Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • May 18, 2018 5 1260 Ocean Springs Road, Ocean Springs, MS 39564 Ph: 228-818-0650 For more information, contact Jody Ellis Stoddard, Executive Director or email her at gardensED@BlueHarborSL.com Web Address: www.gardensseniorliving.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheGardensSeniorLivingOceanSprings 9274 Hwy 49/Airport Gulfport, MS 39503 228-863-5525 1-800-880-2446 FAX: 228-863-9612 www.butchoustalet.com In their book, Everyday Encounters with God: What our Experiences Teach us About the Divine , the authors, Fr. Benedict Groeschel and Bert Ghezzi, write of encounters with God through the daily circumstances of our lives and how we can learn to see him in fresh, new ways. I recently had such an experience. I arrived for Mass one Sunday and as usual had many things on my mind. Will the scheduled Lector show up? Will the lead minister of communion be here on time to set-up the vessels? Will we have enough communion ministers and altar servers, etc. etc. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a man sitting on the bench outside, I nodded to him and kept walking. After about five minutes, Don, who directs our St. Vincent de Paul ministry walked in and said, “Deacon, there is a man sitting on the bench outside and I saw a backpack on the floor beside him, I wonder if he is homeless?” And with that Don went outside. Yes, the man was homeless, and Don took care of him, I never saw the backpack and missed the divine encounter. Today’s first reading describes the Holy Spirit appearing to Jesus’ fearful disciples, in the form of ‘tongues of fire.’ Pope Francis said, “Christ wants the Holy Spirit to set alight our hearts andmake us capable of loving.” “This fire, he explained, has a creative strength that purifies and renews…it burns up every human misery, every egoism, every sin, and it transforms us from within; it regenerates us.” If we open ourselves completely to the action of the Holy Spirit, he will give us the courage and the fervor to announce Jesus and his consoling message of mercy and salvation to everybody without fear. But, the fire begins in our hearts.” In carrying out its mission in the world, Pope Francis stressed that the Church “needs the help of the Holy Spirit to not be held back through fear, calculation or distraction, and to not get used to walking within safe boundaries. Instead the Apostolic courage that the Holy Spirt ignites in us like a fire helps us to surmount walls and barriers, it makes us creative and it spurs us to set forth, journeying along unexplored or uncomfortable roads, offering help to whoever we encounter.” Pope Francis concludes, “The Church doesn’t need bureaucrats and diligent office workers but impassioned missionaries consumed by the ardor of bringing to all people the consoling words of Christ.” This, he declared, “is the fire of the Holy Spirit. If the Church doesn’t receive this fire and doesn’t allow it to enter inside, it becomes a cold or merely lukewarm Church, incapable of giving life, because it is made up of cold and lukewarm Christians.” He urged his listeners to reflect on whether their hearts are capable of receiving this fire. Today’s Psalm response, “Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth,” is a cry for rescue from the influences of sin and darkness that pervades our world. The plans and programs of human beings are not going to renew, refresh, restore, revive or regenerate the dormant Spirit in the lives of those who have received God’s gifts and neglected to use them. Only the hungry heart willing to be open, pray for and wait for Holy Spirit fire can hope for such a transformation. We are urged to approach our merciful Lord for renewal of individual and congregational fervor that God may use us to ignite a flame in the hearts of others. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians everything revolves around the Lordship of Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit empowerment to believe, receive, profess, proclaim, and act in ways that show the transforming effect Jesus’ Lordship has over our lives. Once we encounter Jesus all things are new, nothing can be the same. Paul writes, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, different forms of service, different workings, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” So, the Spirit empowers us to use our gifts for the benefit and well-being of others: all things working together to build the body of Christ. We cannot give what we do not have. The Holy Spirit empowers you, so you can minister to others. The faith must not be kept, it must be given away. Today’s Gospel describes fearful disciples uncertain of their future, whose last image of Jesus was his crucifixion. But, Jesus enters the room and breathes the Holy Spirit on them equipping them to build the Church in his name. Jesus brought relief from doubt and fear, joy in his presence, peace as his gift and Holy Spirit power to forgive sins, thereby instituting the Sacrament of Reconciliation, our ultimate encounter with the divine. To begin his public ministry, Jesus is baptized in the Spirit. To evangelize the world the disciples of Jesus are baptized in the Spirit at Pentecost. Paul, too, is filled with the Spirit to begin his apostleship to the Gentiles. The Spirit is given to those who proclaim the word, as well as to those who hear it. What was true of the church in its beginning is true also today. “If there is no Spirit present there is no evangelization” - Pope Paul VI. 1st Reading: Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11 Responsorial Psalm: 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 Gospel: John 20:19-23 Pentecost Sunday Divine encounters Deacon Torrell i Sunday Scripture Commentaries SEE SUNDAY SCRIPTURE COMMENTARIES, PAGE 6