Good evening/morning every one, I am so happy to welcome you all for today’s Holy Mass. My Special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and every one who is here today, Dear friends every time we come to Church, we celebrate the presence of the Holy Spirit who is with the Father from the beginning of creation and we celebrate His presence with our Lord Jesus Christ and every time we come to church we celebrate the presence of the Holy Spirit who moves us and helps us to know more of God in Christ our Lord.
One day an angel of the Lord appeared in a particular town and announced the people saying, “ The Holy Spirit sent me here to let you know that your town is chosen in a special way because there are so many doves here. They represent the Holy Spirit and you are asked to protect them. Please do not even step on them because the consequence will be drastic”. People were all careful and tried their best to protect the doves but one day as three women went for a walk; one of them stepped on a dove. The angel of the Lord appeared and condemned her saying “ from now on you have to live with the ugliest man in the world for ever” And then the next day, the other lady also stepped on a dove and she too was condemned to live with the ugliest man forever. The third woman was all upset and she did not even get out of her house. Then on the third day, there was a knock at her door, when she opened it, there stood the most beautiful, amazing man. She was all amazed and then the man looked at her and said, ‘I don’t know about you but this morning I stepped on a dove”. Please don’t step on a dove.
Today The Holy Catholic Church celebrates the solemn feast of Pentecost. Pentecost means fiftieth day. Yes, fifty days after the resurrection of the Lord as Christ promised, filled the apostles, believers and all with the Holy Spirit. He came upon each one of them as tongues of fire and filled them all with His gifts of knowledge and understanding, wisdom and courage. They all began to speak in different tongues and people who listened to them were all filled with joy and happiness. People understood each other. They stopped fighting with each other and instead they learned to give and support. The Holy Spirit changed them all.
One day a child came home from church and the mother looked at her and said, ‘what did you learn today in church?’ The daughter looked at her mother and said, ‘Father said, do not be scared, you will get your quilt”. What? The mother was confused and asked the Father. He said, ‘the theme was “do not be afraid. You will get your comforter”.
On the day of Pentecost, people were all renewed in body and mind. With the same eyes, what they saw looked new and more meaningful. With their hands, what they did brought more meaning to their lives. And that is why every time we bless ourselves as we say the Holy Spirit we touch our both shoulders and the Holy Spirit changes everything and we get new energy and power to do things. Everything we have comes from God alone.
One day a little boy was wandering in the church and saw a big framed pictures with so many names of people and he asked one of the ushers what it was and the usher said, ‘ they are the names of the people who died in the service” and the boy was so shocked and looked at the usher and asked, ‘which one was it 9.00 or 11.00 clock Mass”.
One thing you might have noticed in the Church. We do not celebrate death in the church only life and birth. Today is the birthday of the Church and even when we celebrate a funeral mass, we celebrate the eternal life of a believer. Because of the Holy Spirit, our life never ends but we have unending life with Christ our Lord.
The basic of all human needs is to understand and to be understood and every one longs for love and basic human needs to be fulfilled. Because of unmet needs, today so many people suffer from mental and physical challenges. Who can fill the void? And who can bring perfection in us? Only the Spirit brings perfection and life in us. Without Spirit, we will always be empty.
There is a story about a man who lived in Texas and owned a sheep ranch. He was a poor man because of holding on to the ranch and his family insisted on selling it but he refused saying, “my grandparents lived here and my parents died here and I want my children to live here… he had a some kind of connection and then one day, oil was found in that place; and his life then changed. Though he lived poor for many years without realizing the richness of the ranch, he finally found a way to find his riches and there are so many today saying, “I am Catholic because my grandparents were, my parents are… not knowing the richness of being Catholic. By name they are and still struggling to know the kindness and love of God, living in guilt and sin. Catholics are happy people. They celebrate life because they know that they were already saved in Christ our Lord.
So as practicing Catholics, let us celebrate life and thank God for sending His Son Christ among us and thank Christ for sending the Holy Spirit upon us
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