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Blowin' in the Wind| Mystagogical Preaching on the Holy Spirit for Teenagers

<p> Many years ago, I watched a 2008 YouTube video by Fr. Robert Barron, now auxiliary bishop in Los Angeles, who commented on Bob Dylan as being a spiritual poet. Being a fan of Dylan since I was a teenager, and most familiar with his song, &ldquo;Blowin' in the Wind,&rdquo; I was intrigued by Fr. Barron&rsquo;s take on this song as being a reference to the Holy Spirit. Some of the comments on the YouTube commentary ridiculed the idea that Dylan&rsquo;s songs were spiritual. Others denied the poetic prowess of Dylan. Nonetheless, Bishop Barron seems to be vindicated, at least as far as the second disagreement, now that Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. </p><p> However, Barron&rsquo;s interpretation of &ldquo;Blowin' in the Wind,&rdquo; resonates well because unless we allow the &ldquo;Blowin&rsquo; in the Wind&rdquo; to permeate our being, we will be blowing in the wind of a crooked and depraved generation. Precisely, this spiritual sense of &ldquo;Blowin' in the Wind,&rdquo; is what compels this thesis. Today&rsquo;s teenagers face a world in which &ldquo;moral therapeutic deism&rdquo; in the spiritual life, relativism in the moral life and &ldquo;alternative facts&rdquo; in the political life are perceived as viable options. According to Cardinal Walter Kasper, &ldquo;the only answer to the modern day God-question and to the present situation of modern atheism is the God of Jesus Christ and the Trinitarian confession&rdquo; (<i>The God of Jesus Christ, Crossroad Publishing, 1996</i>). This thesis helps answer the question whether mystagogical preaching, an ancient form of preaching relating to the sacraments of initiation, is effective in making a connection to today&rsquo;s teenagers within the context of the sacrament of confirmation, which hopefully results in forming intentional discipleship. </p><p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10839336
Date30 August 2018
CreatorsFernandes, Ronald
PublisherAquinas Institute of Theology
Source SetsProQuest.com
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typethesis

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