Use the Holy Spirit as our guide

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

Rom 8:22-27     Jn 7:37-39

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. 

Know Jesus, Know Peace, No Jesus, No Peace!

Deacon Kevin Gingras

April 18, 2121, Third Sunday of Easter

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041821.cfm

 

Peace be with you!

He stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Jesus only used this greeting after his Resurrection, not before it.  We heard Jesus say, “peace be with you” twice in last week's Gospel.  Again we hear it today.  Why?  They NEEDED peace at that moment!  His Apostles were kind of freaking out.  Jesus died and they were left without a teacher, a leader, they feared that same death would strike them!  They were like a fish out of water, I fish, I’ve seen them out of the water, it’s not pretty!

Today 

The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them 

in the breaking of bread.

Suddenly, there is Jesus standing in their midst.  They were sure it was a ghost.  They still didn’t understand the resurrection.  “Peace be with you,” he says.  He tries to calm them down, showing He is a physical man and not a ghost, even asking for food!  Ghosts don’t eat food!

What he does next is amazing.  He opens their minds to understand the Scriptures so they will understand all that was written from Moses to the prophets and the Psalms - to understand that these things Jesus came to fulfill.

I wish it was that easy for us!  We could just hang out with Jesus and our minds would be opened to the Scriptures.  It’s not so easy but it is doable!  It’s been very hard for me to have that faith kick in where logic can’t explain what we will read in the Bible.  That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in, we need to ask for the gifts of wisdom and understanding.  Trust me, it works.  I’m a computer programmer by trade and have been for over 30 years.  Logic is my business and I have trained my mind to be logical so when I try to understand certain things in the Scriptures, Moses and the Jews walking dry through the Red Sea, manna in the desert, the lifting of the brazen serpent to heal those bitten by the seraph serpents, none of it makes logical sense.  

When we see Sacred Scripture as a whole, what Jesus was doing with his followers in the Gospel, opening their minds to the Scriptures, giving them the whole Scripture picture. We can see how walking through the Red sea is a precursor to Baptism.  It becomes obvious that manna is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist.  How Moses lifted the serpent to save those who were dying is like Jesus being lifted on the cross to save us.  See, totally logical!

I hope we all read our Bibles at home.  Before reading Scripture do you ask the Holy Spirit for guidance?  If you get tripped up on understanding a reading do you ask for help?  Ask a priest, a deacon, or a friend that you know is well versed in scripture.  If you decide to ask Google, do so with caution, there are a lot of things out there and some of them won’t be in line with the Catholic Church's teachings.  

Once you start to get a grasp on Scripture you will find there is peace in the Scriptures, look for some quiet time to find that peace in your Bible at home.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, “know Jesus, know peace, no Jesus, no peace”.  This won't translate well in my spoken homily but it's pretty clear here!  The bottom line is we have to know who Jesus is to receive the peace that he has to give to us.

Every time we celebrate Mass, we hear the priest say:

Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: I leave you peace, my peace I give you.

He didn't give this peace before his Resurrection, but afterward, he does give it, and he gives it because we need it.

Christ's peace is the antidote to most problems of our modern, secular society: stress, depression, and anxiety, and even this pandemic. We have all been affected by these things in some way. 

As we get to know the Lord more through Scripture, through Adoration, and through prayer He will give us peace of mind, peace of heart, and peace of soul.

Today’s Psalm is a Psalm of David and he put it well when he said: 

As soon as I lie down, I fall peacefully asleep, for you alone, O LORD, bring security to my dwelling.

Remember, even David was granted this peace as he came to know the Lord more and more and repented for what he had done.

Saint Jerome gives us a great three-thousand foot summary of this as he said:

Be at peace with your own soul, then heaven and earth will be at peace with you.

Receive the Holy Spirit

May 17th - Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year A http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051720.cfm

In our first reading, we see that Philip, the deacon, was the opening act for Peter and John.  He went down to Samaria, got the crowd riled up for the word of God, and once finished, Peter and John show up, and they do something fascinating.

We see that the people to whom Philip was preaching to “had only been Baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus but had not yet received the Spirit.” So what exactly were Peter and John doing?  They were conferring on them the Sacrament of Confirmation - the Sacrament that completes their Baptism so that they may fully receive the Spirit.

As a matter of fact, if you research the sacrament of Confirmation in the Catechism of the Catholic Church you find this very reading at the bottom in the “In Brief” section, CCC 1315:

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-17).

Another interesting discovery requiring just a little digging tells us more about Philip. Philip was one of the deacon’s mentioned in last week’s first reading from Acts 6:1-7.  He didn’t lay hands on them but he could baptize.  We can see this in Acts 8:26 where Philip baptizes the Ethiopian.  He was only a deacon and like today in time could not confer the sacrament of Confirmation.  That’s where Peter and John come in.  We know that they are Bishops because when they choose a successor for Judas, the betrayer in Acts 1:20 we read:

 For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his encampment become desolate, and may no one dwell in it.’

  And:

‘May another take his office’.

Ok, so that’s not very interesting to my point here is it? May another take his “office” actually is a big deal. If you take another translation that is older (Douay-Rheims Bible) Acts 1:20 reads:

For it is written in the book of Psalms: Let their habitation become desolate, and let there be none to dwell therein. And his bishopric let another take.

Peter and John were amongst the twelve so they were indeed considered Bishops of the very early church, and like today in time, the Bishop is the “ordinary” minister of Confirmation.

So the next time someone asks you where the sacraments are in the bible you can answer this one!  By the way, Acts 1:5 is another good spot to see Confirmation in action!

That leads us to a nice segue into our second reading from 1 Peter 3:15-16:

Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame.

As confirmed adults (well, if you are confirmed already) the responsibility lies on your shoulders to learn more about the faith so that you may teach others.  You don’t have to teach religious education but you do need to be ready to teach when the opportunity presents itself.  It could be to family, to coworkers, people you meet, anybody really but you have to have the knowledge.  

Our second reading also tells us we need to teach “with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear”.  We see this kind of teaching in today’s psalm where the psalmist is lovingly telling the listeners about what God has done for them.

Our first step towards this should be prayer.  This is how we “sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts” as the first letter from Peter today reads.  If Christ is not Lord in our hearts then how can our hearts work with our minds so that we can properly teach about him?  

Ask the Holy Spirit for assistance because there is a lot of bad theology out there.  When in doubt refer to the sacraments in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as well.  Google carefully!  A good search might be “CCC Confirmation” and the first couple of links I saw were from www.vatican.va.  That’s definitely a reliable source, the Pope is there after all!  

Books can be valuable too but if you aren’t sure if it’s really Catholic look for the Nihil Obstat or Imprimatur on the first few pages, it means the book has been reviewed and stays true to Catholic teachings.  I don’t want to turn this into a commercial but you can always count on books by Scott Hahn, Edward Sri, Saint Pope John Paul II, Bishop Fulton Sheen, and the like.

Today’s Gospel tells us the best way to learn, to achieve sanctity, and to ultimately gain Heaven:

Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Know what Jesus’ teaches and you know what the Father teaches because Jesus and the Father are indeed one!  Each day spend some time in scripture, especially the Gospels.  Get yourself a good Catholic bible like the St. Joseph Edition or the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible and read the Gospels often.  Study them.  Refer to the notes at the bottom of the page.  In doing this you will get to know Jesus, you will become a friend of Jesus and you can’t go wrong there!

As St. Catherine of Siena (Doctor of the Church) once said:

All the way to Heaven is Heaven because Jesus said ‘I am the Way’

I'd be remiss if I didn't thank the guys from my Wednesday night Bible Study for making my thoughts come to fruition this week!

Keep the flame alive

On June 9th, 2019 I was blessed to be able to preach on Pentecost Sunday.  When I said I would preach however I had no idea we had so many choices of readings, including totally different vigil readings to that of Mass during the day!  

Here are the links for the readings:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060919-vigil.cfm

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060919-day.cfm


Easter season is coming to an end and here in Massachusetts we now enter our pine pollen season!!  All kidding aside, however, over the Easter season, our liturgy, our Church, and the Holy Spirit have taken us on an amazing journey until today’s celebration of not just Pentecost, but also the birth of our Church!  No worries, I will NOT torture you with a poor rendition of singing happy birthday to our Church but it is indeed a monumental celebration today!

