-
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In our Gospel passages in these last weeks of Easter, we start to see a shift from the Resurrection appearances of Jesus, to meditations about the ongoing presence of the Risen Christ in the life of His Church through the Spirit. We hear Jesus promise the Apostles the Paraclete, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. This Gospel beckons us back to the Last Supper and Jesus’ last words with His disciples before being arrested and put on trial. How long Jesus must have thought about what He wanted to share with His dearest friends at this last chance to speak privately with them. He knew what was ahead for Himself with His crucifixion, and what was ahead for the disciples and their ministries. He must have wanted to reassure them that even though things might not appear to be so in the eyes of the world, all would work out well in God’s plan. As they watched His arrest, torture and crucifixion, the Apostles must have felt that evil did have the upper hand, but Jesus did not want them to believe this.
When Jesus is killed, it appears the Apostles panic and become fearful. It will be the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, while they are gathered in that upper room in fear and in prayer, that everything changes for them. They become fearless followers of Jesus after they receive the Holy Spirit. They come out of hiding and go out and evangelize the whole world. With the Holy Spirit they know they have no reason to fear anything. But living by the Spirit is no small task and Jesus is realistic about the cost of discipleship. Mercifully, He is also clear about its rewards.
In our day, too, our Lord needs the Spirit to have the same effect on us, brothers and sisters in Christ. We, too, know Jesus. We have followed Him attentively, listening to His word, hearing of His miracles in the Scriptures. We have encountered Him in the Sacraments of His Church. These next weeks are a critical time in the life of the Church.
On May 31, we will celebrate Pentecost. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Paraclete, that Jesus promises in the Gospel will come upon us. Are we ready? How do we prepare? The oldest novena in the Church starts on May 21, the day the Lord goes to Heaven….and nine days later… The Holy Spirit comes…Pentecost. As a diocese, we will have a special virtual prayer day from our Cathedral on Saturday, May 30, to specifically prepare ourselves for Pentecost. This is an opportunity being prepared by a team of priests, brothers and sisters and lay people to give witness to and encouragement for living fully in the new life that Jesus promises to those who will live by the Holy Spirit.
We know that God is everywhere; but the Lord never forces Himself upon us. He respects our boundaries and our choices; He respects our freedom. For the Spirit to intimately enter into our lives, to enlighten our minds, to enrich our hearts, we must invite Him in. We must call out to God; we must open ourselves to the power and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Is God who is everywhere really deep within us? Or do we keep the Lord on the surface level, like oil floating on water?
What would it take for the Holy Spirit to really penetrate us? We pray each Sunday, each day in fact, that the Lord send His Holy Spirit to come upon bread and wine at Mass, to make it His Body and Blood; and so He does. Consider that prayer. If God’s Spirit can penetrate inanimate matter -- bread and wine -- so that it becomes the genuine presence of the Lord Jesus Christ given for us, what would it take for the Holy Spirit to penetrate deep within us?
Brothers and Sister in Christ; all we have to do is ask. Until we actually open up to God, the Spirit will only be on the surface of our thoughts, our desires and our aspirations. But the day that we dare to truly open up ourselves to the Spirit, the day we allow God to take the lead in our lives, that will be the day we realize just what Pentecost is all about. On that day, God will change not just bread and wine, but He will change us too! Yes, God wants to change us, just as He did the Apostles, to make us fearless followers and His witness in our world. Our world needs this witness especially now. So many are feeling lost, aimlessly making their way through each day. Jesus wants to fill us and our lives with His direction and guidance, giving us His peace, love and mercy; giving our lives true meaning.
We have the example of so many faithful who have done just this. They have changed their lives and the life of our Church and world, too. Starting with the Apostles at that first Pentecost, but also throughout the challenging times of the early Church persecutions, and down through the centuries, faithful people who turned to the Lord in their need, and trusted with faith that indeed, God would be faithful and will do what He promised. He would send his Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, to pray within us, to lead us and guide us, to make His home in us; so we, too, would have absolutely nothing to fear, so we, too, would truly know why we are here and how we should live as His disciples.
Gratefully, since our diocese was founded the faithful have persevered in faith building our wonderful Church and schools, keeping the faith amidst the challenges they had to face. Now, you and I are called by our Lord to do the same even amidst the challenge of this worldwide pandemic; to remember that God will never, ever forget us. We are to turn anew to Him with faith and trust so His Holy Spirit will come to us anew. Throughout these next weeks, if we take time each day, to truly open ourselves to this great gift; it will change us. Just as Jesus changes bread and wine into His own body and blood He will make us anew into temples of His Holy Spirit. He will renew us and our local Church.
I thank you today for your continued witness even during this pandemic: it’s inspiring to me as your Bishop. You are keeping the faith, continuing to trust that God and His Blessed Mother are with us and guiding us. The only way the Church is going to be renewed in our day, is by our witness, by others seeing us living with such faith, on fire with the confidence of the Holy Spirit, that they want to join us. I thank you for this witness and for the inspiration you are, trusting more in God and giving yourselves more fully to Him alone.
This Eucharist is our pledge, our thanksgiving to Jesus, who tells us “I will be with you until the end of time. I will not leave you orphans. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Our Gospel reminds us to place our trust and faith in the Lord, to truly open ourselves up anew to the Holy Spirit; holding nothing back, but rather completely listening to Him, trusting in Him, who is always for us and with us!
God bless and keep you all! I look forward to the day, pray God soon, that we can gather again together to celebrate our pledge of eternal life, the Eucharist. I look forward to joining in prayer with you during our upcoming novena to prepare for Pentecost, especially during our May 30th day of prayer: The Great Vigil of Pentecost! I invite you to please join in through our Facebook page or the diocesan website. The Risen Jesus walked through looked doors, for sure He will find a way with the power of His Spirit to renew us even as we are in lock down today --nothing stops the Kingdom of God!
Most Reverend James F. Checchio,
JCD, MBA
Bishop of Metuchen