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Pentecost Sunday - May 11, 2008
Homily by Adam Cardinal Maida
Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament
Contact: Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament (313) 865-6300
My brother Bishops and Priests, members of Blessed Sacrament Cathedral Cluster, those about to be Confirmed, and members of your family and friends:
For most of American society, today is Mother's Day, a day to remember our mothers, living and deceased, near or far. It is in every way appropriate that we set aside time to give thanks to God for our mothers and the way they have been instruments of life and encouragement for us. As believers in Jesus Christ, we celebrate today something even more important than Mother's Day – the birthday of the Church itself, the great feast of Pentecost.
One of the ways spiritual writers throughout the centuries have described the Church is by use of the image of "Mother Church." They speak in this way because we came to birth in the realm of the Spirit through the waters of Baptism and by our membership in the Church, the Body of Christ; the Church is, therefore, our spiritual "mother."
On this happy day, we celebrate the power of the Holy Spirit, a gift poured forth upon the apostles 50 days after the Death-Resurrection of Jesus Christ, a gift that completely changed their lives, transforming them from fearful men hiding behind locked doors into courageous witnesses of the Gospel and fearless preachers to the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit you are about to receive in a new way today will complete your Baptism and send you forth with renewed energy, courage, and conviction, to live your Christian dignity as fully and richly as possible.
Our country recently witnessed special signs of the Holy Spirit among us through the pastoral visit of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. When he celebrated the Holy Eucharist at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, he reflected on the way the Holy Spirit has been at work in the United States and throughout the world. He said, "In this country, the Church's mission has always involved drawing people 'from every nation under heaven' into spiritual unity, and enriching the Body of Christ by the variety of their gifts. As we give thanks for past blessings, and look to the challenges of the future, let us implore from God the grace of a new Pentecost for the Church in America."
As our Holy Father stated, the Church to which we belong is a magnificent expression of "unity-in-diversity." We speak many different languages and come from many different cultures. We span the globe. And yet, we are one, holy people of God because there is one same Holy Spirit working within us and among us, drawing us closer to the Lord and one another..
The feast of Pentecost celebrates our unity, our communion with the Lord and one another. This Spirit which descended upon the apostles that first Pentecost literally sent them out into the streets of Jerusalem and then to the ends of the earth. The Spirit was able to completely take over the minds and hearts of the apostles such that these poor fishermen from Galilee could suddenly speak entirely new languages and motivate people of countless different nationalities and origins to believe in the Good News of Jesus Christ.
In today's second reading, as St. Paul writes to the Church at Corinth, he explains that each individual member of the Church receives some manifestation of the Spirit. Ultimately, however, every spiritual gift is confided to us not for our sake but so that we will build up the common good of the whole Church.
Part of your Confirmation commitment is a pledge to put your faith into practice, to express daily in some concrete way, the gifts of the Spirit at work in your mind and heart. For instance, the promptings of the Spirit may inspire you to pray – alone or with others. The Holy Spirit speaking in your heart might encourage you to be more bold in talking about faith values in the workplace or challenging a family member to live the Gospel with greater fidelity. Quite often, the Holy Spirit nudges us and prompts us to be more sensitive to the needs of the poor, more patient and generous to people with special needs.
On this joyous feast of Pentecost – which this year coincides with Mother's Day – we affirm that our true family is the Church. While we enjoy the blessings and challenge of membership in our families of origin, we also belong to another family, the family of faith; we are members of one, worldwide Church. Our individual parishes come together as the Archdiocese of Detroit and our Archdiocese, in turn, is part of the worldwide communion of all the churches under the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI.
As you come forth to receive the Holy Spirit in a new way at Confirmation this day, you will be pledging anew your desire to live as fully as possible all that the Church professes and teaches. Becoming a fully-initiated adult member of the Church, you are promising to pray and study, to worship regularly, and to serve the needs of all, especially the most vulnerable. Your membership in the Church brings with it the right and responsibility to be actively involved in your respective parishes, offering your gifts and talents and using your resources for the good of others.
As Pope Benedict XVI spoke in St. Patrick's Cathedral, he pointed out that many people in American society, think of the Church primarily as an institutional structure; they fail to appreciate the more critical spiritual core and center of the Church. As he went on to say, the Church is really the people of God living their faith and putting it into action. As he put it, the Church "is called to proclaim the gift of life, to serve life and to promote a culture of life… The proclamation of life, life in abundance, must be the heart of the new evangelization. For true life – our salvation – can only be found in the reconciliation, freedom and love, which are God's gracious gift."
Our belief in Jesus Christ and our membership in His Body, the Church, bring with it a responsibility to speak and act as missionaries for the dignity of all human life. Our salvation and eternal joy call us to an ever-deeper concern for the very real suffering of our brothers and sisters near and far. Confirmation includes with it a commitment to work for justice and peace throughout the world, particularly to affirm the dignity of life from the first moment of conception until natural death.
On this Mother's Day, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit at work in our Mother, the Church, in every time and place. We rejoice in particular in the gift of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Lord Jesus, and Mother of the Church. Let us entrust to her our hopes and needs, our joys and our sorrows.
Just as the Blessed Virgin Mary herself was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit at the time of the Annunciation and also on the day of Pentecost in the Upper Room with the disciples in Jerusalem, may we, too, be open to the surprising ways the Holy Spirit wants to come upon us and use us for the glory of God, for our salvation, and that of the whole world.
Like Mary and with Mary, let us proclaim the greatness of the Lord and the seven-fold gifts of His Holy Spirit. Amen. Alleluia.
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