Daily Gospel Reflection

October 19, 2024


Speak Through the Spirit

6 min

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Gospel

Lk 12:8-12


“And I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you are to answer or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Readings are from Dynamic Catholic’s New Testament Bible: RSV Catholic Edition

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Transcript


Speak Through the Spirit

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Someone asked me recently, why radical and relevant? And I thought it'd be good to revisit that for a moment. Radical because the gospel is radical. The teachings of Jesus Christ are radical. They were radical 2,000 years ago, and they are radical 2,000 years later. That has not changed. And they're relevant. They were relevant 2,000 years later, and they were relevant yesterday, and they are relevant today. And the reason that they are so radical and so relevant is because the human condition doesn't change. The human condition, it is the great obstacle in many of the things that we hope to live out in our lives. And so we're radically called to embrace the gospel, and the gospel is very, very relevant to our lives every day. As we see, as we walk through these readings, and we're able to relate them to the everyday happenings or events or the challenges or circumstances of our lives, and so that's why it's radical and relevant. We come together each day for a few minutes to think about what is the gospel saying, what is the one word, phrase, or idea that jumps out at us that the Spirit uses to stir something within us so that we can take that into our day and live the gospel more fully each day.

Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Luke 12:8-12, "And I tell you, everyone who acknowledged me before men, the Son of Man, also will acknowledge before the angels of God. But he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you are to answer or what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." What jumps out at you today? Is there a word? Is there a phrase? Is there an idea or one of the themes? What jumps out at me is this idea that the Holy Spirit will provide the words. I've been speaking for 30-odd years now, and typically I don't use notes. Typically, I don't have outlines or prepared notes or that sort of thing.

Occasionally, I will have prepared notes. Pope Francis invited me to speak at the Vatican a few years ago, and it was interesting because you had to submit your speech in advance. So I actually had to type out the whole speech, I had to prepare it months in advance actually, and I had to send it over to the Vatican. And then I had to speak from it which was very-- I wouldn't say difficult, but it was a little awkward for me. It was a little uncomfortable for me because I just wasn't used to doing that, but that was the protocol for the event. But over the 30 years, the Spirit, this reading, I know it to be true. I've have experienced it a thousand times. And there have been times when I would be before a group and I would be thinking, "What am I going to talk to these people about"? And there are specific moments that I remember. I remember 9/11. I was on a plane out of New York the morning of 9/11. And I remember landing in Cincinnati, and the airport was just empty. And I remember like, this is weird. I didn't really know what was going on. And it wasn't until I got home from the airport that then I found out what had happened. They didn't talk about it on the plane. They didn't say anything in the airport. It was just a bit eerie. But then I was speaking that night in Cincinnati, and I remember the team coming together, like, "Are we still going to do this event? Should we cancel this event"? I was like, "Absolutely not. I mean, this is a time when people need to hear a message of hope more than maybe ever. Certainly, it is needed. We are not going to cancel this event." But I do remember thinking that afternoon and then even up into just before I was going to speak, like what am I going to talk to these people about? Planes have just flown into buildings, I've just watched people jumping off a building. What am I going to talk to these people about?

But the Spirit, the Holy Spirit never let me down, never let me down once. I remember being in very, very poor places and feeling like, "Oh, what am I going to say to these people that is going to be of any value to them, given their horrific circumstances"? And the Holy Spirit delivers every time. What jumped out at you today? Was there a word? Was there a phrase? Was there an idea? And how can you leverage that to live the gospel more fully today? Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.

October 19, 2024