Pentecost

Homily Video

Pentecost Homily Transcript

>>The mother rushed in the bedroom and shouted to her husband, “Quick! Call the emergency room. Little Johnny just swallowed a quarter.”

The husband calmly said, “I’m just going to give our pastor a call. He can get the money out of anybody.”

[laughter]

Sometimes we say one thing and we mean something else. The call is clear to the Corinthians. Their different gifts from the same spirit and the different ministries but the same Lord.

Do we see ourselves as uniquely loved and gifted by God? Do we only want to sometimes see things our way, forgetting about the Lord and others?

Rabbi Harold Kushner some years ago wrote a wonderful little book entitled, ‘When All You Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough.’ and he says in this book: our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. These are rewards that create almost as many problems as they solve. Our souls are hungry for meaning. In the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter. So that the world may at least be a little bit different for our having past through it.

If you think about it. The Lord knows well, our weaknesses and many failures. The Lord knows well our fears, our anxieties, and worries. That is why the Lord comes to us and says, “Peace be with you.”

However, with the help and grace of God find the greatness within you and live it. With the help and grace of God find the greatness within you and live it.

This means we live life with a passion and compassion for others. And the word compassion from the Greek means ‘to suffer with.’ and the feast of Pentecost, which we celebrate means ‘we don’t do this alone’ – on the contrary the feast of Pentecost celebrates the gift of the Holy spirit to the disciples and each and every one of us.

What do we mean by Holy Spirit?

Simply put, the Holy Spirit is a mysterious presence of God within each one of us. The Holy Spirit is a mysterious active presence of God within each one of us.

The Lord God is with us. God bends to touch us first.

This confused and fearful group who has changed into a courageous body of Christian believers. They believed again after doubting. They hoped again, after despairing. They loved again, after faltering.

We live in very tough times. Don’t ever, ever give up. God is with us. The spirit of the Lord is with us to be our strength.

Cardinal Cupich has a great definition of forgiveness: ‘forgiving doesn’t change the past, it changes the future.’ Forgiving doesn’t change the past, it changes the future.

And please know, Jesus loves us just the way we are. And the Lord Jesus loves us too much to leave us that way.

Readings

First Reading:

Acts 2:1-11

Second Reading:

1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

Gospel:

John 20:19-23

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