Fruitfully Responding to the Holy Spirit like St. John Paul II, Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, July 4, 2022

Fr. Roger J. Landry
St. Leonard Crypt, Wawel Cathedral, Krakow, Poland
Site of the First Three Masses of the future St. John Paul II
Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit
July 4, 2022
Acts 2:1-11, Ps 104, Jn 20:19-23

 

To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: 

 

The following outline guided the homily:

  • Fr. Karol Wojtyla’s First three Masses, Nov. 2, 1946 where we are.
  • The invocation of the Holy Spirit over him at his ordination and his life of the Holy Spirit thereafter. He taught, preached and manifested in his action five different aspects we can ponder:
    • Prayer according to the Holy Spirit
    • Life according to the Holy Spirit
    • The manifestation of the Holy Spirit given to each of us for the common good.
    • The gifts of the Holy Spirit that help us to use that “manifestation” and how we can see those gifts in him.
    • The tongue of fire given so that we can share the faith.
  • The place we come to be renewed in the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the Mass, which is the perpetual Pentecost. It’s here that Jesus continues to say, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” as we await his changing bread and wine into Jesus and men, women, boys and girls into “one body, one Spirit in Christ.” It’s here that St. John Paul II is praying for us as we pray with insistence, “Lord send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth.” May we respond as fruitfully as he did!

 

The readings for today’s Mass

Reading I

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven
staying in Jerusalem.
At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
but they were confused
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
They were astounded, and in amazement they asked,
“Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?
Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?
We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites,
inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,
Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene,
as well as travelers from Rome,
both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs,
yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues
of the mighty acts of God.”

Responsorial Psalm

R (cf. 30) Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R Alleluia.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
How manifold are your works, O LORD!
the earth is full of your creatures;
R Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R Alleluia.
May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD be glad in his works!
Pleasing to him be my theme;
I will be glad in the LORD.
R Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R Alleluia.
If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
R Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.
or:
R Alleluia.

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”

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