(Pentecost 2020 (A): This homily was given on May 31, 2020
at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30,
31,34; Romans 8:22-27; 1 Corinthians 12:3-13; John 20:19-23.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Pentecost 2020]
The Holy Spirit—the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity who
descended upon Mary and the apostles at the very first Pentecost—does not have
a body. He’s a pure spirit, and pure
spirits by definition are just that—purely spiritual beings.
And yet, as Catholics, we say we believe that the Holy
Spirit is still present with us. But how
exactly do we know that?
Think about it: When the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity came into this world it was
easy to recognize his presence among us, since he had a human body! People could see Jesus with their eyes; they
could reach out to him and take hold of his hand or touch his face (believe it
or not, people used to be able to do that kind of thing! Yes, people could actually reach out and
touch one another!).
My point here is that people were able to experience Jesus
in a direct manner with their senses because he had a body.
But the Holy Spirit doesn’t! He has no physical attributes. So how do we know he’s around? How do we know he’s here on earth with us?
The answer is: By his works.
We know the Holy Spirit by his works, by what he does in us
and in the world.
Now some works of the Spirit are relatively easy to
recognize. For example, have you ever
known someone who’s had a radical conversion to Jesus Christ, and then remained
strong in their faith? Hopefully you
have! That type of deep and lasting
conversion is definitely a work of the Holy Spirit. And it’s easy to see. It’s clearly evident.
In 1 Corinthians 12 (our second reading today) it says, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by
the Holy Spirit.”
That, of course, doesn’t simply refer to the act of
speaking the words! As we all know, even
a parrot can be trained to say, “Jesus is Lord.” This text refers to a human being who says
those words and truly means them! When a
person of faith affirms the Lordship of Jesus Christ, it’s a work of the Spirit
dwelling within him—a work which is easily recognized.
I remember when “The Passion of the Christ” came out back
in 2004, there were news reports that a number of criminals around the country
saw the film and turned themselves in to the police afterward!
Since one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to convict us
of our sins, I would say that the repentance of those criminals was the result
of the Spirit working in their consciences, moving them to take responsibility
for their evil actions.
These are just some of the works of the Spirit which are
fairly easy to see and comprehend.
However, other works of the Spirit are not so easily
recognized, specifically because they’re taken for granted.
It’s the Holy Spirit, for example, who enables us to pray
from the heart. St. Paul says in Romans
8, “The Spirit . . . helps us in our
weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself
makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be expressed in speech.”
The grace of sincere prayer—which has its source in the
Holy Spirit—is something we can easily take for granted, is it not? We normally don’t think twice about it. But it is a work of the Spirit nonetheless! I’m
sure a lot of sincere prayer has been offered up since this pandemic began
several weeks ago. I know for a fact
that many of our parishioners have been doing that.
And how about the sacraments? It’s the Holy Spirit who makes us children of
God in Baptism; it’s the Spirit who gives a priest the power to forgive sins in
the confessional. No Spirit, no
forgiveness! As Jesus said to the
apostles in John 20 (today’s Gospel), “Receive
the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive
are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” It’s by the power of the Holy Spirit that the
Eucharist is consecrated at Mass. During
every Eucharistic prayer there is a special moment known as the
“epiclesis.” It’s when the priest calls
down the Holy Spirit upon the bread and wine, so that they will be changed at
the consecration into the Body and Blood of Christ. (This is also the moment when the altar
server rings the bell for the first time—if the server is paying attention and
not asleep!)
These are all sacramental works of the Holy Spirit which
are very familiar to us—so much so that we can easily take them for granted.
There are also some works of the Holy Spirit that are hard
to recognize except in hindsight. Forty years ago, for instance, the experts
were saying that Soviet Communism was here to stay. But it wasn’t. And it all collapsed without a devastating
nuclear war or some other terrible military conflict. In hindsight, I—and many others—believe it happened
that way by the power of the Holy Spirit. The relatively peaceful collapse of the
Soviet bloc was due to 70-plus years of persistent prayer and redemptive
suffering, as inspired by the Spirit.
Have you ever gone through a personal trial and wondered
where God was? Many people have had that
experience—some of them, I’m sure, in recent weeks.
But so often, after they’ve passed through the difficulty,
these men and women will look back on the situation and say, “I know God was
with me. He gave me what I needed. Even though I wasn’t aware of his presence
when I was in the middle of the storm, I now see that his grace got me through
that difficult time.”
That’s the work of the Spirit being recognized in
hindsight.
Recognizing the presence of the Holy Spirit can be
difficult at times—but it is never impossible.
On that note, I read a great article this past week about Rebecca
Maslow, a 28-year–old nurse who works in the intensive care unit of a hospital
in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Not surprisingly,
in recent weeks, Rebecca’s been giving nursing care to many coronavirus
patients, some of whom have died. She
said in the article that she constantly prays to the Holy Spirit to guide her in
her ministry to the sick—and especially to the dying. Here’s a brief excerpt from the article:
One of the most powerful movements of the Holy Spirit [Rebecca] experienced was while caring for a man dying of respiratory failure. While in the room with him the day he died in early April, a doctor who had been seeing him told Maslow that the man was a Christian. This inspired Maslow to action as she walked over to his bedside.Like other patients, the man was dying alone, and Maslow wanted to offer him tangible comfort. She had been with him throughout the morning and even had prayed silently over him. Now, knowing he was a Christian, she offered something more….
"I just sat next to him and held his hand," she said. "And, I leaned in really close to his ear so he could hear me. And, I told him that I had heard that he was a Christian, that I was, too, and that I was going to pray over him. So, I traced the cross on his forehead. After that, I was able to just stay by his bed and hold his hand. I was not busy at all that day, which is very odd."She called it "such a blessing" to be with him for an hour and a half. She said he looked "calm and comfortable" after she prayed over him. He died a little while later, with Maslow still holding his hand.
The Holy Spirit often works like that: in extraordinary
ways that can appear to be very ordinary.
Why do I share these thoughts with you today concerning the
works of the Spirit—aside from the fact that it’s Pentecost Sunday?
It’s because the Holy Spirit tends to be the “forgotten”
Person of the Blessed Trinity! Because
he’s a pure spirit, because he doesn’t have a body, most Christians don’t speak
about him very often, and some may never even give him a passing thought! And yet (as I hope I’ve made clear in my
homily) this same wonderful—but ignored—Holy Spirit is at hard work every
single day in the Church, in the world, and in our personal lives.
And so, may our common prayer on this Pentecost Sunday be:
“Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you for
working so powerfully in the Church, in the world, and in my life. Make me more aware of your presence in the
future, so that I will be more open—and more responsive—to your many
works. This I ask through Christ, our
Lord. Amen.”