Deacon Kevin Gingras
May 19, 2024
Pentecost Sunday
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051924-Vigil.cfm
Gn 11:1-9 Ps 104:1-2, 24, 35, 27-28, 29, 30
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/pentecost-sunday-mass-during-day
Acts 2:1-11 Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 Jn 20:19-23
When we adopted our daughter Faith from China we started in America with China Adoptions with Love. They were one of our guides in this overall process getting us to the point where we finally went to China. Once there, we went to three major cities.
In Beijing, we were a group of ten American families and we were tourists for that leg of our journey. The entire time we were there we had a guide who would translate anything we needed, answer questions, and help us understand the culture and history of China in the places we visited such as Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden or Temple Gardens, and the Great Wall.
Wuhan was the next city. Only Allison and I traveled there and that was where we met Faith, our daughter. We had our own personal guide there who helped us with adoption-related things like going to the agency and being able to understand what the man there was explaining. She was also helpful when I had to go to two Chinese banks to exchange our 5,000 US Dollars for Chinese Yuan. I even had to open a bank account for a few hours to do one exchange so you could say I’m a worldwide banker now!
In Guangzhou, the families met back up and we all shared a guide. She was very helpful with our clinic visits when the kids needed shots and checkups. Our guide was also helpful in getting our issues fixed when it was realized Faith’s birth certificate was wrong. Without our guides in China, we would have been lost and could easily have failed in our adoption process!
The Apostles also needed an earthly guide that Jesus promised to send in John 14:
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.
That first Pentecost is when the Spirit, comes to them, to guide them out of their fear and hiding and to go boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone. Without this guide, the Church would have never been born. Pentecost is the birth of the Catholic Church and at the first Pentecost Peter gave quite the homily:
Peter testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day.
I’d be happy if one of my homilies got two or three people to be baptized, imagine three thousand! Anyway… the Holy Spirit has played, and still plays a huge role in the Church.
In Luke, we read how the word became flesh, and how Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit:
the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
Matthew tells us how the entire trinity was present at the Baptism of the Lord:
After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
The Holy Spirit, through the priest, comes down, in a special way, at this mass and all mass throughout the world at the epiclesis, where the priest joins his hands and, holding them extended over the offerings of bread and wine, he says:
Therefore, O Lord, we humbly implore you: by the same Spirit graciously make holy these gifts that we have brought you for consecration, that they may become the Body and Blood of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ…
Now comes the big question for us - How do we use the Holy Spirit as our guide through our journey on this crazy Earth? How does the Spirit guide us to our ultimate, - please God - destination of Heaven?
Using the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, we can indeed be guided towards our goal. Wisdom gives the ability to see God at work in the world. Understanding helps us realize how we need to live as Christ’s followers. Counsel lets us see right from wrong. Fortitude helps us take risks as Christ's disciples and live as Christians even when it’s not easy. Knowledge helps us better understand what God means to us. Piety gives us the respect we need for God, the Church, and the Eucharist. Fear of the Lord reminds us to be aware of the glory and the majesty of God.
Pray to the Holy Spirit to be your guide on earth. Pray to the Holy Spirit to help you remain holy and humble. Pray to the Holy Spirit for the strengthening of all seven gifts in your life. Pray to the Holy Spirit to help you on your journey to Heaven.
I always end with a quote and today I have to leave you with this quote from St. Ephram because in my opinion he kind of sounds like Yoda when he says:
Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit and raises man to Heaven.
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