Tag Archives: Pentecost

May 18 2013

The Holy Spirit: The life of the Church

Homily for Pentecost Sunday year C 2013

PentecostWhen I was in the seminary in Melbourne, I was once appointed as the Chapel Convenor, which means I had to look after the day to day celebrations of the Liturgy, making Rosters for liturgical celebrations and setting up for big religious events. Part of it was to prepare for the Stations of the Cross every Friday evening in lent. Sorry to disappoint you but Friday evening was a bit of a thing for us- seminarians- then. Friday evening was always a time to look forward to not only because it means we have a break from studies among other things, but also because Saturday is day off. And usually we then would start our day off after dinner on Friday by going on a movie marathon until dawn, etc. One Friday in Lent, I said to myself: “I need to do something different that would make me focus more on the Stations of the Cross than thinking on what movie I might be watching for the whole night.” So I invited seminarians of different nationalities and language to lead in each one of the stations, in their own language. It was done in English of course, in Italian, Vietnamese, Filipino, Croatian, Maltese, even in Kiwi, would you believe. That went well. That really kept me focused on the Stations of the Cross. That was one of my favourite things I did in the seminary. That was a Pentecost experience for me when we were reflecting on one devotion of our Christian faith through different languages reflecting different cultural backgrounds too. I might not have understood what they were saying but I know we were united in our reflection on the Stations of the Cross. That was really an experience to attest that the Holy Spirit is really at work.

Friends, my dear brothers and sisters, I’m sharing my experience of Pentecost this is what we celebrate today as a Church. We are celebrating this day as the birthday of the Church, the moment when the Church is being enflamed by the Holy Spirit and empowered to proclaim the Gospel to all the world, to all peoples, regardless of skin, nationalities and social status. Because of the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are one in Christ. We are one in faith, and here we are expressing that oneness in faith through this Eucharistic celebration. We may not have the same opinion. We may not have many things in common. In short, we may be different from one another, as we are all unique like everyone else so they say, yet we are one in Christ by virtue of our baptism. Thank you all for making a statement (by coming here) to the world that God is real, that the Holy Spirit is at work, and that Jesus is still alive among us and in each one of us.

And this is my prayer for you: That the event of Pentecost would happen again in all of us right here today. I pray that we would have the courage to go out and proclaim the ‘marvels of God’ to all people, starting from our families, friends and neighbours. One way I do this is through Facebook and Twitter.

I urged you too, to pray with me, together with the Psalmist: “Lord send out your Spirit and renew the face the earth.” Let us pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit to give us life, to sustain our faith and to give meaning to our hope.

We need the Spirit of God in our lives. We need the Holy Spirit because as one priest said the other night: ‘The Holy Spirit is the life of the Church.’ If the Holy Spirit is out of the picture, there is no point in everything we do as a Church now.

We need the Holy Spirit for many reasons. One reason is that like the disciples’ experience, it is the Holy Spirit that takes our fear away and gives us courage to proclaim the good news of Jesus despite threats of death, persecutions or even indifference. Our First Reading today is just a beautiful piece of evidence for this work of the Holy Spirit. The disciples were hiding in the upper room. The doors were locked. They were afraid of the authorities now that Jesus has left them on their own. He has ascended into heaven. But as God would have it, he fulfils his promise. He sent them the Holy Spirit as Jesus has promised them. Because of that, they went out of their comfort zones and went to the streets, preaching about God, telling others of Jesus Christ. This same Spirit is still at work even in our time and will always be. Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador would be one witness for this. He was so vocal against the injustices and corruption in his time on the 80’s, that he was threatened many times of death. One time he was asked: ‘Archbishop, with all these death threats around you, are you not scared?’ The good Archbishop answered: ‘I am. But even if my knees are shaking, I know I am standing on the right and firm ground.’ That was a Spirit at work in him.

Another reason we need the Holy Spirit today is because of the Mission that Jesus left for us to do. As Christians we are called to be the enduring and the living presence of the Risen Lord in the world. And this is possible if the Spirit of Christ is really in us.  It is a big call because of the many options people now have to face and to take, including God for that matter. Our time is characterized by commercialism and materialism- wherein the name of the game is: ‘If it doesn’t benefit me, or if it doesn’t suit me, or if I wouldn’t get anything out of it, why bother?’ As Christians we are to counter-act this prevailing attitude by allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us. How we might do this? We don’t have to Google for answers. Let us just look around us. God has offered us many ways, many channels of his graces, for us to know and understand  that he is there, that his Spirit is at work. One example of this is what Pope Francis has been doing so far as the Pope. He is, as I have heard from many people “a breath of a fresh air for the Church.” His gestures are revealing to us some of the ways of the Spirit reminding us that real service is not knowing all, or being a jack of all  trades to everyone, but by fidelity to the message of the gospel and by loving selflessly and unconditionally. In a way the Pope is really carrying out what Jesus said in our gospel today: ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my commandments.’ He is inflamed by the Spirit.

