Like Wind & Fire

From the Catholic Liturgy for Pentecost Sunday, June 9, 2019. Reading: Acts 2:1-11. Theme: Like Wind and Fire

Pentecost Sunday is called the birthday of the Catholic Church.  Ever since Jesus began gathering disciples and forming a community, the Church existed of course, but in a kind of unseen way, much like a child in the womb. And on that first Christian Pentecost, like an unborn baby finally being delivered, this Church-in-the-womb burst forth out into the streets of Jerusalem with excitement and joyful cries of gladness!  

Pentecost is also called the first Confirmation in the Catholic Church. As we who have been confirmed know, that sacrament is the giving of the fullness of the Holy Spirit to those who have been baptized, empowering us to become witnesses to Jesus among others by our words and behavior. Pentecost was the launching of the mission of the Church, the mission of every individual Christian, to boldly proclaim the message about Jesus to the world!

We can easily imagine the dramatic scene of that first Pentecost Sunday that we heard about in today’s reading from the Book of Acts. The presence of God the Holy Spirit is described in the amazing symbols of wind and fire.  And even though the one and same Holy Spirit continues to be given to us, it is quite unusual for this giving to be accompanied by such dramatic manifestations.  Sometimes, however, God knows that we need to be reminded that what we believe, what we celebrate is real. It can be so easy for us to take the rituals for granted and see them as routine and so, sometimes God does the unusual for us.  Whenever I come across this Pentecost story I cannot help but recall what I experienced at a Confirmation in this very church many years ago. (listen to the audio version of this homily for the story).

I think that God does these extraordinary things for us every now and then so that we do not forget that it is all very real. And by doing so he reminds us to ponder these signs and realize what the Holy Spirit does for us…

 
Wind...is an extremely powerful force that can move things of unimaginable weight. Just look at what a hurricane or tornado can do! This symbol of the Spirit reminds us that he is invisible strength, enabling us to do things that we did not think possible for us.  This wind of the Spirit drives us, pushes us out of our comfort zones, and empowers us to witness to Jesus even in difficulty, so that we never tire of doing what is right, even if to do so is extremely hard.

Fire...is an energy that has the ability to be harnessed as fuel for action. One of the most ancient prayers to the Spirit, which our cantor sang for us during the Alleluia this morning, invokes him to come and enkindle within us the fire of his love.  By the Spirit’s kindling of this love within us, which grows into flames and then becomes a blaze, we can be set on fire with a love for God and others that is so dynamic that we become living witnesses and messengers of Christ. And these sparks of love within us can jump from us onto others and set them afire with love for God.

The wind and fire of the Spirit turned the apostles into credible witnesses to the person and message of Jesus of Nazareth and this transformation can also happen to each one of us.   Their message was a message which is as relevant and necessary to people today as it was to those living 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem.  Because while fashions and languages may change, the deep spiritual wounds and the needs of the human heart remain the same. The Spirit shows us how to meet these needs and share with others what Christ means in our lives, how our relationship with him enables us to be faithful to our marriages and families, to become better friends, nicer neighbors, more competent workers, and loyal citizens striving to spread and build God’s kingdom of peace and justice.

This message that the apostles began preaching on that first Pentecost and which has been handed down to us and can be summed up in one simple Bible verse from the Gospel of St. John: “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.”

This Message is the message of Pentecost.  It is the message of Christianity. This is the Message each one of us are called to proclaim by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit within us. So, let’s ask this Holy Spirit to move us like the wind and come down upon us like fire, so that we can give witness to Jesus and share this message among those with whom we live, work and socialize.

The Promise and the Power

From the Catholic Liturgy for Ascension Sunday, June 2, 2019. Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:46-53. Theme: The Promise and the Power.

Today we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus, his return in triumph and victory to Heaven.  He has successfully completed the mission entrusted to him by the Father of rescuing us from sin and death. Now as a glorified human being, Christ takes his place of authority as King of all creation. This is why today’s responsorial psalm has us sing these words about Jesus, “God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord!”

But before leaving, He instructs his disciples as to how the blessings of this mission will be spread in the world and be passed on to future generations.  To this end, he makes a Promise to us and he speaks to us of a Power that he and the Father will bestow upon us. I say he is speaking to us today, and not just to his disciples, because whenever Jesus speaks in the gospel he is speaking also to all who will hear his word and follow him until the end of time.

First, He makes a Promise. He says, “…you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”  You see, in the Old Testament it was foretold that when the Messiah came he would pour out God’s Spirit upon his people, making them into something different, something new, transforming them from the inside out. This presence of God the Holy Spirit living within them would be like a re-creation of the human race, or at least a re-creation of those who were open to receiving this Gift.

Secondly, Jesus speaks about a special Power.  He says, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses…”  We all know that power means the ability, energy and strength to do something beyond our normal capabilities.  Jesus informs us that this power that comes from being baptized with God’s Spirit gives us the ability to do things that we do not think we are capable of doing.

By means of this power-that-is-greater-than-ourselves we are meant, like those first disciples, to give bold witness or testimony to the truth about who Jesus is and what He can do for us.  It’s up to us to tell others by our words and most of all by our lives that Jesus is God come in the flesh as Lord and Savior, who wants to heal all brokenness and transform hearts and lives. Those who do not know him need to hear from us that Jesus is the solution that so many are seeking without even knowing it!  So, you can see that we need the  power of the Holy Spirit to do this with courage and conviction.

