On Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, known also as the Holy Ghost, in our midst. When Jesus rose from the dead, he poured out the Holy Spirit upon the apostles- his first gift, the greatest gift, the gift that contains all other gifts: God Himself, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.
It is called the Holy Spirit – because, like the wind, you cannot predict where and when it will move. I’d like to give an example from the life of an amazing person I have long admired.
She was born in the middle of the nineteenth century, which was a difficult time for the Church. Philosophers like Charles Darwin and Karl Marx were proposing new theories in the name of“science.” If you have read their books, you know they are persuasive – even elegant – writers. They tended, however, to reduce human beings to the level of animals, even machines.
In addition to this philosophical milieu, the world faced an economic upheaval that caused millions of Europeans to migrate. Here in America many immigrants lost their faith.
The Holy Spirit touched the heart of this young girl in Northern Italy. Little Francesca told her older sister, Rosa, that she was going be a missionary someday. Rosa laughed, but Francesca said, “The moment I was being anointed with chrism, I cannot say what I felt, but I know it was the Holy Ghost.” The sacrament of Confirmation truly changed her life.
Francesca applied to different religious orders but was turned down because of her poor health. Eventually a priest asked her to care for some orphans. Weak as she was, Francesca had a way of inspiring other young women. Soon they formed a religious order and they began making plans to go to China. When she met with the pope, he told her, “No. Go to America. The immigrants need you.”
The rest is history. In 1889 Mother Frances Cabrini arrived in New York with her small band of sisters. With practically no resources they build orphanages, schools and hospitals: first in New York, then Chicago, then other cities, including Seattle. How did they do it? With the help of the Holy Spirit.
Mother Cabrini did not see herself an instrument of God but a“spectator” of His works. In Seattle, for instance, she was looking for a site for an orphanage. She found the perfect spot on the shore of Lake Washington in what is today the Laurelhurst district. She approached a real estate magnate named Henry Broderick. She was a bit nervous because she had little funds to purchase the property and the large house on it. Well, he wound up selling it to her for one rosary! It was the work of the HolySpirit. The place became known as Sacred Heart Villa.
Thousands of orphans and immigrants were impacted by Mother Cabrini’s openness to the Holy Spirit. It all began when – as a small girl – she recognized, “It was the Holy Ghost.”
Mother Cabrini’s life shows that we do not know how or when the Holy Spirit will act in our lives. This person of the Trinity enabled her to confront what seemed like insurmountable obstacles, starting with her own poor health. When things went badly, she saw it as a sign of blessing: “Difficulties! Difficulties!” she would say, “They are merely scarecrows to frighten children.”
Mother Cabrini once wrote to one of her sisters who was fighting depression. “Why, dearest daughter, do you waste time in sadness when time is so precious for the salvation of souls?”Then she added, “Get rid of your melancholy immediately. Do not think any more about yourself.” Perhaps Mother Cabrini also battled the demon of depression, but the Holy Spirit gave her a firm will that enabled her to focus on others with a joyful heart.Saint Frances Cabrini shows what can happen when a person is open to the power of the Holy Spirit.
We are gathered here today because countless followers of Jesus Christ have been open to the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives, beginning with the apostles who ventured out of the Upper Room and boldly proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ to anyone who would listen.
In this age of extreme moral and religious relativism, Christ’s mission to the world has become more difficult to carry out but even more necessary. Our mission as disciples today is not to impose our faith on others but to invite them to know Christ or to know him better. Like St. Frances Cabrini, we too are being called to share the good news of Jesus Christ for there are many who have yet to really grasp what being a Christian is all about.Now, you may be thinking, “Not me, Father,” but everyone who has been baptized has already within them the seed of the apostles’ enthusiasm to share the good news of salvation.
In a recent audience, Pope Francis shared his prayer to the Holy Spirit that he urges us to make our own. “Holy Spirit, may my heart be open to the Word of God, may my heart be open to good, may my heart be open to the beauty of God, every day.” He then ended his talk with this advice, “Do not be a ‘part-time’Christian, at certain moments, in certain circumstances, in certain choices – be Christian at all times! The truth of Christ, that the Holy Spirit teaches us and gives us, always and forever involves our daily lives. Let us invoke him more often, to guide us on the path of Christ’s disciples.”
This significant feast, traditionally seen as the birth of our Church, reminds us that the Holy Spirit is present in every act of compassion and charity, in every moment of forgiveness and peace that we extend, and in every effort we make for justice and community. May we always realize the Spirit of God within us, quietly calling us, like a whisper when we least expect it, to be the people God made us to be.