Just loving today's liturgy--both Mass and LOTH. After communion today I got to sing several verses of one of my favorite chants, Veni, Creator Spiritus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33XotuYs-io&feature=share&list=RD33XotuYs-io
In today's second reading in the Office of Reading from St. Irenaeus, something new jumped out at me. (Amazing how that can still happen after so many years.) It says, So when the Son of God became the Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon him, becoming accustomed in this way to dwelling with the human race, to living in men and to inhabiting God's creation.
The idea of any Person of the Blessed Trinity having to become "accustomed" to anything has me both totally flummoxed and delighted at the same time. Sounds as if the Holy Spirit wasn't so sure about this idea of dwelling in and among us sinners, and thought it best to ease into it graduallly, starting out with the pure and perfect humanity of Jesus. After getting used to that, He'd take the next step and move on to the hearts of sinful--but redeemed--humanity, through the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. I'm not saying that my imagination was producing the best theology here, but it was an interesting point to consider, and I'm wondering if there are any good commentaries on St. Irenaeus that elaborate on this concept.
Beyond that, the reading ended with the lovely analogy between the Holy Spirit and the Innkeeper in the parable of the Goo Samaritan. I've written about this in other Pentecost posts. There's nothing like the early fathers of the church for mining the scriptures and coming up with gems like this. No modern commentator can hold a candle to them. They are amazing and I'm so grateful that the Church introduces them to us through the Office of Readings.
