One Holy Catholic Church
Homily for Sunday, June 8, 2025: Pentecost Sunday, Year C
A year or two ago I was sitting in as my wife was leading an RCIA class. In the course of the class, someone asked a question – one of those tricky theological points that I had a basic understanding of, but never quite grasped it well enough to confidently explain it to someone else. When the question was raised, my immediate thought was, I’m glad I’m not running this session.
And even as that thought crossed my mind my wife responded with, “I think I’ll let the Deacon take this one.”
Of course. It’s why I was there, after all, to field the trickier questions. So there was nothing for it but to offer the best answer I could give.
I don’t actually remember what I said. All I do remember is getting to the end of the explanation thinking to myself, wow, that was a good answer. I should mention here that this was not out of pride or self-congratulation. I was marveling at what had somehow just come out of my mouth. Without looking it up or rehearsing it or even stopping to think about what I was going to say, the words were just there when I needed them.
Perhaps we’ve all had some kind of experience like that – surprising ourselves with unexpectedly finding precisely the right words or exactly the right thing to do for the occasion.
That’s the Holy Spirit at work in our lives, as Jesus promises at the end of the Gospel today, that the Holy Spirit will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. The Holy Spirit is always there, reminding us of what we already know; sometimes even hitting us with a flash of inspiration out of the blue. Giving us what we need, when we need it.
We see this illustrated in dramatic fashion in our first reading, as the Apostles receive the Spirit as a mighty wind and tongues of fire and go out proclaiming the Good News in all the languages of the world.
We might read that and wonder, why does that not happen anymore? Why doesn’t the Spirit send us all out speaking different languages all over town? The answer, I think, is that He still does.
Since that first Pentecost, the Church has grown a bit from those first Twelve Apostles. The Church still proclaims the Good News in all languages because we have ministers and priests, churches and congregants throughout the world all speaking in their own native tongues. People from all walks of life, all manner of lifestyle and ideology, each with particular ways of expressing themselves.
Sometimes we might be tempted to close ourselves off from those who don’t sound like us. We look for those key words and phrases that identify someone from the Wrong Group, the Wrong Politics, the Wrong Social Standing. We need to open ourselves to the recognition that God’s Church is a Universal Church – that’s what the word “Catholic” means. People from all countries, cultures, all walks of life, each making God’s Word their own, each living it and proclaiming it in their own way. We are all part of the ongoing Pentecost.
It’s the point Saint Paul makes in the second reading: for in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Each of us, all of us, have our own particular part to play. God calls us each to be the best possible version of ourselves, and each of us is unique. The Church needs us all in our diversity. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.
The Holy Spirit guides the Church, something like a Celestial Sage Manager1 guiding each of us in our own particular role. We might not always understand how that role fits in with the rest of the Church, but that’s okay. It’s a big Church and we only really need to focus on our own small part in it.
The Holy Spirit is always there; nudging, prompting, guiding, leading us further into God’s Love – his love for us and his love for those around us. The Spirit draws us all together in that Love, calls us into unity as a Church and as a community.
It’s not always easy to know or understand or recognize the Spirit’s guidance but through prayer and quiet contemplation we can begin to better sense where the Spirit is leading us in our lives. When we pray in the words of the Psalm, Lord send out your Spirit, when we open ourselves to the presence of that Spirit, then we join in God’s mission to renew the face of the Earth.
I’d intended to write “Celestial Stage Manager.” My wife pointed out the typo, and also suggested that “Sage Manager” could be a punny reference to the Wisdom of God. I can’t decide if the typo is Spirit-inspired or just a dumb error.