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Homilies are posted no later than during the week
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Pentecost
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Pentecost - Cycle B - John 20:19-23
A poor European family was coming to the US
early last century. On the ship, they had as food the bread and cheese
they had purchased prior to sailing.
After many days of cheese sandwiches, the son
came to his father, "Dad, if I have to eat cheese sandwiches all the
way across the Atlantic, I won't make it." The sympathetic father gave
him his last nickel for ice cream. Hours later the child returned. The
father noticed his wide smile. He asked what he had eaten. "Several
plates of ice cream, dad, and then a steak dinner." "For a nickel?"
"No, dad, the food is free. It's part of the passage ticket." He
returned the coin to his father.
The filet mignon of the Holy Spirit came to us
with the ticket of our Baptism and Confirmation. No one has to continue
eating cheese sandwiches everyday. No doubt cheese will nourish us.
However, we will die of boredom before cholesterol kills us.
We have listened to Christ's command, "Receive the
Holy Spirit." Each of us received the Holy Spirit at Baptism and
Confirmation. The Spirit's gifts are awesome. Listen to them: wisdom,
understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the
Lord. We must learn to use them. The Holy Spirit, says Daniel Durken,
came to dispel the A,B,C, and Ds of our humdrum lives - apathy,
boredom, coldness, and dullness.
When St Paul dropped in on Ephesus (Acts 19),
he judged they were lacking a get up and go spirit. So he asked
point-blank, "Have you received the Holy Spirit?" Why would he ask
that, inquires Peter Kreeft, unless he observed a power shortage in
their company? The Ephesus Christians were dragging themselves along on
60 volts when all the time they could have been charged with 120 volts.
When they replied they had not received the Spirit, Paul confirmed
them. They became supercharged people.
Why were the twelve, many of them illiterate,
able to
win a world for their Leader? And why are a billion Christians unable
to repeat the same feat today? The answer is the Apostles used the Holy
Spirit's gifts to the full and we do not.
The Spirit's gifts operate in our ordinary
lives under extraordinary conditions. They kick in, as someone has
said, as "unruly house guests." People blossom to levels of wisdom or
fortitude they never dreamed possible. During the French
Revolution, an informer notified the Mother Superior of a Carmelite
convent that the following day all the sisters would be guillotined.
She told her nuns. She said that the convent gate would be left open
for anyone who wished to flee. Only one ran away. The next morning the
rest were brought to the guillotine. The sisters were about to place
their heads on the block. Then they observed with pride that the nun
who had run away stepped out of the crowd and joined her sisters. What
had brought her back? It was the gift of fortitude from the Holy Spirit.
Benedict Groeschel writes the gifts of the
Spirit were
sewn into us like seeds. They remain in the desert of our souls waiting
to be nourished and given life. The driest desert in the world, says
Groeschel, is in Chile. One time the desert had not seen rain for
sixteen years. Then the rains came. The result was the desert was
marked with tiny enamel-like flowers. They were there all the time just
waiting for proper growth conditions. As it was in Chile, so it is with
each of our spirits.
The saddest young man I ever met was a fellow
I encountered at a college. He was asked by a student who knew he was a
devout Catholic at home, "Why don't I see you at Sunday Mass?" The teen
replied, "Would you want me to be the only one in my dorm to go?" The
student had received the gift of fortitude from the Holy Spirit, but he
was afraid to use it. Which will it be for us - steak or cheese
sandwiches?
Will we recall the monk who preached that God the
Father gave us His Spirit so that we might become like His Son?
A five year old pre-Communion child watched her
mother receive the Eucharist. She asked, "Will you share Jesus with
me?" Will we, helped by the Spirit, share Jesus with our friends?
Napoleon
Bonaparte said, "There are two forces on this earth, the force of
arms and the force of the Spirit. The force of the Spirit is stronger."
Why don't we prove that by our lives?
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http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
Pentecost
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Pentecost: Proclaiming Christ to the World
The Holy Spirit
came upon them on Pentecost Sunday. They were Jesus’ closest
followers, his closest disciples. Most of these people had
deserted the Lord when he was arrested. They were panic struck.
