13. sunday:day of the spirit

i am convinced that for luke the evangelist, for his favorite apostle, paul, and for john, evangelist and apostle, the climax of the mighty acts of god in the coming of the messiah into the world was not the resurrection but the outpouring of the holy spirit, which happens in all accounts on a sunday.

i won't try to convice my reader of this understanding of luke, paul, and john, but i will point to the centrality of the gift of the spirit both in scripture and liturgy.

on the first day of the week, "god's spirit hovered over the water." (genesis 1:26) to quote porter, ". . . we find that the mysterious divine role of the holy ghost at the inauguration of creation prefigures divine action in other biblical events of major importance.

and so luke 24:49: "and now i am sending down on you what the father has promised." acts 2:1,4: "when pentecost day came around, they had all met in one room . . . . they were all filled with the holy spirit."

for paul, a sample from romans (5:5): "the love of god has been poured into our hearts by the holy spirit which has been given to us."

and from john (20:21-22): ". . . and he said to them, 'peace be with you.

"'as the father sent me,
so i am sending you.'

"after saying this he breathed on them and said,
'receive the holy spirit.'"

it seems certain that in the earliest church sunday was a unitive feast, by which i mean it commemorated the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of christ and the outpouring of the spirit. this is clearly shown in the the ancient eucharistic prayer, the anaphora of st. basil:

"father, we now celebrate the memorial of our redemption. recalling christ's death and his descent among the dead, proclaiming his resurrection and ascension to your right hand, awaiting his coming in glory; and offering to you, from the gifts you have given us, this bread and this cup, we praise you and we bless you.

"we praise you, we bless you,
we give thanks to you,
and we pray to you, lord our god.

"lord, we pray that in your goodness and mercy your holy spirit may descend upon us, and upon these gifts . . . .

"grant that all who share this bread and cup may become one body and one spirit, a living sacrifice in christ, to the praise of your name."

just as at his baptism in the jordan jesus was declared to be the son of god and the annointed one of the holy spirit, just as at pentecost the ascended jesus sends down the anointing of the holy spirit, baptizing his followers as john the forerunner had foretold (the gospel according to john 1:33), so the spirit comes down fresh on the body of christ each sunday as it gathers again in his name.