July 31, 2022

Ecclesiastes 1, 2; 2, 21-23 + Psalm 90 + Colossians 3, 1-5 + Luke 12, 13-21

Living as I do in what is often referred to as “East Naples” makes this Gospel very real and the message of Jesus very troubling. Some of the folks who live up in North Naples actually refer to this part of town as “Storage Town.” The number of climate-controlled facilities in this part of Naples is astounding, and we know that one reason is that those other parts of Naples would never allow them to be constructed in their sight. The other reason is because people everywhere think they need them. In my neighborhood there are two car garages for every home. It amazes me how many cars are parked outside all the time, and we know why. When there is a popular TV show called “Hoarders” we know that what this Gospel addresses is no longer considered a sin. Now it is entertainment, and what’s wrong with that?

It is, of course, as much about power as it is stuff, and it is the power that corrupts. This past year we’ve heard a lot about Oligarchs and the power that they wield, the influence that they leverage to keep things just as they are and secure their privilege and power. What we must not lull ourselves into thinking is that the only Oligarchs are in Russia. If you stop to think about it, you could name some of them here and if not them, at least the industry names they hide behind. 

Our cultural climate of materialism always suggests that having the most stuff equals success and promotes admiration. Sadly, it is true. It also permits contentment and sometimes opposition to justice and a deliberate deafness to the teachings of our church and the voice of the Gospel. 

Years ago, I served a parish that actively supported an orphanage in Haiti, and I would visit there from time to time. The first time I was struck by the fact that many homes had no doors. At first, I ignorantly thought it was for ventilation until my priest friend and host reminded me that doors were not necessary because there was nothing to steal. What a contrast to our neighborhoods where have doors, locks, security systems, and gates. I’m left to wonder when I proclaim this Gospel who Jesus is speaking to. I don’t think it is Russian Oligarchs today. 

We are invited today to ask what our lives consist of. Poverty is not a social issue. It is a moral issue, and for us, Poverty is a virtue. It must be chosen, not be the consequence of a broken or protected system that makes and keeps people poor.  As a virtue, it becomes a way of relating to things and to people. It is virtue that when embraced brings a kind of freedom that is unimaginable to those who are anxious and worried about how to protect what they have and get more.

There is simple and profound old saying that whatever is not given is lost because what we have not given will be taken when we die. What we have given away will escape corruption for it has been sent ahead into eternity. That’s really the only way to keep something. Send it ahead.

This Gospel passage began with a word that brought me back to my childhood and the spats and arguments that sometimes erupted between me and my sister. It was always over sharing, and I can remember clearly how impatient and frustrated my parents could become when we didn’t share. It was and still is a simple lesson on how to have peace, harmony, respect, and even hope, because living with someone who shares always offers a promise. 

Nothing can more effectively divide and polarize us than greed whether it is the greed of power or the greed of wealth. Yet, in the midst of this world’s turmoil as long as people of conscience are breathing, hungering for and committed to sharing, hope remains alive, and it is that hope that we celebrate today.

July 24, 2022 Not delivered at a liturgy – recovering from Covid

Genesis 18, 20-32 + Psalm 138 + Colossians 2, 12-14 + Luke 11, 1-13

It is important to notice that an instruction on prayer is followed by examples of action. The two cannot be separated. First, we get the words. Then we get the action. The words begin by establishing our relationship with God when we say the word, “Father.” The very next part of the prayer commits us to do all in our power to bring God’s Kingdom into our time and place. Those words: “Thy Kingdom Come. Thy will be done” are not telling God to do something. They express our readiness to do whatever it takes to bring the Kingdom. That is accomplished, says the prayer, by doing God’s will. The words of the prayer then go on to ask God to provide all that we need to accomplish God’s will in a world where forgiveness overcomes selfishness and revenge with a plea that we will resist all temptation.

