Sunday Readings

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Spirit Song

I’m sorry, but the new Euro looks to me like monopoly money. I know it is not, but I have to shift the way I think. Like anything new, we have to adjust. Today, we celebrate something quite similar. Pentecost is the feast that recalls the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the amazing things that occurred that day. In our own time, this happens as we continually adjust to the newness of grace. The Holy Spirit has been given so we can translate the language of mercy and move from the human to the Divine.

When we hear the modern language of religion, we use expressions that imply we human beings can easily and conveniently enter the presence of God. Just listen to the stars winning awards for pornographic movies and songs as they thank God for the ‘talent’ to make them. Spirituality can be an assumed asset to every person’s character even if it is never seen. And God help you if you dare to say otherwise.

We know better. We know how daft and sinful we can be. We understand that our vices can block the flow of grace even as a tree limb can cut off the power. We are humans who need to learn the dialect of the Divine. We need something to translate our hearts to the reality of the God who is beyond words.

Go back, for a moment, to Christmas. ‘The Word became flesh’ and we marked he Incarnation of God become man. We heard His teachings and saw the Passion. Having finished the Easter season, we also saw the triumph of the resurrection and the ascension. So where does that leave us? Has He left us?
The gift of the Father, the Holy Spirit, is what has kept the Church plugged in to the event of mercy. It speaks for us and communicates through the distance of time and place the grace of God. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the ‘Advocate’ which means the voice that speaks when we cannot. The Holy Spirit speaks our deepest prayers and offers the holy comfort of God’s presence. St. Paul says that this is something so profound words are not sufficient. It is the gasp of a child at the difficulties of life. It is the groaning of hearts weary with pain. It is the sigh of some one overwhelmed with sadness. This is the language of the Holy Spirit when these things are brought into the Presence of God. And as these are translated into prayer, that same Holy Spirit carries the assurance of grace in answer to them.

The glory of the Incarnation is realized in the Pentecost event. The union of humanity with God is complete n Christ and continues by the activity of the Holy Spirit continually poured out – age after age - upon the people of this new dispensation. Human and Divinity are brought together so communication can be a way of life even if our lives are not always in line with our God.

Talk about mercy! Talk about power! On Pentecost we start congratulating ourselves for ‘being church’ and how all the talents we are able to see and use are a part of God’s will for us. And there is nothing wrong with that. It is called the birthday of the Church and for good reason. We have received, by Sacraments and grace, the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is about who we are more than even what we have. We are in union, in communication with God. The gift of the Spirit has given us access that is both bold and humbling. Mere mortals can approach the immortal God. Limited people can reach the limitless mercy of the Creator. Even if life is not always good, God is greater. This is the key to heaven itself and we have been given the password without words.

Why the theology lesson today? Why are you being treated to my poetic musings on the Divine?

Pentecost asks us to understand and reflect. We speak so often of the things of God; today we speak of God. Or better, because of today, we speak with God. This ‘universal translator’ is our sounding board and listening post. Pentecost is about prayer. It’s easy to think of prayer as merely a matter of words and series of gestures. Yes, these are the tangible and intelligible things we need. But prayer goes beyond these. How we pray is the challenge of a Pentecost Sunday. Many discover that they can speak to God ‘in their own words’ as well as the language of formal prayer. This is a good and mature discovery. The next step goes farther. Prayer becomes more than words as we begin to experience the Presence of God. The Holy Spirit dwelling within teaches our souls a new language, a new music that points out and highlights the Presence of God. Beyond words and even thoughts, God dwells in our hearts by faith and we begin to know – in part – a glory we hope know fully in eternity.

Oh, I love it when I launch right into the stratosphere! Yes, it is heady and theological. So let’s distill this Pentecost to a simple question: do I pray or do I say prayers? Can I take my heaviest heart before God or tell Him what He already knows? Can I be truly thankful or just send a prayerful note? You don’t have to be a mystic to answer these. You are not a simpleton if you can’t. Few are ‘good’ at prayer - if that can even be measured. But we are people who have been given this power from on high and we have been given it for a reason. Like anything in religion or life, we have been called to grow closer to the God who has come so close to us. As Christians, gifted with the Holy Spirit, the only way we know is prayer.

