The Work of the Spirit

Pentecost

    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen].  When it comes to bourbon distilleries, most people have the mentality that the older a distillery is, the better bourbon they produce.  I guess the thinking goes that if you’ve been distilling America’s native spirit for a long time, you must have learned something along the way about how to make good bourbon.  For example, my beloved Buffalo Trace claims that they are the oldest continuously operating distillery in America, as there are records that distilling began on the site we now know as Buffalo Trace in 1775, one year before the US gained its independence, and continued to sell bourbon with a special medicinal license during Prohibition.  Evan Williams claims that it is the first commercial distillery in Kentucky, beginning commercial distilling along the banks of the Ohio River in Louisville in 1783.  Old Forester claims the title of oldest continuously sold bourbon and family-owned distillery in the US, going back to the first bottled bourbon in 1870 by George Garvin Brown.  And even if you don’t have longevity, you try to latch on to the “old” mystique.  Bulleit Bourbon brands itself as “Frontier” bourbon, evoking images of the wild west in the 1800s.  But Thomas E. Bulleit, Jr. founded the company in 1987.  

    As we celebrate Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we see a similar trend in the Church.  Everyone wants to claim that the Holy Spirit, God, is on their side.  And usually that means that they want divine support for something new that they create.  After all, the Holy Spirit, as we heard in the Acts of the Apostles, so excited the Blessed Mother, the Apostles, and the disciples in the Upper Room to spread the Gospel, that as the Jews heard the Gospel proclaimed in numerous languages, they thought those proclaiming it were drunk.  When the Pharisees drag in the Apostles for proclaiming that Jesus is Lord and tell them to stop saying that salvation comes from Christ, Peter says, “We must obey God rather than men,” a line that Jan Hus, a Bohemian heretic, would use to justify his teaching that no one had to listen to the Church or the pope, only what their interpretation of Scripture was.  Other later protesters like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, and others who founded breakaway ecclesial communities would claim that the Holy Spirit was the impetus behind their rejection of Catholicism.
    In our own days, we see the unity of the Church and its commitment to fidelity to Christ’s teaching stretched.  On the one hand, some, including members of the Church hierarchy seek to make Church teaching subject to current cultural norms and majority rule (even if the majority is only a vocal minority).  Even while the Holy See said that marriages not recognized by the Church cannot formally be blessed and that ordination is reserved to men, some want simply to change those teachings, and those upon which they are founded, and they appeal to it being a work of the Holy Spirit.  On the other hand is the Society of St. Pius X, which Pope Benedict XVI tried to to reconcile by lifting the excommunications issued by Pope St. John Paul II; and even Pope Francis tried to bring them more into the fold by granting them authority to celebrate Catholic weddings.  The Society now seeks to consecrate their own bishops without a papal mandate, which Rome has clarified would be an act of schism and those who participate and even those who obstinately hold fast to their errors, would be excommunicated.  The Society appeals to the work of the Holy Spirit throughout the ages, to which they believe they are holding firm, while denying that the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council was truly a work of the Holy Spirit.  
    But how do we know what the Holy Spirit does?  Can we have any surety?  Our surety comes from the fact that the Holy Spirit continues the work of Christ in His Mystical Body, the Church, which Christ set up in a particular way, with certain members having authority to speak in Christ’s name, as we hear in John, chapter 20 and elsewhere.  If Church teaching was determined by majority rule, none of us would believe that Christ is consubstantial with the Father, as that heresy, Arianism, was much more popular than true or orthodox Catholicism, which followed the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea.  But, the same authority that grants Nicea I validity, also means that when Pope St. John XXIII convoked Vatican II, and all the bishops gathered in union with him; and when Pope St. Paul VI continued the council after Pope St. John’s death, and confirmed its decrees, we also hold fast to what it teaches dogmatically.  Theology and liturgy cannot be frozen in time, nor can theology and liturgy simply blow in the winds of the spirit of the age.  
    So how do we know that we have the Holy Spirit, given to the Blessed Mother, the Apostles, and the disciples at Pentecost, and given to all followers for two millennia afterwards?  We hold fast to the one Church that Christ founded, which has the Holy Spirit as its catalyst and protector.  Has the Catholic Church always implemented its teachings well?  Has she always been clear in particular statements by the popes or even the holiness of every pope?  No.  In many ways, the implementation of Vatican II, or maybe better said, the hijacking of the implementation of Vatican II, has led to much confusion, even among those who have the charism of helping to lead the Church.  But Vatican II did not teach error or heresy.  If she did, then we ought to leave the Catholic Church, because Christ’s promise to St. Peter that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church has been broken, and a God who claims to be the truth but breaks a promise is not worth following.  Likewise, Church teaching is not a political program that can change when a “new party” gains power.  What has been revealed as dogmatically true is true for all the ages, no matter how unpopular or how difficult following Christ becomes in a particular age.  If Church teaching can change with cultures, then it would be better not to be a part of the Church and just do whatever we felt right moment by moment.  
    But neither of those positions are the work of the Holy Spirit.  How do I know?  Because the Catholic Church has clarified both of those positions as outside what it means to be Catholic.  If the Society of St. Pius X goes forward with its illicit, albeit valid, consecrations of new bishops, to join with them is to participate in schism and jeopardize your immortal soul.  If priests or even bishops encourage ordination of women and/or blessings of unions which the Church does not recognize as marriage, and you join with them, you jeopardize your immortal soul.  The Holy Spirit pushes the Church, and the work of God sometimes does surprise us, just like Pentecost surprised the followers of Christ and the Jews in Jerusalem.  But the Holy Spirit does not work against the Church.  We must obey God rather than men.  But make sure it’s God you’re following, and not just your own will, or the will of other men.  [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.]

