Pentecost Homily

We find ourselves here fifty days removed from our celebration of Easter Sunday for this great celebration of Pentecost. With the conclusion of this Mass we will end our season of Easter and begin to orient ourselves back into Ordinary Time. For these fifty days we have become comfortable in seeing the Pascal candle lit here beside the ambo. The Paschal candle is a great symbol of the Easter season because it symbolizes the light of Christ that has entered into the world to dispel the darkness of sin. It is also a reminder of the reality that we entered into the life of faith through the moment of our baptisms. This candle representing the light of Christ was present at our baptism and from it we received the light of Christ into our lives. On Pentecost we join with the apostles when they were left alone following the Ascension of Christ and prepared themselves with prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them. With this action peace would be brought into their lives through the light of Christ and the reality of the Church.

This peace that the Holy Spirit brings into the darkness of this room is one that gives birth to life of the Church here on earth. Sometimes we might find that we see the Church as something that is stagnate and boring. The Church is far from a lifeless entity because the Holy Spirit has come upon the Church to give it life. We notice in the Book of Acts that the Holy Spirit descended upon them as a strong driving wind, and so it is with the Church. A strong driving wind is far from something that is stagnate and boring. This strong driving wind has blown the Church into the world to make it important to all of its corners. With the blow of breath that Christ bestowed upon the apostles comes the authority of the Church that is driven by the authority of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is always driving us forward as a powerful force to overcome sin, death, and darkness in order that the light of Christ may always shine brightly in our midst.

We did not enter into the life giving waters of baptism to remain stagnant and lifeless in our faith, but instead baptism ushered us into the one body of Christ and gave us the mission to become alive and animated through the faith. We do not need to search for other areas that are contrary to the light of Christ to fill our souls because we have all that we will ever need contained in the faith that we share. We should always remain open to the animation of the Holy Spirit within our lives because it will move us away from a stagnate concept of faith. It will move us along like a strong driving wind which will usher us along the way towards Christ. This movement calls us to involvement with the mystical Body of Christ. Involvement that leads to an ever growing knowledge of the faith and a life strengthening living out of the values of the Gospel. To remain unanimated would leave our faith dead because we could care less about knowledge and our living out of the values of the Gospel would become impossible.

The strong driving wind that the apostles encountered on Pentecost informs us that a lack of animation in our faith is impossible. If the apostles did not react to the motion of the Holy Spirit the world would never of been evangelized. People of the four corners of the world would never of been informed about Christ who was God born into the world, who would die upon the cross for our salvation, and who bestows the reality of victory over death through the Resurrection. We some 2,000 years removed from the birth of Christ have the driving wind of the Holy Spirit to thank for our faith that has been passed down to us through the generations. This movement is seen in Catholic schools and hospitals found throughout the world. This movement is found in the care for the poor and those in prison. This movement is found in the Liturgy of the Mass where all of our needs are gathered together and offered to our Lord out of love. This movement removes darkness from our lives and bestows the light of Christ upon us.

As we are dismissed from this Mass on this day and the Pascal candle is buffed out signaling the conclusion of the Easter season may we always allow ourselves to be animated by the will of the Holy Spirit. With the flame extinguished comes smoke that raises to Heaven and hopefully all of our actions can follow along in this orientation to Heaven most high. May we allow the light of Christ to always shine brightly when we are away from this parish community. The Holy Spirit is not animating us only when we are inside of this Church, but instead we are being animated all the days of our life. There is no room in Christianity for a stagnant and lifeless attitude because we are always being challenged to elevate ourselves to the perfection found in God. The Holy Spirit animates us along this path and continues to give life and direction to the Church. The Church will always be relevant to society because the driving wind that is the Holy Spirit continues to move us towards the light of Christ. May we not fear to be moved by the Spirit this day, so that we can find ourselves always surrounded by Christ's light.