PENTECOST

PENTECOST

It is said that a certain guide lived in the desert of Arabia who never lost his way. He carried with him a homing pigeon with a very fine cord attached to one of its legs. When in doubt as to which path to take, he flushed the bird into the air. The pigeon quickly strained at the cord to fly in the direction of home and thus led the guide accurately to his destination. Because of this unique practice, he was known as the “dove man.” So, too, the Holy Spirit, the heavenly Dove, is willing and able to direct us in the strait and narrow way that leads us to the more abundant life, if in humble self-denial we submit to his unerring supervision. Then we shall be men and women of  Pentecost. The famous Protestant charismatic preacher, Rev. Moody, once said, “You might as well try to hear without ears or breathe without lungs, as try to live a Christian life without the Spirit of God.”

A little girl was visiting her grandmother in a small country town in southern United States. Grandmother took the girl to a highly charged Pentecostal function. The people got all worked up and expressed their feelings by jumping about and shouting. It was another of those “Holy Roller” services. The little girl asked her grandmother if all that jumping meant that the Holy Spirit was really present. Her grandmother said, “Honey, it doesn’t matter how high they jump; it’s what they do when they come down that will tell you if it is the real thing.” My comment is that it would be good if we were a little more enthusiastic about our faith, but what matters is what we do in everyday life. Does the Holy Spirit have a practical effect on our daily life, and in what way ? As someone put it, “We do not need more of the Spirit. Rather, the Spirit needs more of us.”

Let us focus on our Lord Jesus. When Jesus was baptised in the Jordan and the Spirit descended on him in the visible form of a dove, it wasn’t a piece of advertisement or comic routine, but serious business.  Immediately after the baptism, Jesus submitted to the Spirit who drove him into the desert as a prelude to his mission. The body of Jesus was instinct with the Spirit, such that whenever he exhaled he breathed out the Spirit. You will recall how after his Resurrection he breathed on his disciples saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit; those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven” (John 20,22). That was the Spirit of pardon and reconcilement. After Jesus assigns to the disciples (and to all of us) the ministry of making his love present in the world, he offers the strength to carry out such a difficult task: “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ (John 20, 22). This is like a new creation scene in which Jesus enlivens and empowers his followers much as the creator breathed life into the first human being (Gen 2,7). Then Jesus singles out what is clearly the very first duty of his followers: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (20,23). This can only mean that one of the primary effects of true Christian love is the willingness to forgive others who may have hurt us in any way. This is an awesome responsibility and it cannot be restricted  simply to the sacrament of reconciliation. Every one of us is offered the help of the Holy Spirit so that we may have the courage to forgive and if we do not do so, in some very real and tragic sense the healing will be thwarted.

Sometimes I think that the only question that will be asked at the last judgement will be, quite simply, Did you let my people go ? In other words, was the overall effect of your presence in the world to liberate or to hold in bondage ? Were you a Moses, friend of God, or a pharaoh, holding others in slavery ? Forgiveness can be very difficult, but that is precisely why Jesus sends his powerful Spirit to assist us.

Jesus clearly told his disciples, “The Spirit blows where it wills. There’s no telling where it will blow you.” After Pentecost day the apostles were dispersed on the wings of the Spirit to the four corners of the earth on the mission of evangelisation. Jesus told Peter, “When you were young, you clad your belt and went where you pleased. But when you are old (i.e. matured in the Spirit) somebody else will clad you and take you where you do not wish to go.” You might also remember that decisive turning point in the life of Peter. He was in Rome in the year 52, but the antichristian persecution was getting too hot for him there. So he struck out for home and country back in Palestine, accompanied by a little servant boy. But on the way, on the Appian way, to be exact, he was intercepted by Jesus who appeared to him. Peter was shocked to see the Lord and asked him that famous question: “Quo vadis, Domine ?” (“Where are you headed, Lord ?) and suddenly the little boy began speaking, “My brethren in Rome need me.” The vision was over, the Spirit had spoken, and Peter made an about turn, double-timing it back to Rome where he was crucified upside-down.

