Spirituality: Mass of the Holy Spirit

The new school year begins in honor of the Holy Spirit because the Spirit gives us a fresh start, it takes away fear, inspires us, and gives us courage and hope to move forward responsibly. We first pause, thank God for keeping us safe, and remember God’s promise to walk the hallways, classrooms, and playing fields with us. We offer at this mass all our thoughts and actions, dreams and hopes, fears and suffering, and our whole selves. This year has been ravaged by COVID and beset by civil unrest caused by our neglect of systemic change around our racism and our heritage.

The Spirit will help us through our challenges, especially as we look at the supreme value and dignity of every person in this community. No one is excluded. No one. To do this, we will have to find a place within our soul that can slow us down, and connect ourselves to God as we listen to the stories of another person. Whenever you feel any anxiety, return to your place of being centered, the place where God resides in you, and the Spirit will reveal the way forward.

The Jesuit community and BC High are committed to work constantly to become anti-racists in attitudes and policies. A faith that is alive brings about a moral, social, and economic revolution, in which an inner change is necessary, that is, our fundamental thoughts and attitudes, not just the changing of external structures. Each one of us has to assess our worldview. We will learn the value of meaningful listening because it keeps compassion alive, which keeps the seeds of anger and judgment in our hearts from getting fed. Conversations will be difficult if we cannot first practice compassionate listening. It means closely examining the values, attitudes, and thoughts that have shaped us at home, in the classroom, and on the playing fields. Though we really want to say something, it means not offering our opinions and thoughts freely because we responsibly repeat a saying to ourselves, which goes, “Now is the time to listen only.” 

There’s a lot of pain right now and we have to be responsible to one another. A person who is suffering may say things that are full of wrong perceptions, bitterness, accusation, and blaming, (that’s okay, let them say it) and this may set off in us feelings of irritation, judgment, and anger, (which is okay to feel), and we cannot react because we will lose our capacity to listen. Let us not react, but let us respond. Active listening is fundamental. Return to that quiet place in your soul and say to yourself, “Now is the time for me to listen – only.” We can then listen without interruption or correcting the other person. We just need to pause, and give space and time to see the suffering in the other person, and make the person feel safe. In the future, we’ll have an opportunity to speak, but not now, because “now is the time to listen – only.” We keep listening, and eventually we ask, “Do I understand you enough?” People who suffer a lot sometimes cannot tell us right away about their suffering inside.

Listening deeply and compassionately, we begin to understand the other person more fully, and this is where love is nourished. The foundation of love is understanding, which means that we have to understand someone else’s suffering. This school community is in an uncomfortable place, and if you really want to show Christian charity to someone and make the person happy, you have to understand the person’s suffering. With understanding, your care and solidarity will deepen, and you will show the type of love and peace that Jesus offers in this Gospel passage. As you can see, this is challenging work and we do not yet know how to do it well, and we will make plenty of mistakes, (be gentle with yourselves) and we can only do it if we lean on the Spirit to guide us. The Spirit is the one who teaches, the one who consoles, the one who inspires, the one who brings joy and happiness. Happiness is the capacity to understand and to love. Let’s get on with it.