Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Perhaps you know by heart the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and the twelve fruits, and you can even describe them, but what good is that? It is good to know them; they are a beautiful promises for us, but much more important is that the ‘sweet guest’ enters your soul and helps you to live these gifts and fruits, today, on Pentecost, and always.
A young senior in high school who was rebelling against her parents in a ritzy suburb went to the rented beach house for the senior prom with twenty classmates, and good amount of booze and drugs. You can imagine the scene. She woke up Saturday morning and somehow decided to drive home and went to her community’s Mass that night, not realizing it was Pentecost. She was completely overwhelmed and sensed that God had organized everything for her that night. This was the beginning of her reconciliation with her parents and with God. She had the gifts of the Spirit!
What can the Holy Spirit do for us? You would be amazed. St. Paul says that no one can say Jesus is Lord, without the Holy Spirit. He dominates our life and has power over our sins and weaknesses. He can change the deep paradigms and projections that we have in our life. Things we could never imagine living without. He made my mom very sweet through the dementia that she had the last years of her life. Gentle and sweet were not words I would have used to describe her before this illness.
From the moment of our Baptism, the Spirit has been the sweet guest of our soul. He is not there on a whim. He doesn’t come and go depending upon our behavior. He is in you. And even your sins and mine cannot throw him out. He does not walk on a tightrope, balancing your behavior against his desires. Perhaps we don’t listen to him, but he is very present in you.
The gospel tells us that the apostles were locked up for fear of the Jews. Even today many are locked up due to fear. Their doors are locked to Christ. We can also be locked up to one another, closed not able to love, or forgive, or listen to the other. However, the Spirit enters quietly, without making a racket, he doesn’t break down the doors. He is in our midst and brings us peace. His presence helps us to do the will of the Father. When we don’t do his will, it is like war, a constant battle with your spouse or kids or parents. The other cannot fulfill my projections and then you are always frustrated, because you look for yourself in everything. It is a real hell.
Remember two things this Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is always with us. And he acts silently, with love, despite the closed doors. You know he is there because your sins are forgiven. How many people today never have the experience of having their sins forgiven. What a pity!