11June 2013 St Barnabas, Apostle: Memorial A Cypriot Jew, he introduced St Paul to the other apostles. He was with Paul in the first missionary journey and in the first Council of Jerusalem. Died a martyr during Nero’s reign. (Fr James Socias, et al [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, p1545) Who is the Holy Spirit? God himself. The third Person of the Blessed Trinity; sent to each of us by the Father and the Son. Their greatest gift; he remains always with us, abides in us. St Paul gives the clearest description of the work of the Holy Spirit whose fruits are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (cf Gal 5:22-3) These qualities are ideal in every walk of life and in all circumstances: at home, with your teachers and friends; in the factory or at the university; with all people you meet. The Prophet Isaiah also attributed special gifts to the Holy Spirit: “a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and of might, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord” (Is 11:2). St Paul is right in saying: “If we live by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit.” (cf Gal 5:25). Gifts and qualities such as these make us equal to any task and capable of overcoming any difficulties. Yet our lives remain our own, and the Spirit acts on each of us differently; in harmony with our individual personality and characteristics we have inherited from our parents and from upbringing received in our homes. Because he is so near to us, yet so unobtrusive, we should turn to the Holy Spirit instinctively in all our needs and ask him for his guidance and help. The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. What more could be done for us? What more can we expect of God than that? Ref: Cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, 1984, pp214-5 Our relations with God the Holy Spirit Through baptism a Christian becomes the ‘living temple’ of the Holy Spirit, a truth which St Paul always refers to: “Know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you?” (1 Cor 6:19) It is worthy to note that the ceremonies used in baptism are the same as those for consecration of churches. St Paul draws the practical conclusion from this great truth. After saying the above, he immediately adds, “Glorify and bear God in your body” (1 Cor 6:20). Make your body an instrument for the glory of God; keep it free from all stain, adorn it with virtue and good works, as an altar is dressed and tended. Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp312-3 The Church Appeals to the Mercy of God The Church proclaims the truth of God’s mercy revealed in the crucified and Risen Christ. She seeks to practise mercy towards people through people, an indispensable condition for solicitude for a ‘more human’ world, today and tomorrow. However, in no historical period, especially at the moment as critical as our own, can the Church forget ‘the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God’ amid the many forms of evil which threaten humanity ... The more the human conscience loses its sense of the very meaning of the word ‘mercy’, moves away from God and distances itself from the mystery of mercy, the more ‘the Church has the right and the duty’ to appeal to the God of Mercy ‘with loud cries’ (cf Heb 5:7). These ‘loud cries’ should be the mark of the Church of our times; cries uttered to God to implore his mercy, the certain manifestation of which she professes and proclaims as having already come in Jesus crucified and risen. This Paschal Mystery bears within itself the most complete revelation of mercy, of that love which is more powerful than death, more powerful than sin and every evil, the love which lifts man when he falls into the abyss and frees him from greatest threats. Modern man feels these threats ... anxiously wonders about the solution to the terrible tensions which have built up in the world and which entangles humanity. If at times he “lacks the courage to utter the word ‘mercy’”, or if in his conscience he does not find the equivalent, ‘so much greater is the need for the Church to utter this word’, not only in her own name but also in the name of all the men and women of our time. ... Let us have recourse to that fatherly love revealed to us by Christ, a love which reached its culmination in his Cross, in his death and Resurrection. Let us have recourse to God through Christ, mindful of the words of Mary’s ‘Magnificat’, which proclaims mercy ‘from generation to generation’. Let us implore God’s mercy for our generation. May the Church which also seeks, following the example of Mary, to be the spiritual mother of mankind, express in this prayer her maternal solicitude and confident love, from which is born the most burning need for prayer. Ref: “Dives in Misericordia, Encyclical Letter by Pope John Paul II”, 1980, pp78-9 • Our Lady of Esquernes, half a league from Lille, in Flanders. This image began to work miracles about the year 1162.—(Buzelinus, Annals of Gaul, lib. ii.) “Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar (www.bethlehemobserver.com) • Our Lady of Esquernes. Near Lille, Flanders 1162. (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html); (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (www.starharbor.com/santiago/m feasts.html); (MaryLinks Calendar.htm); (http://mariedenazareth.com)