Church. We all bear God's image and the same mission but not all of us are active in the missionary field. At Baptism we are sealed with the Spirit of God and that makes us Christ bearers, bringing God's love for the world. Those who faithfully carry out their daily cross to follow Jesus are true missionaries. When we do the mission we do it in the spirit of Jesus.
We give thanks to God by making God's love known to one another. Making God's love known is our mission. We bear the same image of God, live for the common purpose that is to glorify God through our lives and share the same mission. The mission is not something new. No, Jesus began the mission and we are called to continue the same mission Jesus has started. We don't do the mission alone by our own effort or for our own benefits but we do it for God's people and do it with the Sprit of God given to us at the Pentecost. We need to give thanks to God for trusting in and loving us so much and trusts us so much that He allows us to take part in his mission.
God loves us so much that God created us after God's image and likeness and that gives us his only Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus loves us so much that he dies to save us and that gives us the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God loves us so much that she is with the Church and that the Church's mission to save mankind is in the Spirit's heart. Love is abstract and invisible. We can't see love. What is visible to our eyes is only the results of love. The results of love made visible but it is not having the spirit of its maker. We are much more than the results of God's love because we, Christians, bear the Spirit of our maker, God's Spirit and that makes us the chosen people- the people of God.
What is the final image of God's love for the world? It began with the image of a human being and then develops to see God in the person of Jesus incarnate and then it comes to the image of Christ and his Church on earth. Sin makes our image blurred. The Pentecost comes to make our image shine and restores it the original likeness image of God and that is the new creation.
For we bear the same image and the same Spirit of God we share the same mission. It is the mission of the Church and it is also the mission of each one of us. Our baptismal calls us to share the mission of the Church. We all bear God's image and the same mission but not all of us are active in the missionary field. At Baptism we are sealed with the Spirit of God and that makes us Christ bearers, bringing God's love for the world. Those who faithfully carry out their daily cross to follow Jesus are true missionaries. When we do the mission we do it in the spirit of Jesus.
We give thanks to God by making God's love known to one another. Making God's love known is our mission. We bear the same image of God, live for the common purpose that is to glorify God through our lives and share the same mission. The mission is not something new. No, Jesus began the mission and we are called to continue the same mission Jesus has started. We don't do the mission alone by our own effort or for our own benefits but we do it for God's people and do it with the Sprit of God given to us at the Pentecost. We need to give thanks to God for trusting in and loving us so much and trusts us so much that He allows us to take part in his mission.
God loves us so much that God created us after God's image and likeness and that gives us his only Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus loves us so much that he dies to save us and that gives us the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God loves us so much that she is with the Church and that the Church's mission to save mankind is in the Spirit's heart. Love is abstract and invisible. We can't see love. What is visible to our eyes is only the results of love. The results of love made visible but it is not having the spirit of its maker. We are much more than the results of God's love because we, Christians, bear the Spirit of our maker, God's Spirit and that makes us the chosen people- the people of God.
What is the final image of God's love for the world? It began with the image of a human being and then develops to see God in the person of Jesus incarnate and then it comes to the image of Christ and his Church on earth. Sin makes our image blurred. The Pentecost comes to make our image shine and restores it the original likeness image of God and that is the new creation.
Written by Fr Vũđình Tường
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia