Homily for the Week of May

HOMILY PENTECOST 2012 Acts 1:1-11 Psalm 104: 1, 29-30, 31, 34 1 Cor 12: 2-7; Jn 20:19-23 One day there was a young traveler who was wandering through the Alps in Switzerland. While hiking he came upon a vast stretch of barren land devoid of trees or anything green. In the middle of this wasteland, he noticed a bent old man. On his back the old man had a sack of acorns and in his hand he held an iron pipe about four feet long. The old man used the pipe to punch holes in the ground. Then, from his sack he would take an acorn and put it into the hole. To the traveler, the old man said: I have planted well over 100,000 acorns. Perhaps 10,000 of them will grow some day. My wife and son died a few years ago, and I want to do something useful before I die. The old man was planting the acorn for the good of others. He knew he would never get to enjoy the beauty of the few acorns that would grow into oak trees. So, he planted the potential trees for others. He knew that the oak trees would produce more acorns which would be the food for survival for much wildlife such as jays, squirrels, deer. At one time acorns were the food for Native Americans and other cultures. The old man planted the acorns for the common good, much as we heard St. Paul tell us today in his letter to the Corinthians that the breath of the Holy Spirit is given for the common good. We all know how important the ability to breath is to a new born baby, and for each of us until our last breathe. Right now probably none of you noticed you were breathing. We don't give enough thought to what it means to be able to breathe. We just do it. But if our ability to breathe is compromised, we will most likely panic. Asthma and emphysema sufferers, and those with other respiratory or heart problems, live with this panic. They know what is happening to them, and fortunately their crises can be relieved with oxygen, at least for a while. Many years ago, people would hold a mirror to the mouth of a dying person; if there was breath, it would form a mist on the mirror, showing that the person was still alive. The presence of breath was for them and still is for us the sign of life and energy within. Fifty days after his resurrection Jesus breathed on the disciples, a sign that he was sharing his life, his Spirit, his energy with them. Having breathed on them, he said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." He breathed the energy, the life of God into the disciples. And this changed them in ways unimaginable. At Pentecost new persons of God were formed, made up of women and men like us, reluctant and fearful; persons who before Pentecost were like a tower of Babel, unable to understand each other. Now they discovered they were able to speak in foreign languages. And this new life gave them the courage to come out of the rooms in which they had hid themselves, paralyzed with fear, dispirited, confused, and disillusioned. Spirited and excited they were able to enjoy a new life unknown to them just minutes before. The first breath or our religious and spiritual life came at our Baptism when we first received the Holy Spirit. This Pentecost Day can remind us of those who brought us to our Baptism and those who planted the acorns in our life; of those who transformed us by teaching us our Catholic faith, by introducing us to prayer and spirituality, by introducing us to sacraments such as First Communion, or Confession, or Confirmation, or the person on whom you placed the wedding ring saying Take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity. But if we are to transform our society, we cannot live only for ourselves. The gifts we have received we must give as gift. We cannot be stingy with our gifts. As followers of Jesus we all have a variety of talents, yet we form one body in Jesus, one communion, one Eucharist. WE ARE CALLED UPON TODAY, THIS PENTECOST, TO BE TRULY AND FULLY REBORN IN THE SPIRIT. BUT HOW WILL WE KNOW THAT THIS CHANGE HAS TAKEN PLACE WITHIN US? WE WILL KNOW WHEN THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT ARE FULLY THERE; WHEN SLAVERY GIVES WAY TO FREEDOM; WHEN LOVE OF EVERYONE REPLACES PREJUDICE; WHEN WE CAN PARDON THOSE WHO INJURE US; WHEN WE CAN LIVE AT PEACE WITH EVERYONE; WHEN WE BECOME DYNAMIC MESSENGERS OF THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS ACCORDING TO OUR OWN GIFTS. THIS IS ALSO AN EXCELLENT WEEK-END TO HAVE BOTH A MEMORIAL DAY AND THE CELEBRATION OF PENTECOST. JUST AS IT WAS AT PENTECOST THAT THE CHURCH GOT ITS NAME AND ITS FIRM FOOTING, IT IS THE PERSONS WE REMEMBER BURIED IN THE CEMETERIES OF OUR LIFE THAT WE ARE REMINDED THAT IT WAS VERY OFTEN THESE INDIVIDUALS WHO GAVE US OUR SPIRITUAL FOOTING. COME HOLY SPIRIT, RENEW US. HOLD US IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND. HELP US TO LIVE DAILY AS WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT. GIVE US A NEW BIRTH AND RENEW US IN YOUR SPIRIT.