Our Surpassing God

Third Sunday of Easter

Grand Tetons National Park

    About halfway through 2020, and about 5 months into “14 days to flatten the curve,” I decided to travel to a national park.  I was sick of being cooped up in Flint, and needed to get away to destress from all the new stress of COVID that we pastors had to deal with as we learned how to shepherd people during a pandemic.  While I knew a flight was not going to be great, I did look forward to going somewhere far away where I could enjoy the outdoors and not have to wear a mask.  So I looked to our national park system, and decided to visit Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks.  I had looked forward to being less encumbered by COVID protocols, but the views I had from the two national parks out west were spectacular and far surpassed any expectations I had for parks I had heard about, but never visited.
    In both our first reading and our Gospel, we hear about expectations that God far surpassed.  In the first reading, St. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, tells the Jews that Jesus has fulfilled the prophecy of David, but did so in a very unexpected way.  And in the Gospel, Jesus Himself enlightens the disciples on the road to Emmaus about the ways that God had foretold the Messiah.
    For David, God had made a promise that his descendants would always sit upon the throne of Israel.  And I’m sure David considered this promise as a guarantee that his sons would always rule over Israel as earthly kings.  That was exciting enough.  But David, too, prophesied in the psalms that God would not abandon David to the netherworld, nor let his holy one (perhaps David used this title to refer to himself) undergo corruption.  But God far surpassed what David expected.  God made one of David’s children, Jesus, an eternal king in heaven whose reign would never end because Jesus has a kingdom which lasts forever.  And God did not let the truly Holy One, Jesus, undergo corruption, nor let Jesus remain in the abode of the dead, but raised Him to new life.  David thought that what God would do was glorious enough from an earthly standpoint.  But what God really was going to do would have blown David’s mind.
    Likewise, for the disciples on the road to Emmaus, they knew the prophecies about the Messiah, David’s son.  They knew that Moses prophesied about a future prophet to whom the Chosen People must listen.  They knew that God would provide a Davidic king who would trample Israel’s enemies and restore glory to the Chosen People from their oppressors.  But again, they thought of the Messiah in earthly ways.  They wanted a king who would throw out the Romans and restore an earthly kingdom to Israel.  But God did better: He destroyed the true enemy of Israel, sin and death, and established a heavenly kingdom that could never be conquered by any power in heaven or on earth.  And in that kingdom swords would be changed into plows, and spears into pruning hooks, and the lion and the lamb would lie down together and dwell in peace.  Those who heard these prophecies of Isaiah probably thought them to be hyperbole, but God intended it much more realistically, where, in God’s reign, there would be no more war, death, sorrow, or disease, and harmony would be the hallmark of God’s kingdom.
    When we think about what we think God wants, our earthly vantage point often limits us.  We have something good in mind, but perhaps it’s not all that great.  It may have a certain excellence from an earthly point of view, but God wants much more than our limited minds could ever hope for or anticipate.  His plan excels ours as much as diamonds excel fools gold.  But we get stuck in our ways and our views and so do not see, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, what God really can do and has done for us.  When our measly projects don’t come to fruition the way we wanted, we, too, can become downcast.
    In the midst of our dashed earthly hopes, we should turn to the Lord and ask Him to enlighten us with His plans and what He has done, which is far greater than our own plans and expectations.  We do this through reading the Word of God, through daily prayer, and through our worthy reception of Holy Communion.  We come to Christ, like the disciples, and let Him know that we don’t understand what God is doing, and ask Him to show us the way, to show us the great things that He has done, so that we can appreciate them.  And God–the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit–will open our eyes to His plan and His great deeds in our lives and the lives of others, which accomplish far more than we could ever hope for or imagine.
    In August, 2020, I wanted to get away and live a freer life, without social distancing, without masks, without living like a prisoner in my own home.  I went out west, thinking that at least it would allow me to accomplish those goals.  But as I toured through Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone National Park, I experienced such natural beauty and grandeur, that it not only refreshed my body, but even lifted up my mind and my soul as I stood in wonder and awe of what God had made, and what He allowed me to experience as part of my inheritance as a citizen of our great country and an adopted child of the God who made such magnificent mountains and grand geysers.  God surpassed my hopes, and He wants to surpass yours.  Do not let your hearts droop down when our limited goals and desires do not come to fruition.  Bring them to God, and see the great things He wants to do for us, things that surpass our hopes and dreams.

Peace

Solemnity of Pentecost

    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen].  One of the most striking parts of Pope Leo XIV’s election (aside from the fact that the cardinals elected a pope from the United States) was his first greeting.  As he stepped out on the loggia, and we saw him for the first time, he said, “La pace sia con tutti voi,” which, translated into English, means: “Peace be with you all” or simply, “Peace be with you.”  What struck me is that these were the words of the risen Christ when He appeared in the Upper Room after the Resurrection, which we heard in today’s Gospel.  This 266th successor of St. Peter made his own, as his first words, the words of Christ to the troubled disciples.  His desire, as that of Christ’s was that His followers might have peace.
    Peace is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, whose descent upon those same disciples at Pentecost fifty days after the Resurrection of Christ we celebrate today.  We list peace as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, based upon Galatians 5:22-23, a list of the virtues that one should exhibit when the Holy Spirit dwells in a person.  Peace should be a hallmark of our lives as followers of Christ, those who have received the Holy Spirit first through Holy Baptism, and then through Holy Confirmation.  
    Often when we think of peace, we think of it as something external, concerning countries and their relationships with other countries.  I daily pray for peace in the Holy Land, and what tends to be on my heart is the cessation of violence and war in the land where the Prince of Peace walked.  But peace is not meant only for over there.  Peace starts right here, in our lives: in our souls and in our hearts.
    Peace goes beyond stopping violence or war.  The Biblical meaning of peace, or shalom in Hebrew, It means a wholeness to the person, a reality of fulfillment in God.  It recognizes that we have nothing to fear because, as St. Paul says in his first epistle to the Corinthians, “all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.”  Or, to say it more simply with the words of a campy, devotional song, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.”  
    While nations can break peace between themselves by starting fighting, the peace that comes as a gift of the Holy Spirit no one can take from us.  If we lose peace in ourselves, we gave it away.  We allowed something to enter in and pushed aside the peace that the Holy Spirit wants us to have, the peace that allowed martyrs to suffer for the faith serenely, even though it involved great amounts of pain and suffering.  It is, as St. Teresa of Avila said: “Let nothing disturb you, / Let nothing frighten you, / All things are passing away: / God never changes. / Patience obtains all things / Whoever has God lacks nothing; / God alone suffices.”  When we recognize who God is and what He does for His beloved children, then nothing need worry us or try to convince us to give away our peace.
    Do we ask for this fruit of the Holy Spirit?  Do we seek out peace and desire it to fill our lives and demonstrate itself in our lives and our interactions with others?  Or does the lust to dominate seem more attractive to us?  Would we rather lack peace and seem to have more control over others than they have over us?  Because there is always a bigger fish.  There is always someone else who will lord over us as we have lorded it over others.
    To have peace within ourselves means that we seek to order our lives in the way that God intends: our bodily desires subject to our reason; our reason subject to our souls; our souls subject to God.  Adam and Eve lived this sort of life before the Fall in the Garden of Eden.  But when they decided to disobey God, they shattered that order that brought them peace: their souls were no longer subject to God, their minds were no longer subject to their souls, and their bodies were no longer subject to their minds.  So they had to cover themselves for fear that the other would seek to dominate and take advantage of each other’s body, though they were of one flesh.  They quickly blamed each other for the fault to which they both assented, because they were afraid of the other having some priority of spiritual power over each other.

    So how do we have peace?  How do regain that which Christ gave to us at Easter?  Though we have received the Holy Spirit in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, we still recognize that our interior and exterior lives do not always fall into order.  If we wish to have peace, then starting with ourselves, we have to live in a rational way, not simply giving in to the desires of our body.  And to do this, we practice bodily asceticism like fasting or abstinence.  By denying ourselves from some bodily good temporarily, we remind our bodies that they are subject to higher goods that our minds perceive.  We also make sure that our minds are formed properly by truth, and not by falsehood, or even by conjecture or conspiracy.  We should watch how we form our minds, and what we allow in.  Does our intellectual diet include solid foods of truth, or is it simply the candy of gossip and jumping to conclusions?  Lastly, we subject our souls to God through obedience to what He has revealed, especially when it is difficult or doesn’t come naturally.  The Church is a sure guide of knowing the will of God, and helps us to order our life in the way God originally intended through its moral teachings.  
    Pope Leo XIV reminded us in his first words as pope that Christ wants us to have peace.  The gift of the Risen Christ is peace, which is given as a fruit of our reception of the Holy Spirit.  May this same Holy Spirit, who descended upon the Apostles, the Blessed Mother, and the disciples at Pentecost, give us peace at all times, the peace the world cannot give, the peace that comes from ordering our lives to God: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  

The Holy Spirit Wants...

Solemnity of Pentecost

    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.]. When it comes to the different Persons of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit is the one with whom most Catholics are probably least familiar.  We learn much about the Father through the Old Testament and from Jesus, who is the revelation of the Father.  Christ, while revealing the Father, also helps us to know Him better through the Gospels.  But then He ascends into heaven, and leaves us the Holy Spirit, who works in the Church.
    For our part, we are probably used to invoking the Holy Spirit when we have an instinct to do something or not do something.  And certainly, the Holy Spirit guides our actions, whether sought out or avoided.  But sometimes it’s also simply our instincts pushing us towards or away from something.  And do you ever notice that every group seems to claim the support of the Holy Spirit?  Both those who advocate teachings contrary to the faith, like women’s ordination, as well as those who hold to the faith revealed to us by Christ will argue from the authority of the Holy Spirit that their course of action is what God wants.  
    Some see in the Gospel according to John, as John and Peter run to the empty tomb at the instigation of Mary Magdalene, a distinction between the hierarchical nature of the Church (represented by Peter, our first pope) and the charismatic nature of the Church (represented by John, the one loved by the Lord).  John (charism) arrives at the tomb first, but waits for Peter (hierarchy) to go in.  Throughout the history of the Church, these two groups have oscillated back and forth for more influence.  The Second Vatican Council, in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, states, “The Church, which the Spirit guides in the way of all truth and which He unifies in communion and in works of ministry, He both equips and directs with hierarchical and charismatic gifts.”  In other words, both the hierarchical and the charismatic are gifts of the Holy Spirit, all given for the salvation of souls.
    I mention this because the Holy Spirit is often invoked by some for pushing the Church to new realities, while others invoke the Holy Spirit as the one who brings order to chaos.  In reality, both are right: the Holy Spirit pushes us beyond our comfort zone, but also orders and unifies all of creation.  We see this in the Upper Room scene at Pentecost.  On the one hand, the Holy Spirit took those who probably knew only Aramaic, Hebrew, and possibly common Greek, to those who proclaimed the Gospel so that everyone present, from many different parts of the Roman Empire, could understand the proclamation of the Gospel in their own tongues.  The Holy Spirit pushed the disciples out of the comfort of the Upper Room, and eventually to lands as far as India to the east, down to North Africa and Egypt, over to Rome, and lands in-between.  It helped the Apostles discern that non-Jews could become members of the nascent Church without becoming Jewish and being circumcised.  
    On the other hand, the message that the disciples proclaimed was the one Gospel of Jesus Christ, the one message of salvation.  As the disciples traveled far and wide, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church expanded its influence, and began to rid the world of the worship of demons in the pagan religions.  The Holy Spirit united all those who wanted to follow the Lord to be united in faith and morals, as discerned by the Apostles and their successors.  
    Even before that, the Holy Spirit is the one who spoke through the prophets, who were often a bit…eccentric.  The prophets were often the outcasts of society, because they called society from its rejection of God back to fidelity.  The Holy Spirit inspired King David to dance with abandon before the Ark of the Covenant as it was brought into Jerusalem, which dancing David’s wife Michal mocked because it made David look too much like the common people.
    But the Holy Spirit also took the primordial chaos and ordered it into light and darkness, land and sea, different forms of animals, and was given to our first parents to give them the breath of life.  The Holy Spirit guided sacred authors to compose literary works to communicate God’s saving will, and guided the bishops to choose which works were, in fact inspired by the Holy Spirit, and which were simply the works of man that also told stories that involved God.  
    In our own lives, too, the Holy Spirit often pushes us beyond our comfort zone.  He fills us to continue the proclamation of salvation through Christ.  He sometimes puts us in situations we never expected, sometimes even dangerous situations.  But, as our Advocate, He pleads our cause and gives us words to respond to our attackers, as He did for St. Stephen.  
    But as He pushes us to new realities, He does so with the continuity of what has come before.  The Holy Spirit deepens our understanding of what God desires for His people, but without contradicting what came before.  For example: the Holy Spirit has revealed that the Church is meant to be led by the Pope, the Vicar of Christ and successor of St. Peter.  That is a truth that can never be rejected, without rejecting what the Holy Spirit has revealed.  At the same time, the Holy Spirit can guide the Pope to understand how to exercise that power in new ways.  The Holy Spirit has revealed that marriage is between one man and one woman for life.  That can never change.  But the Holy Spirit can give us new guidance on how to share that truth with those who have gone through a divorce, or those who struggle with same-sex attraction.  
    [Joshua and Halley: the Holy Spirit has led you here to this day when you will receive the fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Confirmation.  You have come by different paths, but have come to this union of faith in what the Holy Spirit has revealed through the Church and her sacred teaching office.  The Holy Spirit will give you new ways to proclaim that one faith, and to witness to the life of Christ from this point on, and into the future, especially as you prepare for Holy Matrimony.  Be open to the Holy Spirit pushing you to spread the faith, but also stay faithful to that faith as revealed to us by God through His Church, which is still one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.]
    If we feel that the Holy Spirit is only keeping us in our “safe spaces,” then we are probably missing out on one aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit.  If we feel that the Holy Spirit is going against what has been taught infallibly before, then it’s not the Holy Spirit to whom we are listening.  Each of us will have different ways that the Holy Spirit operates in us.  No matter what, may we be open to the Holy Spirit, who with the Father and the Son is God, for ever and ever.  Amen. 

Why?

Third Sunday of Easter

    There’s this age that a child reaches, and it varies by child, where the child wants to know why.  And, for some children, that seems to be the main word that comes out of their mouth: why?  “It’s time to go to bed.”  “Why?”  “We’re going to see grandpa and grandma.”  “Why?”  “Eat your vegetables.”  “Why?” 
    Peter in our first reading, and Jesus in the Gospel are answering the question “why”, without a child asking it.  Peter talks to the Jews gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost, and Jesus talks to the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  In both cases, there is confusion about who Jesus is, and why what happened happened.  Jesus, and Peter, following His example, open up how the Old Testament pointed to what happened to God’s Messiah and Son, Jesus.  The Passion, Death, and Resurrection weren’t simply accidents or forces stronger than Jesus to which He had to submit.  The Passion, Death, and Resurrection were all part of God’s plan from the beginning, culminating in new life for all those joined to Jesus and following Him.
    We call this treatment of the overarching theme of salvation history the kerygma, from the Greek word meaning proclamation or preaching.  It is the telling of how God has saved His people.  And it is a message that needs to be heard, not only among the unbaptized and those who do not know Christ, but even among the baptized, even among those who go to church every Sunday.
    Because it’s easy, especially for certain generations or personality types, to do what we’re told is right simply because we’re told it’s the right thing to do, or a person in authority tells us to do it.  But for others, they want to know why.  They want to know the deeper reality behind the rules, or else they will often leave due to their own lack of understanding.
    So do we know the story of salvation?  Could we explain it to someone?  I’m not talking about doing a doctoral dissertation on different aspects of the faith, but being able to explain, as St. Peter says, our reason for hope, and how God was working from creation to the Resurrection, Ascension, and Pentecost for the salvation of the world, and continues to work today?
    To understand salvation, we have to first believe that we needed to be saved.  And we have to know from what we needed to be saved.  This takes us back to Genesis.  God created Adam and Eve without sin.  They had everything the need, and enjoyed friendship with God.  But then they traded friendship with God for trying to be their own gods on their own terms, and sin entered the world.  A rupture was created between God and humanity, a rupture which we could not heal ourselves. 
    From that point on, every person needed a savior.  No matter how good a person could be (think Abraham, Moses, and David), they could never be “good enough” to earn heaven.  But God did not abandon His people.  He was helping them to learn how to be like God on His terms, not on their own.  God gave the law through Moses as an instructor, to help form virtues in each person, and to encourage them to say no to sin and yes to God.  But even though some approached following the entire law, no one did it perfectly, as God’s own people, the Israelites, would often wander away from His rule, because they thought they were doing fine on their own.  The prophets would call them back, but people generally ignored the prophets.  So God allowed the consequences of their sinful actions to fall upon them, which, more often than not, made the people realize that they had abandoned God, and returned to Him. 
    God’s preparation of His people culminated in sending His Son, Jesus, who would not just teach a new law, but would, because He is truly God and truly man, be able to repair the sin of Adam and Eve, and reconcile God back to Himself, and open heaven, a paradise even better than the Garden of Eden.  In God’s mysterious plan, our rejection of God the Son became part of the way that we were saved and that heaven was opened.  Jesus took upon Himself our punishment for sin (death), but conquered sin and death, which victory was proven in His Resurrection.  After the Resurrection Jesus, especially through His Church after He ascended into heaven, calls people to be joined to Him to receive the gift of eternal salvation by saying yes to God to the best of our ability each day.  Fr. John Riccardo, a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit, summarizes the kerygma by putting it into 4 words: created; captured; rescued; response.  That’s it.  That’s the basic of salvation history. 
    We probably knew parts of it, if not all of it.  But now our challenge is not only to make sure that we do follow Christ throughout our life, but also that we help others to recognize the basics of salvation, because they need it, or need to be reminded of it.  And without knowing it, others, or maybe even we ourselves, are more at risk for walking away from the gift of salvation that Jesus offers us. 
    Being Catholic is not just about following the rules, but is about doing those things because of our relationship with Christ.  Others want to know: why should I have a relationship with Christ?  Can we now share with them the answer?
 