At Confirmation, the Church prays that those to be confirmed will be given the Gifts of the Spirit. The last one we pray for is ‘awe and wonder’ in the presence of God. The Biblical term is the ‘fear of the Lord.’ Prayer is about that awe and wonder as we bring before God our hopes and needs even as we receive the grace and answer to them. That is what every Christian has the privilege of knowing. Pentecost is about the new song sung by those who have heard the tune. We echo the praise of the saints when we speak of the will of God. We repeat the adoration of angels as we say, “Holy, Hoy Holy.”

May this feast and grace of God continue to give us the prayerful desire to join in this heavenly chorus even as we sing it here on earth. May the prayer of the Church today give us a joyous encouragement to pray in our own hearts to the God of all grace.

Sunday Readings

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Community Unity

What a week! They said it was not a tornado – them with all their science and book-learning – but we know it was. Well that’s the way it seemed anyway. The high winds did some real damage. And what did we do? We called each other and asked if everyone was okay. We got local damage reports and condoled the loss of great trees. And we did this on instinct. It seemed natural that people should call or IM each other. In the face of something wrong, this was a way of making something right. No, this was not a disaster on par with a volcano or earthquake, but it was real and some people were more than a little inconvenienced. Thankfully no one was hurt. But let’s focus on how and why we called and asked each other how things were working out.

Unity, in the face of adversity, just seems to make sense. It points to a better way, a more perfect something. We can go so far as to say that unity echoes divinity. The union of Jesus and the Father, in communion with the Holy Spirit is so perfect that what we do well is an attempt to replicate it in some way. When we see the brokenness of the world and the human heart, we instinctively know the only cure must resemble the complete unity of the presence of God.

The prayer of Jesus today is for that very unity. It is that unity of faith that can bring together the scatted elements of everyone’s life. In faith, we rest secure and rooted in the reason for life itself. And nothing can witness more powerfully to the truth than the unity of those who have known the Truth Himself. And united to Him, we have a unity beyond our most creative and complicated efforts.

And maybe this is something we need to hear. From the cliques in High School to the social structure of nations, we seem to try and gain identity in a unity of ideas and behavior. That’s as natural as two hydrogen atoms hanging with one oxygen atom. But too many – from all sides – apply this model to the Church. They say we are one because we all fit into a certain belief and practice system. It is all about us. I am always amazed at how the Church is understood as an organization built upon what we think it should be. Many of the contemporary songs we sing seem to affirm this. We speak of ourselves as ‘thinking’, ‘intelligent’ and ‘conscientious’ Catholics. In so far as others agree with us, they are members with us. Whether the Folk Mass crowd or the Latin Mass crowd, this heresy of a self-actualizing Church creeps in far too often. And when it does, the prayer of Jesus goes unanswered.

The gift of unity in faith is the gift of Catholicism. It means a gift of faith that is universal and from God. This is a revealed faith that goes beyond a theology discovered. It is a truth not dependant on polls and popularity. Circumstances change but communion does not. We are united not because of what we believe; we are one because of who God has made us. The love that has brought is into communion with God is the one love that can bring us together. If love brought us together in this way, only love can keep us that way. And for people of faith, we see reflections and signs of this love where ever we look. The care of family, friends, neighbors and strangers when the wind blows and the power is cut is one such sign. The joy of a team’s victory or a family party for some one’s graduation – all of these point to a common ideal of perfection. Our solidarity with those who share in the cross is perhaps the most obvious witness to what it really means to be a church. And there are those wonderful moments when we stand with hundreds or thousands and pray together in unison even if our native languages are worlds apart. The other week, in Lourdes, I experienced this in the huge underground basilica when we came to the “Our Father” and thousands sang Pater Noster . Many have experienced this and millions saw it at Pope John Paul’s funeral.

