Homily for the Solemnity of Pentecost
May
23, 2021
Gal
5: 16-25
Holy
Name of Jesus, New Rochelle, N.Y.
St.
Joseph’s Home, New Rochelle[1]
“Brothers and
sisters, live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of
the flesh” (Gal 5: 16).
Today we
celebrate God’s great gift to the disciples of Jesus, the gift of the Holy
Spirit. In 2 of the Scripture readings
we heard accounts of how the Spirit was given:
the very dramatic and public rushing of the Spirit on the day of
Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11), and a quiet, private bestowal of the Spirit on Easter
nite (John 20:19-23).
Either way of
reading how Jesus has given us this wonderful gift, the gift is, as the Collect
says, for the sanctification of the “whole Church in every people and
nation.” We pray that “the hearts of
believers” today may be filled with “divine grace,” as the hearts of the
apostles, the Virgin Mary, and the other 1st believers were.
The Church, the community of all believers, needs the sanctifying gift of the Holy Spirit. As individuals and as a larger community, we are in mortal combat daily against what St. Paul calls “the works of the flesh” (Gal 5:19). His catalog of those works is long and would dishearten us—“immorality , impurity, lust, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like” (5:19-21)—were it not that the Spirit of Christ is stronger.
The Spirit of
Christ offers us forgiveness, as we heard in the gospel, and then gives us the
power to think and live differently. “In
contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (5:22-23).
St. Paul may
say, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its
passions and desires” (5:24). If only it
were that straightforward! Those
passions, those works that St. Paul lists, afflict us all so terribly.
But Jesus gave
us his Holy Spirit when we were baptized and when we were confirmed. We know we are temples of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will help us tackle those
passions—our penchant for gossip and passing judgment, our addiction to
gambling, drink, or pornography, our readiness to snap at our spouse or our
children, our need to compare our house, our car, or our wardrobe with someone
else’s. The Spirit will help us practice
the virtues that we and the whole world need so much: to be faithful, to be gentle, to be joyful,
to be life-affirming; will help us bring our Lord Jesus to our families,
friends, and acquaintances. How much the
world needs that! In the Holy Spirit, we
can do our little part for the world.
That work in
the Spirit can begin today. Which of
those 9 virtues in Paul’s list do you think you really need? Focus on it.
Concentrate on it. Decide that you
will live that virtue today. Follow up
tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that. Keep thinking about—and praying
for—gentleness or patience or self-control or whatever virtue you chose. Jesus is eager for you to grow closer to him,
to be a more faithful disciple. He gives
you (and all of us) his Holy Spirit to strengthen and guide us.
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