The Upper Room

 Solemnity of Pentecost
    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.]  Harold Samuel is famous (or at least his phrase is) for saying in 1944 that the most important thing in property is location, location, location.  And as we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost, it’s important to look at the location of this dramatic gift of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son.

The Upper Room in Jerusalem

    St. Luke writes in the Acts of the Apostles that the Blessed Mother, Apostles, and disciples were gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem.  We might gloss past that location, except that Upper Room was the place of the Last Supper, as well as the first appearance of our Lord after Easter.  Pentecost, then, is connected to the new life of Easter, and to the Eucharist.
    The Eucharist is the sacramental presentation of Jesus’ suffering and death, His sacrifice on Calvary.  Through it we are connected to the oblation which saved us from sin and death.  In the Eucharist we receive the love of the Son, who was willing to lay down His life, not only for His friends, but even for His enemies.  Christ commanded His Apostles to celebrate the Eucharist in His remembrance throughout the ages as the way to connect all people who were baptized into His Death and Resurrection, and who follow Him in their life, to Him so that they could grow in that same love that Christ first showed us.
    The Resurrection, for its part, is the proof that Christ is who He says He is.  People saw the Lord die.  They saw Him expire on the Cross.  But when He was raised from the dead, that was a shock to most.  It certainly shocked the Apostles.  The Resurrection proved that nothing was more powerful than Christ, and that He truly was divine.  No one had risen before by their own power, and it has not happened since.  While the many healing miracles gave proof to the divinity of Christ, the Resurrection closed any doubt that our Lord was greater than the prophets, some of whom had also healed people, and had even raised people from the dead.  But no prophet raised Himself from the dead.  And so, when the tomb was empty; when our Lord appeared and showed His wounds, first to Mary Magdalene, and then to the Apostles and Blessed Mother gathered in the Upper Room, there was no doubt that this Jesus was different, an unlike any who had come before Him.  
    And, as we celebrate Pentecost today, we know that the Father sent the Holy Spirit through Christ the Son to the Blessed Mother, Apostles, and disciples gathered in that same Upper Room, at which point they could not help but speak about Christ, who had suffered and died, and who had risen from the dead.  And the Holy Spirit gave them the ability to speak in many languages, so that all could understand in their own native languages.  The dispersion of Babel was undone in the unified gift of tongues; the hope of Moses and the prophecy of Joel that all would speak for God as prophets came true; the dry bones of faith that the disciples had was enlivened by the courage that the Holy Spirit gave them to proclaim that Jesus is Lord and Messiah.  
    But we also are in the Upper Room, each time we gather in this sacred space.  We assemble to have Christ provide His Body and Blood once more for us, as we are obedient to His command to do this in His memory.  We who have been baptized into His Death and Resurrection, and who do not have any major departures from following Christ are invited to taste the Bread of Angels.  
    The Bread of Angels gives us the new life of the Resurrection and raises us from the coma of daily life through which we can so easily sleepwalk.  Christ said in John chapter six that if we do not eat His flesh and drink His blood, we do not have life within us.  When we worthily receive the Eucharist, we are given the new life of Christ, the life of the Resurrection dwelling inside of us and connecting us to the one over whom even death has no power.   
    But it is not meant to end there.  The Upper Room is not only the place where we sacramentally enter into the Paschal Mystery; not only the place where we rise with Christ through our reception of Holy Communion.  It is also the place from which, like the disciples, we are sent out by the Holy Spirit to share the Good News that God has taken flesh and dwelt among us; that sin and death have been conquered in Christ; and that we can have access to that eternal life through union with Christ.  The Holy Spirit works to push us out of here to share the Gospel by word and deed to those who have never heard the proclamation of Christ, or who have heard it but who have fallen away, or who have heard it and have remained faithful, but need a new invigoration to continue living out the life of Christ in our daily circumstances.

    We, as Catholics, tend to be really good at the first two parts of the Upper Room: the Eucharist and the Resurrection.  We tend to be really good at being fed and receiving new life.  But to ignore the third scene of the Upper Room, the gift of the Spirit, is to remain dry bones.  Perhaps we may even have muscle and sinew in us, but we do not have spirit to make us alive.  
    Our challenge today and every day is to take practical steps to share the Gospel.  When we notice a co-worker who is struggling, to ask them if we can help, especially by listening to them and praying with them.  When we see someone bound in the slavery to sin, to let them know that their actions are leading them further away from God, and to offer our assistance to bring them back, perhaps by bringing them to confession with us, and then to Mass.  When someone has good news, to celebrate with them and say, “Praise God!”, from whom every good thing has its origin.  There are so many other ways, but these are just a few of how we take what we have received, and share it with others.
    Our Mass is not meant to stay here within these walls.  Yes, we come to this Upper Room to receive the new life of the Resurrection in the Eucharist.  But our daily worship of God, for which the Eucharist strengthens us, is meant to be extended into each hour of every day in our homes, in our cars, in our workplaces, and in our recreation.  Our religion is not simply about coming together into a sacred place once or more a week.  Our religion is also about acting differently, treating others differently, and bringing them to the truth and healing that only Christ can provide.  In the ways that are proper for our individual lives, may our deeds and words speak “of the mighty acts of God,” [the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.]

