Pentecost, June 12, 2011
The Birthday of the Catholic Church
John 14: 23-31
“And my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him.” Suppose the governor was coming to visit us. Would we not clean up our house before he came? God Himself comes to our home, our souls, in the Eucharist, but many of us quickly forget what we cleaned up, what we repented of, and we turn right back to former sins. For those who truly love God, the Lord does make His abode with them – He stays with them because the love of God has so penetrated these people that in time of temptation they will not turn their backs on that love.
The Lord continues: “He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words.” Let none of us fool ourselves, we do not truly love God unless that love is confirmed by good works. If our love of God does not result in good works, it is not love because “faith without works is dead,” (James 2: 17)
Our Lord also tells His Apostles “the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you.” Paraclete is a Greek word that translates as Advocate or Comforter. He is called Advocate because he pleads with the mercy of the Father for us. As St. Paul puts it: “The Spirit himself asks for us with unspeakable groanings.” He is called Comforter because he uplifts our soul when we are dejected and depressed.
The Holy Ghost appeared as tongues of fire on this, the birthday of the Church. What we can learn from this sign is that Holy Mother Church, filled by this Spirit, shall speak with the voice of every nation. In Babel, long ago, they tried to build a tower against God, and lost the language they then had in common. But in those who humbly fear God, all tongues are made one, “one Lord, one faith, one Baptism.” (Ephesians 4: 5) In Babel, their pride brought confusion. But with the Spirit of God, lowliness merits power, the power to be free even when living under tyranny, and the power to be full of joy even during persecution.
Why did the Holy Ghost appear as tongues of fire above the Apostles and appear as a dove above the Lord when He was baptized by John? The Lord sends fire on Earth when, by the breath of His Holy Spirit, he sets fire to the hearts of unspiritual men. And the Earth begins to catch fire when our hearts put away the desires of this life and become inflamed with the love of God. In every heart that the Holy Spirit enters, He drives out the coldness of apathy and ignites in us a desire for Eternity in heaven.
Why then did the Holy Spirit appear as a dove above the L ord? He did not want to crush sinners but to draw us to Himself through mildness and patience, which are represented by a dove. We could not bear His justice if He had searched into our sins with harsh exactness. He humbled Himself to become like us in the person of Jesus, and revealed himself as a gentle God. That the Holy Ghost appeared in fire above men and as a dove above our Lord teaches us that through our own zeal for justice, we should search out our own sins, which the Lord bears in great patience, and then we are to consume them in the fire of the penances we perform.
Job wrote that “His Spirit hath adorned the heavens.” (Job 26: 13) These adornments of heaven are the virtues that St. Paul lists in (1 Cor. 12: 8) as wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy and tongues, what we call the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. We know how lacking the Apostles were in these gifts before the coming of the Holy Ghost, but look at what these men were like after His coming.
In the courtyard of the High Priest Caiaphas, a young maid accused Peter of being one of the followers of the Lord, and three times Peter, whom Christ called the Rock, denied Him. Contrast this with Christ’s crucifixion when a common thief confessed Him and asked Jesus to remember him. But after Pentecost, Peter and the Apostles were scourged by the Jewish authorities and were ordered not to preach in the name of Jesus any more. Without hesitation Peter responded, “We ought to obey God, rather than men.” (Acts 5: 29) The Apostles then left that place “rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.”
We have a prayer to the Holy Ghost: “Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, enkindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created and Thou shalt renew the face of the Earth.” This prayer comes from Psalm 104, v. 30. This same Spirit inspired a youthful harpist and created the psalmist, who was King David (1 Kings 16: 18). He moved the soul of a “herdsman plucking wild figs: and made him a prophet,” (Amos 7: 14). He entered a young boy who was disciplined in the spirit, and made him a judge (Daniel 13: 45). He entered into a fisherman and made him a preacher of the Gospel and head of His Church, St. Peter (Mt. 4: 19). He filled a persecutor of the Church and made him the Doctor of the Gentiles, St. Paul (Acts 9). He filled a publican and made him an Evangelist (Luke 5: 27,28). This is how the power of the Holy Ghost renews the face of the Earth, by inflaming people with the love of God, and these people in turn doing God's work in the community. The Apostles, who before were afraid of their enemies, now under the influence of the Holy Ghost, dominate them with their authority.
Many don't know the Holy Spirit and are limited to worldly thinking, and so they ask: How can I love someone whom I cannot see? We can agree with them. A mind that is taken up with visible things only cannot see the invisible. However, we can see God by looking at a metaphor from nature. We cannot watch the sun directly as it rises, but if we turn to the west, we can see the beauty of the sun on the face of the earth. God is like that. We can see His beauty in His saints; we can see His beauty in our good works, because His beauty is like sunlight shining upon the earth. +++