Jesus had been, essentially, tortured to death. How could they
avoid a similar fate? And yet, there was the truth about Jesus
they could not deny. They were in turmoil. They could not
understand why this happened to the most Beautiful Man the world had
ever seen. Jesus’ resurrection intensified their turmoil. They
did not grasp the significance of the resurrection. They kept their
doors locked to keep His enemies out.
And then the
Holy Spirit filled the Upper Room where they had gathered, the same
Upper Room where they celebrated the Passover and received the Body of
the Lord and His Blood, the Blood of the New Covenant. The Holy
Spirit didn’t just fill the room, it filled them. They were on
fire for Jesus. They began to understand the mystery of
Christ. They were still afraid to suffer and die, but that became
secondary to throwing open the door, going out and proclaiming the
Gospel. And three thousand people heard them, and caught their
fire, and became Christian. Together they formed the Body of Christ,
the Church. Reality was completely changed by the Fire of the
Lord, by the Holy Spirit.
That is what
Pentecost was. That is what Pentecost did to the world.
That is what Pentecost does to us.
How could it be
possible that those common everyday men, those disciples, many of whom
probably could not even read, how could it be possible that they could
begin a movement of love that would embrace the world? The fire
of the Lord consumed them, and consumed all around them.
The Gift of
Pentecost is that we hold our Savior within us and are filled with the
Reality that changes our lives. We are determined to do
everything possible to nurture that Reality, to protect that Reality,
to allow the world to experience the wonder of that Reality. Jesus is
the Reality. Jesus lives! The fire that is within us is His
Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of
John relates the Pentecost experience in a simple and moving manner,
quite different than the scene in Acts. In John, Jesus appears to
the disciples in the Upper Room and pronounces peace. “Peace be with
you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when He
said this He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy
Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you
retain are retained.”
Peace comes
through the forgiveness of sins. The Church is empowered to
forgive sins. The Church is empowered by the Holy Spirit to
impart peace. The fire that consumes us is the fire that forgives
our sins, the fire of peace.
There has been a
birth, and a change in reality. The birth is the birth of the
Church. We are full of such joy that we cannot hold ourselves
back. We have to proclaim to the world with our lives that
Love is conquering all. Jesus lives. His fire inflames us.
Today and every
day is Pentecost.
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* available in Spanish - see
Spanish homilies
Pentecost
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The
Soul's Most Welcome Guest
(May 31, 2009)
Bottom line: The Holy Spirit is the soul's most welcome guest: He
enables us to pray and empowers us to act.
Today we commemorate the sending of the Holy Spirit. In the words of
the Sequence, he is the "soul's most welcome guest." We know his
presence by an inexplicable joy he communicates. But he also supports
us in times of discouragement. He empowers us to continue on.
Fr. Tom Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, tells a
beautiful story about the presence and power of the Holy Spirit: Once
he was with a group of people praying in front of a Planned Parenthood
abortion clinic. That day eleven young women passed by them on their
way into the clinic. Not one of the girls accepted their offer of help
- or even acknowledged them. Naturally, the people praying felt
disappointed. Some even wondered why God did not listen to their
prayers.
Well, about a year later Fr. Euteneuer was again with a small group,
praying in front of the same clinic. A young woman approached them. She
held a bundle in her arm. Lifting a blanket, she showed them a
beautiful baby boy. She asked if they remembered her. The people said,
"no." She went on to explain that she had passed by them about a year
ago. After filling out the papers in the clinic, she took a seat in the
waiting area. All of a sudden, tears filled her eyes and she began
sobbing uncontrollably. Other girls also began to cry. It took some
time, she said, for the staff to establish order. She left the clinic
and decided to keep her baby. She believes some of the other girls made
the same decision.
When we pray, the Holy Spirit prays within us. Any results depend on
him - not on our virtue. I've joked about that with those who
participate in our pro-life prayer vigil here at Holy Family. Since the
summer of 2002, a small group of us has prayed almost every Friday
morning before the Planned Parenthood clinic, eight blocks away for our
church. "As far as I know," I told them, "we have not rescued any
babies. But a few years ago, we did rescue a stray puppy who followed
us to the clinic!"
I cared for that puppy for several weeks until we located the owner.
And I took him as a small sign that our prayers did go unanswered. I do
know for a fact that our parish Birthright has helped many young women
in crisis pregnancies - some who were abortion-minded when they came.
