As the song goes, “on the second day of Christmas my True Love gave to me…two turtle doves and a partridge in a pair tree.” My understanding is that the two turtle doves represent the witness of true friendship, loving kindness and devotion or commitment. The pair represents human relationship and the context within which it flourishes – true love and faithfulness – that is…God! Us and God! The Acts of the Apostles present us with a very contrasting picture of what this may entail http://www.usccb.org/bible/acts/6:8
‘The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ‘
The pair here could be considered Stephen and Saul; however, this does not look like a fine example of friendship. Saul has just observed and probably participated in the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr. We have one follower of the new Way, Stephen, totally immersed in the Holy Spirit of Christ and an angry mob (including Saul) who cannot endure this because “they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.”
The Spirit will not be received! Stephen has received it but Saul and the others view it as a threat that must be quelled and destroyed. So, the Spirit of the Christ which lit up the Bethlehem stable – that poor simple Spirit of Love – has now become a powerful threat to many! But why?
The scriptures describe Stephen’s fullness of Spirit as “grace and power” which means sharing a Gift that has been given! These gifts represent the “great wonders and signs” that Stephen was doing. It almost sounds like jealousy on the part of those who charge and stone Stephen. We know it upset Saul, who was convinced that this New Way threatened the Jewish culture and people. It would take a trip to Damascus for his conversion!
Why are we afraid to receive and embrace the Spirit? Is it because we will defend familiar life patterns even if they are based in ignorance? Are we like Saul and the crowd and almost jealous because we don’t understand this Spirit that allows one to see, like Stephen, “… the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God?”
There is nothing stingy about the Holy Spirit. In truth it is the environment that we all already live in but we try, sometimes violently, to deny it and make it into something else. The Holy Spirit is the pairing of us with each other in relationship through Love (God). It’s the witness of God’s love for us and our possibility to share that with each other – the turtle doves of friendship (loving kindness and commitment). Alas, though…we try to Stone the Spirit. But as hard as we try, as much as we hurt each other by denying and refusing the Spirit, we just cannot make it go away. It’s the enduring Gift of the Christmas Spirit.
As Stephen shows us, to receive and embrace the Spirit always means to give it back to others. His dying words show this surrender that is not helplessness but committed Love that we commend to each other in the Spirit. Jesus tells us in the Gospel (MT 10: 17-22)
“…do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
Again the Holy Spirit of Christ is pure Gift. We just have to risk trusting It! When we are rejected by each other, the Spirit will protect us. But perhaps more importantly, when we witness to the Spirit of relationship, we invite others into it – even if they don’t want to come – like Saul! The workings of the Spirit are as mysterious as they are universal. We oftentimes don’t have the privilege of seeing the effects that we have on others when we share the Spirit.
It is the commitment to loving kindness in compassion that will always pair the turtle doves, since it is the Holy Spirit Herself that carries the wings of our souls in flight together!
Peace
Thomas