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On
the evening of that first
day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear
of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace be
with you.” When he had said this, he
showed them his hands and his side. The
disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus
said to them again, “Peace be with you. As
the Father has sent me, so I send
you.” And when he had said this, he
breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit.
Whose sins you
forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are
retained.”
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In
her song, “Since U Been Gone,” Kelly Clarkson gives the
best way to deal with a
breakup, that is, to begin again. “Here’s
the thing,” the lady in the relationship begins the song,
“we started out friends,” and
then she points out how they got along, but he did not respond too well. So she left, and now she sings, “Since you
been gone, I can breathe for the first time. Thanks
to you, now I get what I want. You had your
chance, you blew it.”
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There
were probably numerous things that were passing through the
Apostles’ minds
after they had realized that Jesus had risen from the dead. They
realized that he was correct in his
prediction about the passion and death; they understood that this
person really
was God, something that they had come to believe; but more than
anything, they
began to understand what their roles would be, since this
The person in Kelly Clarkson’s song needed to begin again after a breakup. In fact, she gives the best way to deal with a relationship that has not worked out: she moved on. Placed in a Christian understanding, we can say that the Holy Spirit guided her to begin again. Whether it is the direction we choose for our lives when a love relationship does not work out or the way that we live our lives in general, we too need the Holy Spirit as a guide. The world that we live in has multiple opportunities to lead us astray. There are temptations to give in to too much pleasure or the desire for power or the like; we all have basic desires that can lead us to a life that only satisfies ourselves. We need some guide that will help us choose directly in this world. Perhaps we have chosen unwisely in the past. The Holy Spirit will always help us begin again, no matter what the situation might be. |
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THOUGHT
In
general, what does the idea of “beginning again” consist of
for our lives?
PRAYER Good
and gracious God, you gave us the Holy Spirit to help us as we direct
our lives
here on earth. We know that the Holy
Spirit will always help us begin again after some problem has dominated
us. Give us the grace to always ask
for the guidance of that Spirit. Be
with us,
we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |