To watch Fr. Joe’s homily from Pentecost Sunday: CLICK HERE!
“Well, Chippie doesn’t sing anymore.”
Let me give you the back story, to this quote:
One day a woman in Galveston, Texas was cleaning the bottom of the cage of her parrot, Chippie, with the canister vacuum cleaner. She was not using an attachment on the tube. When the phone rang, she turned her head to pick it up, continuing to vacuum the cage as she said, hello into the phone. Then she heard the horrible noise of Chippie being sucked into the vacuum. Immediately she put the phone down, ripped open the vacuum bag, and found Chippie in there, stunned but still alive. Since the bird was covered with dust and dirt, she grabbed Chippie, ran into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held the bird under the water to clean it off. When she finished that, she saw the hair dryer on the bathroom sink; turned it on and held the bird in front of the blast of hot air to dry him off.
A few weeks later a reporter from the newspaper that originally published the story went out to the house to ask the woman, “How’s Chippie doing now?” She said, “He just sort of sits and stares.”
Today’s Gospel tells us that this is what happened to the Apostles. They were traumatized by the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus and bewildered by his post-resurrection appearances and his command to prepare for the coming of his Holy Spirit.
I would guess that many of us can identify with Chippie and the Apostles. Life has sucked us up, thrown cold water on us, and blown us away. And somewhere in the trauma, “we have lost our song.”
Pentecost is not just something that happened 2,000 years ago;
Rather, Pentecost – the Gift of the Spirit – is happening in our lives and world today and today reminds us that the Holy Spirit moves us recipients of the Gifts of the Spirit to action and is meant to inspire us to share this gift with others.
We sang in the Responsorial Psalm today: “Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the Earth.”
How can we, how will we bring the song of life in today’s world?
- Spirit filled people are praying people.
- Spirit filled people allow the Spirit to guide their lives through Word (Scriptures) and Sacrament (Eucharist)
- Spirit filled people pass on the love of God to people living around them by acts of kindness, mercy and charity.
Let me end with an act of kindness, I witnessed this week while at dinner with a family of 4 (all adults) as we celebrated the birthday of the patriarch. One of the adult daughters (a 20 something) over heard the waitress speaking with a person at the table next to ours. Seems he was to meet someone for dinner (it was his birthday also) and they did not show up. So what this adult child did was leave the table and paid the waitress for the man’s dinner bill.
I thought to myself, here is goodness, kindness… the HOLY SPIRIT at work. Here is the Gospel being proclaimed in the real world.
Today is a great day to ask the Holy Spirit to re-kindle or stir up in us the spirit of new life and enthusiasm of faith and in the process be reminded that renewal of the face of the Earth, includes each of us doing our part in living the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit received at our Baptism and Confirmation…
This week, look for the Spirit at work in the world around you and seize the moments and opportunities to share the faith in word and deeds with others.