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Tonight Bishop Buzon from our Catechesis on Wednesday  July  16 at Sacred Heart has e-mailed me his Catechesis.

Here is his below:

World Youth Day - Catechesis for the Young

by Bp. Patricio Buzon, SDB, DD

Day 1 – 16 July 2008 (Wednesday)

Called to live in the Spirit

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.” (Gal 5:25)

Know the Holy Spirit

As I was preparing my talks for this catechesis, I found myself having to read over and over again the message of the Holy Father to the Young People of the World on the occasion of the 23^rd World Youth Day. As you well know, the themes of our three-day catechetical reflection are based on the Pope’s message.

After several readings, I began to realize how deeply the Pope desires that young people would know the Holy Spirit. He says in the letter:

My dear young friends, the Holy Spirit continues today to act with power in the Church, and the fruits of the Spirit are abundant in the measure in which we are ready to open up to this power that makes all things new. For this reason it is important that each one of us know the Spirit, establish a relationship with Him and allow ourselves to be guided by Him. However, at this point a question naturally arises: who is the Holy Spirit for me? It is a fact that for many Christians He is still the “great unknown”. This is why, as we prepare for the next World Youth Day, I wanted to invite you to come to know the Holy Spirit more deeply at a personal level.

I know very well that you young people hold in your hearts great appreciation and love for Jesus, and that you desire to meet Him and speak with Him. Indeed, remember that it is precisely the presence of the Spirit within us that confirms, constitutes and builds our person on the very Person of Jesus crucified and risen. So let us become familiar with the Holy Spirit in order to be familiar with Jesus…

Through the Scriptures

What is beautiful with the Pope’s letter is that he not only expresses his desire for each of us to know the Holy Spirit. He also teaches us how to arrive at a personal and intimate knowledge of the Spirit. The primary source is of course the Scripture. In the first part of the letter the Holy Father takes us to some events from the Old and the New Testament and points to the intervention of the Holy Spirit at every stage of our salvation history.

He opens his brief scriptural survey on the Holy Spirit with the scene of the Ascension and flashes back to the beginning of time. Let us join the Holy Father in a quick travel through the Scriptures:

o      From its opening pages, the Bible presents the spirit of God as the wind that “was moving over the face of the waters” (cf. Gen 1:2).

o      God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life (cf. Gen 2:7), thereby infusing him with life itself.

o      After original sin, the life-giving spirit of God is seen several times in the history of humankind, calling forth prophets to exhort the chosen people to return to God and to observe his commandments faithfully.

o      In the well-known vision of the prophet Ezekiel, God, with his spirit, restores to life the people of Israel, represented by the “dry bones” (cf. 37:1-14).

o      Joel prophesied an “outpouring of the spirit” over all the people, excluding no one.

o      In “the fullness of time” (cf. Gal 4:4), the angel of the Lord announced to the Virgin of Nazareth that the Holy Spirit, “the power of the Most High”, would come upon her and overshadow her. The child to be born would be holy and would be called Son of God (cf. Lk 1:35).

o      “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (Lk 4:18-19; cf. Is 61:1-2). Addressing those present, he referred those prophetic words to himself by saying: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21).

o      Before his death on the Cross, he would tell his disciples several times about the coming of the Holy Spirit, the “Counselor” whose mission would be to bear witness to him and to assist believers by teaching them and guiding them to the fullness of Truth (cf. Jn 14:16-17, 25-26; 15:26; 16:13).

o      On the evening of the day of resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples, “he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (Jn 20:22).

o      With even greater power the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them” (2:2-3).

o      The Holy Spirit renewed the Apostles from within, filling them with a power that would give them courage to go out and boldly proclaim that “Christ has died and is risen!” Freed from all fear, they began to speak openly with self-confidence (cf. Acts 2:29; 4:13; 4:29,31). These frightened fishermen had become courageous heralds of the Gospel. Even their enemies could not understand how “uneducated and ordinary men” (cf. Acts 4:13) could show such courage and endure difficulties, suffering and persecution with joy. Nothing could stop them. To those who tried to silence them they replied: “We cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). This is how the Church was born, and from the day of Pentecost she has not ceased to spread the Good News “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Through the Sacraments

Besides the Scriptures, we also come to know the Holy Spirit through his action in our personal life, particularly through the sacraments.

