The Soul’s Most Welcome Guest. Pentecost 2020

   The Soul’s Most Welcome Guest.

Pentecost 2020

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May 31, 2020

Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12:3-13; John 20:19-23

The Sequence that precedes the Gospel passage portrays the characteristics of the Holy Spirit that comes at Pentecost in an endearing phrase: as the soul’s most welcome guest. The Sequence speaks of the ways the Spirit deals with our souls: to comfort us and to find refreshment, to give us solace in the midst of woe, inspiration for our creativity, as a healer of our wounds and bender of our stubborn will, and as the faithful one who guides our steps to keep us from going astray. As we come to live in the Spirit of Christ, we are abundantly blessed with virtues and graces that we often beg for in prayer. The Spirit is as intimate to us as the breath of God that we consume.

In the Acts of the Apostles, the Spirit acts to unify the faithful believers. Notice what happens to the community. They are given the gift to listen to and to hear another believer’s account without any limits, without any barriers, with no unexplored frontiers. The Spirit is powerful in unifying. No human leader has been able to bring people together in a common purpose to the same degree. In our nation, even in our time of misfortune, the hearts of many are hardened so much that we cannot come together for the common good. We experience that sad reality today, and the Sequence reminds us that where the Spirit is not present, base human actions occur. It says: Where you are not, we have naught. Therefore, we strive to welcome the Spirit into our day. Though we Christians see all humanity as our brothers and sisters, not everyone sees us the same way, which is the reason we must stay together as a community of faith and rely upon the Spirit to unify all those who believe in God’s Trinitarian presence.

The Gospel portrays Pentecost occurring through the breath of the Risen Jesus on that first Easter evening. There is nothing as intimate as a sacred breath. Jesus is not breathing onto us, as much as his breath is what we take into our bodies and souls. It is a breath that allays our fears and calls us to live as courageously as Jesus originally intended us to do. Witness the effect the Spirit had upon the once frightened disciples who became transformed boldly into leaders that righteously called for the truth to become known. The breath of Jesus has the effect upon us too if we cooperate. Often we are held back by our own will and self-doubt. We permit ourselves to be underachievers. We stop ourselves from becoming the person we once dreamed we could be. We let the judgments of others shape who we are, even if they hold misperceptions. We are afraid of speaking the words we truly want to say. We do not permit ourselves to move closer in intimacy to a loved one because we protect ourselves from potential harm, embarrassment, or shame it could cause. These are the times we must return to the breath we received by Christ. His breathe removes fear and takes way any obstacle to our greater loving of ourselves or of others. His breath is going to teach us all we have to know because this breath is from an intimate love and it leads us to a more loving place. This breath is our soul’s most welcome guest.

We are born to be in relationship with one another and we seek the love, intimacy, honor, and affection from others as much as we seek it from God. So many people simply want to hear and to know they are loved for who they are from someone meaningful to them. We want to increase those moments of happiness and acceptance. We want a loved one to welcome us, with warts and beauty marks alike, with ridiculous certainty. We want that closeness as if we were sharing the same breath. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who shares a breath with us, so that we can share it with others. It brings peace. It brings wholeness. It brings refreshment. It brings us back to our very selves. This intimate breath is undoubtedly a most welcome guest of the soul. Come, Holy Spirit. Come. Share your breath with us once again and bring us closer to you.   

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading:

Monday: (Genesis 3) After Adam had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to him and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.”

Tuesday: (2 Peter 3) Wait for and hasten the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Wednesday: (2 Timothy 1) I am grateful to God, whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.

Thursday: (2 Timothy 2) f we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him he will deny us. If we are unfaithful he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

Friday (2 Timothy 3) You have followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, persecutions that I endured. Yet from all these things the Lord delivered me.

Saturday (1 Timothy 4) be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.

Gospel: 

Monday: (John 19) When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciples, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

Tuesday: (Mark 12) “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?”

Wednesday (Mark 12) Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers.

Thursday (Mark 12) “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

Friday (Mark 12) As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said, “How do the scribes claim that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said: The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet.’ David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?”

Saturday (Mark 12) “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”

Saints of the Week

May 31: Visitation of the Virgin Mary commemorates the visit of Mary in her early pregnancy to Mary, who is reported to be her elder cousin. Luke writes about the shared rejoicing of the two women - Mary's conception by the Holy Spirit and Elizabeth's surprising pregnancy in her advanced years. Elizabeth calls Mary blessed and Mary sings her song of praise to God, the Magnificat.

June 1: Justin, martyr (100-165), was a Samaritan philosopher who converted to Christianity and explained doctrine through philosophical treatises. His debating opponent reported him to the Roman authorities who tried him and when he refused to sacrifice to the gods, was condemned to death.

June 2: Marcellinus and Peter, martyrs (d. 304) died in Rome during the Diocletian persecution. Peter was an exorcist who ministered under the well-regarded priest, Marcellinus. Stories are told that in jail they converted their jailer and his family. These men are remembered in Eucharistic prayer I.

June 3: Charles Lwanga and 22 companion martyrs from Uganda (18660-1886) felt the wrath of King Mwanga after Lwanga and the White Fathers (Missionaries of Africa) censured him for his cruelty and immorality. The King determined to rid his kingdom of Christians. He persecuted over 100 Christians, but upon their death new converts joined the church.

June 5: Boniface, bishop and martyr (675-754), was born in England and raised in a Benedictine monastery. He became a good preacher and was sent to the northern Netherlands as a missionary. Pope Gregory gave him the name Boniface with an edict to preach to non-Christians. We was made a bishop in Germany and gained many converts when he cut down the famed Oak of Thor and garnered no bad fortune by the Norse gods. Many years later he was killed by non-Christians when he was preparing to confirm many converts. The church referred to him as the "Apostle of Germany."

June 6: Norbert, bishop (1080-1134), a German, became a priest after a near-death experience. He became an itinerant preacher in northern France and established a community founded on strict asceticism. They became the Norbertines and defended the rights of the church against secular authorities.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      May 31, 1900. The new novitiate of the Buffalo Mission, St Stanislaus, in South Brooklyn, Ohio, near Cleveland, is blessed.

·      Jun 1, 1527. Ignatius was thrown into prison after having been accused of having advised two noblewomen to undertake a pilgrimage, on foot, to Compostella.

·      Jun 2, 1566. The Professed House was opened in Toledo. It became well known for the fervor of its residents and the wonderful effects of their labors.

·      Jun 3, 1559. A residence at Frascati, outside of Rome, was purchased for the fathers and brothers of the Roman College.

·      Jun 4, 1667. The death in Rome of Cardinal Sforza Pallavicini, a man of great knowledge and humility. While he was Prefect of Studies of the Roman College he wrote his great work, The History of the Council of Trent.

·      Jun 5, 1546. Paul III, in the document Exponi Nobis, empowered the Society to admit coadjutors, both spiritual and temporal.

·      Jun 6, 1610. At the funeral of Henry IV in Paris, two priests preaching in the Churches of St Eustace and St Gervase denounced the Jesuits as accomplices in his death. This was due primarily to the book De Rege of Father Mariana.