Weekly Sunday Homilies

Fr. Joseph's Homily for the Solemnity of Pentecost (Year A)

"Brothers and sisters:

None can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:3b)

Have you ever had the opportunity to teach someone? Of course you have, whether it was teaching a sibling something new, or teaching someone on the job, or helping someone to do something. All of that is a way to teach, even if you have never walked into a classroom as an instructor. And really, if you boil it down, teaching isn't about passing on knowledge primarily; I have come to find in teaching the seminarians that it's about passing on wisdom.

So, in that spirit, I want to tell you about a student—not a student of mine, but a student of a religious sister whose talks I have listened to: Sr. Mary Madeline Todd, a Dominican.

She was teaching at a high school, and when you teach at that grade level and lower, you see the same children day in and day out and really get to meet them. So Sr. is teaching these young men and women, these seniors in high school, and one of them really just seemed . . . different. She was generous, a little quiet . . . but joyful!

And she wondered to herself: What is it that makes me different?

And to add onto that—and remember, this is a high school—Sr. never once heard her complain at all! That's impressive, no matter who you are! She never spoke unkindly about others, nor did she gossip.

So during the course of the year, they had a school retreat where students would be invited to give faith testimonials. Think of what those who went to the St. Paul Street Evangelization workshop were taught to do: In a minute or two, tell who you are, what Jesus has done in your life, and how you are different now than you were without that deeper relationship with Him.

Well, this young woman wanted to try out her talk prior to giving it, so she gathered a few of her friends and asked Sr. Mary Madeline to listen as well. "Xextryzium-delta, Ondrovalix, Zelofibrinate-B . . ." She began with a long list of chemicals and medical-sounding names. An odd way to start a testimonial, for sure, but she had a point.

These are the medications, she said, that I've taken every day, since I was a very small child, that keep me alive. It turns out that no one knew, and on top of that, she had been told by her parents that she was not supposed to have lived past infancy, and she had been told by her doctors that she wouldn't make it past middle school, and on and on. And when she had been a little child, her parents took her to all the miracle sites in the world, every famous place that they believed she might be healed for visiting. They even visited Our Lady of Fatima, where Mary had appeared to three children and healed many people. And yet her disease never went away. And she has outlived every single doctor's prediction.

"This is the miracle," she said.

We know, up here in our heads, that every day is not promised but is a gift, but she knew it and lived it with her whole self, and that was her gift. That is why she spread peace and joy, because she was at peace, she was full of joy.

"There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;

there are different forms of service but the same Lord;

there are different workings but the same God

who produces all of them in everyone.

To each individual, the manifestation of the Spirit

is given for some benefit." (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

Not a single one of us will have the exact same story as that girl did, but each of us will face suffering, of different kinds, that try us and wear us down or tell us everything will come crashing down around us. But I know something about suffering, I believe something about it, I trust something about it: That whatever we face in our lives, God is giving to us right now the gifts that we need in order to face our specific sufferings, even if we can't see that or feel that right now. And if we are willing to be open to the Holy Spirit, we can ask the important questions: Why am I not seeing God's gift right now? How do I know what to do next? What do I do if with this difficulty in my life? Seek and you shall find, and when you get knocked down, when the predictions that someone else or even yourself gives you about your life are negative, I want you to turn to the Holy Spirit who is moving around all of us—like energy, like creativity and wonder, like love—for He is Love.

And each spiritual gift is unique. Sure, it may be wisdom or understanding or courage or reverence or the other gifts, but it is unique to you! To your situation! For you!

So I want to teach you how to pray for your gift throughout your life. You can't just pray this once or twice or even for a year and give up. It's a reminder that God will give you the gifts you need when you need them if you are faithful and open to Him:

Come Holy Spirit

Fill the hearts of your faithful

And kindle in them

The fire of your love.

Pour forth your Spirit, Lord,

And we will be created

And you shall renew the face of the earth.