Upon Him

The Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas

Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world. Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever. 1 John 2:15-17

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. Luke 2:39-40

Piety

On this Sixth Day of Christmas let us celebrate the Holy Family: Mary, the mother of Jesus; Saint Joseph, His foster father; and Christ. Together, these three form the model for all Christians as they accepted the spirit and the will of the Lord in their lives and passed it on to others in the world through their faith, hope, and charity (piety, study, and action). Let us do the same in the coming New Year.

Study

Our first reading sets up the theme of today: The world represents all that is hostile toward God and alienated from him. Therefore, love of the world and love of God are mutually exclusive. “Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)

What sets Jesus apart from the world is that the spirit and favor of God rest upon him. Until the scene in today’s Gospel, the spirit of the Lord was upon those who helped create a path into the world for the baby Jesus. His Uncle Zechariah. His Mother Mary. Simeon in the temple. However, once these holy people opened the doors of the world to Jesus, that spirit transferred upon him and stayed with him until his very last breath. This is exactly what was foretold in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.

But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots, a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD. Isaiah 11:1-3A

The “Force” is with Jesus. As a result of the descent of the Spirit upon him at his Baptism (Luke 3:21–22), Jesus is now equipped to overcome the forces of the world which oppose everything God represents. Many times, in his ministry, the crowds (signifying the world) pushed and pressed upon Jesus – trying to wrench away his power for their own ends. Sometimes, when faith prevailed, Jesus granted the wishes of people like the women with the daughter who was hemorrhaging and the men who lowered their paralyzed friend through the roof of the house where Jesus was healing. In doing so, Jesus shared the spirit of the Lord with those filled with faith.

When Jesus commissioned the Apostles, he also gave them power “‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you.” They can only do so because the spirit of the Lord is upon them thanks to Jesus passing it on (or paying it forward).

It was not until Jesus was hanging on the cross about to breathe his last breath that he commanded the same spirit of God to leave his mortal body and return to the hands of the Father. (Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”; and when he had said this he breathed his last. Luke 23:46)

His final gift to the world was to pass along this Spirit of God. Just before the moment of his Ascension, Jesus told his companions of this special gift that we now call the sacrament of Confirmation: “And [behold] I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

Action

The Spirit of the Lord comes upon us when we receive the sacraments.

However, this is not a one-way street.  Just as we get grace through Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation, we also must give it away. The model Jesus provides is that these are not static gifts. They only work if we put these gifts to use building the Kingdom AND passing the gifts of the Spirit along to others like modern Magi. 

As we wrap up the year this weekend, ponder when the Spirit of the Lord has come upon you and when you passed that along to others. Do you have an opportunity to do so again sometime soon in corporal works of mercy or spiritual works of mercy? Accepting the Spirit and passing it along how we live out the will of God.