Breath in the Holy Spirit, Celebrate God’s Diversity and Exhale Peace.
There is a lot of imagery in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles that are imprinted on our spiritual psyche for Pentecost: they are gathered together, a strong wind comes, tongues of fire descend on each of them, and they are able to speak every foreign language declaring God’s saving deeds. While they may no longer understand one another’s language; they see that each has been given GIFTS FROM GOD TO CELEBRATE.
We too celebrate how God has gathered us together, how our faith unites us to one another regardless of our differences. Faith brings us together especially during times when we would have withered under the burden of life’s difficulties. It is also spiritually significant, I believe, that tragedies and misfortunes can bring out the best of Christ in us: empathy, compassion and charity. Also prayer as we come together to pray for one another in the Spirit of God–a gift created by Pentecost.
We join in sharing God’s Word and Eucharist– His Real Presence—that offers us hope, gives us a chance to remember what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. No matter what our socioeconomic standing, our cultural heritage, language or differing beliefs, we share in the commonality of faith and in the commonality of all being God’s children. We know our humanity and its frailty that helps us look beyond differences and see the sameness in one another.
Such a beautiful diversity in God’s creation is reflective in the celebrations of the Sacraments of the church—our parish. Saturday we held First Communion for 33 children brought together from our Children’s Religious Education program, our St. Helena Catholic School, and from our children from the Montessori School. Those present were able to witness the beautiful children as God’s gathering His creative diversity. We were united and being reminded that we are One in the Body of Christ.
We are blessed with a sacred heritage in our parish in the richness and multiplicity in the many images of God. Pentecost calls us to celebrate our sanctified history of St. Helena Catholic Church with its diversity of 150 years in the presence of Christ. In this parish the Holy Spirit’s signs and wonders have blessed thousands upon thousands of lives with gifts of help, comfort, service and ministry. The many decades of our parish represents thousands that have come together in many of the same prayers. Often the answers from God have been to share our gifts caring for one another providing healing love beyond all measure. We need one another. For not one of us has all the gifts necessary to minister or to address the needs of our church and school, and community around us.
In our beautiful parish diversity can be easily recognized as an important contribution to the joy of church life with continued hospitality and welcome in our many cultural differences. We hear some of the languages representing our parish in the call of the Holy Spirit by parishioners as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday: “Come Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth!” Such proclamations help us to hear some of our multiplicity as God intended for each of us has immeasurable dignity as a child of God.
Some of our blessed parish diversity includes: Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino, Polish, German, Dutch, Latvian, Serbo-Croatian, Mexican, Irish, Lebanese, British, Scottish, Iranian, Iraqi, Palestinian, African American, Native American—Soscol, Cuban, French, Sri Lankan, Guam, El Salvadorian, Indonesian, Argentinean, Chilean, Swedish, Indian, Jamaican, Norwegian, Puerto Rican, Belgium, Slovakian, Peruvian, and Heinz 57. There is added the variety of mixes and all the other cultural and racial influences that have come together as an amalgam called St. Helena Catholic Parish.
May we rejoice also in our biblical heritage of Pentecost and its meaning the founding of the Church for all of God’s people—all races and cultures. When we live Pentecost we reflect the declaration of God after creating all of the abundant diversity in creation and said “it is very good!” Such goodness comes from the breath of God in us:
Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ And when he had said this, Jesus breathed on them and said to them ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’
When we are filled with the Spirit of Christ our exhale becomes words of healing and helping with actions of peace. We share our blessings. Such is the strength of our parish, its people, many of whom serve Christ as volunteers sharing their talents in ways reflecting the Spirit of our patron St. Helena who holds high the Cross of Christ as the sign of our hope and unity in Him.
In our faith tradition such unity and hope takes place this Thursday evening. Our Bishop, Robert Vasa, will Confirm 31 of our youth into the Church. We are blessed by these young people that commit themselves to God and us. They will receive the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to believers for over 2 millennia when the Church was first founded.
They are “Gifts” for living in Christ: Wisdom to help recognize the importance of others and the importance of intimacy with God to be central in our lives. Understanding is the ability to understand the significance of God’s message. Knowledge in the ability to think about and discover God’s revelation, as well as recognize there are mysteries of faith we cannot comprehend. Counsel is the ability to see the best way to follow God’s plan; for we are given choices to relate to God. Fortitude is the strength and witness to do what we know is right. Piety helps us pray to God in true commitment. Fear of the Lord is awe, wonderment of our all present God. May we continue to seek to grow closer to God in Christ by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. May we honor our sacred heritage of 150 years of sisters and brothers seeking to do so. Blessed Pentecost!