The words of this prayer establish the unequal relationship that exists between a child and a parent. In doing so, the words acknowledge a dependency. They invite us to trust that a loving parent always provides what is needed for their children.

With that, Luke takes us right into what these words mean in action. For without action, there is nothing but words. To illustrate how the prayer turns into action, a parable comes with the hungry, the seeker, and the sleeper by way of illustration. This is not an instruction on how to ask or beg cleverly enough to get what you want. The instruction tells us to ask for the Holy Spirit, and that’s all we need. So, asking for the right thing does matter, but a further look at the parable invites us to consider the neighbor. There is action here too. It is an action that relieves hunger.

We ought not miss the fact that part of this prayer gets repeated, and Luke will allow us to hear Jesus at prayer in the Garden: “Thy will be done.” When we pray like this, with openness to God’s will and ready willingness to bring the Kingdom, we become true disciples of Jesus making it possible for God to work through us, since prayer is a union of our will with God’s. God may not keep us from harm, but because of God’ love, we will never face harm alone. As we allow Christ to teach us to pray, we might stop asking God to do what we want and join Christ in doing everything we can for the coming of God’s kingdom.

July 17, 2022 at St. William Church in Naples, FL

Genesis 18, 1-10 + Psalm 15 + Colossians 1, 24-28 + Luke 10, 38-42

Blessed is the family that never has quarrel! There are few such Blessed families in the Scriptures. It begins with Cane and Able, runs down through David and his brothers. It includes Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau. So, when we find this tense scene between two sisters in Luke’s Gospel, it should come as no surprise. That Luke would include this tense moment in his Gospel that often highlights women is certainly to be expected.

There are all sorts of odd details in this episode: Mary seems to be assuming the role of “Guest Master” which in reality at the time was the role of a man. Where is Lazarus? How is it that these women have the resources to do this with no man? Single women at the time would have been penniless. Then, there is Mary sitting at the feet of the Rabbi. Only men do that in their culture. There are enough contradictions here to confuse and disguise the teaching or revelation Luke may be presenting.

All of these issues must not distract us from what is happening, a family quarrel. We all know that some family conflict is simply inevitable. Both of these two sisters are doing something important. One is paying attention to and listening to a welcome guest. The other is providing refreshment. Perhaps the problem giving rise to the conflict is not that one is doing something right thing and the other something wrong, but that there is no balance here between action and contemplation. Or perhaps we could say: between prayer and work. Somehow when that balance gets tipped in one direction there is going to be trouble.

We might do well to let this Gospel speak to us simply about restoring or preserving some good balance to our lives. Working every day with no time for prayer or no time for attending Mass is way off balance. A person who neglects their work and responsibilities for others is a long way from holiness and headed for a crisis. The conflict between the two obviously keeps them from really enjoying the presence of Christ. At the same time, later communities receiving this Gospel may be in conflict trying to adjust their behavior and attitude over the obvious role of women whose previous role was very restricted. 

The presence of Jesus always seems to stretch limitations and push hard for inclusiveness. He constantly rejects rules and regulations that demean or eliminate others. Usually when Jesus comes to a house, he becomes the host making a place at his table for everyone. The only requirement for communion with Christ is acceptance of the others he invites. With a wholesome balance in our lives, we can see, hear, and understand what he offers us by having a place at his table.

Mary Mother of Light Maronite Church in Tequesta, FL

July 17, 2022   Matthew 13: 36-43

We are in the middle of Chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel, and that chapter is full of parables. These are not parables that tell us how to live. They are not about what the Kingdom of God will be like. These parables speak to us about now, this time, this year, and this place. The trouble with these verses we have today is that they are taken out of the whole context of Chapter 13. Most scholars think that these verses were added later either by the author or a scribe at some early point in making a copy of the text. It could well be that some in the community for whom Matthew was writing misunderstood the whole thing and needed to be corrected. Whatever, Matthew now has Jesus explaining a parable about someone sowing weeds in a field that a farmer has just sown with good seed. What to do about the weeds was the problem.

