Solemnity of Pentecost–During the Day
If there’s one thing Jesus got after the Pharisees about time and time again in the Gospel, it was doing only the external things, without having the internal change of heart and life. I know that it is very easy for me to think, “How could you simply do the religious deeds on the outside, without letting it change you on the inside?”. And yet, how many times does the same thing happen to us at Pentecost? Many people wear red for Pentecost, to match the vestments of the priest, and to remind themselves of the Holy Spirit, who is always celebrated with the color red. But how many of us go beyond the externals of wearing red, and actually try to have the Holy Spirit be a more active part of their lives? There’s nothing wrong with wearing red on Pentecost, but if it’s all we do, then we’re in the same boat as the Pharisees.
In our faith life, we can be like a story from the Acts of the Apostles. St. Paul was preaching in Ephesus, and finds some disciples. He asks them, “‘Did you receive the holy Spirit when you became believers?’ They answered him, ‘We have never even heard that there is a holy Spirit.’” We’ve probably heard of the Holy Spirit, but how many of us live like we don’t even know He exists. As I asked a few weeks ago, how many of us pray to the Holy Spirit?
Catholics can sometimes be afraid, I think, of the Holy Spirit. We see Pentecostals doing what we consider to be weird sorts of stuff when they claim to have the Holy Spirit. Catholics who belong the Charismatic Renewal will sometimes talk in tongues, or will heal people, or speak about a “word from God” or a prophecy. Because many Catholics don’t have those gifts or talk in that way, it can seem quite strange to us. But unless we believe that the Holy Spirit decided to call it quits after the age of the Apostles, then there’s no reason why those gifts cannot be active in the Church today. Maybe none of us have any of those gifts; maybe some of us do. But those special charisms, those special gifts which are meant to be used for the building up of the Church, are still active, as are many other gifts in the Church, all given to us by the Holy Spirit.
In one sense, we should all be Charismatic Catholics. Not necessarily in the sense that we need to attend Christ the King parish in Ann Arbor, but in the sense that we should live a Spirit-filled life. It is the Spirit who helps us to pray as we ought, the Spirit who gives us strength to resist temptation and sin, the Spirit who gives us the courage to proclaim Christ by what we say and by what we do. If we do not have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, then all those things which God calls us to do by baptism and confirmation, will be impossible.
We might be scared; we might think we don’t have what it takes. So did the Apostles. Why do you think they were hiding in the upper room? Jesus told them to return to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit, but they didn’t necessarily have to all stay in the same place. Still, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they were so overcome with joy that people thought they were drunk. They heard them proclaiming Jesus in many different languages, the languages of the pilgrims who had come from Jerusalem from all over the world.
God wants us to live a Spirit-filled life. The Spirit gives us the grace we need to be saints. He brings the peace of Christ. He forgives sins. We need the Holy Spirit. Adrian needs more people on fire with the Holy Spirit in order to be transformed. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot be the people God wants us to be. Without the Holy Spirit, we will remain timid and stay in the upper room, instead of going to those we know to introduce them to Christ or to strengthen their relationship with him. We need to be reminded of what Jesus told us, and be taught by Jesus, rather than by our fallen world.
Pray for the seven-fold gift of the Holy Spirit. Pray that God pours His Holy Spirit upon all the residents of Adrian, that they will be alive with His love and power to transform this city into the city God wants it to be. Pray to the Holy Spirit and grow in relationship with Him so that we will not be like the Pharisees who have the externals down but are dead inside. Pray to the Holy Spirit to give you new life!
