HOMILY FOR THE PENTECOST VIGIL MASS BY REV FR UTAZI PRINCE MARIE BENIGNUS

 HOMILY FOR 5 JUNE 2022 PENTECOST – VIGIL MASS YEAR C 

Genesis 11:1-9 or Exodus 19:3-8, 16-20 or Ezekiel 37:1-14 or Joel 3:1-5; Psalm 104:1-2, 24, 27-30, 35; Romans 8:22-27; John 7:37-39 

May you continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that you may use the gifts (charismata or charisms) which God has given you for the edification of the community of believers.

WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) no. 683 says: Knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit: to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit. He comes to meet us and kindle faith in us. Come, Holy Spirit! Yes, in any discernment of God's call, we need to call on the Holy Spirit to come to fill and inspire us. Do we think to call on the Holy Spirit? Pentecost reminds us to do this not just on one feast during the year . . . but every day.

The role of the Holy Spirit in Christian life: (1) As an indwelling God, He makes us His Living Temples (1 Corinthian 3:16). (2) As a strengthening God, He strengthens us in our fight against temptations and in our mission of bearing witness to Christ by transparent Christian lives. (3) As a sanctifying God, He makes us holy through the Sacraments: (a) Through Baptism He makes us children of God and heirs of Heaven; (b) Through Confirmation, He makes us temples of God, warriors and defenders of the Faith; (c) Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, He enables us to be reconciled with God by pardoning our sins; (d) Through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, He gives us spiritual nourishment by converting bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ through Epiclesis; (e) Through the Sacraments of the priesthood and matrimony, He makes the Church community holy. (4) As a teaching and guiding God, He clarifies and constantly reminds us of the teachings of Christ and guides the Magisterium of the Church to present the teachings of Christ correctly. (5) As a listening and talking God, He listens to our prayers and enables us to pray, and He speaks to us mainly through the Bible. 6) As a Giver of gifts, He pours out on us His gifts, fruits and charisms, thus enriching the Church.

The action of the Holy Spirit is enormous in the life of the believer and of the Church. Be ready to allow him into your life tonight. How beautiful is the thought that the Holy Spirit lives within us! Paul reminds the Corinthian community of this fact when he asks, Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16). It is the Holy Spirit who develops our intimacy with God.  God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, Abba!' ('Father!) (Gal 4:6); the  love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us (Romans 5:5). No one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). Moreover, we know that it is the Holy Spirit who teaches us to pray (Romans 8:26).  By the power of the Spirit, we also know the Lord Jesus through his Church. Pentecost Sunday is the day the Church of God is sent on mission, the day it was activated. Pentecost day is not the day the Church was born. The church was born on Good Friday, from the side of Jesus Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who enlivens, enlightens, guides, and sanctifies the Church. The Psalm refrain for this Sundays Responsorial Psalm (Ps 104) says it so well: Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.  We know Jesus through the Sacramental Mysteries of the Church, and Holy Spirit is at the heart of the Sacramental life of the Church.  Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders are the Sacramental Mysteries through which people receive the seal of the Holy Spirit.  It would be impossible for us to receive Jesus in the Eucharist without the descent of the Holy Spirit at the Epiclesis of the Divine Liturgy.  Even the forgiveness of sins comes through the Holy Spirit (John 20:21-23).  The Holy Spirit both confirmed the apostles in Holy Orders as priests and empowered them to forgive sins by His power, a work which He continues today in each of our priests.

In our daily lives as Christians, the Spirit is that Paraclete (a Greek word that is translated as Counselor, Comforter, Helper, Encourager, or Enabler), who quietly works in us and through us every day behind the scenes in the basic activities of our lives and the lives of the people around us. He is there in all his fullness wherever people worship and pray in the name of Jesus. When we believe and trust in Jesus we have that Faith through the Holy Spirits work in us, filling us with Himself and His Gifts. The Holy Spirit leads us to turn away from our sinfulness and reassures us that we are still loved in spite of our sin, and that Jesus died on a cross just for those moments when we rebel against God's way. He confronts us and urges us to take a good look at ourselves and where we are heading, to make a U-turn, to leave the old behind and try something new. He is not afraid to challenge us and stretch us to go and do things for Christ, things we have never done before or ever imagined ourselves doing. He is the one who says to us, Stop being so self-focussed. Stop looking into yourself all the time and being depressed by what you see or fool yourself into thinking that what you see in yourself is enough to get you through! Look up, look away, look to Jesus and let Him turn your around; let Him take control! The feast of Pentecost celebrates the unseen, immeasurable presence of God in our lives and in our Church; the ruah that animates us to do the work of the Gospel of the Risen One, the ruah that makes the will of God our will, the ruah of God living in us and transforming us so that we may bring His life and love to our broken world. God breathes His Spirit into our souls that we may live in His life and love; God ignites the fire of His Spirit within our hearts and minds that we may seek God in all things in order to realize the coming of His reign. 