The good people in the Church that Matthew is writing to have a problem. Gentiles are infiltrating their communities with strange ideas and ways that these loyal and faithful first followers of Christ have suffered to maintain. These new converts do not want to keep the rules and respect the customs carried over from Judaism. They want to clean things up. Jesus says: “Wait just a minute.” Matthew has seen how the Scribes and Pharisees took matters into their own hands with that man from Nazareth who disrupted the Temple, cured on the Sabbath, touched lepers and other sick people, talked to Samaritans, ate and drank with tax collector and known sinners. They thought he had to go, so they killed him and cleaned things up. But God didn’t buy their judgement. What they thought was a weed was really the wheat God had sown to feed us. What Jesus wants to make clear to all of us is that it’s not our job to pull up the weeds any more than it is our job to bring in the harvest. 

We plant, and then we wait. Gathering in this church, week after week are sinners and saints. It’s hard to tell the difference. Sometimes we feel like one and the next week we feel like the other. Maybe we’re both. A lot of so called “Sinners” who come to pray with me I think are really saints because of their faith and the hope that in the face of their failures, they humbly accept the loving forgiveness of God. Some of the so-called “Saints” who say all their prayers and never miss an “Amen” never do anything else either and never sincerely recognize their need to say: “Bless me Father, I have sinned.”

So, we can look around and admit that we might not know what is wheat and what is weed, who are sinners and who are saints. The honest among us know that we don’t even know for sure about ourselves. Sometimes we feel one way and act it, and then turn right around and feel the other way as well. The good news is, it is not time for the harvest. The angels have not come, and the fire has not been lit. As long as we can keep from taking charge and assuming that we know weed from wheat, we have a chance to get it right. No one except God has the right to call someone else a sinner. We can only claim that for ourselves.

The problem this chapter addresses then and still today is not the weeds and wheat. The problem we have is that there is a temptation to take charge, assume the power, authority, or the right to clean things up, straighten up this place, this church or this world. That temptation to judge and name a sinner is always lurking.

We must learn a lesson from the Scribes and Pharisees. We must not repeat their behavior by cleaning up things ourselves because we run the risk of condemning ourselves. The righteous who will shine like the sun in the Kingdom are those who hear the warning that simply says: Wait! It’s not time. Throwing someone out takes away their chance to repent, and that would not be a good thing to do. We simply have to make certain that we are not a weed that takes up space or crowds out the wheat. When we understand that we’ve been planted here by that generous sower and owner of this field, we might finally begin to bear fruit and no one would be hungry.

July 10, 2022 This homily will not be delivered as I am on vacation.

Deuteronomy 30, 10-14 + Psalm 69 + Colossians 1, 15-20 + Luke 10, 25-37

We have all heard and read this Gospel episode multiple times in our lives. I dare say, we could easily tell the whole story in our own words. Sometimes that kind of familiarity narrows our vision a bit and obscures other dimensions and details. I have heard countless homilies about the people who passed by, and just as many about the “Good” Samaritan. I will admit that I have even given a brief homily about the Inn-keeper. However, concentrating on the parable and forgetting about what prompted the telling of this parable is quite another thing, and we should not miss the chance to reflect upon this “Scholar of the Law”. He is really at the center of this. He is the real one in this episode. All the others are simply characters in a story Jesus makes up as an example revealing something to us.

What we know from St Luke is that this “Scholar of the Law” was sharp and knew his stuff. He responds to the question Jesus poses reciting chapter and verse from memory! Jesus is impressed at first. Then the “Scholar” reveals something about himself that does not go well. He either does not believe what he had just said or he simply did not understand. What emerges are two things that give us cause to wonder about ourselves. He thinks that we can justify ourselves. Wrong! We do not save or justify ourselves. There is nothing we can do to “earn” or “deserve” God’s grace, favor, and love. It is always a gift. Just keeping the rules does not get us anything. That’s the minimum requirement that sets us free to really move deeper into the mystery of God’s grace. So, the “Scholar” is off to a bad start. Then, things get worse because with his question about who is my neighbor, it’s obvious that he is looking for some limits. He’s wondering just how far we have to go with this business of loving with our whole heart, mind, and strength.

To dig deeper into this, we might do well to clarify what it means to be “justified”. The question of righteousness was the source of a great deal of discussion at the time of Jesus. So, it’s not surprising that this “Scholar” comes to the Rabbi Jesus with the question. What “righteousness” means is just as much a challenge to understand today as it was then, especially when people put “self” in front of it. Basically, it means living as God intended. To help God’s chosen people do this God provided what the Israelites called: “The Law”. The Scholar has nicely condensed the Law into a single phrase. His problem is that he’s looking for a way out, the minimum; and that never goes over well with Jesus.

When Luke describes the Samaritan’s reaction upon seeing the abandoned man he uses the word a Greek word for “compassion”. Luke’s choice of words is for one that is very powerful. It refers to being deeply moved in the gut. In a strange and yet wonderful twist, Luke very subtly uses the despised “Samaritan” as an example for God. That must have raised an eyebrow or two for those who got the point. The parable says to the Scholar and to us that God can work though anyone and look like anyone wherever humans risk taking care of each other.

We can often be a lot like that Scholar of the Law, looking for the minimum and an easy way out of doing more, especially if it might cost us something. The Samaritan does not do the minimum. He does not just dump the man for someone else to take care of. He binds his wound, carries him on his own ride, and takes care of that man’s needs in the future. What we learn, and what that Scholar learned is that God assumes the pain of every person who suffers, and God bears the cost of their suffering. The final message for us is there in the last verse: “Go and do likewise.”

July 3, 2022 at Saint Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Isaiah 66, 10-14 + Psalm 66 + Galatians 6, 14-18 + Luke 10,12-12 & 17-20

There are a lot of details in this instruction that Jesus gives to disciples sent on mission. When you sum them all up, what it really means is that they are to take nothing at all.  He does not send them out with a fist full of pamphlets, the Catechism, or for that matter, a Bible or the Ten Commandments. He doesn’t even tell them what to say. He just sends them, and we can only conclude that the messengers are the message. From the report they give as they return, it was just right.

We have to get over the idea that when Jesus says: “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” he is suggesting that we should pray that someone else will go. That sort of thinking is a bit typical of our age when we see something wrong and think that someone should do something about that when in fact, nothing is going to happen unless we do it. “Go on your way” says Jesus at this moment in this place. You don’t need anything to be a disciple of Jesus on the mission other than the belief that God wants you to go not someone else. Yet, we always think we need something or we’re not good enough, smart enough, free enough, or strong enough to take up the mission of Jesus.  To that thinking, Jesus says: You don’t need anything. Pray, and Go. Yet, some people probably think that you need a degree or some special training to be part of the disciple’s mission. Some people think that you have to know how to teach and what to teach. Some people think that we meet Christ by an argument or some intellectual persuasion. That is not what Jesus did. He listened. He touched, He healed. He fed. He forgave. He served. He went to people’s homes. He never avoided those that others chose to avoid or ignore. 

What is revealed here is something too often forgotten. It is the simple yet powerful ministry of presence. It is the truth that joyful, kind, merciful, and forgiving people who do not criticize or judge are really nice to be around which is exactly the way Jesus carried on the mission he was given by the Father. Jesus did not call any great scholars, brilliant scribes, or holy Pharisees to be his disciples. He called unskilled, simple working people. He invited them to hang around him for a while to watch and listen. Then he said: “Go.”

This world is still a little short of people who understand that the mission of Jesus was basically a ministry of presence. He simply came to be with us. He did not come to judge or condemn. The only people he criticized were those who criticized others. This world is still a little short of laborers to bring in the harvest. It might be time to stop thinking that someone else should do it. It might be time to get the point of this Gospel. It might be time to recognize that sending 72 rather than the 12 meant that he was sending everybody not just some chosen few. 

The mission of Jesus is not served by just the twelve apostles, bishops, priests or deacons.  Those barefoot disciples discovered that the message was in the messengers themselves. All they needed was confidence in their faith, hope for the future, and the kindness of love. Evangelization in the style of Jesus is all about presence, just being there. It worked for Jesus. People came from all the place to be around that man who did good, who spoke of peace, and showed mercy.

People who evangelize by their presence are always recognized by their freedom. They can hang out with anyone, without concern for what others might think or say. They notice needs and respond to them with whatever they have. They are not anti-establishment as much as they are simply not impressed by power or prestige. They live today knowing that tomorrow is beyond their control and the future holds promises we can hardly begin to imagine. 

June 26, 2022 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

1 Kings 19, 19-21 + Psalm 16 + Galatians 5, 1, 13-18 + Luke 9, 51-62

There is so much in the verses of this Gospel proclaimed throughout the world today. It is almost too much for one Sunday. We could easily take three weeks to reflect on each of these three people who came up to Jesus wanting to be disciples. Relax! I’m not going to do that. Today. Their excuses are all good ones and timely, but they are just that, excuses. Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem. That is the future. There is no looking back, and that comment at the end of this passage is a good thought for all of us who sometimes prefer to look backward rather than to look forward. It is the future that matters, not the past. It is the past that got us to this day, and we are a people and a church moving toward the future, Jerusalem, which for us in the Kingdom of God. Repeating the past does not get us moving, it just leaves us standing in place.

What is said before these wanna-be disciples come up to Jesus is almost more important because it speaks to those who are already disciples, James and John.

Jesus is taking a short-cut through Samaria to get to Jerusalem, and that direct route takes him through enemy territory. The Samaritans are hostile to the Jews, and when they discover a Jew passing through is headed to Jerusalem they go out of their way to be inhospitable and perhaps even violent. John and James are mad about this. They have encountered people who are different. They have encountered a people who believe differently, seem hostile, and are completely at odds with what James, John, and Jesus believe to be true. These two apostles imagine that they have some magical or divine power to destroy, and they want to use it. That’s the way they respond to someone who is different: get rid of them. What they discover, and what this Gospel reminds us of today is that Jesus and his Father are not in the business of obliterating other. That is simply not the way it works with God and with God’s people. Jesus simply tells them to look for a more hospitable spot, and that’s all there is to it.

We could learn a good lesson from this simple event. We can learn from watching Jesus and from watching his disciples. Love cannot be coerced, and so God simply waits. God does not force anyone to faith. God does not punish those who are slow to believe. God just waits because grace works very slowly. As this episode continues, what we see is that all kinds of people are being invited to join Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. One turns him down and he simply invites another. Some follow and some don’t None are perfect, but none are totally lost.

The only thing that frees us to follow Jesus and make it to Jerusalem is love. With it there is no danger or fear, and the lure of the past has no power. While Jesus had no place to lay his head, his followers enjoy many homes. It is a vision of the Kingdom, the New Jerusalem that motivates us to look to Jesus and learn from him. It is a vision of the Kingdom and the New Jerusalem that give us a kind of inner peace, confidence, and hope that allows us to live with others who are different, and wait, like the Father, for all to be one. 

June 19, 2022 at Saint Elizabeth Seton and Saint William Catholic Churches in Naples, FL

Genesis 14, 18-20 + Psalm 110 + 1 Corinthians 11, 23-26 + Luke 9, 11-17

It disturbs me a little that the committee who organized the Sunday Readings stopped the reading at verse 26. It bothers me because what comes in the next three verses is the point of what proceeds. The next verses go like this: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine themselves, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on themselves.”

