Fr. Voigt, Pentecost Sunday Reflection
A Father's Word.
As a young man dad asked me to come to work on a construction site. There he rendered a truth that impressed me then and returned later as a word of guidance. He told me that you can tell the care of a carpenter by the order in the truck they drove. If their truck was neat and clean, most likely their work would be the same. Later a I learned in the study of Thomistic Philosophy that "the exterior is a manifestation of the interior." Whatever is in us will come out of us in word or action. So it is with our Father in heaven. Love must expand and so in God the Love in the Father expresses itself totally in the Son and the shared Love of Father and Son expresses itself perfectly in the Holy Ghost.
In each of us a thought is expressed by a word but in God a thought is a Person. Knowledge begets love and so today we are focused on the great act of love expressed in the Holy Ghost. The apostle were told by our Lord to remain in Jerusalem until the Paraclete, the Advocate descend upon them. This would be the first "baptism in the Holy Spirit." In this baptism the Mystical Body is born and only those who are united in this Mystical Body will find the pathway that leads to eternal life. Heretics and apostates must renounce their errors and return to the truth which is perfected in the Advocate.
Gathered together in that upper room a violent wind began to disturb their peace when all of the sudden tongues of fire descended upon each of them and they began to courageously speak the words of praise. Now the whole world outside that room heard them praising God in their own tongues. Were they drunk? Hardly, it was only the ninth hour but they were enthused in the truth that Jesus Christ, the Word of the Father, entered our humanity to re-bond us to the Blessed Trinity through the shedding of His Precious Blood. Now the gift of the Holy Ghost was sent to this world in order to convict us of our sin (the first step in the Paraclete's Love).
Once we have come to the realization of the ugliness of sin and the beauty of virtue then we wish to give to others what we ourselves have received: forgiveness. In good confessions we realize the purification of the Blood of the Lamb and now we have the great privilege to forgive others as we have been forgiven. For no one can give what they do not possess but through confession we possess the power of the Holy Ghost and we can truly forgive those who offend us (this is the second step in the Advocate's Love).
Finally, the Holy Spirit leads us to the realization that the life of Jesus is not ended but continued in His Mystical Body and therefore, what has taken place in our Lord's life will somehow take place in our life as well. In fact, we will come to the moment in which we imitate our Lord's death. As He prayed for those who sought His death, so we will be guided by the Holy Ghost to pray for those who wish to kill us (this is the third stage of the Holy Spirit's gift of love to us). In this stage the soul finds the ultimate expression of divine love being incarnated in our life so that we say with St. Paul that "I live, no longer I, but Christ lives within me."
Pentecost is the birth of the spiritual life of the Church and it has continued on to this day in the confessors, the doctors, the Fathers of the Church, the martyrs, the virgins and imagine this: even in you. The seven-fold gifts of wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, piety, courage and fear of the Lord are distributed to the soul in the sacrament of Confirmation.
With these gifts we can pass through this world and conquer the deceits of the demonic, the allurements of the flesh and the opinion of the worldly. Keep your hearts focused upon the eternal life and all things shall be granted thee as well.
Now in the practical realm check out your closets. Are there too many articles of clothing that you never use? Is my home in order or disorder? How do I perform my daily duties? Check out the exterior around you and you have a pretty good indication of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. Turn to our Blessed Mother and follow the pattern of the saints who always sought the Advocate through the intercession of our Lady. God bless you in this holy month of May and guide you by the Paraclete to put divine order into your life today.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