That change of heart happens only as a result of many prayers.
In his wonderful book, Mary, Mother of the Son, Mark Shea has a short
reflection on The Coming of the Holy Spirit. It is the third of the
Glorious Mysteries of the rosary - and it follows the mystery of the
Ascension. Citing the verse from Acts where St. Peter speaks about
Jesus taking his place at the right hand of the Father and then pouring
out the Holy Spirit, Mark says:
"It is worth noting that the 'right hand' is the 'good hand' in
antiquity. It's the hand that pours out blessings, the hand that holds
the scepter, the hand that works, acts, fights. The hand is the locus
of action. We do not theorize with our hands, we do things. Jesus,
seated at the right hand of the Father, does things. And he empowers us
to do things, too - by his Spirit."
Brothers and sisters, on this Pentecost Sunday, I invite to open your
hearts to gift of the Holy Spirit. He is the soul's most welcome guest.
He enables us to pray. The results depend on him - and he empowers us
to act.
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Intercessions for Pentecost Sunday (from Priests for Life)
Spanish Version
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Pentecost
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http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lasso
Pentecost
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May,
31, 2009
John 20: 19-23
Demetrius R. Dumm, O.S.B.
Pentecost Sunday
Gospel Summary
On Pentecost Sunday we celebrate the wonderful good news that the risen
Lord has poured out his Spirit upon us, first of all to convince us of
his victory over sin and death, and then to enable us to continue his
work of salvation by our own love and concern for others.
As we can well imagine, the disciples were filled with fear and
foreboding after the death of their master. But suddenly Jesus is there
among them radiant with life. He shows them his terrible wounds, which
have now become beautiful emblems of his love for them. He offers them
his peace--that deep, calm, resonant sense of confidence, which is so
different from the peace that the world can offer--a superficial peace
that amounts to little more than a temporary cessation of hostilities.
This profound peace becomes possible through the presence of his Spirit
in them.
And then Jesus tells them what possessing the Spirit will mean in their
lives. Henceforth, they will need to be converted from their natural
tendency to be self-centered to an attitude of loving concern for
others. And this will be manifested first and foremost by their
willingness to forgive others. This would be impossible if we did not
enjoy the powerful presence of the Spirit who enables us to overcome
our constant judgmental tendencies.
Life Implications
As fragile human beings, we know the experience of living in fear and
of being anxious and worried about many things, some of which exist
only in our imagination. Jesus, having absorbed the ultimate violence,
offers us his peace and thereby enables us to be confident and joyful
in the face of even severe uncertainty and threat. This represents a
real experience of liberation from the paralysis of fear--a paralysis
that often prevents us from doing beautiful and risky things, like
giving cut flowers!
With this peace and joy comes the obligation to share our blessings
with others. It was once thought that the command of Jesus to forgive
or retain sins was addressed only to priests and referred only to the
Sacrament of Reconciliation. Now it is clear that this charge is
addressed to all the followers of Jesus. We must all accept the
wonderful and awesome responsibility of offering or withholding
forgiveness. In this case, the sin of omission looms large and should
make us all examine our consciences in regard to the many times that we
may have persisted in nursing old injuries or have refused to make
allowance for extenuating circumstances in the lives of those we call
sinners.
In this regard, we should recall the very strong words of Jesus in the
Sermon on the Mount: "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the
judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give
will be the measure you get" (Matthew 7:1-2). When we face the final
judgment, we all hope to have a merciful judge and now we know how to
assure that happy outcome.
It is, of course, very difficult to achieve such an ideal of
forgiveness. And that is why Jesus offers us the Holy Spirit who, if
given half a chance, will empower us to become the kind of gentle,
caring and compassionate persons that can make a real difference in a
world that desperately needs the witness of love and forgiveness. Let
us all rejoice in this wonderful gift of the Spirit.
Demetrius R. Dumm, O.S.B.
