Published in the bulletin of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Knoxville, TN, on the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
My dear Parishioners,
Peace! The eighth article of the Apostle’s Creed is “I believe in the Holy Spirit.” There are six (6) In Brief passages in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding this article of the Creed. The following is a reflection on article 745.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of the eternal Father, one God together with the Holy Spirit. It is in this one only Son, however, that we are able to become adopted sons and daughters in the Son.
To be consecrated is to be set apart for God. The eternal Son of God made man for us as the son of the Virgin Mary was set apart for the eternal Father even from His conception by the power of the Holy Spirit. For our part we are set apart for God in the consecration of holy Baptism. Perhaps the most celebrated consecration in our daily lives as followers of Christ is that which happens during the Holy Mass when the bread and wine are set apart for God and His people, and become Christ our life, the true bread come down from Heaven. Holy Marriage sets human love apart and dedicates it to God who is love (cf. 1 John 4:7).
When treating the second article of the Creed (“and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord”) we saw the English phrase “Anointed One” comes from the Greek and Hebrew words which are the origins of our English words “Christ” and “Messiah” respectively. We are anointed ones in the Anointed One. This occurs in holy Baptism, Confirmation and the Sacrament of the Sick as well as those who have been ordained Bishops and Priests.
There are a few references in Sacred Scripture which touch upon the Lord Jesus being anointed, for example at Bethany (John 12:1-8) in spite of Judas’ grumbling. We hear of the power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon our Lord Jesus of Nazareth in the apostolic preaching of Saint Peter (cf. Acts 10:34-43). Priests, Prophets and Kings are anointed throughout the Old Testament. Christ Jesus our Lord is the fulfilment of all of these and their perfection (cf. Psalm 2:6-7).
Before the Incarnation God had no body in which He could be anointed. But with the “yes” of the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation (cf. Luke 1:26-38), upon His Nativity in Bethlehem (cf. Matthew 2:1), indeed throughout His human existence, even unto eternity, Jesus Christ has a body which can and has been and is anointed. We who are His members, living stones in His mystical body, Mother Church, allow Him to be anointed afresh in us (cf. Colossians 1:24) although not as if what He said at the synagogue in Nazareth was not enough: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted” (cf. Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1)
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr