"There Appeared to Them as Tongues of Fire" Acts 2

Homily for Pentecost Sunday
Mark Payne, OSB

The clear understanding of the Catholic Church is that all the different desires that pass through our heart from moment to moment, all these desires are in themselves neither good or bad. It is what we decide to do with our desires that determine whether they lead to good or to evil. The problem is, as the Church also understands by a long familiarity with human nature, the problem is that making right decisions about our desires is rather out of our control. Left to oursleves we can give into our desires as they arise in us or we can kind of randomly act on one or another desire. But if we want to craft a constructive and mature life, if we want to lead a worthwhile and spiritually fruitful life by making wise and discerning choices--we simply don't have the power. We can't do it.

Today's feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit is the church's celebration of the fact that while we ourselves are powerless to make right decisions and powerless to bring about good in the world, we can all receive the power of God to carry out this most important role of being a human being. By ourselves, we are only a very sophisticated animal, the product of uncountable generations of natural selection and lots of good luck. Everything is different, however, when we receive and submit to the Holy Spirit of God, for which purpose, after all, we were created in the first place.

We find the apostles this morning sort of huddled together, a little fearful, a little anxious. They knew they were supposed to do something, to become something, but they had no idea of either the goal or method. Suddenly and from heaven, Scripture tells us, they experienced a clarity, a joy, a power, and a direction that was so overwhelming and so transforming, that it could only be described as a new birth--a birth of wind and by fire. It was the Spirit, Scripture says, the Holy Spirit of God who enabled them to proclaim, to proclaim the mighty acts of God.

What are the mighty acts of God? The mighty act of God is that we foolish and powerless earthlings are able to proclaim the mighty acts of God. Now we can make right decisions about the desires that enter our hearts. We can recognize and act rightly on the thoughts that come into our minds. The eternal cycle of praise and adoration that always goes on within the Holy Trinity, now includes us. In thought and in word, in deed and in speech we can, each one of us proclaim the power of God.

St. Paul makes the same point in his letter today. If a person can say, with lips, heart, and mind, that Jesus is Lord, that person has been transformed by the Holy Spirit. No amount of schooling or desire, no amount of argument or training can elicit faith, hope and love in the human heart. It is only the power of God, the Holy Spirit, dwelling in hearts and minds that can produce faith and the good acts of faith.

Karl Rahner points out in one of his essays that it is especially in the troubled and painful timnes of our life that we can most easily recognize the workings of the Spirit. When we feel utterly lonely or when we are afraid because of our sins or when we realize we have missed an opportunity to help a person in need - it can happen, suddenly and unexpectedly, that we feel ourselves forgiven, accepted, joyful, and at peace. We know that this inner confidence must be a gift; it is nothing we could have conjured up on our own. Whenever we are able to carry out a diffcult act for the good of another person and without expecting a reward or even recognition, whenever we are able to peacefully bear insult and misunderstanding for choosing the good, this energy, conviction and inner peace we experience cannot be of our own innovation. It has to be from outside; it has to be from above. It has to be the Holy Spirit.

Comfort, light, refreshment, rest, solace,renewal, joy, confidence. These experiences are gifts from a God who everyday draws us into the mystery that is the life of God. We humans cannot not feel the light. We do not see wind. We cannot pick them up, fashion, or control them.We cannot control or touch the Spirit. But we can accept the Holy Spirit. We can follow the example of our apostolic ancestors and proclaim the mighty works of God. God gives us grace in the Spirit to receive grace. God gives us goodness in the Spirit so that we can be good. God gives us the love of the Spirit so that we can do the work of love. In the Holy Spirit, we can proclaim and even become a mighty work of God.