Hear this week's homily as an audio file:
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http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
Pentecost
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Solemnity of PENTECOST
Acts 2, 1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Cor 12, 3-7. 12-13; John 20, 19-23
Veni Sancte Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit! As the third
millennium unfolds with all of its uncertainties, wars and violence of
other kinds, some are filled with dread, their minds given over to
imaginings and fantasies. Some are drawn to groups which preach
superstition, placing hope in the comets or imaginary creatures from
other planets. These idolatries are an abomination. "You shall have no
other Gods before me." For Christians, the dawning of a new millennium
after Christ's birth marked the renewal of life in the fullness of the
Holy Spirit and renewed commitment to the true faith bestowed in Jesus
Christ. Both are gifts of God the Father to the Church in these "last
days" before Christ comes again.
“On the day of Pentecost when the seven weeks of Easter had come to an
end, Christ's Passover is fulfilled in the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person: of his
fullness, Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in abundance. (Cf.
Acts 2:33-36)” (CCC 731)
The Holy Spirit’s coming as promised by Christ as a gift from the
Father inaugurates the “last days” of which Christ spoke during his
earthly life and, at the same time, equips the faithful with the wisdom
necessary to grasp a proper understanding of what the “last days”
mean.
“On that day, the Holy Trinity is fully revealed. Since that day, the
Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to those who believe in him:
in the humility of the flesh and in faith, they already share in the
communion of the Holy Trinity. By his coming, which never ceases, the
Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into the ‘last days,’ the time of
the Church, the Kingdom already inherited though not yet consummated.”
(CCC 732)
In these, the “last days”, life in the Spirit enables the baptized
believer to begin already a transition from this world which will one
day end to the fullness of life in the Trinity which will never
end. Thus the Spirit gives a foretaste of eternal joy by
“pouring” abundantly “into our hearts” the eternal love of God.
“We have seen the true Light, we have received the heavenly Spirit, we
have found the true faith: we adore the indivisible Trinity, who has
saved us.”
The Lord Jesus associates the Church with himself, so that the body of
believers are one in the Holy Spirit and the "Body of Christ". St. Paul
learned this well when, thrown from his horse in the midst of his
vociferous persecution of Christians, Christ called out to him, "Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting me?" The Eucharistic Sacrifice is the
most perfect earthly work of the Church. Our role as baptized members
of the Body of Christ reaches its most exalted moment each time we
offer ourselves as a spiritual sacrifice in union with Christ through
the prayers and hymns of the Eucharist.
At last Jesus' hour arrives: (Cf. Jn 13:1; 17:1) he commends his spirit
into the Father's hands (Cf. Lk 23:46; Jn 19:30) at the very moment
when by his death he conquers death, so that, "raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father," (Rom 6:4) he might immediately give the Holy
Spirit by "breathing" on his disciples. (Cf. Jn 20:22) From this hour
onward, the mission of Christ and the Spirit becomes the mission of the
Church: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." (Jn 20:21; cf.
Mt 28:19; Lk 24:47-48; Acts 1:8) (CCC 731)
Our Holy Father Benedict XVI has invited us to discover the joy of
living our Faith. The sending of His Holy Spirit by our heavenly
Father is the gift of divine joy for us to receive in our hearts and to
share with others that it may continue to grow, a grace “welling up to
eternal life”. The grace of joy, the fruit of faithful confidence
in the Father’s promises, will grow stronger within each of us, sent as
a leaven in the world, if we permit the Father to reflect His own
divine love in the dispositions of our mind and heart, our intellect
and will, thus expressing that love in the thoughts, words and actions
of each day.
Come, Holy Spirit!
Our Scriptures for Pentecost: Acts 2, 1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Cor 12, 3-7.
12-13; John 20, 19-23 (For further reading on today's Gospel see
also these paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 434,
459, 609, 1823, 1824, 1972, 2745.)
Looking forward to meeting you here again next week, as, together, we
"meet Christ in the liturgy" -Father Cusick
(Publish with permission.) www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/
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http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
Pentecost
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Sermon
by Father Alex McAllister SDS
Pentecost, Year B—2006 Homily
The Feast of Pentecost ranks among the most important in the Christian
Calendar—it is up there with Christmas and Easter as marking a crucial
moment in the story of our salvation.
As we have just heard read to us, on Pentecost Day the Holy Spirit was
poured out upon the apostles and they were inspired to leave their
place of refuge and go out into the street to proclaim the Gospel
eloquently in the languages of all their listeners.
This great outpouring of the Holy Spirit was not a one-off event it is
something that continues in the Church right up to the present day.
