Power Awaits You This Sunday!- Pentecost

In this week’s Mass, God wants to give you supernatural gifts to further his kingdom. I will discuss that power that God wants to give you and how to get it. Commentary will follow each reading.

Reading 1
Acts 2:1-11

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem.
At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
but they were confused
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
They were astounded, and in amazement they asked,
“Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?
Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?
We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites,
inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene,
as well as travelers from Rome,
both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs,
yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues
of the mighty acts of God.”

1st

On Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles. The descent of the Holy Spirit is such a big deal that this Sunday, your priest will describe Pentecost as the “beginning of your Church when the Holy Spirit made known to all peoples the one true God.“

• In Luke 24:49, he says, “behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you”
• In Acts 1:4, Jesus told them to “wait for the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak”
• In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells the apostles that “you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you.”

As you can see here, this descent of the Holy Spirit is a promise from Jesus. He refers to it many times. It seems clear to me that this day is very important to us Christians. Jesus mentions the coming of the Holy Spirit several times just as he had mentioned his own death and resurrection 3 times in the book of Matthew. Obviously, it’s a big deal to God and to us.

Dumb Disciples

In this first reading, the disciples are hanging out together when all of a sudden, they hear a loud wind. Personally, I think they had no idea what to expect. After all, Jesus tried to explain his death and resurrection to his disciples on several occasions, yet they clearly did not understand. You can see their lack of understanding very well on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:21 when they say, “we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel”. Jesus told them several times that he would rise from the dead and they didn‘t understand nor believe. Just like we are today, the disciples were, for lack of a better word, DUMB. Jesus knew that very well.

Look how poorly equipped the disciples were:

• On the road to Emmaus, they were walking with Jesus and they didn’t even recognize him.
• In Mark 16:13, the 2 disciples saw the risen Jesus, but when they told the others, these others did not believe.
• In John 20:24, 10 disciples tell Thomas about Jesus and his visit to them, and Thomas refuses to believe it.

The apostles constantly had problems like falling asleep when Jesus needed them the most, and making promises they couldn’t keep.¹ Now after the descent of the Holy Spirit, things changed. The usual dumb, faithless apostles (we are exactly the same as them today) were given supernatural gifts and suddenly become new men:

• They were given the ability to speak multiple languages.
• Peter’s first speech converted 3,000 people.
• Soon after the descent of the Holy Spirit, Peter healed a crippled man.
• Peter’s knowledge of the scripture suddenly seemed extraordinary like Jesus’²
• Instead of being scared to claim Jesus as a friend, the apostles showed an unheard of confidence. Before the Sanhedrin (the same guys who had just killed Jesus) the apostles had this effect on the Sanhedrin: “observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, they [Sanhedrin] were amazed”. ³

Before the descent of the Holy Spirit, the apostles had serious problems understanding and had serious problems with faith. Jesus told them that he would help them out with the Holy Spirit and that they would receive power. It happened just as he had promised.

Your Opportunity

Like always, Jesus kept his promise when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles. But the Holy Spirit was not just for the apostles. The Holy Spirit is for everyone. In Acts 8:15, Peter and John went to the Samarians and “prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit. For it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”

The point is, God wants to give the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit to EVERYONE. That means YOU. Is it possible that God would do something supernatural for you this Sunday? Do you believe in the supernatural? If not, Catholicism might not be the religion for you since Catholics believe that a man died and then rose from the dead, multiplied fish, and made blind people see. Of course we believe in the supernatural! God wants us to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, just as the disciples did at Pentecost.

Holy Spirit Does it All

God taught me 2 major things through the 1st reading:

• We can do NOTHING without the power of the Holy Spirit. (without the power of God).
• We can do ANYTHING WITH the power of the Holy Spirit and God wants to give us the Holy Spirit today and forever.

The fact that we can do nothing without the power of the Holy Spirit is NOT bad news. As Catholics, we should feel a tremendous relief that we don’t have to depend on ourselves to change the world. We should be glad that Jesus is pointing out exactly how dumb and in need we are. After all, are we smarter or holier than the apostles? Of course not! We are just as dumb, and have the same lack of faith as the apostles. So God reminds us of this in a generous and loving way. God knows who he is. He is our loving, all-powerful Father and he wants us to depend on him for EVERYTHING. People who think that their power comes from themselves have a tendency to start their own churches (e.g. Joseph Smith and Charles Russell- founders of Mormon and Jehovah’s Witnesses Churches)

Everything that God does, he does out of love. He wants to protect us from ourselves. When we start thinking that we are holy people capable of saving the world, he reminds us in this gospel, that all that we have and all we can do, comes from God. We should stick with him, because he has promised to stay with us forever.⁴

The next time you are about to pat yourself on the back for a good deed you have done, remember that you would have never done it without the help and love of God.
Beware if you think you have come up with something new about the faith by YOURSELF
The next time you are sad, lonely, scared, or you just need help with something, ask the Holy Spirit to help you. After all, do you believe that God keeps his promises?

