FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK - APRIL 21, 2023

Dear St. Martin’s Parishioners,

For the next forty days until Pentecost, the Church focuses on those words we profess every Sunday in the Creed: Jesus “rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” The Resurrection touches each of us at the core of our being, because it was our human nature that was restored, reborn and divinized. By nature, God can’t die, so he took on human flesh so that he could die and then be resurrected in glory. One of the most outstanding descriptions of baptism and the new life of the Holy Spirit used by the ancient fathers of the Church is “sober intoxication of the Spirit.” Permit me to quote St. Augustine at length preaching to the newly baptized at Easter:

“The Holy Spirit has come to abide in you; do not make him withdraw; do not exclude him from your heart in any way. He is a good guest; he found you empty and he filled you; he found you hungry and he satisfied you; he found you thirsty and he has intoxicated you. May he truly intoxicate you! The apostle said, ‘Do not be drunk with wine which leads to debauchery.’ Then, as if to clarify what we should be intoxicated with, he adds, ‘But be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart’ (Eph. 5:18-19). Doesn’t a person who rejoices in the Lord and sings to him exuberantly seem like a person who is drunk? I like this kind of intoxication. The Spirit of God is both drink and light.”

May this Easter season be an opportunity to praise God for the gift of our baptism, our spiritual and bodily participation in the Resurrection of Christ.

In the Resurrected Christ,

Fr. Dave