He Will Guide You to All Truth

April 30, 2008

Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

By Melanie Rigney

Paul told the Athenians that the Lord made the whole human race “so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’ as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’” (Acts 17:27-28)

Jesus said to the disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:12-14)

Piety
Holy Spirit, let me be open to your truth when you present it to me, without regard for the appearance of the vessel in which you send it.

Study
Today's Readings
Sister Joan Chittister
About a year ago, my friend Paul gave me Sister Joan Chittister’s In Search of Belief. I looked at a back cover endorsement that said the book “spells out the meaning of the Apostles’ Creed.” I laughed. I knew what the Creed meant. Who didn’t? And so, I put away In Search of Belief.

Recently, I asked Paul to suggest a book to give people considering a return to our Church. I was surprised when he recommended In Search of Belief. Had he really thought a year earlier that my faith was so elemental I didn’t understand the Creed, the way I wasn’t sure these folks understood Catholicism? But I went ahead and ordered the copies. I also resolved to give the book a quick skim.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been slowly savoring each word for my Cursillo study. I can only read so much at a time, because I have to think about what Chittister says. I have no problem using male pronouns in reference to God. But I have new insight as to why some of my friends do. It doesn’t bother me that women can’t be ordained. But I better understand why some find this to be a limitation that runs counter to the veneration of Mary in our Church.

I’ve also found passages that I’ve dog-eared and meditated upon. Right now, I’m processing this: “Jesus’ death is not distinct from who he was, from what he was doing before the arrest, the mock trial, the rejection by the crowds. Jesus’ crucifixion is not other than the Nativity. Jesus suffered far greater pains than death long before death was kind enough to take him. … The truth of the passion rings across time for each of us. The goal we each seek is the cross we each choose. What we stood for in life determines the nature of our deaths (emphasis added).”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples, “When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me.” Whether you consider Joan Chittister a radical nun who should be excommunicated or a brave soul who should be our next pope, it is clear the Spirit is working through her when she writes: “Life is a becoming into the fullness of the self that knows no boundaries, grows in form, lives in the spirit of the Spirit, and has no end.”

Let us be open to the Spirit’s messengers and discerning what they deliver that will guide us on our journeys, even if that guidance is something as simple yet as profound as better understanding of those with whom we disagree about Church teachings. Let openness build a bridge to Christ.

Action
Talk with someone who has a view different from yours about an issue of heated debate in our Church: divorce/annulment, capital punishment, abortion, ordination of women, to name a few. Rather than advancing your own opinion, listen to and consider your fellow traveler’s position. The goal is not to change your mind or your friend’s, but to better understand where the Spirit of truth resides. It may be in both of you.