Comunidad de San Pablo

Thursday 19 ^th June 2025

PENTECOST IN THE LIGHT OF SHAVUOT

If Catholics knew more about Judaism—its culture, feasts, and rituals—we would understand Jesus of the Gospels far more deeply, as He was born and died a Jew. The feast of Pentecost, which we have just celebrated, serves as a striking example. Pentecost was already one of the most important festivals in the Jewish calendar: the feast of Shavuot—which the Greek of the New Testament rendered as Pentecost, just meaning “fifty days later.”

The festival of Shavuot is one of the three major Jewish feasts, alongside Pesach (Passover) and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles), during which pilgrims journeyed to the Temple in Jerusalem. This helps us understand why so many people from different regions of Israel and the Jewish diaspora could “hear” and comprehend the disciples who had just received the Spirit: "Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia; people from Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya bordering Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts; Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty works of God!" (Acts 2:9-11).

Shavuot was originally a festival celebrating the first fruits of the harvest, the Bikkurim, but above all, it commemorates the moment when God gave the Law to Moses and, by extension, to the people journeying through the wilderness. For the Jewish people, it marks the giving of the Law, whereas for us Christians—God’s pilgrim people—it marks the giving of the Spirit. To embrace this reality (Law-Spirit) not as a contradiction or establishing a superiority, but as a creative tension, would be truly fruitful.

Another way in which understanding Shavuot can illuminate Christian Pentecost is that Shavuot not only recalls the historical event but also invites the Jewish people to renew their commitment to the Torah and a life guided by divine wisdom. Similarly, Christians commemorate the historical event of Pentecost, but it also holds a petition: that the Holy Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of God, may continue to be poured out upon us and our communities. We ought to be individuals and communities in a permanent state of Pentecost.

In Shavuot, the first fruits—bikkurim—of the harvest were offered in the Temple. Saint Paul takes up this image when he speaks of the "first fruits of the Spirit": "And not only that, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies" (Romans 8:23). Just as Shavuot marked the offering of the earth's first fruits, Pentecost grants us the first fruits of the Spirit—a foretaste of future fulfillment and the promise of the coming Kingdom of God.

The Holy Spirit, poured out at Pentecost, is not merely a gift of the past but an active presence that transforms Christian life into fertile ground. Much like the bikkurim, which were a sign of hope and gratitude—a tangible assurance that the harvest was on its way, but already initiated—the first fruits of the Spirit place us in another beautiful tension: we have already received, and yet, we still await.

This experience is translated into concrete fruits: love that forgives, peace amid chaos, fidelity that defies time. Hope against all evidence. Each of these fruits, though invisible and real, is part of that initial harvest that prefigures the fullness of the Kingdom. It is no coincidence that Saint Paul also speaks of the "fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22): what began as an agricultural image becomes an embodied spiritual reality.

Pentecost is not merely the remembrance of a received gift but the thrust of an entrusted mission. Just as the first fruits were joyfully brought to the Temple as a sign of gratitude and hope, now the Church—animated by the first fruits of the Spirit—becomes a living offering for the world. Each disciple, filled with the Spirit, is sent forth as a sower of new life: where there is division, we bring communion; where there is darkness, we kindle hope; where there is death, we proclaim the Resurrection.

Christian life, then, is a journey of mission—proclaiming the arrival of a Kingdom that not only is coming but is already fermenting among us. We are a Church in exodus, moving forward, called to leaven history with the yeast of the Kingdom—not passively awaiting its future fulfillment, but anticipating, announcing, and embodying it.

Sunday 20 ^th April 2025

EASTER: LET’S BE FIRE, WATER AND BREAD

Reflection

Happy Easter!

After having experienced the celebrations of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, with their various liturgical expressions (the washing of the feet, the Stations of the Cross, the adoration of the cross) and having accompanied Jesus through the reading of the Gospel stories, finally yesterday, Saturday, after sunset we celebrated the victory of life over death: the stone was rolled away, and the tomb was empty! «Why do you look for the one who lives among the dead? He is not here. He has risen!»

With the Resurrection, at dawn on Sunday, we reached the center of our faith, the joyful celebration that history did not end in the dark dampness of a hopeless tomb.

At the Easter Vigil, so rich liturgically, we use three fundamental signs to speak of Jesus’ resurrection: first, fire; then, water; and finally, the bread and wine with which we celebrate the Eucharist.

There is an implicit invitation in the use of these signs: the invitation to be fire, water, and broken bread for others.