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34

R. (cf. 30) Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
How manifold are your works, O Lord!
the earth is full of your creatures;
R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD be glad in his works!
Pleasing to him be my theme;
I will be glad in the LORD.
R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading II
1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13

Brothers and sisters:
No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;
there are different forms of service but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God
who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for some benefit.

As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

2nd Reading

The second reading is much more straightforward than the 1st. Paul says that God gives all kinds of different gifts, but they all come from the Holy Spirit. “God produces all of them in everyone.” Paul says that “to each individual, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” So that means that our gifts are supposed to benefit someone. But who? In the context of this reading, Paul is talking about THE BODY, so he is saying that our gifts are here to benefit the whole body of Christ. All of our gifts belong to God. What this means is that if you are an engineer, your work belongs to God. If you are a good singer, it is a gift from God and belongs to God. You are supposed to use it for God. If you are a nurse, your 36 hours per week belong to God and so does your paycheck. If you are a professional basketball player, your skills belong to God and were given to you by God FOR God.

Since we spend 40 or more hours per week working, I’d like to discuss how we can do our part for the body of Christ through our work.

Doing Our Part

No matter what we do for a living, we can do it for God through sharing the fruits of our labors. Imagine if you gave 90% of your income to an orphanage in Ethiopia. Your donations are enough to pay for the electricity, water bill, school books, food, vitamins and healthcare of 145 children. At 90%, you realize that you are not working for yourself. You are working for your “family” of 145 kids in Ethiopia. Those kids might not even know you, but they love eating, having clothes and reading books. Would God be pleased with such a tremendous sacrifice like this? Of course!⁵ Through charity, you are no longer working for yourself, but for God and the body of Christ (we are the body). If you are working for God and doing a lot for charity, you might even feel a new sense of purpose to your work. Of course, being very charitable would be easier if we lived in the wealthiest country in the world. Oh never mind, we DO live there! If we are not sharing our wealth with others, we have NO excuse. We have an awesome opportunity to do God’s will no matter what our jobs are. The door is open to us.

Now, most of us are not going to give away 90% of our incomes. But in Luke 21:1-4 Jesus admires the woman who gives away a few pennies, because that was all she had. God truly wants us to give all that we have. I don’t know how much that means, but God does know. Ask him.

Remember that our faith is not just something we hear or read in book. Our faith is a call to ACTION. Does your life look strange compared to the average American life? Do you ever get persecuted because of your loyalty to God? If not, it’s time to make some changes. If your life looks like the same as the typical American family, it could be that your faith is the 13th most important thing in your life. God asks us to love him with all our mind, heart and strength. That means he wants us to put him 1st. If we put God first in our lives, we are going to live uncommon lives. We are going to give to people without asking for anything in return. We are going to pray for the relatives that hate us and the boss who annoys the heck out of us. We are going to donate much of our time and money to the less fortunate. We are going to be resented for defending the innocent (elderly, unborn etc).

What the Average Person Should Do

In this reading, Paul says that each one of us is part of the body of Christ. The typical work week is a big part of the average Christian’s life. So what are we supposed to do with it? We are supposed to give it to the Lord. Despite what the investment and retirement planning firms say, saving for retirement is not what brings peace of mind. There are tons of people with plenty of money during retirement and they ask the same question that all people ask: Isn’t there more to life than this? There IS more and only through doing God’s will can we enjoy peace of mind. We need to start living what we believe.

Gospel
Jn 20:19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”


Gospel

No Commentary


Real Life

Normally in this section, I write about some story that happened to me or to someone else I know. But this week, “Real Life” doesn’t have to be a story you read about. You can write your own story after this week’s Mass.

When I received the gift of the Holy Spirit in December of last year, my whole life changed. I started to have a strong desire to read the bible, especially the book of Acts. I was suddenly able to understand the bible in a much deeper way and all of a sudden, I found that I had gifts I never knew about. The power of the Holy Spirit descended on me through “the baptism of the Holy Spirit”. Typically, at the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, someone or some group of people lay hands on you just as described in the book of Acts.⁶ Everyone prays for the Holy Spirit to descend on you. Then the power of the Holy Spirit envelopes you and the Lord gives you some gift(s). Jesus said that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” Do you think that Jesus is telling the truth? See for yourself.

Before Mass this week:

• Ask the Lord to show you what sort of sins are in your life. You need to know the sins you have before you can renounce them and if you want to renounce the one who encourages you to sin (Satan)
• After examining your conscience, go to confession and if you tell God that you don’t want to sin anymore and you mean it, you will be very open to the gift the Holy Spirit and everything he wants to give you.

