The Comforter Has Come

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Great Feast of Pentecost, Year B

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, May 23, 2021

We celebrate today one of the truly great moments in the life of the Church— the Feast of Pentecost. Forty days after the Resurrection of Jesus, ten days after his Ascension, the Holy Spirit comes down upon the Apostles and generates in them an uncommon courage that took them to the streets to testify that Jesus of Nazareth who was betrayed by the Jews, crucified by the Romans has been raised by God. He is risen! He is the Lord! He is the Messiah of the Jews and the world. Now, since Pentecost is the great Feast of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, the question is: when did we, the subsequent followers of Christ receive the Holy Spirit? At Baptism, not Confirmation. What happens at Confirmation is the strengthening of the gifts already received. Confirmation is derived from the Latin word, “Confirmare” which means “to strengthen.” Through the sacrament of Confirmation, the Holy Spirit strengthens us to do exploits in three basic ways: Firstly, the Holy Spirit strengthens us in our relationship to Jesus Christ. Secondly, the Holy Spirit strengthens our capacity to defend the Faith, and thirdly, the Holy Spirit strengthens our capacity to spread the Faith.

In our ordinary life, there are individuals living or dead that we consider heroes and sheroes. A few years ago when I had to read the US civics to prepare for citizenship test, my admiration for the 16th President of America, Abraham Lincoln rose to the highest heaven. No doubt, he was a great man and a great president. In politics, I consider him my hero. If he were to be a Catholic, he could have been canonized a saint. In the area of social justice, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is my hero. In my youthful age in Nigeria, there were three musicians, Reggae musicians that I admire a lot— one was a South African (Lucky Philip Dube), the other a Jamaican (Bob Marley) and another a Nigerian (Majek Fashek). I enjoyed and still enjoy listening to their songs. Their songs sowed in me a deep interest in how people, particularly Black people are treated by both the political class and the powerful people. Now, as great as Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were, as much as I admire them, I will not say I have a relationship with them. As much as the lyrics of the songs of Lucky Dube, Bob Marley and Majek Fashek inspire me, I will not say I have a relationship with them. I don’t have any relationship with any of them and will not consider them my friends. But when it comes to Jesus, it is not the same. Jesus of Nazareth is not a distant historical figure I admire. He is not just a great philosopher or teacher. Rather, he is a Living Presence and as one song says, I do have a friend in Jesus. The most important friendship of my life is my friendship with Jesus. So, the first work of the Holy Spirit is to strengthen that relationship, that friendship. 

The second strengthening of the Holy Spirit is the desire to defend the Faith. In the 20th century, more people died for their Christian Faith than all the previous centuries combined. And in this 21st century, things are not getting better for Christians. Look around the world especially in Africa, Middle East, and Asia. The most persecuted religion today is Christianity. I pray that none of our lives will be on the line, however in the world of social media, the world of new atheism, the world of internet, the world of radical secularism, the Catholic Faith is under serious attack. This attack sometimes comes from lax and “practicing” Catholics. So, when your faith is attacked, do you chicken out? If you are a confirmed Catholic, you are confirmed to be a soldier of Christ. As a soldier of Christ, do you possess a soldier’s courage? The Holy Spirit is meant to strengthen us in that capacity. The third strengthening of the Holy Spirit is spreading the Faith. Do you know that every baptized and confirmed person is by the power of the sacrament a missionary? The Christian Faith is not a private possession. It is not something we privately keep for ourselves; it is always meant to be shared and spread like seeds. As apostles, we have been sent out on mission. 

After the Holy Spirit has strengthened our relationship with Jesus, after he has intensified our capacity to defend the Faith, after our passion to spread the Faith has been increased by him, the Holy Spirit also gives us what the Church calls the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not come for the sake of coming. He never comes empty-handed. He always comes with gifts. These gifts are; wisdom, knowledge, understanding, fortitude, counsel, piety and fear of the Lord. For you to be a good defender of the Faith, you need to know the Faith in a deep and searching way. Can you go to a physician or a surgeon who stopped studying medicine, anatomy and chemistry after graduation from medical school? Would you take your car to a mechanic who never updates his or her knowledge of vehicles? Of course not. We want someone with a lot of expertise, a lot of wisdom, knowledge and understanding of the field. Our friendship with Christ our Lord is infinitely more important than cars and even our physical health. This friendship we have been strengthened in, meant to defend and spread is the most important thing we can imagine. So, we need a lot of wisdom, knowledge and understanding. For most Catholics, their religious education and formation ends at Confirmation. No serious doctor tells you that their medical education ended after graduation from medical school. Just as graduation is actually the beginning of medical education and training for physicians and surgeons, so must ours be. Confirmation should and must be the beginning of our faith formation. Do not be a Catholic who can’t defend their faith. Do not be a Catholic who can’t explain their faith to their children and grand-children in a way that makes them say, “I also want what you have.” 

The other gift of the Holy Spirit is fortitude—i.e. courage in adversity. Fortitude helps us to witness for Christ especially in extremely difficult situations. Today in Nigeria, many Christians, and a lot of them young people, high school students, under-graduates etc have been killed by Islamic terrorists for refusing to renounce their Christian Faith. This is going on now even as I preach. Every day, these soulless human beings kidnap people from major roads and from their homes and behead them for being Christians. A year ago, a young man studying to become a Catholic priest was kidnapped. After refusing to renounce his Faith in Jesus, he was killed. These Christians, these soldiers of Christ paid the ultimate price because they had the Spirit’s gift of fortitude. Now, I pray and hope you never experience any of this, however, when your faith is belittled, you must have the fortitude to stand your ground. Piety and fear of the Lord tell us that God is the absolute center of our lives. If you have piety and fear of the Lord, that means wealth, pleasure, power, honor and worldly things are not your utmost concern. They are not the center of your life. It means that God is the center of your life. The last gift is the gift of counsel. Counsel is the capacity to tell right from wrong. Do we take the wild path of selfishness, hatred and violence that many take? Or do we take the narrow path of selflessness, love, compassion and non-violence? Every person who has reached the age of accountability makes decision everyday and those decisions shape the kind of person we are going to be. Counsel is the gift of the Holy Spirit that enables us to make those right choices. With these Seven Gifts, we are strengthened in our friendship with Jesus. We are strengthened in our capacity to defend the Faith, and we are strengthened in our capacity to spread the Faith. But these gifts are not magical realities. We must cooperate with the Holy Spirit and use these gifts to do exploits for the Lord. 

The Holy Spirit has come!

The Comforter is here!