The Empowerment of the Holy Spirit

Solemnity of Pentecost

    What scares you?  What causes you fear?  I would say that, since I started my work with the Michigan State Police, I am less fearful than I once was.  By learning from experience from the Troops and scenarios I have done at the Training Academy, I’ve learned how to better size up a situation and evaluate for potential dangers.  But I still can be afraid.  I’m afraid of drowning (even though I enjoy swimming); I’m afraid of being totally alone, abandoned by friends; and I’m afraid of failure.  Those are probably my top three.  What are your fears?
    As the Blessed Mother, the Apostles, and the disciples were in the Upper Room between the Ascension and Pentecost, perhaps they were afraid.  Over a month before they had seen their leader, whom they thought to be the Messiah, arrested, charged, and executed in the most horrible way.  That’s what made them stay in the Upper Room between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday.  St. John the Evangelist tells us that the disciples were in the locked room, “for fear of the Jews,” for fear that their fate would be the same as Jesus’ fate.  And yet, Jesus breaks through and says to them, “‘Peace be with you.’” 
    So in that Upper Room again on Pentecost, after Jesus had ascended, maybe there was some fear.  It had been nine days since Jesus ascended, they were waiting in prayer, they had chosen Judas Iscariot’s successor, St. Matthias, but the Holy Spirit had not yet come. 
    But, when the Spirit did come, as we hear in Acts, chapter two, their fear was gone.  The fear of the Jews that filled them during the three days between Jesus’ arrest and Resurrection was turned into preaching to the Jews, in languages heretofore unknown to Mary, the Apostles, and the disciples, but understood by the many visitors who were in Jerusalem for the Jewish feast of Pentecost.  The gift of the Holy Spirit led the followers of Jesus from fear to boldness, from cowardice to courage.
    Today as we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, that same spirit is renewed in us, not only in memory but in fact.  Today we “stir into flame” the tongues of fire that have been given to us, in most cases invisibly, through baptism and confirmation.  Today we are invited to move from fear to boldness in proclaiming and living our faith.
    Over the pandemic, we have been conditioned to fear.  At first, we learned to fear a microscopic virus that was new (novel was the word that was used).  Any time there is a new virus that can cause serious health problems and even death it is easy to fear.  We then became quite afraid that there wouldn’t be enough toilet paper (which I still don’t quite understand).  But then our fear turned into fear of each other.  And then previously existing racial divisions were exploited to pit one race against the other.  Political parties, too, became both aggressors and victims of fear-mongering, as each major party accused the other of being seditious and treasonous.  Even in churches we were encouraged by some to fear simply worshiping God, even with different hygienic practices in place to keep people as safe as possible. 
    I lost at least one of my grandparents to COVID, and I have other friends who died of it.  I have known many who have contracted the virus, some still with lingering side-effects.  So I don’t mean to suggest that we should be cavalier with our own or other people’s safety and health.  I feel like I have to say that these days, because of the fear that people will think that I don’t care about them or their health, or don’t understand the cost that COVID-19 has had for some families.
    But the Holy Spirit does not call us to fear.  And as we gather for the first time without the dispensation from our obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holydays, we assemble, not to pretend that there are not serious issues in the world, but to proclaim that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are not afraid.  We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit both to make prudent decisions about our health, but also to say with St. Paul that if God is for us, who can be against us?  We have been empowered to remind ourselves and our friends that we all need God, and that our Sunday obligation is meant to give us a nudge to give God His due and be strengthened by the graces of the Eucharist to share God’s truth and love with people who need it, with people who need our courage to be courageous themselves. 
    We have been empowered not to give in to division and the fear of the other, whether due to race or political party, or whatever other label can divide us, but to unite, in the Holy Spirit, in loving each other, in working for justice for every person, for working towards the common good and the dignity of each human being, not just my platform and my agenda. 
    It’s easy to be afraid.  The disciples were at one point.  But we are not called to fear, but to be models of courage, so that others can lean on us for a little bit of that courage that they want for themselves.  The enemy wants us to be afraid; he wants our fear to silence us.  But God gives us, today and every day, the Holy Spirit, that we might follow the example of those first disciples on Pentecost, and proclaim by word and deed, in ways others can understand, the wonderful love and truth and work of our God.  Do not be afraid!!

Celebrating Pentecost 2020 Like the First One

Solemnity of Pentecost

    Welcome back to Mass (albeit, in smaller numbers than usual and celebrated a little differently than usual)!  It’s providential that at our first weekend back we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost.  Remember that the disciples were in the Upper Room, and had been waiting there since the Ascension, when Jesus told them to wait for the promised gift of the Spirit.  That would have been nine days earlier.  They probably weren’t keeping social distancing, but maybe they didn’t have anyone to cut their hair, either.  But they used that extended period of waiting to pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit, even as they were sad at not being able to be close to the physical presence of Jesus.  I know many of you, and I hope all of you, have used this time away from the Mass to grow closer to Jesus through personal prayer, or watching the Mass on TV or online.  You’ve been waiting to return to that closeness with the glorified Body of Jesus in the Eucharist.  Have you been praying the Rosary more, or reading Scripture more?  What ways have you exercised new spiritual muscles during this 2+ month period of fasting from attending Mass?
    What also makes this providential is that at Pentecost, having prayed for the Spirit, and then having received it, the disciples went out and proclaimed the Good News that Jesus was risen from the dead, and that He has given new life to all those who follow Him: a new way of life on this earth, and eternal life in heaven.  They spoke, as we hear in the Acts of the Apostles, in different languages so that everyone could understand them.  And I hope that the same thing will happen to you as you leave this “Upper Room.”  Has you have received the Holy Spirit in baptism and confirmation, and as you will soon be nourished with the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, you will have everything you need to be like the disciples and tell others about Jesus. 
    This is the point where Catholics get a little nervous, I know.  Some may feel like they’re ill-equipped to evangelize, to spread the Gospel.  And certainly, as St. Paul says in his first Letter to the Corinthians, there are different gifts.  We are not all given the same gifts for building up the Church.  But at the same time, as St. Paul says in the Letter to the Romans, the Holy Spirit “comes to the aid of our weakness.”  We did not receive a Spirit of fear, but of power from the Lord, to accomplish the work He wants us to. 
    But you might still feel like you don’t know what to do.  Is the Holy Spirit going to make you talk in different languages?  Perhaps He will, like He did for the disciples at the first Pentecost.  But, perhaps for you speaking in different languages is speaking in a way that another person understands, even if you’re both speaking in English.  At the core of spreading the Gospel is telling people why Jesus makes a difference in your life.  Of course, this presumes that He does.  Maybe a honest reflection means that we’re in need of more convincing of this in our own life.  But, we probably all have stories about how Jesus helped us in life, or got us through a rough patch, or changed the way we interacted with people, used our money, or engaged in our work.  If you don’t have a short story of how Jesus has impacted your life, then today go home and think about it. 
    The story may be a powerful one, like this one: When my sister, Amanda, was hit in a bad car accident, she later told me that while she was waiting for the ambulance to arrive, as the van was pinned on her right arm, but still conscious, she was praying Hail Marys to try and keep her calm.  That’s definitely a witness to the different Jesus and Mary can make in life.  Amanda still had scarring, and had a number of surgeries and a long rehab, but her faith helped her to pull through.
    The story may be an everyday account.  The other day, when returning from a death notification with the State Police, I decided to try out Smoothie King.  It was only Tuesday, and the week had already been difficult, for reasons that don’t really matter here.  In any case, I ordered a small, but then when I got to the window, I was offered a medium that, with my coupon, was about the same price as the small.  I said ok, and they asked me to pull ahead while they made my order.  A few minutes later they came out with two smoothies.  They told me that they had made both the small and the medium, and figured they would give me both.  That was a sign, albeit small, of Jesus’ love, something I really needed at that point in my day. 
    Evangelization is partly telling the story of Jesus, and I bet you know the highlights better than you think, and partly telling the story of Jesus in our life, which only you can tell.  Sometimes the Spirit drives us to be a priest, to serve the people of God, in different towns across a diocese, or maybe even as a missionary in a far-off land.  Sometimes the Spirit gives us the gift to be a spouse and a parent, and to tell our story to other family members, or co-workers, or maybe even people we don’t know in our communities.  But we’ve had 10 Sundays to pray and prepare for being here today.  Let’s not waste the Body and Blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit that we received in Baptism and Confirmation, that same Spirit that was given at Pentecost, but rather use these great vehicles of grace to tell the world about Jesus: that He is alive, that is the key to our happiness, and the difference He has made in our life. 