At the end of Mass this week, your priest will say this blessing at the end of Mass: “May he bless you and give you the gifts of the Spirit for ever. May that fire that hovered over the disciples as tongues of flame burn out all evil from your hearts and make them glow with pure light”.

It’s not necessary, but you might want to ask your priest to meet you after mass and to lay hands on you as he says this blessing. Before any of this occurs and even during the blessing, you should pray that God give you gifts both natural and supernatural. After this, you can write a “Real Life” story to your friends.

Common responses to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit include:

• An increased desire to evangelize
• Increased sanctity and holiness and more power and control over sin
• Increased ease and desire to pray
• Increased ease and desire to read scripture.

You may feel the effects immediately, or gradually, or both. I am excited for you.

May God bless you with the power of the Holy Spirit forever.


===============================================================

1- Matthew 26:35
2- Acts 4:22
3- Acts 4:13
4- Matthew 28: 18-20
5- assuming this is indeed his will for your life.
6- Acts 8:15

Cut to the Heart- #7 ME - Repentance, Suffering, and the Holy Spirit

Reading 1
Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven,
raised his voice, and proclaimed:
“Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,
and they asked Peter and the other apostles,
“What are we to do, my brothers?”
Peter said to them,
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off,
whomever the Lord our God will call.”
He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them,
“Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
Those who accepted his message were baptized,
and about three thousand persons were added that day.


1st reading

Peter starts his speech with a party-pooping, record-scratching statement in which he says, “Jesus whom you crucified”. He is talking not only to the Jews, but to you and me. After all, Jesus suffered and was crucified because of ALL sin. That means that when I disrespected my parents, Jesus felt the lash of the whip across his back. With this and other sins, I crucified Jesus. Because Jesus said about his life, “no one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.”1 In other words, he volunteered and offered his hand to be crushed by the nail. He suffered for me because of my sins and the sins of everyone else. I am just as guilty as the guy who hammered the nails through Jesus’ hands. After all, Jesus looks at us both the same way. He said, “forgive them, they know now what they do.”2 He suffered it all because we sinned.

Just like I feel at this very moment, the Jews were “cut to the heart” and asked “what do we do?” We must repent and be baptized. Almost everyone reading this has been baptized already, so I won’t discuss that today. What does “repent” mean? To repent means “to change our hearts and minds towards God.”3 You can see repentance from a person’s actions. For example, I can see that you’ve repented because you act differently. Now, you hate sin, and are constantly fighting against your own sinfulness. Perfect repentance is when you have the real desire to quit ALL sin. Quitting all sin is not easy to achieve, but to repent perfectly like this is a choice we can ALL make. Turning away from sin is a door we can all walk through.

You can put away your hankies for now, because there is good news. First of all, we must be baptized. Then we need to truly want to quit sinning. Then, we can open ourselves to “the gift of the Holy Spirit” just as is promised in this reading. The main gift of the Holy Spirit is love.4 “God is love“5 and “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”6

Don’t be afraid if you are not perfectly repentant. You can still receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. However, the more perfect your repentance, the more open you will be to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Another powerful gift of the Holy Spirit is he makes us able to “love as God has loved us.”7 I can love the way God loves?? Wow! I don’t know if you have ever been aware of God’s love through a holy person, but I have, and it’s amazing. I’ve been around a holy person who only needed to look at me and I felt like it was Jesus looking at me. To love like that is a BEAUTIFUL gift from God and he offers it through the power of the Holy Spirit! Wow! Personally, I’ve been wanting to love like God loves for a while now and through this reading, I am reminded that he is willing to help me love the way he loves.

If you want to see what “loving like Jesus” looks like, click here or copy this to your browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QATH6yA75CQ

• We killed our beloved Jesus with our past sins and our present sins. It’s time to stop sinning and to make a decision today to quit sinning (to try our best to stop sinning)

• We must ask God to give us the gifts of the Holy Spirit NOW.

• God is ready to help us love just the way he does- it is an incredible gift.

• I can see why 3000 believers were added the day that Peter gave this talk.

Reading II
1 Pt 2:20b-25

Beloved:
If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good,
this is a grace before God.
For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.
He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.

When he was insulted, he returned no insult;
when he suffered, he did not threaten;
instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross,
so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.

For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

2nd Reading

"When you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God." When we are punished for doing what is good, it is a gift from God because we get to imitate Jesus. After all, no one was as perfectly good as Jesus, yet he was murdered. We have a chance to be like Jesus. Participating in the life of Christ is a gift from God. Most of us are not going to literally suffer crucifixion. However, there are many ways which God offers us the cross in our lives. Here is what a good conversation regarding suffering looks like: (with "Pat")

Pat: My feet hurt.
Jesus: I know my child, mine hurt on Calvary. Thanks be to God that I had feet!
Pat: Thank you Jesus. I wanna be like you.