Indeed it will always be one of the identifying characteristics of the
Church.
The Lord himself said: I will not leave you orphans. And neither he
has. The Holy Spirit has been sent down on the community of believers
and he inspires and sustains the Church through all the ages.
This great Feast of Pentecost is rightly considered the birthday of the
Church. But it marks much more than merely the birth of an institution.
What is happening is that we are being gradually drawn into the life of
the Trinity—the life of God himself.
We have been saved by the work of the Son and we now live the life of
the Spirit. We are being drawn ever closer to the Father and when we
die we shall rise to glory and see God face to face.
Each one of us experiences his or her own Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is
poured out on us in the Sacrament of Confirmation but the Spirit does
not stop there. We experience many other moments of grace because God
never ceases to act in our lives.
Nothing occurs by accident and, while respecting our free will, God
constantly cares for us and guides us in the way he chooses. If we want
to know whether he has actually done this then simply sit down and
count your blessings and you will soon see what he has been doing.
We as Christians want to live in harmony with our creator and we want
to follow where he leads us. Sometimes though we find it difficult to
discern his will. Does the Holy Spirit inspire this or that particular
action or it is just me following my own desires?
To answer this question we simply need to ask ourselves whether the
deed in question is good and whether its effects will be good. If there
is a shadow of doubt then we will know it is our own desires that are
at work rather than the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
God is good and there is no darkness in him. If our actions and
motivations are good in themselves then they certainly come from God.
This might not sound like much fun—we may regard being good all the
time as rather boring. But this is a basic error on our part. Doing
good deeds is certainly pleasurable, working in harmony with our
creator is in fact deeply satisfying; and indeed, true personal
fulfilment can be found in no other way.
The Lord Jesus breathed on the apostles and said Receive the Holy
Spirit, so we are told in the Gospel reading. This is a most
interesting action and indeed the Holy Spirit is often identified as
the very breath of God.
It is breath that gives life and the Holy Spirit certainly gives us
life. We begin to live a new life; we have a new breath in us—the
breath of God. We live this new life by doing the things God wants us
to do, thinking the thoughts God wants us to think and by speaking the
words that God wants us to speak.
By living in such close conformity to the will of God we become more
and more in harmony with him. What begins as an act of will, sometimes
only with great difficulty, gradually becomes second nature to us. We
don’t have to ask what God wants us to do because we instinctively
choose the good.
This sounds all very lovely and pious and you might be thinking by now
that although I might be saying these rather marvellous things I quite
obviously don’t live them! And you would be right.
You might also be thinking that you wish you could live in this way
yourself but it would be too hard. There are so many practical things
that get in the way. And actually we all quite like our little vices
and bad habits and are reluctant to let them go.
And this is understandable and in fact it is an inevitable effect of
the original sin that we were all born into. Concupiscence is the
technical word—if you want to know.
But look again at our Gospel reading and you see that the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit is simultaneous with the institution of the sacrament
of reconciliation. The Holy Spirit comes upon us and this Spirit is a
forgiving, healing and reconciling Spirit.
We want to live the way God wants but we frequently fail, we frequently
return to the selfish habits of sin, we frequently choose our way
rather than God’s way. But we are aware of this. And when things build
up we find ourselves turning to God in repentance to seek his
forgiveness and mercy.
When, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we clear away the backlog of
sin we hear the priest say those wonderful words: God, the Father of
mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled
the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the
forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give
you pardon and peace.
So although we are still fairly hopeless and always will have a certain
propensity to sin we can yet make progress. After all the Holy Spirit
is guiding us and he guides us along the way to holiness. By letting
him do his work we gradually grow in love and goodness. By letting him
do his work he draws us to the Father, he leads us to life eternal.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful,
And enkindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.
And you shall renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray.
O God, who has taught the hearts of the faithful by light of the Holy
Spirit, grant that by the gift of the same Spirit we may be always
truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation. Through Christ our
Lord. Amen
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Father Bonar will not be posting homilies for Cycle B to allow himself
time for other projects. His collection of homilies (including homilies
for Cycle B) is available at www.clydebonar.com.
Pentecost |
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These
homilies may be copied and adapted for your own use;
however, they may not be commercially published without permission of
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