Living a spiritual life is living a life in which our spirits and Spirit of God bear a joint witness that we belong to God as his beloved children. This witness involves every aspect of our lives: “Whatever you eat, then, or drink, and whatever else you do, do it all for the glory of God”, says St. Paul (Rom 10,31). Wherever we go and whomever we meet, God’s Spirit will manifest himself through us. We may occasionally need to speak up in defence of God, even enlighten someone about Jesus Christ, as long as it doesn’t create divisions. But the way that the Holy Spirit manifests himself most convincingly is through the fruit: “love, joy, peace, endurance, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5,22). These fruit speak for themselves. Circle the odd one out. Joy is the odd one out. Why ? The other items, like love, peace, goodness, are virtues requiring strength and application, to have and to develop, especially self-control. But joy seems to come and go by itself. I feel it or I don’t. I feel good when I do and sad when I do not. It’s like the difference between good cool weather and physical fitness. I can’t produce cool weather but I can work towards physical fitness by proper dieting and exercise. “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet !” Patience and self control fall into the gymnasium variety; joy is like the weather. We cannot earn it or acquire it, though we can pray for it since we know that God and the saints are in the fullness of joy. And we can prepare ourselves to work together with God’s generosity in the power of the Holy Spirit precisely by making other people happy.

Happiness is the result of spiritual health, not material wealth. Material wealth certainly can be a positive factor of security for our children and ourselves. But by working for our spiritual health we can acquire a deeper foundation for inner security. A happy person is not a person in a given set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes. Story of the woman waking up her son reluctant to go to school. Son pleads, “I hate school; and besides, the boys don’t like me.” Mother reasons, “You’re 40 years old; and besides, you’re the headmaster.” So, you can get out of bed ready to make the day an adventure. Or you can drag yourself out of bed dreading the hours ahead. You can get up early enough to have the time to relax with a healthful breakfast. Or you can stay in bed as long as possible and rush to work, mind and body all tense, and thoughts all scrambled from hurrying. Your attitudes help create your circumstances; they make you either a happy or unhappy person, to overcome problems or go under them.

Among the saints who are identified with joy or mirth is St. Thomas More of England. Erasmus said of him: “From boyhood he was always so pleased with a joke that it might seem that jesting was the main object of his life.” “In adulthood, his countenance answers to his character, having an expression of kind and friendly cheerfulness with a little air of raillery." Thomas More was once asked whether he preferred short women to tall ones. He answered, “short ones; they are the lesser of two evils.” Before you draw your conclusion from the joke about the joker, let me report what his latest biographer, Ackroyd, stresses, that Thomas More regarded women as the intellectual equal of men, and made his daughter Margaret the most learned woman of her day. Thomas More’s wife was Dame Alice. Despite their public teasing, husband and wife were very happy with each other. Thomas More was condemned to death by a perverse and petulant King Henry VIII. But the death sentence did not dampen his gaiety. During his last days, while in prison and suffering from his old disease in the chest - gravel, stone and the cramps  -  he habitually joked with his family and friends, whenever they were permitted to see him, as merrily as in the old days of Chelsea when he was Lord Chancellor. When it came time for him to ascend the executioner’s scaffold, it was discovered that the structure was so weak that it appeared ready to collapse. Turning to the man assisting him, Thomas More remarked, “I pray you, I pray you, Mr. Lieutenant, see me safe up, and as for coming down, let me shift for myself.” After kneeling and saying  prayers, he turned to the executioner and, with a cheerful countenance spoke to him: “Pluck up thy spirits, man, and be not afraid to do thine office. My neck is very short. Take heed, therefore, thou strike not awry for saving thine honour.” As he placed his head on the block, he shifted his prison grown beard aside saying, “This has committed no crime.” May I remind you, dear friends, that under his finery as Lord Chancellor, St. Thomas More always wore a hair shirt and prayed five hours a day.

Focusing on today’s great feast, we recall that our dear Lord Jesus has poured into our hearts the Spirit of the promise. May we be open to his joy, strength and consolation.

We believe in the Holy Spirit who animates the Holy Catholic Church,

who brings about the forgiveness of sins,

and accomplishes the resurrection and life everlasting.

PRAYER: (Hildegaard of Bingen, 1098 – 1179)

Holy Spirit, the life that gives life,

You are the cause of all movement,

You are the breath of all creatures,

You are the salve that purifies all souls,

You are the ointment that heals all wounds,

You are the fire that warms our hearts,

You are the light that guides our feet.

Let the world praise you.