Congratulations also to Fr. Peter Logsdon, Fr. Stephen Duquaine, and Dcn. Daniel Shine, who were all ordained for the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana yesterday! GOD IS SO GOOD!!!
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Homily:
Pentecost – Cycle A
I, for one, have often been amazed to think about the
complexity of the human body and about just how many things have to go right at
every moment for it to function properly.
I mean, just think for a moment about how many different functions are
necessary—and, thus, how many different
organs or bodily components are necessary—for our bodies to do something as
essential as converting our food into nutrition. There’s the chewing and the swallowing, the
breaking down of the food in our stomachs, there’s the absorbing of the
nutrition that we need and the separating out of the stuff that we don’t need
and then the expelling of that waste after it’s been separated… That’s a lot of stuff that constantly has to
go right just so that we can keep living!
If any one organ or component malfunctions, the whole system could fail.
And this includes even the seemingly most insignificant,
non-functional parts of the system. Take
the Appendix, for example. Although
current research has begun to show otherwise, the Appendix is an appendage of
the large intestine that for years doctors have considered to be “expendable”
because it serves no apparent function in an otherwise healthy person. I mean, just look at its name… “appendix”
means “something extra” and thus “non-essential”. Regardless of whatever the Appendix does or
does not do, however, if it begins to malfunction or becomes infected it can
disrupt and threaten to shut down the entire body.
I myself had appendicitis when I was 17 years old. It took a day or two to really develop and, before
I could get to the doctor to have it treated, it ruptured. Although I did get treatment soon after that,
I realized that, had I not made haste in getting treatment, it would not have
been long before my life would have been in real danger. That’s a serious effect for an appendage that
seemingly has no function. I guess it
just goes to show you that every part of the body—no matter how insignificant
it seems—is important.
Today on this Pentecost Sunday we are reminded by Saint
Paul that we, the Church, are a body.
More specifically, he states that we are Christ’s body and that, because
of that, we have been given the Spirit—Christ’s Spirit—who inspires us to call
Jesus “Lord”. We, of course, have heard
this before: that “though many, we are one and, though one, we are many.” If we aren’t careful, however, we’ll kind of
gloss over this fact and miss what Paul is really trying to say.
Without all of the detailed scientific knowledge that we
have today, the people in ancient Palestine also knew that the human body was a
complex thing: made up of many members—each with its own function—that together
make a whole; and that if any one part of the body were to be removed, its
unity—that is, its “oneness”—would be diminished. Thus Paul, speaking from this knowledge, uses
the body as an analogy to represent the reality of the Church. The Church is made up of many members, he
sees, and each of those members has a function—a very specific function, given
to it by the Holy Spirit; and if any of those members fails to fulfill their
function, or is removed from the body, then (at best) the whole is diminished
and (at worst) its very life is threatened.
Moreover, Paul says that it is the very Spirit himself that
gives the body its unity. Just as with
each human body it is the personal soul that gives it unity and animates it, so
too it is the Holy Spirit, in which each of us has been baptized, that animates
and gives unity to the Church. Thus,
when Paul says that “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit has
been given for some benefit”, he is saying that each member of the body—no
matter how insignificant he or she may seem—has something to offer the
whole. In other words, he seems to be
saying that even someone who feels, perhaps, like an Appendix nevertheless has
something important to offer.
My brothers and sisters, it’s no secret that the Church in
the United States is languishing. Less
and less Catholics are regularly participating in the Sacramental Life of the
Church and many are turning away from the Church all together. One of the most rapidly increasing categories
of religious practice among Americans is “none”: that is, those who claim no
religious affiliation or belief at all. Much
of this can be attributed to the influence of the secular culture, or course,
but I also think that we have to look at ourselves. Have we been open to discerning the gifts
that the Spirit has given to each of us throughout our lives and thus to using
them for the benefit of Christ’s Body, the Church? And have we worked hard enough to help our
young people to do the same?
If we have not been open to discerning the gifts that the
Spirit is giving to each of us, then we are like Appendices: members whose
function is not really clear and who pose a significant threat to the body if
they begin to malfunction. And if we
aren’t helping our young people to do the same then it’s even worse: for they
will often drift away before becoming permanently attached, thus leaving the
body without necessary members for the future.
Nevertheless, my brothers and sisters, we have Good News (I
mean, that’s why we call it the “Gospel”, right?). The Good News is the very thing that we
celebrate today: that Jesus, now seated at the right hand of the Father, has
sent his Spirit into the Church; and this Spirit is a mighty force that not
only has the power to unite us as one body—as it did in Jerusalem that day,
drawing “devout Jews from every nation under heaven” together—but who also
gives us power to go forth to fulfill Christ’s mission of bringing salvation to
all men by incorporating them into his Body through baptism in his Spirit.
And so, as we close our Easter celebration of 50 days, let
us each pray intentionally to the Holy Spirit, asking him to show us the unique
gift—big or small—that he has given each of us for furthering Christ’s mission;
and let us ask for the courage to go forth boldly so as to manifest that gift
in the world—that is, right here in our community—and thus build up the Body of
Christ: whose Body we are and whose presence we celebrate, sacramentally, at
this altar.
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