Those verses are the strongest condemnation in the entire New Testament, and they are not to be taken lightly. In the context of the Sacred Liturgy, a letter written to the Church in Corinth is written as well to the Church of Naples. We are challenged by this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ to gather around this altar as commanded to “Do this in memory of me.” Only Luke and Paul preserve those words, and Paul repeats them twice. We are not here to “get” or “take” communion. We are here to enter into communion with Christ and to become the Body of Christ. We are here to DO something in memory of Christ. Eating and drinking is not the “doing.”

So, we need to be clear about what “this” is, and what “memory” means. Religious Memory is not an intellectual activity. It is a power that allows us to participate in what had formed people in the past. Memory in the experience of religion has the power to bring the past into the present with such force that we feel and are part of the past. And so, there are no observers. When we remember the Last Supper, we are there, at the table. We are not pretending, rehearsing, or re-enacting that meal. It is now as much as it was then. That’s what it means to “remember.”

Once we get that right, we might wonder what Jesus is asking us to do. What is “this”? Well, we can learn from the Corinthians that “this” was certainly not an imitation of words and gestures of Jesus. They seem to have thought, and some may still think, that “this” is the repetition of certain words and gestures. NOT! Says Paul.

When Jesus says: “Do this” he refers to giving himself, to pouring out his life’s blood for the sake of others. He does not refer to a menu, a prayer formula or set of gestures. To take, bless and break bread in Jesus’ name implies the commitment to be in communion with his self-giving and make it our own.

The Gospel today is the only story told six times in the Gospels to make a point. We often wrongly call it the “Multiplication” of loaves, but not one of the six versions say that the quantity of bread increased. They simply tell us that the disciples claimed there was not enough while Jesus asked them to give everything they had. When they did, there was more than enough. Each of those six stories foreshadow the Last Supper repeating the formula that Jesus “took, blessed and broke” to satisfy the needs of the people. He teaches us how to give all we are and all we have just as he did through his life and death. That was, and only that could be enough.

There are no observers at the table of the Eucharist. When we take and eat, we had better be ready to be broken and poured out in service and in love, or we “bring judgement” on ourselves as Paul said. At this table we are invited into communion with Jesus Christ who still lives in and through us, and we commit ourselves to proclaim the death of the Lord by our very lives. Nothing else matters.

June 12, 2022 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Proverbs 8, 22-31 + Psalm 8 + Romans 5, 1-5 + John 16, 12-15

This great holy day draws our attention to The Holy Trinity leading us to wonder and reflect on what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God. This day is not an occasion to dig into great theological ideas about three-in-one and one-in-three, or “Undivided Trinity” as the hymn goes. Neither is it a time to study the nature and relationship of Jesus, the one he calls “The Father,” and the Spirit/Advocate he speaks of at the last supper. That’s for classrooms and theological lectures. This is Liturgy. This is a time to praise, to bless, to adore, to glorify and give thanks to God; and we do that best by being who we are as the faithful disciples of Jesus and members of his Church.

This day that comes around every year just after Pentecost exposes our illusion of autonomy and independence.  It mocks the pretensions of everyday life and the whole self-centered idea of precious individuality that spouts a silly litany of my body, my private property, my rights, my needs, my interests. It goes on and on and we hear day in and day out.

The consequence of this shallow thinking begins to suggest that “others” are the problem. So, the ego is constantly being challenged and nagged at by “them”. The philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre said that we do not need the threat of fire and red-hot pokers: “Hell is other people.” Otherness is the enemy.

Yet, “otherness” is at the very beginning. The Trinity is there before creation. In other words, it’s all about relationships, and without relationships, there is nothing. In the beginning was the Word, says the opening line of John’s Gospel, and when the Father speaks that Word and breathes, there is life, and eventually, there we are. This feast and our understanding of the Trinity rests upon our understanding of ourselves as living members of humanity, and in faith, as living members of the Body of Christ. We do not exist alone. We cannot exist, and no one can truly live alone.