"There's a Difference in Living and Living Well"

Fourth Sunday of Easter
    People sometimes ask me how I prepare for my homilies and how long it takes.  I think it was Archbishop Fulton Sheen who said that if he was supposed to preach for five days he needed five minutes of prep.  If he was supposed to preach for five minutes he needed five days of prep.  For whatever reason, though, this was a hard homily to write this week.  I followed my usual pattern of reading the readings a week ahead of time.  My first draft was talking about how we can sometimes be like sheep, not the smartest creature on God’s green earth, and follow the wrong shepherd.  My second draft was basically an apology for all the ways that I don’t live up to the model that the Good Shepherd sets for us priests.  But neither of them “felt” right in my gut; not what God wanted me to say.
    The readings are not overly complicated.  Jesus calls Himself the gate and the shepherd in the Gospel, the second reading talks about how we had gone astray like sheep, and we heard the familiar psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd,” which is why this weekend of Easter is referred to as Good Shepherd Sunday.  But nothing was sticking as I prepared it.  So hopefully this does the job.  If not, chalk it up to an off-week.
    “‘I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.’”  We get caught up in a lot of things in our day-to-day life.  We have responsibilities, concerns, points-of-view, and things that occupy first place in our mind.  Add to this all of the things that come to our mind with COVID-19.  And then there’s politics.  Oh how we love to engross ourselves in what’s happening politically, and whether or not it jives with our political views. 
    Now, all of those things are important.  If you don’t keep in mind that you need to feed your family, problems quickly ensue.  If you’re not noticing the green light changing to red, you could hurt yourself or another.  We need to be our brother’s keeper and practice good hygiene and social distancing to help lessen the spread of COVID-19.  And politics is certainly worth engaging in, as a way to make sure that the City of Man reflects, to the greatest extent possible, the City of God.  But is that living?  Or as the great George Strait, the King of Country, sang, “There’s a difference in living and living well.”      Jesus, the King of Kings, and King of George Strait, said, “‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?’”  Paying attention to food, money, traffic, viruses, and politics are all important.  But do we really think that’s what Jesus meant when He said that He came to give us abundant life?  Is abundant life the daily grind to make a living and provide for the family?  Is abundant life just watching cars on the road and traffic signals?  Do you feel you’re living an abundant life trying to navigate the ever-changing rules on how not to spread COVID-19?  Is sharing and retweeting political posts and arguing and trolling people really what we think is of the utmost importance in life?
    Jesus did not come to bring us a life slightly better than the one we have now.  The life that Jesus came to bring, the life He came to shepherd us to, is more different than we could ever imagine.  It’s not an improvement where we’re still giving the most thought and concern on our the day-to-day, but a life filled with the grace and power and love of God.  Jesus did not come to shepherd us from one good pasture to another.  He came to shepherd us from death to life, from darkness to light, from sorrow to joy. 
    The saints sometimes get foretastes of this abundant life, and we hear about saints who go into ecstasy–the overwhelming experience of pure happiness, not the drug–as they have communion with God.  They give us an example, as a way to encourage us on with them to what Christ desires for us all. 
    That’s what made the Apostles preach as they did, as we heard in the first reading.  This reading is part of St. Peter’s speech at Pentecost, where the Apostles and disciples were so ecstatic (literally from the Greek meaning out of the everyday status) that people thought they were drunk.  But Peter, having experienced the joy of the Risen Christ, and given the power of the Holy Spirit to preach it, had to tell the people what they knew.  Or, as St. Paul would later say, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.”  And it’s not merely telling the people about Jesus and the abundant life He offers.  It’s also about repenting, being baptized, and receiving the Holy Spirit to receive that promise of abundant life. 
    So do you want that abundant life, or do you want to settle for the humdrum in which we so often find ourselves?  Abundant life is your inheritance, your birthright through baptism; you need only claim it.  Yes, we will still have to operate in this world and be mindful of all of our daily needs and activities.  But our hearts and minds can already be joined to God, and we can, even now, enjoy the verdant pastures where Christ, the Good Shepherd, desires to guide us to enjoy abundant life. 

Encountering the Risen Christ

Third Sunday of Easter
    The question on a lot of people’s minds these days is: what is life going to be like after the Stay at Home order?  Even with financial assistance, some businesses have shut their doors for good.  Will people ever shake hands again, or stand close to each other?  What will next school year be like for the students who have not been in a school building since 14 April?  Will people go back to church in larger numbers?
    What will make the difference?  Is there a magic bullet that will bring back everyone to church and have them practicing their faith?  Is there something that a person can do that will make it more likely to attend Mass and practice the entirety of the faith, rather than simply falling away after this time of not having public access to the sacraments?
    What made the difference in the Apostles and the disciples?  What was it that these generally uneducated men, and made them the greatest group of missionaries in the history of Christianity?  What was it that made the disciples cling to their faith in Jesus even as the government tortured and put them to death in very gruesome ways?
    The difference was that they knew Jesus.  They had encountered Jesus in their life, and they were open to the Lord changing them through that encounter.  Sometimes that encounter happened in marvelous ways, like when Jesus told Peter to put out into the deep, even though Peter had caught nothing after an entire night of fishing; like when Jesus simply looked at Matthew and said, “Follow me.”  Sometimes that encounter happened through curiosity and wanting to find out more, like so many who heard about this itinerant rabbi who was not only teaching with authority, but also healing people.  But they knew Jesus. 
    Knowing Jesus is different than simply being around Him.  Think of the Bread of Life discourse in John, chapter six.  The people there were around Jesus, they even saw Him multiply bread and fish for thousands of people.  And yet, when the teaching got tough, most of them did not stay with Jesus, but walked away.  Think about the crowds who were caught up in welcoming Jesus as He entered into Jerusalem the week of His Passion.  They cheered Him on and waved palm branches.  And yet, this same crowd, five days later, clamored for his crucifixion.  Even most of those who did know Him, the Apostles, were not there when Jesus died.  But then, we heard Peter proclaim in our first reading that Jesus is truly the Messiah, the one chosen by God.  Even after a failure, Peter could practice his faith because He knew Jesus and knew He was risen.
    The disciples on the road to Emmaus had been around Jesus, but it took Jesus Himself opening up the Old Testament and breaking bread for them to recognize Jesus.  But once they did, they were ready to tell others that Jesus was risen.  Their encounter with the Lord, though started in ignorance, ended with a new way of life for those two disciples.
    So for us, have we encountered Jesus?  If we have, then we can survive any tribulation and suffering.  Where do we encounter Jesus?  In the Word of God, the Scriptures.  I would encourage everyone to find a good Bible study and read the Scriptures.  It is through them that we encounter Jesus.  I pray with the Scriptures, like every priest, bishop, and consecrated man or woman, 4 times per day, and I can’t tell you how often I’m reading a psalm or a passage, and I just know that God is speaking to me through it.
    We encounter God in the Sacraments, in the 7 ways that God does great work to make us saints.  While many only happen once, I think of especially the Sacrament of Penance, where we encounter God in His mercy and forgiveness.  Maybe not always, but often the words of counsel that the priest gives me before I make my Act of Contrition, touches my heart and I realize I am in the presence of God. 
    We encounter God in the love and charity that we show to another.  Especially in these trying times, I think that we recognize God through people going out of their way to be loving and charitable to each other, rather than the nastiness to which we have become so accustomed.  As “Les Miserables” says, “To love another person is to see the face of God.”
    And last, and greatest, we encounter God in the Mass.  Of course, this isn’t as possible now as before.  As good as it is that I can live-stream this Mass for you, it’s not the same, and it’s not the way the Mass is supposed to be.  You, the People of God, are meant to be here, uniting your sacrifices with the bread and the wine, offered to God the Father in the one, perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.  Presence is important.  The disciples on the road to Emmaus finally recognized Jesus in the Eucharist.  And in the Eucharist, we not only encounter God, but God enters into us in a most intimate way.  If we’re not encountering God in the Mass, then we have lacked something that we should be doing, because God is always making Himself present to us in the Mass, and it reminds us that maybe we’re holding back.
    There are other ways to encounter God, but these are four great ones.  And if we have encountered God, before, and hopefully during, this pandemic, then we’ll pick up right were we left off in our faith life.  We will come to worship God; we will share the good news of the Resurrection and the new life that Jesus offers us through Him and only Him; we will let the love of God flow through us like a current of electricity that lights up every one with whom we come in contact.  But that will only happen if we have encountered God.  Think about it: when was the last time you encountered God? 

