By Fr. Alfred McBride, O.Praem.
Readings: |
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Acts 2, 1-11
1 Cor 12, 3-7, 12-13
Jn 20,19-23 |
There is a legend about an Irishman who lived in great poverty in a single room in Galway town. One night he dreamt vividly of a treasure beneath a bridge in the city of Dublin. The dream returned the next two nights. Unable to dismiss it from his mind, he journeyed to Dublin to find the money. He found the exact spot, but there was no treasure there.
Sadly, he talked about this with a policeman. The officer laughed and said, "Sure, you should pay no attention to dreams. Why the other night I dreamt about a box of money hidden in the walls of a room of a house in Galway." Unwittingly, the policeman described the very room where our friend lived. The officer concluded, "Of course, no sensible man would pay attention to dreams."
Our astonished friend was shocked and absorbed by the policeman's story. He smiled and hastily said goodbye and hastened back to Galway. He rushed to his room, opened the wall and found the box of money that settled him for life. That treasure was with him all along. In order to find it, he had to make a long Journey. He needed direction to his goal from a stranger who had little realization of what he was saying.
During his lifetime, Jesus told his followers, "The kingdom of God is within you, hidden in your hearts." Like the wall in the room of the poor Irishman. The listeners to Jesus liked what he was saying, but really did not look where he told them. They took long trips. They argued a lot. They searched far and wide for the peace and love of the kingdom. They read about the power of dreamers and visionaries in the prophet Joel who told them the treasure of the Spirit would be poured in their hearts in the last days.
Finally they decided to obey Christ's word and go home to their hearts. For nine days they probed their souls in prayer and 10, they experienced the Coming of the Spirit. Externally, this was observed in tongues of fire and the great wind that swept through the room. But the internal discovery was more important. The treasure they sought was deep inside them.
The poet, T.S. Eliot described their discovery of the River of Power within:
"We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring
Will be to
arrive where we started And know the place for the first time."
("Little Gidding" line 239.)
We spend so much of our lives looking for happiness, searching for God. And all along God and happiness are inside us. We seem to prefer the huff and puff of a journey that takes us away from our inner world. We choose to travel through the outer world to find what is inside us all along. One of the reasons why we so seldom find Jesus is not that he is so far away, but that he is so close.
We wear ourselves out scratching the earth for joy. We seem unable to relax and let the River of the Spirit inside us flood us with joy. The believers and prayers in the Upper Room spent nine days praying for the coming of the Spirit. In fact they were letting go of their own efforts to produce God. They had finally realized that they should let go and let God in. Throughout their lives, God had been begging to enter their awareness. Instead they courted the transient pleasures and saviors of the outer world and ignored the invitations inside their souls.
The 14th century mystic Jan Ruysbroek wrote long ago that the Spirit enfolds us like air. It is the Spirit's wish to breathe us in so that we may be flooded with love and joy. Then the Spirit would breathe us out so that we might transmit that love and joy to the world around us. This Pentecost the Spirit awaits our permission to breathe us in and out. This treasure is here. It's up to us to relax and notice it. Let go! Love awaits you.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, you repeat tirelessly your call to Love. We remember that Therese said, “I will come back to teach the world how to love Love.” Your message never changes in this regard. Fill us with the love you want us to have and motivate our hearts to share love generously with all people with whom we come in contact. We praise and thank you for this gift. Amen.
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