During the Easter season, we had many “Holy Spirit” moments.  The bishop was here for our confirmation where the confirmandi received the Holy Spirit.  Our diocese also joined in a novena to the Holy Spirit to ask for a strengthening of the 7 gifts in each of us, the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, understanding, piety, and fear of the Lord.  We held several baptisms, our second graders received their first communion, myself as well as 8 other men with me, received the sacrament of Holy Orders as permanent deacons in the Fall River Diocese, and our friend, Fr. Ryan Healy received the sacrament of Holy Orders as a priest for the Fall River diocese.   Now today we wear red vestments to symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit that is indeed alive and well in our little East Taunton Church just as it was over 2000 years ago.

For a moment, let’s try to go back in time and imagine what it was like so many years ago.  Jesus had been put to death around 40 days ago.  The followers of Christ were floundering around a bit, still a little lost.  Jesus ascended 10 days ago and told them to remain in the city and wait for the Helper, the Paraclete.  They listened, and now they have all gathered around together and were celebrating the Jewish Feast of Weeks also known as Pentecost where Jews would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate their delivery from slavery into freedom and the covenant Law that God delivered to Moses at Mt. Sinai.

Suddenly the promise that the Holy Spirit would arrive came to fulfillment.  There was a sound like a strong wind.  Tongues as of fire came to rest on each of them.  They spoke in tongues and those gathered could understand their speeches even though they were foreigners to each other.  This was very different from the story of the Tower of Babel where, in their arrogance, the people thought they could build a tower to God. To put an end to this silliness God came down and confused their language and stopped them from building such a tower.  At Pentecost, we see just the opposite.  The Holy Spirit gives them all the spirit of understanding, even of languages they are not familiar with.  With this divine action, the Holy Spirit is about to give birth to a heavenly “city” on earth, the Church.  The original Law that God wrote on the stone tablets for Moses to give to God’s people at Sinai will now be written on our hearts instead.

This also got me thinking - what would be the result if this event happened today in time.  If right now in our Churches we heard the driving wind and tongues of fire came to rest on each of us what would happen?  Odds are the Churches sprinkler system would kick in and extinguish the flames.  

Then that line of thinking got me wondering - what are the things in our lives that do just that, extinguish the flame of the Holy Spirit that should always be burning within us.  

Is there some sin, some passion that is contrary to the Holy Spirit that we allow to put out that flame?  Is it too much time at work?  To much time put into lawn care or sports or cleaning or anything that moves God to the side and becomes a fire extinguisher to the flame of the Holy Spirit.

Instead, we need to find the things that will fuel the fire of the Holy Spirit making it stronger than those other passions!   These things should include prayer, forgiveness, reading scripture, rosaries, frequent reception of the sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession.  Eucharistic adoration is great kindling to help fuel the fire of the Holy Spirit - we have this here in our Holy Family Parish, Monday through Friday 11 am to 10 pm in the Parish Center Chapel.   There are many other things to help fuel the fire, this is not an exhaustive list, what ideas can you come up with?

So why would we want to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning in us?  In our choices of readings today we see several reasons to keep the fire of the Holy Spirit going:

• Without the Spirit, we could not say Jesus is Lord.
• The Spirit is manifested in each of us for some benefit, pray about what that is and use the manifestation to build up the Church.
• If we have the Spirit alive in us we also have Christ alive in us as well, they go hand in hand!
• By allowing us to be led by the Spirit we become children of God.  We receive a Spirit of adoption that allows us to cry “Abba, Father!”
• If we are children of God then we are also joint heirs with Christ.
• If we have the Spirit then the whole trinity makes it’s dwelling within us!
• The Spirit will also come to the aid of our weakness and will teach us how to pray properly.

That’s probably where we need the Spirit the most, to teach us how to pray properly to assist us in our weaknesses.  If we can do this properly then the fire of the Spirit will not be extinguished when we leave the parking lot (or even before that) but will remain burning brightly all week long!  We no longer light the Easter candle at Sunday Mass but we must remember to keep that flame burning in our hearts, burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit and take that flame out into the world with us.

This week let's all ponder this prayer from St. Augustine:

O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.