Homily for Pentecost Sunday
(May 27, 2007)
We all know that it is
almost impossible to contain a forest fire, when the wind is blowing
powerfully.
Pushed by the wind, the fire spreads in giant leaps igniting
everything around. On the first Pentecost a fire was started that
has not gone out in 2000 years, because this flame is spread by a wind,
we know as the Holy Spirit.
Listening again to Luke’s
account of what happened when the Holy Spirit arrived on Pentecost
reminds me of what happened in l959, when Pope John XXIII called for a
council. He said we must open the windows of the church to let in a
fresh breeze. In l962 when
2500 bishops from all over the world gathered in
Rome
, there was fear and confusion just like at that first
gathering of the disciples in
Jerusalem
.
At the second Vatican
Council, some of the bishops thought that the only thing they could
do was to keep on doing what they had been doing. But the Holy Spirit
moved the majority of bishops to overcome their fears. They threw out
all the documents which had been prepared by the conservative members of
the Curia, and made some radical changes.
On Pentecost, no one
could have predicted that Peter and the Apostles would start boldly
interacting with people from all over the known world—But the
Spirit who came as wind and fire started a blaze that could not
be put out and sparks or followers of Jesus Christ soon started showing
up all over the Mediterranean world.
In the l960’s it was the breath of that same Holy Spirit
leading the church to start having mass in all kind of different
languages – so that people could hear the Gospel and Eucharistic
Prayers in their own native tongue.
As
I child who never went inside a Protestant Church, I could not have
imagined that I would one day have weekly dialogue partners who are
Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Nazarene and Congregational. No
longer do we think of them as heretics, but as sisters and brothers in
Christ. You can’t stop a fire as long as there is a strong wind driving it.
I have two more images: The start of a
race and the Olympic Torch
A) Last Saturday when I was
at his benefit motorcycle run for Zachary MOssbarger, I was reminded of
the Indy 500, when Zachary
announced: Start your
engines. What a thrill
to hear 100 motorcycle engines
fire up and roar to life. Wow!
But that will be nothing compared to the thrill of those entering
into the presence of God and the choir of angels in Heaven, when and the
Holy Spirit says: Start your eternal life.
B) As a part of the
Olympic Tradition before people gather from nations from over the world,
a fire is brought from far off, by
handing on the torch. The games begin when the Torch arrives to
light the Olympic Fire. Pentecost
is a kind of reverse Olympics, when The Spirit came down spitting
tongues of fire on all the disciples, probably not just the 12, but the
120 disciples including Mary and many other women. By the gift of the
Spirit the people gathered there from many lands each understood the
gospel in their native tongue. And
the fire spread to far off nations.
Concl: The Lord expects us
to hand on the Torch of faith from one person to another; to keep
the fire burning from one generation to the next. But ultimately our
hope comes from our conviction that no one can put out the flame sent
down by Christ, as long as the wind of the Holy Spirit is spreading the
fire.
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