Pat: My friends are mean to me.
Jesus: I know my child. My friends abandoned me at Gethsemane. They were ashamed to admit that we are friends. Thanks be to God that I had friends!
Pat: Thank you Jesus. I wanna be like you.

Pat: I don't like the government!
Jesus: I know my child. The governor sentenced me to death. Thanks be to God I lived for 33 years!
Pat: Thank you Jesus, I wanna be like you.

Pat: My lover is mean to me.
Jesus: I know, members of my church are hurting me now. Thanks be to God that there is a church!
Pat: Thank you Jesus. I want to be like you.

Here is how the Devil wants to talk to you (often through people, media, and sin)

Pat: My feet hurt.
Satan: Avoid this suffering, and go buy expensive shoes. Also, get a foot massage. Curse this suffering!

Pat: My friends are mean to me.
Satan: Let’s join together in complaining about these awful people. Curse this suffering!

Pat: I don’t like the government.
Satan: Curse this government. The government is causing you suffering. Curse this suffering!

Pat: My lover is mean to me.
Satan: Let’s join together in complaining about this person. Curse the suffering your lover causes you!

Next time your best friend complains about something, just yell "get behind me Satan!". I am kidding. Seriously though, can you see the difference between Satan’s attitude about suffering and Jesus’ attitude? In ALL suffering, we should give thanks to God. We must not listen to Satan who tries to call Jesus away from the cross by saying, "God, forbid Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you!"9 Satan wants us to run from our "mean families". He wants us to run from physical pain. He wants us to run away from difficult relationships. He wants us to run far from the cross. We must not run AWAY from all of these crosses! Rather, we must run TO the crosses and embrace them in the same way that Jesus did. "For this you have been called". *

In 1979, Fr. Richard Thomas said, "everyone wants to hear about sweet Jesus- sweet, beautiful Jesus. But no one wants to hear about suffering Jesus". Well his suffering is what makes him who he is. Because he loved us TO DEATH- a death with NAILS in his hands, a death in loneliness, a death of humiliation, a death in suffering because of obedience to God and God's loving plan.


Gospel
Jn 10:1-10

Jesus said:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Gospel

No commentary this week

The Point

• We must remember that each of our sins hurts Jesus terribly
• We must have the desire to quit ALL sinning and turn to God.
• We must ask God to give us the gifts of the Holy Spirit so that we can love like he loves us.
• We must accept the suffering that Jesus gives us and offer the suffering to God.
• We must give thanks in ALL circumstances.

Real Life

As I write this, I am in a church named Las Alas (the wings) which was founded by a beautiful priest named Fr. Richard Thomas. When he was younger, he prayed to the mother of God that she would help him live a life that would allow him to avoid purgatory. This prayer reminds me of Peter’s request in this Sunday’s liturgy. Fr Thomas had to turn away from sin so that he could receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He did receive those gifts. The girl in the video link above said that when she met Fr. Thomas, they hugged and she instantly felt a love like she had never felt before. (the type of love that ONLY comes from the gifts of the Holy Spirit). God keeps his promises.

More than one person was present at Fr. Thomas’ deathbed. They both have recounted the following: The 2 of them were at his bedside when his heart began to race. Then, Father Thomas had a focused stare at the corner of the room. A lady who was present asked him, “What’s happening? Is someone coming to get you? He did not answer. Then his heart stopped and she began to perform CPR on him. He woke up briefly and started laughing. Soon afterwards, he died.

Personally, I believe that Fr. Thomas’ prayer to Mary was answered and that angels, or Jesus himself came to get Father Thomas at his death. He was sick for at least 6 months prior to his death and his illness was unexplainable by doctors. Perhaps his suffering was supernatural and he was suffering on Earth rather than in purgatory. What really sticks out about this story now is this: After being “cut to the heart” Father wanted to turn away from sin. God gave him the gifts of the Holy Spirit in response to his prayer and repentance. God's going to do the same if you ask him. If you want to, you can pray a prayer like this now:

Lord, I am so sorry for my sins. I don't want to sin anymore. I need your help. I love you. Today, I give myself to you completely. If you want, you can give me the gifts of the Holy Spirit now. You made the universe, so I know you can do this. I love you.

¹ Luke 23:34
² John 10:18
³ NAB commentary on Acts 2:38
⁴ CCC 733
⁵ 1 John 4:8
⁶ Romans 5:5
⁷ CCC 735 & 1 John 4:11-12

^{8 Matthew 16:22}

*This writing about suffering is largely based on a talk that Fr Thomas gave