You might ask, how can we allow ourselves to be renewed by the Holy Spirit and to grow in our spiritual lives? The answer, as you know, is this: we can do so by means of the Sacraments, because faith is born and is strengthened within us through the Sacraments… (cf. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1285).  

Now you see why our catechesis is centered on the sacraments, particularly the sacraments of initiation which are complementary and inseparable, namely, baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist.

Baptism

Today, the first day, our catechesis will be on the sacrament of baptism. Come to think of it, our first experience of the Holy Spirit was actually on the day of our baptism. What really happened on that day? What did the Holy Spirit do to us?

To understand our own baptism, we need to go back to the baptism of Jesus. We are all familiar with the story of Jesus’ baptism in the river Jordan. Did it ever occur to you why Jesus asked for baptism from John, the Baptist? He had no need of baptism because He had no sin. In fact, John protested and asked to be baptized himself by Jesus. But the Lord insisted saying that “it is fitting (for us) to fulfill all righteousness.” The commentators explain that this was a way by which Jesus can enter into the saving plan of the Father: by identifying himself with sinners.

I have my own simple understanding why Jesus wanted to be baptized. I think he wanted us to understand the meaning of baptism, our own baptism. He wanted to show us what happens at every baptism. What happened to him in the Jordan is what happened to us in the baptistry. What happened at Jesus’ baptism?

Let us attentively listen to Matthew’s account:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Mt 3:13-17)

At the baptism of Jesus, three things happened:

1.         the heavens opened

2.         the Spirit of God came down in the form of a dove, and

3.         a voice was heard, saying, “This is my beloved Son…”

This gospel account provides us a vivid picture of our own baptism. The same three things that happened to Jesus happened to us when we were baptized.

At our baptism, the Holy Spirit came down on us. He did not just hover over us, but took possession of us and made his abode in us. Indeed, by our baptism, we become temples of the Holy Spirit. Most important of all, He gave us sanctifying grace, which is God’s own life in us. And because we share God’s own life, we become his children.

Hence at our baptism, we too have been claimed by the Father as sons and daughters. Just as the He introduced Jesus as His beloved Son in the Jordan, He must have spoken of us in the same way at our baptism. “George, you are my beloved son… Anne, you are my beloved daughter.”

And because we are children of God, we become heirs of heaven. On the day of our baptism, the heavens were opened to us. Our Catechism teaches us that baptism is necessary for salvation. As Jesus told Nicodemus, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.” (Jn 3:5)

This is what the Spirit did for us at our baptism - He made us sons and daughters of the Father, brothers and sisters of Christ. What a beautiful thing! What can be more beautiful, what can be greater than this – our Christian calling?

You might have read of the conversion to Catholicism of a famous Muslim journalist, Magdi Allam. During the Easter Vigil last March, he was baptized by no less than our Holy Father at the Basilica of St. Peter. He recalls that day as “the most beautiful day of my life.” Conscious his new life and new identity, he took a new name, Cristiano. A simple name to express his deepest faith and conviction that, like Christ, he too is a beloved son of the Father.

Somebody told me that the Poles do not celebrate their birthday as much as their baptismal day. They believe that true life begins on the day of our baptism – the day that we receive divine life that makes us God’s children. Any Poles around to verify this?

This is what the Holy Spirit does to us at baptism. And this is just the beginning. As the Holy Spirit was present at every phase of human history and redemption, the Holy Spirit also accompanies us at every step through life so that we may be able to live our divine sonship and fulfill God’s wonderful plan for us. We have seen the many actions of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. He intends to do the same in our life if we allow him. Looking back scriptural survey we just had, let me point out particularly three of the many actions of the Spirit. He creates, He empowers, He guides.

