Pentecost- Inspirations of the Holy Spirit

 

Today, we celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Out of fear of being persecuted, the apostles had all gathered in the Upper Room and prayed for 9 days for the coming of the Holy Spirit. Suddenly there was a strong gust of wind and flames of fire appeared above their heads and all were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave the Apostles the gift of courage to bear witness to Jesus throughout the world now they would be even willing to lay down their life for Him, whom they loved above all things.

The Holy Spirit has many titles, such as the Advocate, the consoler, giver of life, enlightener, Spirit of truth, sanctifier, purifier, revealer, uniter, reconciler, spirit of adoption, Spirit of Christ, second person of the Trinity, Spirit of God, Spirit of promise, Spirit of glory. He is pictured as a fire, a cloud, the finger of God, the wind, a dove, the hand of God, and anointing.

The Holy Spirit is known for seven-fold gifts: wisdom, knowledge, understanding, courage, counsel, fear of the Lord, and piety.

There are also fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness, and chastity.

The Holy Spirit acts in the sacraments, especially Confirmation. The very first sacrament of Confirmation was on the day of Pentecost, when the Apostles and the Virgin Mary were filled with the Holy Spirit and when tongues of fire resulted in them becoming courageous, where as before, they were hiding out of fear. Confirmation makes firm baptismal graces, so that we may be a witness for Christ, a soldier for Christ, and fearless in proclaiming the truth.

What I would like to do is give you some examples of how the Holy Spirit works. One day, when I was an associate pastor at St. Francis parish in Wichita, I went to visit a Catholic patient at a rehab center. When I was at the parish and before I went to the rehab center, I said a prayer. I said, “Lord, I haven’t heard any big confessions for while, I would sure like to hear some.”

When I arrived, I went to the Catholic’s room and heard her confession, and, as I was leaving, a nurse grabbed me, and said, “We have a Catholic in this room too, and she would like to see a priest.” I visited the patient, who said, “Father, I haven’t been to confession for a long time, will you hear my confession?” It had been 25 years since the person went to confession. Then as I was leaving, a woman was hollering at me from another room I was passing by. When I went to see what she wanted, she said, “Father, I would like to go to Confession.” It had been over 40 years since she went to Confession. When combining all three confessions, in a period of 15 minutes, the Lord washed away a combination of over 75 years of sins. How wonderful the Holy Spirit inspired me to pray that prayer and how wonderful the Holy Spirit inspired them to want to go to Confession.

It is the Holy Spirit, who inspires people to be sorry for their sins. The Holy Spirit inspires people to want to go to Confession. The Holy Spirit helps each person to know their sins. And its the Holy Spirit who gives advice through the priest and then its the Holy Spirit who washes their sins away through the absolution of the priest.

Once, when I was doing hospital ministry at St. Francis Xavier Hospital in Tulsa, I was walking down a hallway, and was in a hurry to see another patient. There was no reason to be in a hurry, but I was.

I happened to notice an elderly woman, who appeared to be lost. But, being in a hurry, I zoomed past her and kept going. Then I felt guilty for not helping her, and went back to see if I could help her.

When I came up to the woman, I said, “Are you lost? Do you need help?” She said, “I can’t find my way out of here.” I gave her directions, and then said, “Are you visiting someone?” She said, “Yes, my husband. He’s dying.” I said, “I’m sorry to hear that, would you like me to visit him?” She said, “Oh, yes, but he doesn’t know Jesus.” I said, “Do you want to come with me?” She said, “No, I need to go home to take care of the mule and the chickens.” I said, “Oh, so you live out in the country?” She said, “No, we live in Tulsa.” I chuckled to myself. She gave me his room number and when I arrived at his room, I explained how I met his wife in the hall and how she thought it would be good for me to visit him. He said, “I’m dying.” I said, “I’m sorry to hear that. Would you like me to pray with you?” He said, “Sure.” I said, “What religion are you?” He said, “I don’t have a religion, but I know Jesus and I love Him.” I thought, “Your wife doesn’t know you love Jesus.” I said, “Are you baptized?” He said, “No. But I have always wanted it.” I said, “Would you like me to baptize you?” He said, “Oh, yes, please, I would love that.” I said, “Do you want me to call your wife, so she can be here?” He said, “No, I want to do it, as a surprise for her.” I asked a Catholic nurse to be his godparent and baptized him. He died a few days later. All of his sins and the punishment due to his sins were washed away and it was all due to the inspiration the Holy Spirit, to cause me to want to help the woman who was lost. Had I not went back to help the woman, he may never have received the sacrament.