At times we walk in the dark, in the midst of very cold nights: the icy, shadowy night of loneliness, discouragement, hopelessness, fear, and the prison in which our selfishness imprisons us.

Today we are invited to be fire: a fire that brightens the world and a fire that warms it up. A fire that lights the way and disperses the shadows, a fire that comforts us and restores life when our bodies and souls have already grown numb, anaesthetized by the cold.

At times we are a parched, cracked, sterile land, a desert where nothing grows, a barren wasteland where others cannot find even a green breeze of joy.

Today we are invited to be water. Fresh water that renews and cleanses, that gives life, that with its fruitful course transforms deserts into gardens.

At times we are hungry. We feel weak, lacking every kind of nourishment: we lack bread, strong friendships, purpose, hope.

Today we are invited to be bread and wine for others: to nourish those who are spiritually anemic with our solidarity and our affection, also to seek nourishment in the witness and example of others, and in Jesus of Nazareth, conqueror of death.

Let us celebrate Easter: let us be fire, water, and food for our brothers and sisters!

Friday 18 ^th April 2025

GOOD FRIDAY: "HE OPPOSES WHAT WE DO"

Reflection

Jesus was not crucified because he preached that we should love one another more or because he told us to pray more. However, for many Christians, the practice of Christianity may have turned into something like that, reducing the ethical message of Jesus to just being a good person with good moral character. Not killing, not coveting what belongs to others, helping whenever possible. While commendable, this ethic is not Jesus's. It’s not the behavior that led to Jesus's execution—a punishment not only aimed at killing him but at annihilating his very existence. The goal was to obliterate any trace of reconstruction from those who followed him.

So, if it wasn’t for urging his fellow beings to love one another more, what actually led Christ to the cross? What we know is that different groups had different motivations, and only by understanding the convergence of so many interests from so many groups can one comprehend how the most innocent man in History could be so cruelly and publicly executed. Jesus and His message were (and are) a threat to the powerful—and it’s not hard to understand the motivation of the Roman occupying government or the Jewish upper class, the Sadducees, or the way in which the crowds were manipulated.

Perhaps the most interesting motivation is that of the Pharisees and their scribes. The demonization with which they are often preached about might cause us to overlook the nuance. We cannot oversimplify the complicated relationship between Jesus and the Pharisees. From a similar social class and close to the people just like Jesus, the Pharisees were meant to find common ground with him. What led the Pharisees to demand Jesus's crucifixion? It’s evident that Jesus criticized their hypocrisy and legalism: to be in communion with God, one had to follow an extensive number of laws. Moreover, one of Jesus's criticisms is that many of these laws were not part of the Torah but rather tradition disguised as commandments.

What’s fascinating is that the condemnation of the Pharisees was already prophesied in the Old Testament. There’s a section in the Book of Wisdom, proclaimed on the Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent, that foretells the Pharisees' reasoning: " Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, Reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the LORD. To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, Because his life is not like that of others, and different are his ways. He judges us debased;
he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the just
and boasts that God is his Father." (Wisdom 2:12–16). Therefore, "With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him."" (Wisdom 2:19–20).

It’s remarkable to remember that this text, accurately predicting the Pharisees’ motivations, was written no fewer than 130 years before Jesus's birth. Jesus upset those who had set themselves as interpreters and editors of the Torah; those who most quoted the Law were criticized by him for how little they applied it to themselves. Jesus challenged the principles upon which the Pharisees' entire worldview and way of life were based—it is total self-giving and service that will lead us to communion with God, not the strict observance of the letter of the law.

This citation also provided the charge that would serve in the two legal systems that judged Jesus: the claim of "knowing" God, proclaiming himself his Son, and uniting himself with divinity. This is the charge that ultimately led Jesus to the cross, as it constituted blasphemy for religious sensibilities and insurrection under Roman law, for only their representative, Governor Pilate, could impose the death penalty—a right the Romans had taken away from the Sanhedrin around the year 6.

It’s one of the lessons of the cross as we update Good Friday to our current world. It won’t be the minor sins, bad words, or small legal infringements that keep Christ on the cross—although for many, that’s all Christian ethics seem to offer. But no, Jesus's ethics go much further. As the Book of Wisdom prophesied, Jesus opposes what the powerful, the unjust, the inhumane do. Two thousand years later, the Lord's disciples are also called to oppose any abuse, any injustice, any affront to human dignity.

