Personal Reflections, Biblical, Ecclesiological and Liturgical
First Reflection: Biblical
The debate rages on, among biblical scholars, whether the Spirit of Jesus, as described by Luke and put in the mouth of Jesus, in Luke 4:18-19, is prophetic or not. This is to say that, if it is prophetic, then Jesus identified himself as a prophet and played the role of a prophet as a human being, after his Incarnation.
The two reasons for considering Jesus as a prophet are, 1) the fact of Jesus reading from the prophecy of Isaiah 61:1-2 (even though Luke 4:18-19 omits “a year of vengeance for our God,” which is in Isaiah 61:2) in the synagogue of Nazareth, and 2) Jesus’s ministry of preaching, healing and raising of the dead, just the way the prophets of old did in their times.
However, if we take seriously the role of the Spirit of God in the Old Testament, it is obvious that the role of the Spirit of God in all those anointed helped them to function in different capacities as priests, kings, and prophets. Such persons as Moses, Samuel and Saul, defy a single categorization because they functioned at some points as priest, prophet and king. It is better to consider the Spirit of God as that power which enabled and still enables those whom he possesses to do the Lord’s bidding, rather than seek to pigeonhole the Spirit of God with human limitative definitions.
The Spiritan Rule of Life (SRL) takes a robust look at the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus Christ beyond whether the Spirit made the Incarnate Christ a prophet, king or priest. The Spiritan approach is sacramental. The dedication and consecration of a Spiritan to the Holy Spirit presupposes a sacramental base because the Spirit of God is received at baptism to make every baptized person priest, prophet and king, in imitation of Christ. Furthermore, the sacrament of Confirmation makes every Christian a soldier of Christ. This sacramental foundation is Christian, and not limited to Spiritans alone. But the uniqueness of Spiritans comes from an added source.
The fact that Spiritans are both priests and brothers widens the scope of the roles of the Holy Spirit in the missions of the Spiritans beyond the boundaries of Luke 4:18-19 and sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. Better still, Spiritans live out the prophetic agenda of Luke 4:18-19 creatively in the world today. This implies that Spiritans are called, in addition to their baptismal roles of being priest, prophet and king, to lay emphasis on such areas of contemporary missionary needs for youth apostolate, crusades for integral human liberations, promotion of cosmopolitanism and simplicity.
These new terminologies may sound novel and unSpiritan: they are quintessentially Spiritan. Let us show it. A Spiritan is fundamentally a pace setter, and not a traditionalist – follower of tradition. That this is the case is clear from the Spiritan Rule of Life no. 4: “We live out our mission in willing obedience to the Holy Spirit taking Mary as our model.” Two points that merit mention and commentary are “Holy Spirit” and “Mary”: this is a new mixture!
Curiously, there is neither the mention of Mary in Luke 4:18-19 nor a prior or subsequent biblical Incarnation of a God through a woman, other than through Mary! If there is any novelty at all this is it: the mixture of “Mary” and the “Holy Spirit” is both novel and unprecedented. This is the foundation of Spiritan creativity and exceptionalism – Spiritans are pace setters and not traditionalists! Novelty characterizes their outlook because the Holy Spirit continuous, even today, new things in the lives of Spiritans.
Mary as the model for Spiritan life and mission speaks about continuous creativity. The general chapter in Itaici, Brazil, 1993, captured this mood with its caption: “Where is the Spirit leading us?” The only correct and plausible answer to this question is – “Beyond Frontiers,” the title of the Spiritan International School of Theology, Attakwu, Nigeria’s students’ annual magazine. Yes, “Beyond Frontiers.” This was what the Holy Spirit did in Mary – He went beyond frontiers to create God among human beings through the Incarnation. Spiritans too have only one mission – making the presence of God incarnated in the world today!
To be continued . . .