Friday, June 6, 2025

Homily on the Solemnity of Pentecost, Year C


Indications The Holy Spirit Is Active In You

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of Pentecost, Year C

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, June 8, 2025


Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost, marking the end of the Easter season. Today, we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the church. The Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. As they headed to the streets and preached, people heard them in all their languages, indicating the commencement of the church and its great work, which continues to this day and will continue till the end of the age. Who is the Holy Spirit? He is the love that connects the Father and the Son. From all eternity, the Father speaks his word, which is the Son. The Son is the perfect image of the Father. They share the same substance and essence. The Father and Son look at each other and fall completely in love. The love they breathe back and forth is the Spiritus Sanctus, the Holy Spirit. Today, we celebrate that time, that moment when the Father and the Son, together, breathe out love and power into the life of the Church.


With this in mind, let us look at some of the words in today’s second reading. Writing to the Christians in Rome, the great St. Paul says, “Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (Romans 8:9b). Let me say it as quickly as possible: If you are baptized, the Holy Spirit is in you. But the fact that the Holy Spirit is in you does not mean he will always be active in your life. In his letter, St. Paul warns, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19). So, the Holy Spirit can be present and at the same time be inactive in the life of an unserious Christian. What are the signs and indications of the Holy Spirit? In Galatians 5:22-23, St. Paul calls it “Fruits of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is active in you, you are going to manifest the following fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 


Due to time constraints, I won’t be able to preach on each one of them. If you notice, the first fruit of the Holy Spirit is love. Why so? It is because that is what the Holy Spirit is. What is love? It is not a feeling or emotional expression. Love is willing the good of the other and doing something about it. If the Holy Spirit is active in you, you are definitely going to be a person of love. Period! You will desire the good of the other. You will actively work and advocate for that which you desire for them. At the end of the day, when you examine your conscience, don’t forget to ask yourself this question: Did I will the good of the other? Did I do my best to demonstrate that love? If yes is the answer, that’s a clear sign that the Holy Spirit is working overtime in you. 


The second sign of the Holy Spirit is joy. I like to use joy as an acronym— Jesus, others, and you. Take this to the bank, the flag of the Holy Spirit is joy. Now, joy does not mean you are always excited and feel high. It means at the depth of your life, there is this enduring happiness that is not predicated upon wealth, power, honor, and pleasure. If you see an unhappy Christian, something is wrong somewhere. An unhappy Christian is a contradiction in terms. Some people live their lives by sucking the joy out of the room. Wherever they go, they spread unhappiness. The other day, I preached on whom we should not listen to. One of them is a joyless person. Lack of joy in their lives is an indication that the Holy Spirit is not operational in their lives. Again, at the end of the day, when you examine your conscience, find out the quality of your joy. How happy am I today? If you are not happy at all or not happy enough, it may be that you have allowed other things to take center stage in your life. You may not be allowing the Holy Spirit to take deep root in you. 


The third fruit of the Holy Spirit is peace. Shalom in Hebrew. Shalom is what God intended for the human race from the very beginning. Shalom is the first word out of the mouth of the Risen Christ to his fearful disciples. Shalom is well-being at every level of our lives. It is a sense of togetherness with the Lord. If the world is on fire, figuratively speaking, you are not rattled by it. Your core is not shaken. Your faith is not threatened. You might be worried, but you always know that you are never alone; you cannot walk alone. Why? Because the Holy Spirit has drawn you into unity with himself. You feel like someone living in the inner castle. You are assured that no matter what happens, the good Lord will always have your back. He will come through for you. It is this faith-inspired confidence that ultimately gives you peace. Peace is inner harmony, and it comes from the realization that all the elements that make me up— mind, will, passions, power, relationships, private life, public life, professional life, all of it, are implanted in Jesus. I tell you, if you attain that level of life in your Christian life, you will have peace. At the end of the day, ask yourself: Am I at peace? Don’t get me wrong. We are going to experience problems, difficulties, and frustration. But despite all that, do I experience inner unity and harmony? If you do, the Holy Spirit is active in you. 


The fourth fruit of the Holy Spirit is patience. Paciencia in Spanish. Many of us struggle with this fruit. What is the root cause of impatience? Lack of love! If love means “willing the good of the other,” then your preoccupation will be what is good for that person. Right? If I am impatient, it means I am preoccupied with myself and what I want. I will be frustrated that things are not happening my way, on my timetable, and my terms. So, I get impatient, irritated, and angry with people around me. Patience means you are dominated by love. You put up with a lot. One of the spiritual works of mercy is bearing wrongs patiently. Years ago, my patience was deeply tested when our cook, who had just been fired by the superior of my community, came to my office. Right to my face, she unloaded on me. At the time, I was the pastor of the church. And this lady thought I was the one who sacked her. To my face, she yelled at me, called me all sorts of names, and eventually spat on my face and walked out. After that, she followed it up with a petition against me to my bosses. But in all that, I said nothing and did nothing. Was I upset? Yes! But I was more sorry for her. 


The fifth fruit of the Holy Spirit is kindness. What does it mean? It means decency and courtesy. Holding the door for someone to come in, offering your chair for an elderly person to sit, and giving your winter coat to a homeless man or woman is an act of kindness. In an African setting, people speak about the blessings they received from helping out an elderly person. At the physical level, this might be little, but not so at the spiritual level. In the Book of Hebrews, we read, “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels” (Hebrews 13:2). Kindness is borne out of love. If my life is all about willing the good of others, then I will be attentive to little things that affect them. 


The sixth is generosity. Who is a generous person? A giver! They give without expecting anything in return. But for some of us, life is all about us. We hang on to things and don’t share. We say to ourselves, “I worked for it and it is mine and mine alone.” But if love has taken root in you, if you really will the good of the other, you will become generous with what you have. You will be generous with your time, talent, and treasure. The basic principle in Christianity is that the more generous you are, the more you give, the more grace you receive. If you like to hang on to things, the Holy Spirit, who is love through and through, is not operative in your life. 


The seventh sign that the Holy Spirit is active in your life is self-control. If you are a person of love, you want the good of the other. That means you will have yourself under control. If passions are disordered, and you are constantly expressing your frustration and anger, you are out of control. You will be harming the people around you, and also harming yourself, which is supposed to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. Self-control is not puritanism or repression. It is the controlling of my passions and preoccupations so that I might become available to others, and become a vehicle of love to others. The culture tells us to be expressive. If you are angry, show it. Don’t repress it. If someone crosses your path, cross them out. If someone who does not look like you rings your bell, grab your gun and shoot them even before they speak. Look at what anger is doing to us. Someone applies for a job and loses out to someone else. He goes home, grabs his gun, and goes on a killing spree. Someone is sacked from his job, and he gets angry and embarks on a killing spree. What’s wrong with us? Lack of self-control is an indication that the Holy Spirit has been saddened and silenced. 


Sisters and brothers, if you want to know what path you are on, look at these fruits of the Holy Spirit.


God bless you!

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