October 3, 2021 (Mass of the Holy Spirit)
/by Fr. Xavier Lavagetto, O.P.
[This is the text composed by the homilist prior to delivering the homily.]
A graduate student remarked, “It’s that time when things get really overwhelming! … And then she caught herself! … “Oh, I guess it’s only been 2 weeks.” … Time is relative to the stress you feel!
Some frosh are waking up to the frightening reality that midterms are beginning soon. Time is relative to the stress you feel! …. And that’s only school.
Some stresses are social: wanting to belong, but not; rushing to party, but not enjoying it. Don’t exchange a veiled exuberance for friendship.
Some stresses are medical. We were a united nation when 2,996 people died on 9/11, but where is the unity after 701,000 COVID deaths? Stress increases in proportion to the number of people you know who suffered from COVID.
Some stresses are political. In world so ideologically divided, so cavalier with facts, so quick to attack, where is hunger for truth and respect for others? A politics of rage is so much a stressor that we are either political paralyzed or worse embrace an amnesia that ignores the nation’s problems. After all, what can I do?
Where is God? How do I know if I am heeding his Spirit?
St. Paul names the evidence of the Spirit’s action; it is growth in any of the Spirit’s fruits that assures me I’m journeying in the right direction. Paul wrote: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23)
Each year at Catholic Colleges and Universities, and at Newman Centers at public and private schools of learning, the Mass of the Holy Spirit is celebrated. It is more than just asking for the Spirit’s help to be better students. It is praying for the Spirit’s dynamic life and guidance. As St. Paul wrote, those who live by the Spirit are led by the Spirit. … We are asking God for a new way of listening, and discerning. The Spirit can a new dynamism in us.
Elijah described that experience as new life for a valley of dry bones. Sometimes, we feel barely alive, but the Spirit can make us vitally alive. Paul describes the experience as freedom; where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. The Spirit frees us to be alive and confident.
Yet so many other voices distract us: the marketplace, social media, political spin, destructive rumor, outright distortions and more. … Identify the tempting noise that enslave. Give God the quiet to feel and hear him. Learn how to identify his voice!
What does living with the life-giving Spirit feel like? At one time or another, you will experience: Here are some indicators of the Spirit’s action:
Feeling of freedom … The church’s dictum is, God moves by attraction, not by coercion. One writer said it well: “God proposes himself, never imposes himself. … Instead, the evil voice seduces, assails, forces.” (K Hattrup)
Old hurts and regrets left behind … God is about new beginnings. As Pope Francis said: God never tires of forgiving. We get tired of asking. We are all unworthy, get over it! You can’ make yourself good enough to get to God, that the Pelagian heresy. Rather God gift of Spirit makes you worthy.
An experience of being encouraged … The dark voices seduce, assail and enslave. Their flattery leaves us empty. God speaks encouragement! Why? … Because as he said about you in Isaiah, you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you. … I shall never forget the smile on a GSB student who had to share: I just had this overwhelming experience of God’s love for me. Nothing can ever be the same.”
Feeling engaged and energized: Too often we ask, What do I feel like doing? … It is slavery to wait upon our feelings. Ask instead what can do I that energizes me, and engages me with others and connects me with God. Joy comes when we are a self-less gift like Jesus. As the Letter to the Hebrews notes: for the sake of the joy that was set before him [he embraced] he cross (Heb 12:2) He did it for joy and the joy is you!
Being attentive … It’s easy to be locked in past hurts and regrets, or in future dreaming that says, “I will be happy when …?(you fill in the gap!)” Don’t miss the grace of the moment. Happiness is only lived in the present tense. Sure, plan for the future, but don’t forget to be alive now. Don’t expect to be happy later if you can’t enjoy the gift of now.
A feeling of amazement … Don’t take life for granted. Live lives of radical attention and amazement! God said it: No need to remember past events, to harp on what was done before. Look, I am about to do something new, now it springs up, can you not see it. (Is 43:16b-17) Are you a life long learner?
A feeling of purpose. …You are blessed with talents and charism. The talents are given to you uniquely; they make you God’s work of art. Charisms, on the hands, are gifts given you for others. They are how God acts through you to help others. Paul wrote: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. You are called to uniqueness and to mission.
Experience of peace amid turmoil … The Jesuit mystic and paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin wrote: Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God. Are you making time to enjoy God? Friends make time for friends.
This Mass of the Holy Spirit asks for God’s Spirit; pray for sensitivity to his presence in you, in your day and in each other.
St. John Paul II wrote that “the Spirit is Love and Gift in Person.” … This is truly personal and relational. Sadly, too many pray to God as if he needed to be persuaded; or act as if God must be bribed. That is transactional and not the Gospel. Our prayer is not about persuading God, but letting God persuade and energize us. Our actions are about letting his presence erupt in action for others.
Even the fleeting desire to pray is more God’s grace than your doing. Catholic are not concerned about works righteousness that seeks to earn points from God. God’s Spirit empowers from within.
Put simply: God wants a relationship with you and you with one another. Only then do we begin to live the Trinitarian life; only then are we moving to fulfill God’s desire, as Paul wrote, to be all in all. He wants to recapture you and his good creation in his embrace. But that love waits upon your yes, a gift of self.
The Pope has set the Church on the road of synodality. Synod means “traveling together” Pope France invites you to travel together as brothers and sisters. He invites you to that deeper listening that asks: Where is the Lord calling the Church? Calling me? Such listening lays aside all agendas and prefab answers. Pray with the openness of the young Prophet Samuel: Speak, Lord your servant is listening.
You are wonderfully gifted! …. It is isolation from one another that makes us timid. Reflect together and act! Join small group or service group. Connect your gifts to other’s gifts! If you should feel overwhelmed and overloaded, reach out to each other and connect! … Share your lives in prayer and find Jesus in your midst.
I challenge each one of you to give 2% of the day to the Lord. … 1% to pray the Gospels, and 1% at days end to pray your day. Here is a practical aid or rather two apps: PRAYS AS YOU GO and REIMAGINING THE EXAMEN.
Time to drop the stress and embrace living! The Spirit wants to talk with you!