Thursday 17 ^th April 2025

HOLY THURSDAY: CHLOE OR WHAT IF THE WASHING OF THE FEET WOULD HAVE BEEN A SACRAMENT

Reflection

Chloe was a bit nervous as it was her First Washing of the Feet. The small church in Smyrna endured the vicissitudes of history and after 2000 years of history, was now the only church inspired solely by John’s Gospel in all Christendom.

First Washing of the Feet Day was the day in which Chloe would fully participate with the rest of the community, in the Eucharist. It was not an easy path. Chloe had to go through a very practical preparation, some special sessions on empathy, respect, acceptance...

She had to join several groups who would distribute food to some homeless in the big city, help at a dispensary in the sketchy part of town, participate and prepare a program for women’s empowerment, and still contribute as a volunteer in an environmental awareness project.

She felt how important this moment was: The big thanksgiving, the Eucharist. She wanted to make Jesus present in service as reminded by her, now almost memorized, through the Eucharist reading read a million times during every Sunday at the Eucharistic Gathering. The words of consecration. Jesus’ final action and instruction during the Last Supper: «After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had reclined again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you John» (13: 12-15).

She liked it. In service and through service she felt connected to Jesus. It was not so much about creeds and dogmas; it was about a commitment to service. What a beautiful way to make Jesus present into the world!

Of course, Chloe knew about the other Eucharistic traditions originating from the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke.) She knew that for them the bread and the wine were at the center of the Sacrament. But Chloe always thought that the Johannine vision of the Eucharist, through the Washing of the Feet, was as meaningful, at least to her.

That Sunday when people lined up for the moment of the Washing of the Feet, Chloe was thrilled: Seven elders, at the back of the church, not wanting to be at the center, began washing the feet of the seven candidates, who in turn washed the feet of other seven people, and they washed seven more people, so that they all washed each other’s feet, as commanded by Jesus in John’s Gospel. The Eucharist took time, as it does every Sunday really. For Chloe though, it was a moment of commitment and a moment of joy. From that day on, service was to become central to her life, whether in the community, at the church or in her family. She knew that service was at the core of her faith. Service, she thought, is the way to bring Jesus to others and she felt ready for it.

Saturday 12 ^th April 2025

PALM SUNDAY: THE FRAGILE ENTHUSIASM OF THE CROWDS

Reflection

Every year we are starting this Holy Week listening to the episode of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey and being cheered upon by the crowds of his disciples and followers, all of them fired up by the promise that he might be vindicated as the Messiah, which is why they acclaim him as the king of Israel, the son of David. This scene, which we find in the four gospels, has even been named as the “triumphant entry” into Jerusalem, an understanding that without doubt would have been alien to the mindset of Jesus, who always tried to avoid that the expectations of a messianic leadership could grow around his person.

The events that happened in Jerusalem in the following days, which we also listen to in today’s passion narrative, and which will culminate with his shameful death outside the city walls within just five days from today, are a cruel reminder about the fragile meaning that an enthusiastic crowd may carry: today’s approval will soon turn into deception, and later on into outward rejection, because Jesus is not going to fulfil the expectations of the people who were longing for a political leader who might guide them towards a more prosperous life and turn them into a powerful and respected nation among its neighbors.

The contrast between the episode of the so-called triumphant entry into Jerusalem today, cheered and applauded, and the way Jesus will exit the city carrying the wood of the cross, mocked and spat upon, couldn’t be greater. Only a group of women will remain at his side, knowing that the gospel Jesus preached with his life and his words has to be embraced and understood in the heart of every single person, far from the multitudes who only project upon their leaders their own dreams and ambitions.

Jesus did never allow himself to be fooled by the crowds who were asking for a messianic leadership to make their nation great again, and announced several times that they themselves would end up demanding his death, as it turned out. As followers of Jesus, we should avoid the ever-present temptation throughout history of populism and of yielding to the longings of enthused crowds of diverse political and social signs, always eager of finding leaders who can deliver their own targets and goals. The gospel of Jesus, yesterday, today, and forever, is a path of loving self-giving of one’s own life, which is made real in the encounter with our neighbor, far from the crowds and their wishes and longings, as Jesus himself showed us with his own life.

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PENTECOST IN THE LIGHT OF SHAVUOT

EASTER: LET’S BE FIRE, WATER AND BREAD

GOOD FRIDAY: "HE OPPOSES WHAT WE DO"

HOLY THURSDAY: CHLOE OR WHAT IF THE WASHING OF THE FEET WOULD HAVE BEEN A SACRAMENT

PALM SUNDAY: THE FRAGILE ENTHUSIASM OF THE CROWDS

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