St Paul would also offer us another way to be the enduring presence of Christ in the world today, and that is: Our interests and ambitions must be deeper than just fulfilling our worldly ambitions and yearnings. It must be different from what the world’s expectations (glory, fame, honour, wealth, influence, etc). It must be a longing for heaven, a longing for eternal happiness, a longing for God. And this can be possible only if we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, and to allow the Spirit of Jesus to be our motive, our goal and our reason to believe, to live and love.

So let us pray: Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth.

 

 

May 28 2012

Pentecost: Empowering the Church

 Pentecost B 2012

We might say that the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples liberated them from their fear and transformed them into apostles, men with a mission. Not for nothing do we say that this feast marks the birthday of the Church. Let’s look more closely at what today’s readings tell us.

First of all, Pentecost was an established Jewish feast, one of the most important in their liturgical calendar. It was sometimes called the Feast of Weeks, because according to the instructions in the Torah, it took place seven weeks after they had gathered the first sheaf of new corn. So initially it was a kind of harvest festival. Torah stressed that the entry of the tribes of Israel into the Promised Land marked the fulfilment of God’s promises to his Chosen People. It was right and fitting that they should offer the first fruits of the harvest as an act of thanksgiving. The Jewish people came to think of the festival as a celebration of the renewal of the covenant. A key aspect of the covenant was God’s gift of Torah, the laws for righteous living and it just so happens that in rabbinical teaching, fire was often used as a symbol of Torah.

The passage from Acts that we heard just now stresses the crowds present in Jerusalem on the day that the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples, looking like tongues of fire. There were pilgrims from every part of the world into which Jews had gone. These pilgrims from the diaspora then can be said to symbolize the known world. As the apostles began to preach, each of the visitors heard them in his or her own language. And we may be sure that when they returned to their own countries they talked about what they had seen and heard in Jerusalem. Later, when the apostles began to move out from Jerusalem carrying the good news towards the ends of the earth, no doubt some of these people came forward to support what the apostles said, and to welcome the gospel.

Today’s gospel is another extract from Our Lord’s final instructions to his disciples during the Last Supper. He promises to send them an Advocate whom he describes as the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father; he [or she] will be my witness. Scholars argue about the best translation of the word rendered here as ‘advocate’. To us ‘advocate’ suggests a court of law which is not the normal setting for the apostles. Still, there is a touch of the courts in Jesus’ instruction that you too will be witnesses because you have been with me from the outset. Because they have been with Jesus throughout the years of his public life, they will be able to testify – to bear witness – to all that he has said and done. Since the Spirit is the Spirit of truth they can count on her to help them recall accurately the details of Jesus’ life and teachings: the Spirit of truth will lead you to the complete truth [and] will tell you of the things to come.

We sometimes speak of the ‘indwelling’ of the Holy Spirit. By that we mean that the Spirit once received remains with us, unless we drive her out by committing grave sin. The Spirit dwelling in us represents Jesus’ ongoing presence in the world. This makes us vulnerable, for Jesus does have enemies in the world. Think of the often renewed attacks on Church schools and the teaching of religion generally. Think of the plague of abortion. Think of the indifference to and the demonization of refugees and asylum seekers. Insofar as we draw attention to these evils, we shall receive the abuse that Jesus’ enemies can no longer give to him directly.

Writing to the Galatians, St Paul was concerned not so much with the Spirit’s influence on the mission of the whole Church as with her effect on the life of the believer, that is to say every single one of us. After all, we all received the gifts of the Holy Spirit when we were confirmed. God does not force his gifts on us. We can put them to good use, or we can ignore them. We can follow the promptings of the Spirit, or we can pay no attention. Paul writes: If you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence. He lists the fruits of self-indulgence. They include sins of the flesh, works of idolatry, activities that harm the community, like jealousy, anger, factions; and drunkenness and carousing. By contrast, the fruits of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control.

As you know, this year’s feast of Pentecost has been chosen by the Australian bishops to launch the Year of Grace. It is not so much a time for doing something new as a time for pausing to take stock and for being more deeply what we are already: people of God, recipients of many gifts. Just as the Jewish people regularly recall God’s liberating gifts to them, so also we are being invited this year to review all that God has done for us. It will then be natural for us to draw closer to God with prayers of thanksgiving. Please note that I am not saying we should say more prayers. What I am saying is that we should pray better, i.e. we should spend more time quietly in the presence of God offering prayers of praise and thanksgiving.

During this week the Church reminds us of another matter, namely the need for reconciliation between indigenous Australians and the later arrivals and their descendants. When the first European settlers invited themselves into Australia at the end of the 18th century they were immediately struck by the differences between themselves and the native inhabitants. ‘Different from’ quickly came to mean ‘inferior to’. The 18th century is sometimes called the Age of Reason. It was a time of research, enquiry, exploration; it was a time of notable achievements in literature, art and music – a high point in European civilisation. Regrettably it was not the most civilised Europeans who arrived at Botany Bay. From the point of view of the Aborigines, what they call ‘the invasion’ has been a disaster. Yet we now know that those peoples had developed a very intelligent way of managing and using the resources of this continent. They had an elaborate set of beliefs about the origin and purpose of creation. They had laws and a moral code and ways of dealing with transgressors. Certainly their culture was very different from that of the Europeans, but it was not inferior to it as a way of ordering society.