The Spirit creates. What a beautiful world we live in, thanks to the creative power of the Spirit. God has entrusted his creation to us to care for and to develop. Unfortunately, because of greed and irresponsibility, we have reduced our world into a global garbage. We don’t have to see Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” or Leonardo di Caprio’s “The Eleventh Hour” to be convinced that we might have too little time left, if any, to save the earth from total disaster. The Spirit who creates invites us to be co-creators with him. Through us he wishes to re-create and restore his creation. What can we do? Let us open ourselves to the Spirit and listen to his intimation and allow him to work through us to save this dying planet while it is still possible.

The Spirit empowers. I remember the time when I received my appointment as bishop of Kabankalan. I felt so inadequate and powerless for the task. Before my Episcopal ordination, I made the Ignatian retreat. During one of those days, I was given as subject for meditation the gospel reading on the Good Shepherd. When I came to the verse, “I lay down my life for my sheep,” I was deeply disturbed. I remember how I wrestled and agonized with the passage. Deep in my heart, I knew I could not own it. I have been called to shepherd God’s flock in Kabankalan, and like the Good Shepherd I should be ready and willing to lay down my life for my sheep. But in all sincerity I knew I was not ready nor willing to do so. It was my saddest realization. I have always been afraid of pain, even more so, of death. Hence, I could not honestly tell the Lord, “I lay down my life for my sheep.”

Since it was a Friday, I made the Way of the Cross at the park behind the retreat house that afternoon. As I proceeded from one station to another and retraced the steps of Jesus to Calvary, it slowly dawned on me that Jesus went through every pain and suffering for me, to save me. Then I began to realize how much I am loved. I had never felt so much loved, so infinitely loved. By the time I reached the twelfth station, I could hardly see the crucified Lord; my eyes were filled with uncontrollable tears. I told the Jesus hanging on the cross, “Lord, I’m ready to die for you now.” After a few seconds, I seemed to hear from the depths of my heart the Lord answering, “No, don’t die for me. Live for my people.”

It was the Spirit who led me into the heart of Jesus and allowed me to experience his personal love for me. With such experience I was enabled and empowered to love with an unconditional love in return.

The Spirit guides. How much the young need guidance, the guidance of the Spirit! You are naturally open, sincere and generous. Yet, you know how vulnerable you are to what Benedict XVI calls “the seduction of wealth, consumerism and the subtle violence sometimes used by the media.” You also know that when you fall to such deception you are robbed of your idealism and generosity. Instead of growing, your life shrinks until it loses all purpose and meaning. I remember the words of the Holy Father addressed to you in one of his messages. You seek happiness more anything else. Seek it for it is your right. But remember, the happiness you seek has a face and a name – Jesus of Nazareth. It is the Spirit that leads you to Jesus and makes you recognize his face. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send you in my name – he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” (Jn 14:26)

Conclusion

Let me conclude with a familiar story about an Indian brave who found an egg in an eagle’s nest and put it among the eggs of the chicken in his farm. Soon, the eagle’s egg hatched together with the chickens’. The eaglet learned to live among the chicks. One day, as the brood was roaming in search of food, an eagle swooped across the sky and pierced through the clouds. The eaglet asked the mother hen what animal was that. “That was the eagle, the king of the skies.” The eaglet said to himself, “How I wish I could fly like an eagle!” And hanging his head, he continued his search for food, saying, “But I’m only a chicken.”

We are eagles, not chicken. We are God’s children and not anything less. To live as God’s children is to live in the Spirit. If we are to live in the Spirit, let us be guided by the Spirit.

In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul describes to us the life in the Spirit.” If you are guided by the Spirit, you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence, since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit… What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Life in the Spirit is all this. In one word, it is a life of holiness.