The gifts of the Spirit

This weekend we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, the culmination of the Easter season. But as many of you know, I was once a sailor. So I’m going to start off with a sea story.

In the late 1800’s a large sailing ship found itself becalmed off the coast of South America. Day after day the ship just lay there in the still waters with not a hint of a breeze or of rain. The captain became desperate. They were out of fresh water and crew was dying of thirst. And then — a steamship appeared on the horizon, headed straight for them. As it drew near, the captain called out, "We need water! Give us water!" The steamship replied, "Lower your buckets where you are." The captain was FURIOUS but called out again, "Please, give us water." But the steamer gave the same reply, “Just lower your buckets where you are!" And then they steamed away! The captain was beside himself with anger and despair and stormed below to his cabin. But a little later when no one was looking, a junior seaman lowered a bucket into the sea and then tasted the water he brought up: And to his amazement it was perfectly sweet, fresh water! For you see, the ship was becalmed just out of sight of the mouth of the Amazon River. For all those days they had been sitting right on top of all the fresh water they needed! That’s the true message of Pentecost for us today. What we are seeking, all we truly need, is already here inside us, waiting to be discovered. But we’ll come back to that in a bit.

We naturally think of Pentecost as a Christian celebration, but it was a Jewish feast long before. In fact, it’s one of the “big three” — Passover, Tabernacles, and Pentecost — that required every male Jew living within 20 miles of Jerusalem to come to the city for the feast. So for a first century Jew, the Feast of Pentecost was a big deal, signifying the giving of the Law, the Ten Commandments, to Moses at Mt. Sinai. It marked the end of the Exodus from Egypt, but more importantly, it marked the end of their old way of life. For the Jews, the Feast of Pentecost was about God giving his redeemed people a NEW way of life by which they would serve Him.

And just as Pentecost was for the Jewish nation the end of their Exodus, so too is it the end of the Easter season for us. When we think of Easter though, we tend to overlook the fact that it isn’t just about the miracle of Christ’s Resurrection. It’s actually a CONTINUUM of events, all interconnected and dependent on the one before it. There could be no Easter resurrection without Christ’s Passion, suffering, and death on the cross. And his resurrection established the cornerstone of our faith and our Church, helping his disciples finally begin to understand Christ’s divinity and truth.

But even that wasn’t enough. Christ’s Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection planted the seeds for God’s Divine Plan for His people. But Jesus needed to depart from us to allow the fullness of God’s plan to come to fruition. So he ascended into heaven as we celebrated last week — all to clear the way for the miracle of Pentecost we celebrate today.

At the Jewish Pentecost at Mt. Sinai, God gave his Chosen People a new way of life through the Ten Commandments. But this Pentecost is something different. The apostles were gathered together — probably trying to figure out what to do next — when a mighty wind from heaven filled the room and tongues of fire came to rest on each of them. These ordinary men were TRANSFORMED by the Holy Spirit into a new creation, able to bring God’s word to people across the world. Through the miracle of Pentecost God gave us a new law, not written in stone, but designed to be written into our human hearts. Pentecost truly is the birthday of the Church, the birth of a New World Order through which the Divine Truth of God is made manifest to the whole world. That’s the miracle of Pentecost, the culmination of our Easter celebration — that through the gift of the Holy Spirit some of the creative power of God himself comes down from heaven to earth to do its work here.

And that gift of the Holy Spirit has been given to each of us, first by our Baptism, and strengthened through Confirmation and the sacraments. Just as the Spirit of the Lord brought the apostles out of darkness and despair to bring the Light of Christ to the world, so too the Spirit is alive and at work in each one of us.

Because here’s the thing — Pentecost wasn’t just an historical event from 2000 years ago. The miracle of Pentecost we celebrate today, the birth of the New World transformed by the descent of the Spirit — it’s still a work in progress that continues even today. And each one of us are called to be part of bringing forth this NEW LIFE for the world, to call upon, to trust, and to LIVE in the Spirit alive within us.

But to do that we need to let loose of the things of this world that cloud our vision — the noise, the loud voices on our screens telling us what to think, the pettiness, the jealousies, and the fears that bombard our daily lives. We need to just - let - that - go; and turn BACK to the Truth that lives within us. We need to LISTEN to the Spirit, that quiet voice within us, and embrace the Words of Jesus in today’s Gospel: “The Spirit of truth will guide you to ALL the truth.”

The message of Pentecost calls to mind one of St John Henry Newman’s favorite prayers:

“Come Holy Spirit

Make our ears to hear

Make our eyes to see

Make our mouths to speak

Make our hearts to seek

Make our hands to reach out

And touch the world with your love. AMEN.”

We are all blessed with the gifts of the Spirit, all in different measure — some great and some small. We need to be open to our individual gifts and use them to bring the world to New Life in the Holy Spirit. Because when we embrace the divine gift of Pentecost and let the Spirit come forth from us, who knows what God can do?

Look at the apostles, a tiny band of frightened, uneducated, confused men and women suddenly transformed — and they completely changed the world.

Maybe it’s a sandwich for a hungry man, a coat for a homeless woman, a kind word to a troubled child, or simply holding a hand during a time of grief. And maybe it’s finding fresh water in the middle of the ocean. The Holy Spirit is saying to us at this very moment from deep in our heart, “Trust in me. Lower your buckets wherever you are. Taste and see!”

That is the call of Pentecost for each one of us — to trust in the Spirit of Truth wherever we find ourselves, and then have the courage to act on that Truth. Because when we can do that — like the apostles — we can change the world.