Graduates and the Fire of the Holy Spirit

There was a lot going on at Mass today. Not only was it Pentecost but my parish had a Mass honoring graduates today. It is always so nice to see the young ones in their graduation gowns sitting in the front pews. What a perfect day to have this Mass! Just as the Holy Spirit breathed on the disciples calling them to go out into the world, so these graduates are being called to do something similar. These young adults are getting ready to go their separate ways and either go into the workforce or go to college. Some will be out of their parents' house for the first time. I wish I could tell each of them to hold onto their faith; that this time in their life is the time to hold onto it and not let it go. One of the few things I regret in my life is that I didn't do that. Brandon Vogt's article on young adults leaving the church (PEW survey) indicates that 79% of adults who left the Church did so before the age of 23. I was a statistic. I left during college, just not thinking it was that important or being too busy with partying other things. Boy, if I had it to do over again! Thankfully I came back to the Church before I had my first child, but it was sporadic. How differently would things have been for me if I had continued to be a Practicing Catholic? I'll never know, but my parents gave me good moral compass so I didn't get into any trouble.

Using your gifts for His glory

Chances are these young people won't have the dramatic experience that the apostles had during Pentecost, but I pray that they will feel the Holy Spirit coming into them and breathing the fire to get out there and use their gifts for His glory. I pray that they will discover their individual gifts to do His work, just as the apostles each had different gifts to offer.

We will be shown our gifts in His time

The 2nd Reading (Corinthians 12:3b-7,12-13) expands the gifts which we are given through the Holy Spirit. Each of us has different gifts that when we all come together melds the Church as one. Any organization requires the different talents of people to be successful. No one person has all of the talents (substitute "gifts" for talents) to successfully run a company or organization. God didn't plan it that way. He wants us to be dependent on each other in order to achieve great things for Him. He shows us these gifts in His time. How many young adults end up in a career that they thought they wanted when they graduated from high school? I changed my major 3 times before I found my niche. My parents breathed a huge sigh of relief when I stumbled upon Communicative Disorders and fell in love with it. I knew I needed to find something or else my 4 years in college were going to be up and I would be floundering without any financial support. God will show us our talents in His time.

Perfect timing

During Mass, the phrase "how does each of us hear them in his native language"  (Acts 2:9) grabbed hold of me. All of a sudden the people were able to understand what was being said in their own language. Just think: if this hadn't happened the Word would have been so slow to get out. It would take 1 person knowing a language, then another one knowing that language, and then another one, and so on. In order to grow the Church, it was necessary for people of different languages to be able to hear and understand what was being said. How incredible that must have been to be there and all of a sudden understand! I've had those "aha moments" when all of a sudden I'll understand something in Scripture. I know that it wasn't my time to understand until that exact moment when it all comes together. All of those people having their "aha moment" at the same exact time! Just unfathomable.  

In a world where younger people aren't given much credit, at a time when there is so much entitlement, it is with hope that I looked at the members of my parish who are going out to make their mark on the world. I pray that they take God with them and not forget it is He who gave them the gifts and tools to be successful. 

{Pentecost} Eucharistic Adoration Doesn't Have To Be Silent

Last week, I was looking forward to my hour of Perpetual Adoration. I took my notebook; I was expecting an hour of silence and some time to allow the Holy Spirit to guide me with this post. Well, God has an incredible sense of humor, and he let me know right away who was in control.

The past few weeks, I've had the Chapel all to myself for the hour, so I was expecting the same this time. I walked in, and there were no fewer than 6 people already there. I love to go to Adoration when no one else is there. I know God can listen to everyone at the same time, but I'm selfish. (Even though I'm in my mid-50's, my 9 siblings still use the word "bratty" to describe me.) I like knowing that I have his full attention. I get more distracted when there are other people in the Chapel than when I'm alone. I was a little disappointed, but I made the best of it. I pulled out my Rosary and closed my eyes, trying to concentrate. You can probably guess what happened next: I came this close to falling asleep. Small victory for me: It didn't actually happen...this time.

Following the Rosary, I pulled out the readings for Sunday, as well as my notebook. The First (Acts 2:1-11) and Second (Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13) Readings didn't appear to meld together.  As I looked over my notes, it clicked. There were individuals coming together to gather within the apostles and the Jews. Each individual had their own God-given talent; each is unique in what they bring. Just as a body can not completely function without the other parts, the Church is unable to function without each individual bringing his/her own talents. When the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles, it wasn't to make them all the same. Each individual had a job to do, and that job perfectly fit the talents and strengths of that person. When you stop and think about that, it's just incredibly amazing. The apostles were suddenly able to speak in other languages; my guess (I'm not a theologian and didn't read this anywhere) is that the language(s) they were able to speak were in the native tongue of where their evangelization would take them. The Jews who were gathered were amazed. Even within that group, even though they heard the apostles speaking in their own language, there were doubts and talk of "too much new wine" (Acts 2:13).

The reading from Acts is the image most of us probably have in our minds when we think of Pentecost.  The Gospel Reading (John 20:19-23) confused me a bit. Is this a different account, a different perspective, of the First Reading? As I read the notations in my Catholic Study Bible, it is mentioned that the verses from the Acts may not have been that dramatic. Could Luke have embellished what really happened? Or, were these 2 completely different events?

As the last people who were "sharing" the Chapel with me left, one woman remained. We've shared the Chapel before, so I felt very comfortable being there with her. As soon as the door closed, I spoke up and asked her opinion on what I was thinking. We read the 1st Reading and the Gospel out loud, and then went back and read the passages before them to see if we could understand them. Did I feel bad about talking out loud in the Chapel? Absolutely not. I truly believe that this is part of what the Holy Hour is about: growing in fellowship for His glory.

We may not have answered the question correctly, but we came to an understanding of the timeline of the First Reading and the Gospel. After reading both passages and having some discussion, we came to the conclusion that the passage from Gospel came first: since Jesus appeared to the disciples, this would have taken place before the Ascension. (This passage also gives the explanation of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.) Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into the disciples, but in the passage from Acts, the Holy Spirit descended upon them.
Our conclusion, right or wrong, is that the First Reading and the Gospel depict two separate events. I left Adoration with a song in my heart. The hour was vastly different than I expected it to be, but sometimes God does that to keep us on our toes!