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Solemnity of Pentecost

Who is the Holy Spirit?  I will admit, growing up He was the Person of the Blessed Trinity with whom I was least familiar (luckily, He was much more familiar with me!).  But we grow up hearing about God the Father, and of course, as Christians, we spend much of our time focusing on the work of Jesus, the Son.  We talk about the Holy Spirit, but usually in relationship to Jesus.  So as we celebrate Pentecost, it can all seem a bit out there.

Our readings today give us a clue about the Holy Spirit: who He is, and what He does.  He unifies; He demonstrates power; He continues the work of Jesus.  In Genesis, in the story of the Tower of Babel, when people try to get to God on their own terms, confusion is caused.  In the Pentecost account, though, it is the Holy Spirit who unifies the Apostles and Disciples in proclaiming Jesus to the people in different languages.  It seems like the best thing in today’s world is diversity.  And diversity is a gift.  Even I have to admit that if everyone were like me, the world would be a dull place (but it would be amazingly organized and punctual!!).  But, in the midst of diversity, we also need unity, we need something to bring us together.  And what truly brings us together is the Holy Spirit, who utilizes our diverse gifts and personalities in order to achieve unified goals.

The Holy Spirit demonstrates power.  In the Book of Exodus, as the people go to worship God on the mountain, there are peals of thunder and lightning, a cloud over the mountain, and very loud trumpet blasts.  Smokes rises from Mt. Sinai, as the Lord came down in fire.  The Holy Spirit was demonstrating power.  The same happened in the upper room: the Holy Spirit shook the room, and tongues as of fire appeared over the apostles’ and disciples’ heads.  In the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, the Holy Spirit gives life to the dry bones, and in the Book of the Prophet Joel, the Holy Spirit is promised to help the people prophesy and work wonders.  Throughout the history of the Church, the Holy Spirit has demonstrated power, not only in the magnificent ways, but even in smaller, yet equally powerful ways.  Each time Mass is celebrated, the Holy Spirit transforms bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.  I have spoken to you of priests I know whom the Holy Spirit utilizes to heal others (the work is the Holy Spirit, the vessel is the priest).  Lay men and women are given incredible courage and strength to talk about Jesus, not only in the old days to Roman governors and foreign kings, but even in our own days.  One of our own young parishioners shared an account with me of how the Holy Spirit answered his prayer through a phrase from Scripture that a friend spoke to him after He asked God for a sign.  The Holy Spirit continues to exercise His power in the world.  

The Holy Spirit continues the work of Jesus.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus breathes on the apostles and says, “‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.’”  Jesus came to reveal God the Father, to share the truth about what truly makes us happy as human persons created in the image and likeness of God, and to share the mercy of God.  The Holy Spirit continues to do that.  Through the proclamation of the Word of God, especially at Mass, we come to know the Father better.  Through the teachings of the Church, we learn the truth about how we can experience the joy and peace that God desires for all His children.  Through the Sacrament of Penance especially, we receive the mercy of God.  In this way, the ministry of Jesus spreads throughout the whole world, and is not limited to Palestine.

So what?  Who cares?  All of those things are nice, but to what end?  We need unity, and not simply around the lowest common denominator of belief, but unity in the truth.  We need a unified goal towards which we can apply the diversity of our gifts.  And this is certainly true as a parish.  We need the power of the Holy Spirit to help us proclaim the Gospel, not only in what we do, but also by what we say.  Without this sharing of the truth, by showing the power of the Holy Spirit to make even the meekest person share Jesus as Lord, our parish will continue to shrink.  We need to continue the mercy of Jesus, because that is what we are about as a Church: not a social club, not a weekly meeting of people who live in the same area, but those who are committed to continue, by the power of the Holy Spirit, what Jesus Himself did and taught.  

We may not be as familiar with the Holy Spirit, but we need Him, now as much as at any time.  We need the unifying power of the Holy Spirit continuing the work of Jesus in us.  The growth of our parish depends on it!  Come, Holy Spirit!

Finish Strong!

Solemnity of Pentecost

In high school track I was a short distance runner.  I usually ran the 100m dash, 200m dash, 100m relay, and/or 200m relay.  I always said that as far as running went, if I wasn’t done in 26 seconds or less, something had gone horribly wrong.  But at one meet, perhaps because my track coach was a sadist, he asked me to run a 400m dash.  I had never run it before, never trained for it before, and had no desire to run it.  But, coach was telling me to run the event.  And how bad could it be?  It was only once around the track.

As the gun fired to start us, I tried to set a pace that I felt would make me competitive in the second heat.  Even though I wasn’t prepared for it, I didn’t want to lose and embarrass myself or my team.  So I pushed it.  After about 200m, I realized just how long 400m was as my legs started to ache.  The two things which were competing to win at that point were the fatigue in my muscles and my pride not to lose.  As I crossed the finish line, I think I got third.  What I remember more vividly was that my legs felt like jello, and I was sure I was going to fall down.  But, I had given it everything I had, and had finished strong.

