His Excellency,
The Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D.
Diocese of Belleville
Pentecost Sunday
June 8, 2025, 10:00 AM Mass
Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, Waterloo
Come O Holy Spirit!
(This is the text as originally written. During the actual delivery, some passages were omitted and other comments were added spontaneously. Nota bene: This text has not been thoroughly proofread. Therefore, there may be errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation.)
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
I am delighted to see my friends Riley and William Iberg in the front pew with their parents this morning. They are two of my favorite children and they are the grandchildren of my dear friend Karen Siddall who I have asked you to pray for during this morning’s Eucharist, as we mark her 65th birthday. I am sure Riley and William know what a “ghost” is. Children see these scary creatures sometimes in cartoons. But you are not old enough to know that the Catholic Church once called the Holy Spirit who we honor today, Pentecost Sunday, “the Holy Ghost.” Instead of praying, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” we prayed, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” But the Church decided that since the word ghost (geist) might be associated with the spirits of the dead, it would be better to use the word spirit (spiritus). So today is the feast of the Holy Spirit instead of the Holy Ghost.
On the first Pentecost, Acts 1, 15 tells us the followers of Jesus were gathered together in Jerusalem, when suddenly there was a noise like a strong driving wind. Then there appeared tongues as of fire, which came to rest on them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Notice the Spirit is not the noise, the Spirit is not the wind, and the Spirit is not the fire. The spirit is a pure divine presence.
Luke is obviously exaggerating when he writes, “Now there were devout Jewish people from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem for the Jewish Shavuot or Pentecost.” Every nation under heaven? Really? This statement is Luke’s way of saying the good news about Jesus is not just for Jewish people but for people all over the world. The crowd was confused because somehow, when the disciples began to speak, they could all understand the Galileans, who spoke Aramaic, in their own language. This need not mean the apostles were suddenly speaking different languages. It could mean the Spirit enabled the crowd to understand them. “We hear them speaking in our own languages about the mighty acts of God.” These mighty acts are the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Pentecost message for you and for me is obvious. Each of us should try to talk to others about Jesus Christ and our Catholic faith in a way that is easy for them to understand. We must bring the gospel to people where they are. It is not always easy to talk about our faith with teenagers, for example, who may think religion is irrelevant or that God does not exist. It is challenging to speak about Christian hope to a person who is suffering from a terminal illness. It is difficult to talk about Christian love with someone who has been hurt by the Catholic Church and does not see the Church as a welcoming, accepting community. We must pray to the Holy Spirit for the gift of speaking in tongues. Not the rare charismatic gift of literally speaking in tongues, but to speak from our hearts in such a way that people can hear and understand the greatest story ever told.
About 300 years after the first Pentecost, the small, insignificant Jewish movement of 120 became the official religion of the Roman Empire after Emperor Constantine’s edict of Milan compelled the people to become Christians and today there are nominally 1 billion 400 million Catholics around the world newly energized by the unlikely election of Robert Francis Prevost, a cardinal from the United States who spent much of his life as a missionary in Peru, as His Hoiness, Pope Leo XIV, who is reminding us that the Church must find new ways of being a learning Church, a caring Church, a praying Church, and an evangelizing Church, guided by the Holy Spirit.
Yesterday, Levi James was ordained a Priest in the Cathedral of St. Peter to serve in the Diocese of Belleville. Today, Pentecost Sunday, Fr. James is celebrating his First Mass. I urge you to pray often to the Holy Spirit for him, that he may persevere in his ministry. It is not easy to be a Priest today. I, too, celebrated my First Mass on Pentecost Sunday. In my First Mass sermon I said, “Let me ask you a question. Christmas? Holy Thursday? Good Friday? the Easter Vigil? Easter Sunday? Pentecost? Which of these feast days is the least important for the life of the Catholic Church? Which one could we not celebrate? Some of you might be inclined to say, “Well, I suppose we could omit the celebration of Pentecost since we don’t do anything special that day.”
“That would be the wrong response. Without Pentecost, without the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we would not have the vital power we need to live the Christian life each day, and the other holy days would lose their meaning. Without the Holy Spirit, our lives as Christian disciples would be impossible. There can be no spiritual life without the life-giver, and no effective witness to Jesus without the Spirit’s power. As a body without breath is dead, so, too, the Church without the Holy Spirit would be dead.”
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But what if each of you, whose patron saints, Peter and Paul were men whose faith was sustained by Jesus’ Holy Spirit led to their crucifixion and beheading in Rome, what if you consciously called upon the Spirit each day. “Come O Holy Spirit, fill my heart and enkindle in me the fire of your divine love.” When you rise from sleep tomorrow morning, even before you greet your spouse or your children, “Come O Holy Spirit!” When you are driving your car, “Come O Holy Spirit!” When you begin your day’s work, “Come O Holy Spirit!” When someone at work or at home annoys you and you are about to react in anger, “Come O Holy Spirit!” When you are feeling frustrated or depressed because things are not going well, “Come O Holy Spirit!” If you are fearful because of real challenges in your marriage, “Come O Holy Spirit!” If you sense a communication breakdown between you and your wife, or husband, your parents, or children, your sister or brother, “Come O Holy Spirit!” If you know you have deeply offended someone and realize you need to beg for forgiveness, “Come O Holy Spirit!” If the frightening conflicts that are causing death and destruction in our country and our world are paralyzing you emotionally, “Come O Holy Spirit!” If you are overwhelmed by sickness, suffering, even death in your family, “Come O Holy Spirit!” If you feel your faith is weak and you are not nurturing your relationship with Jesus Christ, you are not eager to receive Him in the Eucharist, you are not genuinely loving your neighbor as you love yourself, you are not praying each day, “Come O Holy Spirit!”
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Be confident that God hears you. Eagerly expect Jesus’ response, “Peace be with you,” “Receive the Holy Spirit,” as He breathes on you. “Receive the power, the grace, the wisdom, and the love that you need in this moment that I promised you when I said, “I will give you the Advocate, the Helper who will remind you of all that I have taught you.” Just as some friends send texts to each other throughout the day to share joys and sorrows, successes and failures, to support one another, I invite you on this Pentecost Sunday to strike up a regular dialogue with the Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is truly the life of the Church, if the Holy Spirit is truly dwelling within us, why are we not calling upon the Spirit in prayer? Maybe children, like Riley and William, can remind parents, “Maybe we should pray to the holy Spirit the way the Bishop told us to.”
Come O Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful. Enkindle in us the fire of your Divine Love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be recreated. And you shall renew the face of the earth!
Praised be Jesus Christ. Both now and forever! AMEN!