You may remember that it was not until 1967 that Aborigines were granted full citizenship rights. I can tell you that to an Australian who has lived abroad for more than 30 years, that is an embarrassing fact. So progress has been made, but it is far from complete. The purpose of this reconciliation week is to make us all aware of the problem, and at least open to attempts to solve it.

Early navigators called our country the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit. Let us not stifle the Spirit within us, but rather be open to her promptings to draw closer to God and to each other. (Quentin Howard)

26-05-2012

Jun 18 2011

Homily for Trinity Sunday 2011

Today’s solemnity is one of those many elements of the mystery of our Christian faith that is very hard to explain. Yet it is the core of our being baptised Christian, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It is quite hard and a big challenge to try to explain this mystery of our faith, that God is one and three or God is three persons in one God. This is what we call the Trinity. This is what we celebrate today.

We can however talk about this mystery of the Holy Trinity in forms of analogy. For the lovers of nature, God is like the sun. The Father is the Sun, the rays emanating the earth is the Son, and the warmth, the energy we feel and benefit from is the Holy Spirit. For the singers, the Father is the singer, the Son is the Song and the Holy Spirit is the beautiful sound of music that comes out of both. For the musician the guitar can even be used as the analogy, the Father being the hand or the person playing, the Son as the guitar and the music that is produced is the Holy Spirit. For the mathematician, God is perfect triangle- three perfect angles in one Triangle. One God in three or three in one: a mystery indeed.

As a mystery, it always eludes us. We just couldn’t make a simple explanation to this. Theologians, ever since, are trying to explain this mystery, they wrote books and books about this. But still it remains a great mystery for all of us. The theologians said, that God is love, and his love is so intense, so perfect and complete, strong and personal, that it becomes a person, the Son. The Son loves the Father back. His love is so intense and strong, perfect and complete and personal, that it becomes a person, the Holy Spirit.

This really blows our mind away. But here is the beauty of it. This mysterious nature of our God is revealed to us when we love somebody. It takes two persons to love, the lover and the beloved and this love makes them one. The two persons truly in love don’t care about the rest of the world, don’t feel shame or embarrassed because their love is true and personal, strong and intense. Their love unites them as one, and in fact the only one, as if the world revolves around them.

And we can tell this, that when we are in love, we just have to let things be, without trying to explain why for instance, do I feel in love to this specific person and not to someone else there? When we are in love, at times we wonder why is this like this or like that. Sometimes we even can say “Love is blind” really because I didn’t even take notice of my beloved’s weaknesses and limitations, because I love him or her so much that no matter what people would say, my love will prevail.  I just want to tell the world how much I love my beloved.

In like manner, this is the kind of love that binds the Holy Trinity, the One God in three persons, in perfect communion. The love between them is so strong and overflowing and personal that God shares this love to us, his creation. Whoever we are and what we do, God loves us in a very personal way, and he always invites us to accept this offer of love. His love is not enforcing, it is inviting. Our God is love. This is what Jesus said to Nicodemus in our Gospel today, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son…the love of God. This is our God, the God of love and peace as St Paul tells us today in the Second Reading. The God who is God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness as Moses declares in our First Reading today.

But how can we understand this love between the Trinity which overflows to humanity? An analogy might be of help here. See that God’s love is like the sun. It always gives light to the world. It always gives warmth to the earth. It always energizes the creation. Even if a heavy cloud is blocking our sight to see it, it remains there. The sun does not hide. Even if we hide in a totally dark cave, it does not affect in any way, nor diminish the sun’s light. It always remains as is. In a similar way, this is how God loves us.  If we have realized, convinced and have experienced this wonderful love of God, we know that we have a great support. We take courage in what we do.  And we can ask anything from this loving God of ours. Because he loves us, he really knows what his beloved needs.  The other day, I sat down for the exam to hear confession. I had to face a Canon lawyer and a moral theologian. Before that I was really nervous, ill-prepared, lack in confidence and just anxious because I don’t know what confessional cases would be asked for and respond to. There are only two possibilities there, either I pass or I fail no credit, no distinction, just pass or fail. If I fail, I have to come and sit on the exam again in two weeks, and I don’t want to do that.  I literally was praying to the Holy Trinity. I said, “Father, I trust in you. Jesus help me here. Holy Spirit, enlighten my mind and heart that I may be able to speak and respond adequately the questions and to the situations laid out before me.” I took the exam. I was relieved later on when I learned that both of the examiners have immediately agreed that I passed. I don’t know how I did it. I could not exactly remember now what I said in my answers to their questions. But when I expressed my concern to one of the examiners that I am worried if I dealt each particular case accordingly, he said, “except that you’ve given all the right answers.” I spent the rest of that day thanking God in all my heart for his help and for showing that he loves and really cares for me.

That is how God loves us. If we just let him love us and embrace his love. We just can’t help but savour the sweetness of his love. Eventually then, by living in his love, we’ll be able to have a glimpse of how perfect a love it really is the love that binds the three persons in One God.