Homily for Thursday, 1 May 2014– Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

Readings of the day: Acts 5:27-33; Psalm 34:2, 9, 17-18, 19-20; John 3:31-36

Have any of us ever felt the presence of God, whether in an ordinary or extraordinary way? Maybe some of us have experienced alleviation of sadness or suffering; more long-term perseverance in difficult times in which we felt God to be present even then; moments of joy; moments in our prayer when God was especially close; moments when we found just the right words to console or give joy to another person; moments when God gave us the grace to listen with special attentiveness to another person, and so on…

I imagine that most if not all of us have had a sense of God’s presence in the ordinary if not extraordinary events of our lives. After all, here in the Eucharist we gather because in some way we have known God’s presence in our lives and we seek more of this presence.

Our readings today speak to us of a God who is abundant in his gifts and his presence to us. Christ has given us God’s own Spirit and, in the words we hear today from John’s Gospel, God “does not ration his gift of the Spirit.” From the Acts of the Apostles, we hear that God showered the first Apostles with this gift of the Holy Spirit, “whom God has given to those who obey him”; whom God gave to inspire the teaching of Christ’s Apostles; whom God gives us generously here and now.

God “does not ration his gift of the Spirit.” We know this truth by the fact that we are here to celebrate the Eucharist as one community of faith. We know this truth through the celebration of all seven sacraments; the sacramental life of our Church.

Beginning with baptism and confirmation, our initial encounter with the Holy Spirit, God “does not ration his gift of the Spirit.” We know of the Spirit’s presence in the Eucharist, making holy our gifts of bread and wine and our gift of one another, the Church. We know of the Spirit’s presence, sent “among us for the forgiveness of sins” in reconciliation. We know of “the grace of the Holy Spirit” to save and to “raise [us] up” in the anointing of the sick; the gift of the same Spirit “of service” and “of renewal” in holy orders (we can appreciate how this is increasingly on my mind these days).

Last but certainly not least, we know the Spirit’s abundant presence in marriage, the sacrament of the gift of a woman and man to each other. Today is my parents’ thirty-eighth wedding anniversary. This week, I asked them to recall an incident in which the Spirit was present in their marriage. Their response to this broad and difficult question was simple yet very profound: “If you [take] seriously what our faith says” as “guidance from the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit has been with us every day of our lives together.” And yet “the same message, the same strength” of the Holy Spirit “is available to everyone.”

We have further evidence in these words that God “does not ration his gift of the Spirit.” Let me then extend my blessing to all married couples and families among us, and to all who have been touched, in ordinary or extraordinary ways, by the abundant gift of the Holy Spirit.