Lec
# 63- Pentecost Sunday- May 19, 2013- Fr. Bresowar
Recently
I had confirmation interviews with some of our students, and I asked them, I
said, “how many gods do we have? How many gods do we worship?” Most of them
were able to answer that question, “we have one God,” they said. I said
awesome, so then I asked, “well, who is God? Is the Father God?” They said
“yes”. “Well is Jesus God,” a couple of them said “no;” I had to remind them
that they were wrong. Most said “yes, Jesus is God.” Then I asked what about
the Holy Spirit “is he God?” I got some confused looks. Many guessed yes.
So
I said, if the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, how
many gods are there? Three, many answered. And I declared them heretics and
kicked them out of my office!
Of
course I am joking. But the subject of the Trinity can be confusing to adults,
no less teenagers. We, of course, have one God, who exists as three Persons,
equal and also distinct. The mystery of the Trinity! The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And
today, we focus on the third person, the Holy Spirit. For today is Pentecost
Sunday.
We
heard in the readings today of the sending of the Holy Spirit, who Jesus calls
the Advocate. It is the Holy Spirit, the Lord tells us, will teach us
everything and remind us of everything he taught us.
It
was necessary for Jesus to ascend to the Father so that he could send the
Spirit to us. It is the Spirit who will enkindle in our hearts the flame of
charity. It is the Spirit who will enlighten our intellects and it is the
Spirit who will lead us back to the Father through the Son.
With
the Spirit, we cry out, “Come Lord Jesus!” The Spirit and the Bride await the
second coming of our Lord when the final judgment will take place and all who
are with God will be one with Him and our joy will be complete.
But
who exactly is the Spirit? And why is he called Spirit? And what is his
purpose?
This
of course, cannot be answered in a brief homily, but we can at least try to
cover the bases. Homilies are meant to teach, and we need to know our faith. So
let’s get into some deep theology here for a minute. If you head spins, don’t
worry, your normal.
As
we said earlier, we have one God, who exists as three persons, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. In the Godhead, in the Trinity, The Father, knowing himself
perfectly, generates His Word, which happens from all eternity. No beginning,
no end, the Father always generates his Word. The Word (which, we see in John
is the person of the Trinity who takes on Flesh in Christ Jesus), is the
perfect, substantial Idea in whom the Father is expressed and to whom he
communicates all His goodness, lovableness, divine nature and essence. The
Father and the Word together behold Their infinite goodness and beauty, and
they love each other from all of eternity, and the expression of this love,
which his unitive, is a third Person, the Holy Spirit.
The
Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son by way of Love. He is the Love
that exists between the Father and the Son, or the Word. He is an effusion if
you will. An effusion is like an outward spreading, an escape, so the Holy
Spirit is what springs forth from the reciprocal love of the Father and the
Son, so substantial is this love that it is a Person, the third Person of the
Most Holy Trinity. And this happens without beginning or end, from all
eternity. Because he is an effusion of divine love, He is called “Spirit,”
according to the Latin sense of the word which means air, respiration, the vital breath.
As
we breath as humans, that is a sign of life; in God, the Holy Spirit is an
effusion of life and love, the “Spirit of the Father and the Son,” and also
“the Spirit of Love in God, that is, the “breath” of love of the Father and the
Son, the “breath of divine love.” The fathers of the Church called the Holy
Spirit “osculum Patris et Filii,” the
kiss of the Father and the Son, a “sweet, but secret kiss,” said St. Bernard.
We
should probably take a break and let that soak in for a minute, but we won’t.
It so important to try and understand the Godhead, to the best of our ability,
so that we might grasp, albeit imperfectly, the gift that Jesus gave us on Pentecost
Sunday.
To say that we have the Holy
Spirit, that we have been given the Holy Spirit, with a proper understanding,
is to say that we have the breath of love between the Father and the Son
dwelling within us. That we possess in our souls, by our baptism and
confirmation, the effusion of perfect, mutual, unitive love, presiding in our
souls, the kiss of the Father and the Son.
To
hear it said that way, it is almost as if we could say, we have God Himself
living in us so that we too might become one with Him as the Word is One with
the Father in a perfect bond of love.
Actually,
it’s not almost as if we could say, it is what we can say… we are becoming, as
we draw ever closer to God, one with Him.
Okay,
so we have the perfect love of the Father and the Son dwelling within us. What
is His purpose?
Again,
not going to answer that completely in this homily, but let’s say his primary
purpose is to bring us into the presence of the Godhead. We are the bride of
Christ, the Church, and our destination is the marriage banquet of Heaven, to
exist in a perfect unity with our bridegroom, Jesus.
The
Spirit is the principle Person who brings about this unity in a number of ways.
Here we exist in imperfect unity, and the sign of this is the division that
still is present in society, in our lives, in our families, even within
ourselves; division, which is caused by sin. In the Kingdom of God, there is no
division, because there is no sin.
Think
of it as a symphony orchestra if you will. It’s made up of a hundred different
musicians and dozens of instruments. The conductor is the visible focus of
everyone’s attention, both the musicians and the audience. And yet, is the
conductor the real source of music? No, the composer is. In front of every
musician is a music stand holding a few pages marked with black dots- the
score, the music. No one in the audience sees the score, but that score is what
brings those minds together, coordinates everyone’s efforts, and produces a
beautiful, inspiring performance.
That
is what our existence is like in the Church.
The
Pope is the conductor, guaranteed by God to stay faithful to the musical score.
We are the musicians, contributing our own unique talents to the symphony of
holiness that resounds throughout the world and history. And the Holy Spirit,
is the living musical score, the one who tells us what notes to play, when to
play them, how fast to play them, how loud and soft. He is the silent force
behind the power of every saint, every Christian, and the Church as a whole.
It
is He who brings everything together as One, perfect, Holy, Church of Love.
Today
is our Birthday, we are born as a Church on Pentecost Sunday, the day when the
breath of perfect Love of the Father and the Son, came to dwell within us to
help us complete our mission; to inspire us to unite ourselves together with
our Savior, as one, united perfect offering to the Father; to give us the
courage and the strength to persevere; to transform bread and wine into the body
and blood of Christ, so that we might have food that gives everlasting life;
and to guide us with hope for the day which will come, when we are all one,
united with the Godhead, in His presence, glorifying Him in paradise, enjoying
the beatific vision, with our mother Mary, all the angels and the saints, many
of whom we will have known in this life, who are now awaiting us and enjoying
the paradise which is the reward for overcoming with our beloved Jesus, death
and Satan, and all of his emptiness. He will not have the last say. Let us pray
once again together,
Come
Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of
your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall
renew the face of the Earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did
instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may
be truly wise and ever enjoy his consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