The strength of our relationships, the bond we have with each other in trust, in love, and friendship, and in the human family is the biggest part of what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God, because, God exists in relationship and what holds that relationship together is love. Which is exactly what holds a family together. When it is broken or missing, lost or forgotten, there is no family, and when there is no love, there is no image of God.

There is an intimacy about all of this, a kind of unspoken and awesome wonder in which the love of God among us conquers all things. That love holds us up, that love is revealed in joy, and that love renews, restores, and recreates what God began on the first day of creation. We celebrate relationships today because of the Trinity. We celebrate all that holds us together, our stories, our woes, our sorrows, and our joys, and most of all, our faith in God is and always will be, Father, Son, and Spirit. It is a good day to be together, and it will get even better if we reach out to and hold on to those we love and to those who love us.

June 5, 2022 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Acts of the Apostles 2, 1-11 + Psalm 104 + 1 Corinthians 12, 3-7, 12-13 + John 20, 19-23

 As long as we continue to read, listen to, and proclaim the Gospel as though it is about someone else or that what we read is some kind of historical report, we have no place to go, nothing to do, and for that matter, we have no future, and things in this world, our world will just always be the same. There will simply be anger and division, more losers than winners, a shinking church, and a world divided, suspicious, unjust, and probably violent. As long as anyone of us hears this Gospel proclaimed during the Sacred Liturgy and thinks that Jesus is talking to a group of people hiding in a Jerusalem safe-house, nothing that keeps the Kingdom of God from breaking into our lives will ever change. 

Jesus Christ speaks to each one of us when we are here. We are not just one of a crowd, nameless, faceless numbers. In Luke’s Gospel that fire seperted and settled over each person in that room. the command of his mission is entrusted to every one of us. The fire of Pentecost singles each of us out, gives each of us a face and a name, a value and dignity, a purpose that is truly individual and truly unique.

What we have here is a reenactment of creation. At that moment in Genesis the human vocation was to be stewards of all creation, and nothing has changed that command. Creation is ours to care for and not just the environment which we ought to take more seriously, but other human beings as well. There is no one on this earth beyond our responsibility. At some moment today, and every day, we will be called upon, in our own way, to bring the power of the Holy Spirit to bear upon the task of building up and nurturing the people of God.

We might have a chance to just listen to someone who needs to talk without rolling our eyes, wondering when they will stop, or looking at our watch. We might have the opportunity to thank someone who is always being taken for granted. We might simply be given the chance to laugh and help someone else laugh and make their day more pleasant. A sense of humor is a divine power, and so is a sense of beauty that allows us to be more sensitive not about our own feelings, but toward someone else who is hurt.

Over and above that, the clearest sign that the Holy Spirit is present is courage, and that seems to be in short supply. It was fear that kept those Apostles huddled in that room before Pentecost, and the first effective sign of the Holy Spirit was that they acted in spite of their fear.

A people filled with the Holy Spirit are never silent in the face of wrong doing. They cannot be silent in the face of violence or hatred. They speak the truth because they know the truth. Wisdom and Understanding leads them to know the difference between an opinion, a lie, and the truth, and they will never settle for anything short of the truth.

Two miracles seem to have happened on that first day of Pentecost. The Scriptures do not just say that the Apostles spoke new languages. It says that they were understood. Whenever I think about this, I recall old Father Wade Darnall who was a mentor to me early in my priesthood. He did not speak one word of Spanish, but served a people who did not speak English. They loved him, and they knew that he loved them. There are ways of speaking without words that we sometimes forget about. As we pray today that the Holy Spirit will fill us and renew us, we might well pray again for that gift of understanding that sometimes is more important than the gift of tongues. When we begin to really understand who we are and what we are as God’s people, chosen, and loved, a lot of things will be different, and we might just be closer to the Kingdom of God.