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He Gave His Only Son

"Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

John 21:29

• There should be less talk. A preaching point is not a meeting point.


• The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise.


• In the West there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways it is worse than our poor in Calcutta. (Commonweal, Dec 19, 1997)


• It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.


• The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. and they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.


• I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?


• I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.


• Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.


• If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

~Mother Teresa~

Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. Sometimes it is referred to as the birthday of our church. This is when the Holy Spirit descended on Mary and the Apostles in the upper room. The Holy Spirit gave the apostles the courage and wisdom to go out after Christ's crucifixion and spread the Word. They taught the world about God the Father and His Son Jesus with the help of the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will do the same for us. We have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit when we were baptized into the Catholic Church, and when we were confirmed that grace we received in Baptism is increased and deepened. Fr John explains it with the example of the glass of milk and the chocolate syrup. We're the milk and the syrup is the Holy Spirit. He's there inside of us by those sacraments we have received. But if we don't mix up that chocolate into the milk, it's still just milk with a glob of syrup in the bottom of the glass. When mixed up it's turned into the chocolate milk. When we pray we can stir up the Spirit we were given in the sacraments, and we can be given the strength to defend our faith just like the apostles did.

Fr. Cantalamessa, the preacher to our pope, quotes Rom 5:5 in a reflection I was reading. He says, 'The Spirit puts "God's love" into man's heart.' Our own Fr. John had us memorize this verse. Remember "Hope does not disappoint," the rest of the verse says "because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."

The Holy Spirit has taken over many times for me. I have had people ask me questions about religion or my faith and if I'm unsure about how to answer I will try to remember that a quick prayer asking for guidance from the Holy Spirit will help me. Before I know it things are coming out of my mouth that I had forgotten or just plan hadn't made the connections in just the right way that could answer the question. Other times when I've been in a difficult situation with another person and it seems like nothing will defuse the situation, I'll call on the Spirit and before I know it all the hostility will be gone.

This Sunday ask for the Holy Spirit to be stirred up in you. Think of the power all of us would have to spread the Word of Jesus if we'd just all pray together for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit.

URLVD, now go and share that love.

URLVD

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