“Once again, today is the great feast of Pentecost and the birthday of the Church. It’s the birthday of the Church because it’s when Christ sends out his disciples to go make disciples of the world. In today’s Gospel Jesus says, ‘As the Father has sent me now I send you and receive the Holy Spirit. After the resurrection Christ appeared before his apostles and continued to teach them about his life, how to live, about the Father and the relationship with the Father, but he kept on saying to his apostles that he would have to leave and his apostles said, ‘Well what are we supposed to do without you?’ But Christ said, ‘I must leave for the Spirit to come.’ In all of our lives I think there’s a moment in time when we’re pretty definite about our relationship with Christ. Think about a time when you truly felt the presence of God in your life without any question. Sometimes we want to hold on to that moment and keep it forever thinking that our relationship with God will be like that, but it never is, is it? And it’s because Christ doesn’t want us to hold on to just one instance but for us to continue growing in our relationship with him, to continue growing in our understanding of our relationship with him and that’s why he sends us the Holy Spirit. Other names of the Holy Spirit is: The Consoler, The Paraclete, The Advocate. It’s the Spirit of truth and for all of us who have been baptized and confirmed we have the spirit already dwelling within us. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit is:
- Wisdom
- Understanding
- Knowledge
- Council
- Fortitude
- Piety
- Fear of the Lord
These are all gifts of the Holy Spirit, all gifts that of ours that are given to us. Do you rely on your guidance of the Holy Spirit in your life? Can you feel it’s presence? Do you know when the Holy Spirit is there? Maybe this is a time to start praying to the Holy Spirit for guidance? Often times I always feel like the Holy Spirit is a thing on our side. There’s always that tension in our hearts, isn’t there? We have all those negative thoughts of ourselves, maybe others, but there’s always that stirring within our own heart that keeps us going forward that keeps us moving forward. It’s the Holy Spirit that gives us the courage to even confess our sins to face our fears. It’s that stirring within our heart that says, ‘Despite these things I’ve done in the past, my sins, I know I can do better than that. I know I am better than that.’ And really that stirring within your heart that desire there really is the grace of the Holy Spirit already dwelling within you guiding you throughout your life calling you closer to Christ calling you to a deeper relationship with Christ. So continue to ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in your life for it is through the Holy Spirit that we have a relationship to the Father. As you come to receive the Lord today where Christ is truly present before you in the Eucharist let us continue to ask for the strength and the courage to open our hearts to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to be humble enough to be guided by the Holy Spirit so that we can be one with the Father as Christ is. Amen.”