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<p class="fontlook"><B>Mass of the Holy Spirit<BR>
September…<BR>
Homily: Reverend Robert Vallee Ph.D. </B>


<p class="fontlook">I.  Holy Spirit Mass<BR>
Today we begin the year with the Mass of the Holy Spirit.  We pray that God’s spirit is with us, today and every day.  But be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.  Or as Teresa of Avila said, “God punishes those he loves by answering their prayers.”  The Spirit of God is not a tame and safe spirit but a wild and capricious spirit.  The will of God and the will of human beings very rarely coincide.  This was true even for Jesus himself.  Remember Gethsemenee: “Father, Abba, Let this cup pass me by.  Yet not my will but yours will be done.”  You have probably heard that Jesus calls his Father, Abba, a baby’s word in Aramaic which be equivalent to Daddy or Papi.  What you might not know is that Jesus uses the term only once, here in the Garden of Gethsemanee, as he begs his Daddy to spare his life.

<p class="fontlook">II.  Rolling Stones<BR>
The Holy Spirit is tricky that way.  As the Rolling Stones intone, “You can’t always get what you want ... But if you try sometimes, just might find, get what you need.”  We pray that the Holy Spirit is here with us.  But the Holy Spirit is not Santa Claus, here to give us what we want.  Actually, I think we, too often treat God like Santa Claus.  “Oh God, please help me to get an A in my science test.  Oh God, let the hurricane come close to us so that school will be canceled.  Or God let that cute boy from Columbus pick up the phone and call me.”  And don’t worry we adults are no better.  “Oh God, make me rich.  Oh God, get me that promotion at work.  Oh God, please let the Dolphins beat those damned JETS.”

<p class="fontlook">III. God is not Santa or an atm<BR>
The point is the Holy Spirit of God is not like a giant metaphysical ATM, where we put in prayers and God doles out goodies.   Consider the disciples in today’s Gospel.  They are frightened, confused and alone.  Jesus appears to them and comforts them but he doesn’t take of any of the problems they were facing away.  When Jesus leaves, they are still trapped in a room and have to face the Romans and Jews who are after them when they leave that room.  The only difference is that they know Jesus Christ is with them.

<p class="fontlook">IV.  The promise<BR>
When Jesus finally departs, he will tell his disciples, “Do not be afraid, for I will be with you always until the end of time.”  He tells them that he must ascend to the Father so that he can send the Spirit to be with them.  But make no mistake: the Spirit of God will not make all of our troubles go away any more than Jesus made the problems of the disciples go away.  The promise of Jesus is not that we will have no problems.  The promise of Jesus is that we will not have to face those problems alone.  Jesus does not promise us magic or stuff.  He promises us himself.  

<p class="fontlook">V.  Conclusion<BR>
Remember when you were a little girl and were afraid of monsters under your bed.  My monsters tended to hang out in the closets.  Anyway, you would call for your mommy and she would stay with you until you fell asleep again.  Notice, that your mommy did not take away your childish belief in or fear of monsters.  But you were not afraid of them anymore because you were not alone.  The Holy Spirit is the presence of God with us always.  The Holy Spirit will not take away the monsters or darkness or problems in our lives.  The Holy Spirit only guarantees that we will not have to face darkness, or monsters, or problems alone.  Do not be afraid.  She (the spirit of God) is with us always, until the end of time.  Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.  Send forth your spirit and we will be recreated, and You will renew the face of the earth.


