This weekend of Pentecost is one of the most important days of our Catholic Religion for it is the BIRTH of our church. I can’t help but feel a great sense of humility that God would allow me, a sinner, to be invited among the elect, as we all are. This holds great meaning for me and should for you as well.
This weekend we here in our readings the stories of anticipation and then the receiving of the Holy Spirit which brings our mortal bodies alive. This all begins with our Baptism in to the Church, the receiving of the Holy Spirit where we become members of the body. And at Confirmation we receive the Spirit of wisdom to go out and prophecy, to tell everyone about our faith, about love, about our very hope in the new life to come.
The Spirit of God enables us to do what Jesus asks of us: To continue his work on earth, to love, to protect, to pray, to love our neighbor as ourselves, to glorify God and to live a life that is full of the Spirit. We look for the Spirit to make us new creatures, to renew us in truth and wisdom and to be with us as we go out into our world where the truth is needed so much.
Now, I don’t remember my baptism. I was about 3 weeks old. But I do remember my Confirmation, the day I received the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of wisdom. This was my most favored memory, as my faith goes. This was the day that I was charged, by the Spirit, to go out and talk to others, to live the life that Jesus showed us, to know that I was now able, by the Spirit, to bring to others the hope that we have as Catholic Christians, that the new life to come, the eternal life, is possible and attainable. And as the Tina Turner song says: Loves got allot to do with it! By the way my Confirmation name is Thomas. Do you remember yours?
As it says in scripture, “in hope we are saved.” Yes, we are saved by the Spirit, over and over and over again. That is why the sacrament of Reconciliation is so important for the health of our spiritual lives. In actuality, the Spirit is always with us and it is up to each of us to open ourselves, to open our hearts to receive his wisdom and guidance. If your heart is hardened by sin, how can the Spirit enter into you?
You know, I can’t help but imagine what the Apostles felt as they were waiting in the Upper Room before Christ came and after Christ brought them the Holy Spirit. We wait all the time-some in anticipation and some in fear of what is to come!
We should be familiar with waiting, but waiting for what? A plain, a train, a bus. We wait in the doctor’s office, a dentist’s office. This is the one office I fear the most! We wait in hospitals, we wait for lunch time during our busy day. We know what it is to wait. But we also know how it feels when all is done; when we reached our destination, our tooth no longer hurts, that broken bone is put back together.
Waiting, as the Apostles were waiting in that Upper Room, must have experienced allot of the same emotions we have felt while waiting. They put their trust in Jesus. But that does not mean they weren’t just a little bit apprehensive about the future and what lies ahead for them. As they waited they became aware of their own powerlessness. However, that led them to be open to receive the Holy Spirit and once they did, the waiting no longer mattered.
Look what happens when the farmer waits for the spring rains: When they come the crops all of a sudden grow. Waiting, I feel, seems to be a necessary part of personal growth. So what was it like for the Apostles waiting in the upper room?
“I am in the Upper Room. I’m dressed in a burlap garment. Beads of sweat slowly cascade down my face only to meet my sandaled and dusty feet.
Every step I take, dust from the floor of bamboo woven reeds fog them. I’m pacing, wondering what to do next.
The room is dark with only gray and black colored images. The darkened images represent uncertainty, loneliness, fear, anticipation, abandonment.
Jesus appears!!! The once darkened room became bright and full of color. I see Jesus’ hands and feet, the nail holes that are the remnant of his suffering for my sins!
I feel ashamed and a tear traverses down my cheek only to be caught by him.
The uncertainty is now belief, the loneliness-joy, the fear-hope, and the abandonment became compassion, forgiveness, mercy and love.”
This came from my diary writings when I was going through my deacon formation. This was an exercise given to us by our professor in trying to imagine what the Apostles were feeling when waiting in that Upper Room.
From time to time, we find ourselves in a jungle of problems and the problems can be money, health, unemployment, temptation of one sort or the other, and on and on. Like the Apostles before Pentecost, we are not very clear about what to do. Like them, we are not very brave about doing anything. We seem to become somewhat complacent. But, come Pentecost, come Confirmation, we become clear-sighted and courageous, like the Apostles We are not so different, are we? The question is: Do we continue to be the examples of our faith no matter where we find ourselves, no matter if it has been years since we received the sacrament? I hope we all do!
The Holy Spirit is light in darkness. I think back last week and Fr. Rick’s homily on that piece of mirrored glass. Thank you Father for that story. The Holy Spirit is also comfort in trouble, rest in labor, coolness in heat, warmth in cold. The Holy Spirit heals our hearts and wills, guides our steps that go astray. Yes, He gives us joys that never end. He reconciles us with God. He renews our spirit, if we but ask!
It may be years since our Confirmation or maybe you have never received the sacrament. If not please talk to me, Father Rick, or any of the staff and we will point you in the right direction. However, if you have received Confirmation this does not mean that the Holy Spirit came on that day and left, that it is all done and over. We can say that the Holy Spirit dwells in us-today. He is with us-today. He is ready to help us-today. The Holy Spirit is with us in this mass, together with the Father and Son, ready to lead us if we ask Him.
Now, in being filled with the Holy Spirit, I now can understand why I would be offered a place with the elect. How about you?
Let us remember Cruz Hezel and Robbie Sullivan who are on another step towards their Confirmation of the Spirit when they receive their first Holy Communion this Sunday (at this mass). May our prayers and the Spirit be with them on their journey in faith.