Come, Holy Spirit

6th Sunday in Easter 
Cycle C
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052525.cfm

Two weeks ago, 133 Cardinals filed into the Sistine Chapel in the

Vatican to select a new pope. As they took their places in a

space similar in size to St. Agnes, they chanted Veni Creator

Spiritus, Come, Holy Spirit. These men were from all over the

world, with a diversity of languages, perspectives, and theological

views. Yet they were tasked with getting a two thirds majority to

select someone to lead them. Can you imagine getting 133

people to come to an agreement on a leader? It seems

impossible, yet they within two days and four rounds of voting, we

saw white smoke and heard the announcement: habemus papum!

We have a pope.

For decades, people have said, “it is impossible to elect an

American pope. It will never happen.” Yet here we are. The Holy

Spirit—which the cardinals invoked before they began—is the

doer of impossible deeds.

As we approach the feast of Pentecost, which we will celebrate in

two weeks, the Church’s attention turns to the Holy Spirit, the

Third Person of the Trinity.

In today’s Gospel reading which comes from the Last Supper,

Jesus promises his followers that he will not leave us alone after

his ascension. He is sending another advocate—the so-called

Paraclete. He says, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the

Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind

you of all that I told you.”

This promise comes true at Pentecost, and we continue to see

the workings of the spirit in the Acts of the Apostles. In the first

reading, we heard about the resolution of a difficult

question—how to integrate non-Jews into the Christian

movement. In their message to the Gentiles, the apostles said, “It

is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us” to exempt Gentiles

from the Laws of Moses, with three exceptions.

In Acts, the Apostles invoke the Holy Spirit when deciding who

should replace Judas as the twelfth apostle, in ordaining the first

seven deacons, and calling on the spirit to empower them to

preach and to perform miracles. The Holy Spirit fills these early

followers with power, confidence, and the ability to do impossible

deeds, like spread the Good News while the Roman Empire

wants to kill them.

So, what does this have to do with us? Like the Apostles, we

often find ourselves in impossible situations or stuck in places that

we think we cannot get out of. Like the Cardinals, we are called

on to make difficult decisions where there does not appear to be a

straightforward choice.

A former president of the University of Notre Dame, Fr. Ted

Hesburgh, said that whenever he needed to make a difficult

speech or do something that felt beyond him, he would pray a

simple prayer of three words, “Come, Holy Spirit.”

Our former pastor, Fr. Nelson, spoke at his 25 th anniversary of

ordination last week about his terror of preaching. How, at his first

mass as a transitional deacon, he literally sweat enough for a

puddle to form at his feet. After mass, he locked himself in his

room and prayed to God to help him. He surrendered himself to

the Holy Spirit. He said that he has never had difficulty since that

experience.

The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to forgive people. To pray for

our enemies. To reconcile apparently unreconcilable differences.

The Holy Spirit is here with us to call upon. He surrounds us, He

hears us, and is within us. Indeed, we remember the story of

Creation when God the Father created the first human beings by

crafting us out of mud and reached down and breathed the breath

of life—the Holy Spirit—into their nostrils.

Just as a side note: I am using the pronoun ‘He’ for the Holy

Spirit, because He is a person in the Holy Trinity. God does not

have a gender, though the Father and Son, the other two persons

of the Trinity, have gendered titles.

The Holy Spirt is the principle of life and is as close to us as our

breath. The breath of God moves in us as our lungs fill and

empty, fill and empty, on and on. But we are usually oblivious to

His presence.

If you are looking for a new form of prayer, I encourage the

mindful practice of following your breath. This is a way of clearing

our minds and hearts, and returning to the starting and ending

place of our life—our breathing—this is a way to notice God’s

presence around us and within us. And while you breath, repeat

the prayer, “Come, Holy Spirit.”

You may find that this practice opens you to God in a new way.

The Holy Spirit guides us in ways that are not practical nor always

rational. God moves us into spaces where the end is not

apparent. These are places that can be uncertain or scary, but

they are places of growth and enrichment, places where we

become more fully ourselves. More fully who God created us and

is creating us to be.

Embrace that uncertainty, take a step, and see where it leads

you. And continue to pray the prayer, “Come, Holy Spirit.”

As the Holy Spirit guided our cardinals to pick our new pope, let

us pray that we are also guided in our own lives, in the way that

we listen, discern, and act.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them

the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be

created. And You shall renew the face of the earth O, God, who

by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful,

grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever

enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.