Preparing for Pentecost

A young priest, Fr. Joe, watched his more experienced pastor step away from the ambo each time he gave a homily. He brought no papers with him, no notecards. He would walk in front of the congregation, take a moment to gather himself, and begin speaking. After watching this time after time, Fr. Joe finally asked the pastor how he was able to deliver a homily without having a script, or even any notes with him?

The pastor responded, “It’s the power of the Holy Spirit.”

The young priest thought about how much time he spent writing homilies, struggling to put his thoughts into words, throwing away drafts and starting over again. Maybe he should simply rely on the Holy Spirit.

He decided to give it a try.

The week leading up to his weekend to preach, Fr. Joe did nothing to prepare. When he read the Gospel, he was reading it for the first time. Afterwards, he walked away from the ambo to deliver a homily.

He stepped in front of the congregation. He took a deep breath and gathered himself as he had seen his pastor do so many times. Then he waited for the Holy Spirit to give him the words he needed, to supply him with the homily that the congregation needed to hear. And he waited. And waited.

Just as the young priest was beginning to panic, he felt a breeze and a soft whisper in his ear. The voice said, “Joe, this is the Holy Spirit. Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Fr. Joe realized he was on his own and stumbled through a miserable homily.

When he returned to his chair, the experienced pastor leaned over and said, “I guess I should have said the power of the Holy Spirit…and hours of preparation.”

The Holy Spirit helps those who are prepared to receive Him.

In the Gospel of recent weeks we have heard Jesus’ last words to the Apostles before his passion: that he would not leave them orphans, and he would be sending them the Holy Spirit. Consider what would happen in the weeks that would follow. They would watch the betrayal of their Master mere hours later, and from a distance they would watch him be crucified and die. They would gather in fear and guilt in that precious Upper Room, locked in hiding for fear of those who had put him to death- and he would come and stand in their midst: RISEN from the dead. They would experience Jesus in a whole new way, and would then watch him Ascend to the Father, received into the clouds of heaven with a divine embrace…and then they would go back to the Upper Room. Through all of this, they were being prepared…and on that great day of Pentecost, the Spirit would come to them, and would transform a dozen frightened fishermen…a dozen timid disciples: into passionate, enlivened, and bold evangelizers of the word.

For one in that room however it would not be the first time the Spirit would come in such a way. For our Blessed Mother that Pentecost morning was a reunion: a reunion with her divine spouse. Her day of Pentecost had come at the Annunciation, and her preparation was her being the Immaculate Conception. The moment of her decisive yes to the Angel Gabriel she was transformed from a young, frightened virgin, into the Mother of God- her transformation would make her not just a preacher of the word, but the bearer of the word- as from her that word took flesh, and her human nature.

The Holy Spirit helps those who are prepared to receive him.

The day of our Confirmation was our own Pentecost, when the Spirit of the living God came upon us, and transformed our very being, by leaving on our soul that permanent mark, configuring us more closely to Christ whom we serve. Were we ready for him? What have done with that gift since?

Are we ready for him when he comes in our daily lives- because frankly we know not when he will blow through. In the Acts of the Apostles we read how the Spirit fell upon the crowd listening to Peter preach…the Spirit fell. It just dropped down on them like an unexpected rain. The Greek word epepeson, it’s used 11 times in the New Testament, it means more than simply “to fall”, but also embrace, grip, or envelope. The Spirit falls as an overwhelming, gripping, enveloping surprise. The Spirit was ahead of Peter and his preaching, and ahead of the Church. The crowd hadn’t even been baptized yet, but God would wait no longer, and so the Spirit fell upon them.

The burden is on us to be vigilant in watching for the Spirit – we have to make it our daily duty to prepare ourselves for those times when he comes. This wild, unbridled, and uncontrollable spirit is the very breath of God. He’s the wind that blew across the waters before creation. He’s the breath that gave life to the lungs of Adam. He’s the fire that set a bush ablaze but did not consume it as the Father’s voice boomed before a frightened Moses. He took Mary as his spouse, and on the day of Pentecost he fell upon that Upper Room.

That same spirit fell upon you on the day of your Baptism, and again on the day of your Confirmation. For those who are ordained, the moment the Bishop laid his hands upon your head it fell once again upon you…he falls upon every Altar around the world when the Priest extends his hands over the gifts during the consecration.

The Spirit drops from heaven and falls upon us, all around us, whether we see it in the moment or not…are we prepared?

My dear friends, Jesus left us the Spirit for a very specific reason: to set the world on fire…and we need his help! We need his help because the world in which we live does not fan the flames of that fire. The values and expectations of secularism will never propel us. The spirits that “fall on us” from the world are things like anger and hatred, division, and resentment. Without the Holy Spirit’s power we are on our own, and Jesus promised that we would never be on our own. But the Spirit doesn’t force us – he comes to us…he falls upon us…he blows through us…he burns all around us…but if we are not prepared we will miss it…and then just like poor Father Joe we will find ourselves standing in the middle of the aisle of life asking ourselves things like, “How will I ever do this? How did I get myself in this mess?” Or the worst of all possible scenarios, we commit the sin against that spirit…which is when we say, “God can’t help with this one.” Every day of our lives is an opportunity to prepare for the Spirit when he comes, may we all learn an important lesson from Father Joe.