Today, as we come to the end of our Easter Season and celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost, we should want to finish strong.  Of course, we’re not totally done with life, but we are done with the Easter Season.  And we finish our Easter Season the way that the Apostles began their public ministry: with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We hear about that gift in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, a story with which we are likely pretty familiar.  There is a great wind, and then the Holy Spirit appears over the heads of the apostles and disciples like tongues of fire.  Immediately the disciples are compelled to speak about Jesus and how He was raised from the dead and offers us new life in Him.

As Catholics we may be a little uncomfortable with the Holy Spirit.  God the Father is someone we’re familiar with, but we can often keep Him at arm’s length, since He seems so mysterious.  Jesus is someone with whom we’re much more familiar, we know the stories from His life, but even He can seem a little distant, since He is seated at the right hand of the Father.  But He tends to be the focus of most of our prayers.  But the Holy Spirit–that’s the one who seems to make things go out of control.  Maybe we’ve even seen people who claim to have the Holy Spirit and they do what we consider “weird” things like speaking in tongues or having the gift of prophecy.  Perhaps we’re not that comfortable with the Holy Spirit.

But we need not be afraid of the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the one who continues the ministry of Jesus in the Church.  He does give some people special gifts like speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing, etc., but He also showers His gifts upon all believers.  And we hear about some of those gifts that we can experience in the Scriptures.

At the Vigil Mass the first reading was from Genesis, and was the Tower of Babel.  The people all want to get to God on their own terms, but God makes them speak all different languages.  The unity of the people is not based on God, but on becoming the masters of their destinies, and so they are scattered.  But in the story of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit helps the people to have access to God by hearing the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus spoken to them in their languages.  And we experience that in our own way today: our Gospel was proclaimed in Latin, the mother-tongue of our Latin Rite church, and some of our petitions this weekend will be proclaimed in the languages of our parishioners, including Malayalam (from India), Tagalog (from the Philippines), Spanish, German, Arabic, and Italian.  And while perhaps we don’t all understand all these languages, they reflect the diversity of our cultures, and yet the unity of the faith, because what we believe is the same, no matter in what language it is proclaimed.

The Holy Spirit also gives us each gifts to build up the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church.  We all have certain gifts to build up our parish, our diocese, and the universal Church that the Holy Spirit encourages us to use.  Some of us garden and do yard work, some teach, some cook, some comfort the sorrowing, some serve as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion or Lectors.  I am sure that some of our parishioners, besides being called to these ministries, are also called in the future to a vocation to the priesthood or diaconate, or to consecrated life as a sister or nun.  

The question for us is whether or not we are willing to respond to the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit may lead us to new circumstances that are unfamiliar for us, just as the foreign lands to which the apostles went were unfamiliar to them.  But if it is the Holy Spirit calling us to them, then we know it is for the building of the Church and the spreading of the Gospel.  Do not be afraid of the Holy Spirit, but be open to His gifts, and then, with the courage the Holy Spirit gives us, use all that we have to continue to ministry of Jesus in the world!

Not Only the Externals

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!

Like a duckling, Like a sheep, Like a child

Fourth Sunday of Easter

           

This time of year it’s not uncommon to see ducks, especially with all the rain we’ve had, and we may even see ducklings accompanying the mother duck.  What a disarming scene when you have those tiny little ducklings following behind their mother, going whatever direction she goes.  When children first learn to walk, they can sometimes resemble ducklings, waddling along, always trying to stay close to their mother if she starts walking to a different part of the house or yard.

            That image of a child (or a duckling) following its mother, is also the image that our Collect set out for us today as we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday.  In that prayer at the beginning of Mass we asked God to “lead us to share in the joys of heaven, so that the humble flock may reach where the brave Shepherd has gone before.”  Our prayer reflects Jesus’ desire, made known to us by our Mother, the Church, to follow Him, to stay close to Him.  Because Jesus is leading us, not to the safety of the nest or a pond, but to the home that was prepared for us, the “eternal pastures” which our Prayer after Communion will speak.  Jesus wants us to go to heaven, and the way He has set out for us to go there is to follow Him.

            Jesus is the one who leads us to heaven, but He’s not just one teacher out of many.  Jesus is also the gate of heaven, “the gate for the sheep” as He said in the Gospel.  And only if we enter through Him will we find those eternal pastures, the salvation we hope for.  Buddha will not save us.  The Qur’an will not save us.  The Law of Moses will not save us.  Eastern Religions will not save us.  Our horoscope won’t save us.  Only Jesus is worth centering our life around.  Only Jesus saves.  Yes, it is possible for those who, through not fault of their own do not know Jesus, to be saved.  But if they are saved, it is only by Jesus and His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.  Jesus is the only way of salvation, which is why it is so important for us to spread the Gospel and encourage others to be baptized and live their lives as followers of Jesus.

            Baptism brings us into a relationship with Jesus so that we can follow Him, like sheep, or like a child and its mother, or like a duckling and a duck.  The Gospel helps us to recognize that path, and where Jesus is leading us.  Simply being spiritual doesn’t cut it.  There are lots of paths, but they don’t all lead to the same place.  If we take Jesus at His word, that “whoever enters through me will be saved,” then it’s important to go beyond just liking spiritual stuff, or acknowledging that there is a divine being out there somewhere.  It is important that we get connected with the Good Shepherd who walks ahead of us so that we can recognize His voice and follow Him.  Otherwise, if we do not recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd, we are likely to follow other shepherds, who are not good, and who will not lead us to pastures of joy and peace and love, but are only thieves and robbers.

            Peter, in our first reading, preached to the Jews and proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah because he was convinced that his people, the Chosen People of God, needed to recognize in Jesus their Lord and Christ, and to be baptized and saved “from this corrupt generation.”  Peter didn’t tell them that as long as they were spiritual they were doing just fine.  He didn’t even say that if they just continued on as they were they would be good.  He told them to repent from their sins and be baptized, so that they could receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  He was telling them to begin a relationship with Jesus, to be baptized, so that they could follow Him, listen to Him, and conform their lives to Him.  He acknowledges in our second reading from his first epistle, that we had gone astray, like sheep, but Jesus brought us back to Himself.

            Also in our second reading, St. Peter gives us a couple of examples of how we can be like Jesus.  He tells us to be patient when we suffer for doing what is good, just like Jesus suffered for us, and did not open His mouth.  Peter reminds us not to return insult for insult, or to return a threat for suffering.  Those are two ways that we follow Jesus.

            Another great way to follow Jesus is to honor and respect mothers, as we do today as a country.  Following Jesus means promoting the vocation of being a mother as a way of holiness.  Mothers sacrifice so much of themselves: sharing their body with a tiny, new human life through conception; nursing their infant; waking up at all hours of the night to care for their child; spending countless amounts of money so that their child can have what it needs and wants, even though the mother often goes without.  Mothers often ensure that their child receives the gift of new life, and begins to know the voice of the Good Shepherd from a young age through having the child baptized, and teaching the child about Jesus.  And it’s hard enough with a father to assist in the ways that he can.  Too many mothers today find no support from their husbands and, whether legally or just practically, have to raise their children by themselves.  Following the Good Shepherd means assisting mothers and fathers in raising their children, and when only the mother does the work of raising the child, assisting her all the more.

            Today we are invited to stay close to Jesus, like a duckling and a duck, like a child with its mother, like a sheep with the shepherd, so that we can enter through the only means of salvation: Jesus Christ.  May our “kind Shepherd…be pleased to settle in eternal pastures the sheep [He has] redeemed by [His] Precious Blood.”