Fr. Roger J. Landry
Church of the Holy Family, Manhattan
Pentecost Sunday 2018
Mass for the Reception into Full Communion and Confirmation of Barbara Dunham McClay
May 20, 2018
Acts 2:1-11, Ps 104, 1 Cor 12:3-7.12-13, Jn 20:19-23
To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
The following outline guided the homily:
- Today, on this Feast of Pentecost, we have the joy to be present at the Mass in which Barbara Dunham McClay will be received into full communion with the Catholic Church and be sealed with the Gift of the same Holy Spirit who came down on Mary, the apostles, and the members of the early Church in the Upper Room. It’s an opportunity for us to focus on God’s ways in the life of the Church, in the life of Barbara, and in all of our lives.
- First, waiting and the stoking of desire. The waiting of the Church for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to increase our desire for the Holy Spirit, lest we treat “the greatest gift of God to mankind” as the “great unknown.” The verb “come!” Barbara’s growing desire to become Catholic.
- Second, communion with God and with others. “We were all baptized into one body … and we were all given to drink of the one Spirit.” Christ founded one Church and Jesus prayed for this unity in the upper room. We profess one holy, catholic and apostolic Church. The devil always seeks to divide: to divide us from God, from others, and within ourselves. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, seeks to brings us into communion: communion with God, communion with others through loving them as God has loved us first; and communion within, through the interior harmony the Spirit gives. Today Barbara is being led by the Holy Spirit into the fullness of that communion.
- Third, authentic Christian spirituality is the spirituality imparted by the Holy Spirit. It’s praying by the spirit. It’s growing in spiritual knowledge by the Spirit who leads us to all truth. It’s living by the Spirit in our moral life and using our own “manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” fully. It’s receiving the forgiveness of sins for which the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father, which was the “hook” that God used most to draw Barbara to the Church. It’s desiring to give witness together with the Holy Spirit, so that he might light the world on fire. St. Catherine of Siena, whom Barbara will choose as a patroness at Confirmation, once said famously, “Se sarete quello che dovete essere, metterete fuoco in tutta Italia, non tanto costì.” “If you are who you should be, you will set not only Italy but the whole world ablaze.” If you are who should be, you will ignite the world. We’re all supposed to be part of that bonfire.
- The Eucharist as the perpetual Pentecost!
The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1 ACTS 2:1-11
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 PS 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
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.
Reading 2 1 COR 12:3B-7, 12-13
No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;
there are different forms of service but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God
who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for some benefit.
As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
Sequence
Veni, Sancte Spiritus
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.
You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of yours,
And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend;
Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end. Amen.
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
JN 15:26-27; 16:12-15
Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father,
he will testify to me.
And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning.
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you.”