The Holy Spirit, the Helper is quietly at work: in the sincere concern of a friend for our health; in the generosity of those who give us so much help; in the inner strength we discover in times of crisis; in those moments when we admit that we have been wrong; in the making of a tough choice; in the resilience of people who face one bad thing after another; in times when we have dared to love even though it was hard to do so. The Holy Spirit, the Helper, is quietly at work: in our taking on responsibilities that we once thought beyond us; in our refusing to let the greed of society take over our soul; in our giving thanks always, even though times have been hard; in our rising above past failures and putting past hurts behind us; in our finding a central core of peace in the midst of turmoil; in an adult patiently teaching a child self-esteem and self-control; in the person sitting quietly beside a hospital bed; in a parent praying for a troubled son or daughter. The Spirit calls us to repentance, to turn our lives around; He calls us to Faith and to take up our cross and follow Jesus. Whenever we look to the Holy Spirit, He is within us as our Helper, always assisting us to be what God made us to be.  The Holy Spirit helps us to be truly great by becoming servants to one another. Likewise, the Spirit deepens our awareness of Jesus loving us as he lives in our lives; He gathers us around the cross of Jesus; He changes our lives, helping us to be more patient and forgiving, to seek new beginnings in our relationships with one another and to let the power of God's love have the final say over the conflicts and difficulties we get into. He is available to us every moment of every day as we face the choices between being self-centred or being the God-cantered people, the Spirit has called us to be in Christ.

Life messages:  (1) We need to permit the Holy Spirit to direct our lives:  (a) by constantly remembering and appreciating His Holy Presence within us, especially through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation;  (b) byfortifying ourselves with the help of the Holy Spirit against all types of temptations; ( c) by seeking the assistance of the Holy Spirit in our thoughts, words, and deeds, and in the breaking of our evil habits;  (d) by listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the Bible and through the good counsel of others; (e) by fervently praying for the gifts, fruits and charisms of the Holy Spirit; (f) by renewing our lives through the anointing of the Holy Spirit; and (g) by living our lives in the Holy Spirit as lives of commitment, of sacrifice, and of joy.  We are called to love as Jesus loved, not counting the cost. As Paul exhorts us, Walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16,25).

(2) We need to cultivate the spirit of forgiveness.  The feast of Pentecost offers us the chance to look at the role which forgiveness should play in our dealings with others.  Thus, we are challenged to examine our sense of compassion, patience, tolerance and magnanimity.  Learning to forgive is a lifelong task, but the Holy Spirit is with us to make us agents of forgiveness.  If we are prepared on this day of Pentecost to receive the Holy Spirit into our lives, we can have confidence that our lives will be marked by the Spirit of forgiveness.

(3) We need to observe Pentecost every day.  It will always be Pentecost in the Church, affirmed Blessed Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, on Pentecost Sunday 1978, provided the Church lets the beauty of the Holy Spirit shine forth from her countenance.  When the Church ceases to let her strength rest on the Power from above which Christ promised her and which he gave her on that day, and when the Church leans rather on the weak forces of the power or wealth of this earth, then the Church ceases to be newsworthy.  The Church will be fair to see, perennially young, attractive in every age, as long as she is faithful to the Spirit that floods her and she reflects that Spirit through her communities, through her pastors, through her very life [The Violence of Love, (Farmington, PA: The Plough Pub. Co.,  1998).] [Archbishop Oscar Romero was beatified May 23, 2015 by Pope Francis.] Archbishop Romeros declaration reminds us, as does the Gospel of today, that Pentecost is not just one day, but every day. Without breath, there is no life. Without the Spirit, the Church is a field of dry, dead bones. The Venerable Fulton J. Sheen once said about the Church, Even though we are the chosen people of God, we often behave more like the frozen people of God, frozen in our prayer life, frozen in the way we relate with one another, frozen in the way we celebrate our Faith. [Bishop Fulton J. Sheen was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI in June, 2012.] Today is a great day to ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the spirit of new life and enthusiasm, the fire of the love of God.  Let us repeat Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newmans favorite little prayer, Come Holy Spirit:

Come Holy Spirit 

Make our ears to hear 

Make our eyes to see 

Make our mouths to speak 

Make our hearts to seek 

Make our hands to reach out 

And touch the world with your love.  AMEN.  

[Cardinal Newman was beatified September 19, 2010 by Pope St. John Paul II.]

O DIVINE WORD WHO TOOK FLESH FOR HUMAN SAKE, REDEEM US IN OUR SITUATION

© Rev Fr Utazi Prince Marie Benignus Zereuwa