Also in Tulsa, I accidentally went to a wrong room to visit a Catholic patient. I had misread the room number. When I entered the room, I said, “Are you, Sally?” The patient said, “No, but I’m Catholic.” I looked at the paper and realized I was in the wrong room. The woman wasn’t listed as Catholic, and so I said, “Oh, you're not listed as Catholic.” She said, “Yes, but I am.” She said, “Can I go to Confession?” I heard her confession, anointed her, and gave her Holy Communion. She had surgery, but didn’t do well and died shortly afterwards. Had I not gone to the wrong room, she may have never received the sacraments before she died. It was the Holy Spirit, who led me to her room, so she could be reconciled with God and receive Jesus in Holy Communion before she died.

In Mulvane, Kansas there was a Catholic boy about the age of 10, who invited his non-Catholic friend to attend Mass with him on Sunday. The non-Catholic boy said his family were not attending their protestant church. The non-Catholic boy kept attending Mass with the Catholic boy and then one day, he told his friend, “I want to be Catholic”. Soon the non-Catholic boy’s family started to attend Mass too and within a few months, the parents decided they wanted their entire family of five children and the parents to become Catholic. They went through RCIA and became Catholic, simply because the Catholic boy invited his friend to attend Mass with him.

It was the Holy Spirit who inspired the Catholic boy to invite his non-Catholic friend to church and it was the Holy Spirit who inspired the family to want to also attend church and then become Catholic.

The point is, the Holy Spirit works through simple, yet small inspirations, that can have a tremendous impact in our lives.

I will tell you one more story and you can determine if you think this was the Holy Spirit or not.

One day, before I became a priest, I was working in the purchasing department of a hospital in Hays, when a ward sectary from a nursing unit called and was frantic.

When I answered the phone she said, “Come to the third floor medical unit, right away. The card machine is smoking and is on fire.” I said, “You need to call maintenance.” She said, “I tried, but they won’t come. Please come here right away.” I dutifully and quickly took the stairs, as your not supposed to take the elevator in a fire. When I arrived, I saw the unit had become filled with smoke. I said, “Turn off the machine.” She said, “It doesn’t have a switch and I can’t unplug it because the cord is in the corner of the counter top.” She was right there was not on/off switch. So in order to shut if off, I had to remove the bottom drawer from the console desk and crawl inside to pull the plug. Since I couldn’t fit inside, I tried to reach for the cord, but couldn’t. Finally, after some twisting and turning, I was able to get the top part of my torso in the hole and pull the plug.

But, I was stuck. No matter how I turned my shoulders and my arms, I couldn’t get out. I began to panic, and said, “Call maintenance, I’m stuck.” She said, “I ain’t calling them. Do you think they will come up here to get you out, when they wouldn’t come up here if we have a fire.” I kept trying every which way to back out and my chest and arms were getting bruised.

She said, “I have an idea.” She grabbed my two legs and put her foot on the top of the counter and began yanking. It was painful as she tried to pull me out. I became angry, and said, “Mary Ann, don’t do that!” Finally, after a few minutes of turning this way and that way, I was able to finally back out.

Now do you think it was the Holy Spirit, who inspired her to call the purchasing department to turn off the machine? Do you think it was the Holy Spirit who inspired me to crawl in the hole and pull the plug? Do you think it was the Holy Spirit who caused her to pick up my legs and yank? It certainly wasn’t the Holy Spirit, who inspired me to say something out of anger.

The point is, everything we do is not the Holy Spirit inspiring us to do something, but if we are inspired to do something charitable for others, most likely it was the Holy Spirit.

Today, let us pray to the Holy Spirit, asking Him to guide and enlighten us in our daily life and let us ask the Virgin Mary to be open to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.