But even here, in this place, and especially in this place, we stand with each other to do the same thing. Our unity as a parish can be seen in the many things we do but it will be found in our prayer together. What brings us together is the action of the Holy Spirit in answer to the prayer of Jesus Himself. Just think of everyone here seated around the table at the Last Supper. As varied as the disciples were. the same is true of this and every congregation. The diversity of backgrounds and cultures is always there. And this disparate gathering is the one who Jesus prays may be one through the gift of the Holy Spirit. That unity is real only so long as it rooted and secured in our communion with God. History has shown what happens when we forget this and what happens when we discover it anew.

So as we pray in this great Novena – the nine days from Ascension to Pentecost – we pray the prayer of Jesus that in Him, we may be one. We become the answer to His prayer when we witness to the faith which is catholic and vibrant. Jesus saw us as a gift given Him by the Father. He desired our unity with Him and with each other both in this life and in the world to come. As good as an organized church can be in the mission of the Gospel to the world, we have a higher reason than ‘community unity.’ We are called to be one for ever.

And with the grace of the Holy Spirit, we are and will be forever. Amen.

Sunday Readings

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A Mother's Heaven

A great dish of pasta is often described as ‘heavenly.’ And a peaceful view in the mountains is called ‘a bit of heaven.’ But I can say something more exact. Dear friends, I have seen Heaven. Now pick up your dropped jaws and, no, I am not talking about a ‘near death experience.’ I am talking about heaven and that is something we do not talk about often enough.

The second reading describes this golden and luminous city of God. Jesus Himself speaks of an abiding Presence in those who have accepted His word. And the first reading is an account of an early controversy in the primitive Church. Can we really put these three together and come to a homily on Heaven? I believe we can.

Let’s agree first to drop the images of chunky cherubs and fluffy clouds. Heaven is simply being in the Presence of God. And we are not alone since there is a crowd that ‘no one could number’ standing before the throne of the Lamb. This is a society and a real one at that. And it is an awesome thing that is as mystical as it is promised. So this society is going to work through issues and resolve them. These are the ones who are united by the Presence of God in their hearts. And it’s a wonder beyond image or speech.

And I have been there while still here. Last week I was caught up in it and I defy anyone who says I was not. Last week, I was in Lourdes. Sorry, I have no spectacular miracle to report. I did not have an epiphany of divine portents or inner locutions to proclaim. I was simply in a human society gathered before our God and it was wonderful. Over 10,000 were brought to that peaceful place and the air was electric with charity. People – like myself - with illness and disability were transported in chariots drawn by the efforted faith of those who have known the Presence of God. And although surrounded by people in such great pain, there was something mystical present because we were there in the greater Presence of the Son of Mary. Whether in the underground basilica with 10,000 at Mass or in the café scarfing down gelato with just a few, we were there and all the requirements for heaven were there as well.

Has this all sounded like a vacation journal or an article from the travel section? I’m sure it has to many. That is not my intention. Today is Mother’s Day and we honor those women in the role of a mother whose primary vocation has been to introduce the reality of Grace to the future citizens of that heavenly Jerusalem. On a day like this, honoring the Mother of God is more than appropriate. And in recounting this isolated experience of your locale malade at Lourdes, I hope that the uniting influence of Mary can witness to the heroines among us who do the same on a smaller scale. The heavenly peace in the Gospel today is given by the Risen Savior to those who have been prepared for it – in a large part – by their mothers. The comfort and protection offered – even from afar – are indications of something greater. The peace created by reassurance and even correction point to a ‘peace beyond understanding.’ And they introduce a taste of heaven that many have found already at a shrine in honor of the Mother of God.

So on a spring day, we gather to receive a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. And most of us do so because our mothers taught us to. We seek that peace of God’s grace because in the sanctified human bond of mother and child, we touched it and, as St. Augustine said, we now burn for it. No, no mother is perfect and situations do not always work out the way we would prefer. We can be separated from each other and distanced by death. But what we honor is greater. The perfect society of the City of God is composed of imperfect pilgrims seeking the healing waters of mercy.

So, pilgrims and sinners, saints and citizens, celebrate the grace you have known and honor those who were its introduction. May this Mother’s day, and every day, be an experience of heaven. Remain in God’s love and in each others’.

It’s what your mother would want you to do.

Sunday Readings

I am off to Lourdes with the Knights of Malta. I will be back later this week and will remember you at the Grotto on this providential trip.