Jesus kept his promise to the disciples and the power was given them a little more than a week after his Ascension, on the day of Pentecost.  We will hear all about how that happened and what they did with it at next Sunday’s liturgy, but here’s the thing to remember today: our baptisms and our confirmations were meant to be our own personal Pentecosts, that is, those times when the Holy Spirit was given to us and his power bestowed upon us, so that we could continue Jesus’ mission on earth in our own little slice of life. 

It was through these sacraments that Jesus kept his promise and gave each one of us this power. Even though the actual ceremonies were  once-in-a-lifetime events, their giving of the Spirit was meant to be on-going throughout our lives…meant to be a gift that keeps on giving!  But since most of us received these sacraments as infants and children, we tended to take them for granted without having any real desire or expectation in our hearts.  And so for many of us, the power of the Spirit remains dormant and inactive, but it is still there, deep within us, waiting to be tapped.

Jesus wants to release and unleash the power of the Holy Spirit within each one of us so that we can give credible witness to him among those with whom we live, work and socialize.  He wants to pour out his blessings through us and give them, by the witness of our lives, tangible proof that God exists; that he loves each one of us so much that he left Heaven to come among us as Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified for our sins but is now risen and alive and very much interested in each person’s life and well-being. I think we each need to do is ask ourselves if we have ever unwrapped this Gift that we received so long ago? Or is it still somewhere in the closet  of our lives waiting to be found and opened?

Through today’s liturgy, Jesus is inviting each one of us, just as he did his first disciples, to spend the coming week between Ascension and Pentecost Sunday waiting and praying for the actualization of this Promise in our lives.  To help us do this I have included a special prayer in this Sunday’s bulletin. Please take one home and put it where you will see and use it every day this week. If we prepare for the great feast of Pentecost with truly open and willing hearts then I assure you that by the time next Sunday comes, we will be ready to reclaim the Promise that Jesus has made to us and eager to ignite the Power that is already within us.

Peace the World Cannot Give

The Catholic Liturgy for the 6^th Sunday of Easter, May 26, 2019.  Gospel – John 14:23-29. Theme: Peace the World Cannot Give

Throughout Sacred Scripture, from beginning to end, two virtues are praised as blessings from God: love and peace. Not surprisingly, these are also two things that most people - of any faith or no religion at all - say are what they value most in life.   No matter if we are young or old, rich or poor, healthy or sick, we all want to know that we are loved and we all desire to live in peace. In last Sunday’s gospel, Jesus told us what it means to love. In today’s gospel, He speaks to us of peace.

We just heard him say, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you,” So, what did he mean by saying, “not as the world gives…” Well peace as the world understands it typically means the absence of war and the lack of conflict or hostilities between peoples.  Now seeking this kind of peace is, of course, a noble and honorable thing.  We even devote holidays such as Memorial Day to remembering and praying for those who gave up their very lives for this type of peace.

But the peace Jesus is talking about is very different. It is a tranquility and serenity that resides deep within us and has its origin in God. This understanding of peace was so cherished by the Jewish people that it actually formed their daily greeting. “Shalom! God’s peace be with you,” they would say to one another. They thought of peace as the fullness of health and well-being that goes right down to the innermost core of the human person. This peace was so precious that it was considered to be worth living and even dying for. And actually, that’s exactly what Jesus did.

It might help to know that along with “shalom” there is another “s” word that the Bible uses for the gift of peace. That word is “salvation”, something we all have heard a million times. It is derived from the Latin word salus, which means health and wholeness.  Through this salus, this salvation, the human person is spiritually healed and made whole at his or her deepest core. The part of us which we call the immortal soul.  

And it is in our souls where real peace begins. Only God has the power to enter into this innermost part of who we are and bring about the healing and wholeness we need.  This is why Jesus calls the peace that he gives us something that the world cannot give. It is also the kind of peace that we wish one another every time we are at Mass, just before receiving Holy Communion.

But the problem is that we so often try to find peace where Jesus says it cannot be found! We search for this peace in so many ways that are not God. We so often try to find this contentment in our wealth or possessions, by going into one relationship after another.  Some people are always looking for that better job that will finally make them happy, while others think that having nicer cars or moving upwards into bigger houses will do the trick.   We run after these things in hopes of filling up that void inside us that never seems to be satisfied.  All in hopes of quieting that voice inside us that always seems to be telling us that something is not quite right in our lives.

But none of these things will calm our restless hearts. The problem, the void, the brokenness is deep inside us. All the things we chase after can never reach deep down into our core and sooth the disturbances that reside there. They can never calm our consciences of the wrongs we have done and which still haunt us. They can never take away the tension that comes from thinking that we always have to look perfect and act perfect in order to be loved, in order to be happy.

The peace we seek is a fruit of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, which is why Jesus promises to send Him to us in today’s Gospel.  This is also why Jesus connects the gift of peace to the fact that God dwells within us. For when God enters into us by grace his very presence heals our spiritual wounds and brings serenity, peace of heart and soul.  The Spirit’s presence within us will enable us to really see and admit that we do not have the power to fix ourselves.  The Holy Spirit will help us to turn our lives over to the care of God who can do this and who wants only what is best for us.  So, we have nothing to fear; we just need to ask for healing and trust Him. When we do this, and really mean it, we will begin to experience the peace that Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel; the peace that the world cannot give.