Pentecost Homily 2020 - Fr. Mark Goring, CC

hallelujah so we're speaking about the Holy Spirit on the feast of Pentecost and I thought I would start with one or two amusing stories about the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit brings joy but he also comes in power so the first story is a story I love to tell us the story of father emiliano tattle deef who was a good Canadian a Canadian priest who was ministering in the Dominican Republic and back in 1930 1973 and by the way the the cause for his beatification is in process so they're considering him for beatification but anyways in 1973 he was the provincial of his religious community at the time and he very intellectual man and he thought that all the the solution to all the problems in the world was social justice work things that we could do on our own and in 1973 he got he got really sick so sick they had to send him up to Canada to Montreal to the to the doctors there and the doctors told him they said maybe maybe after a year of care in the hospital you might be released from the hospital you'll still be very sick but maybe after a year you'll be able to get out of the hospital which you know wasn't at all his situation was was really bad and as he was sitting in the hospital obviously very discouraged he was visited by five charismatic laypeople some good Catholic Charismatic spew knew him and when they were visiting him they asked him they said father do you believe that the Lord Jesus can heal you right now and his answer was well in theory yes but he wasn't too convinced that this could happen they said well can we pray for you for the Lord Jesus to heal you because jesus said you will heal the sick you will pray for the sick and they will recover and he very reluctantly allowed these five Catholic Charismatic s-- to pray with him and so they began to pray with him and he said he felt very uncomfortable it was really awkward having charismatic spraying for him for healing so much so that he interrupted their prayer and he said oh do you think you could maybe close the door you know he didn't want people seeing this you know prayer going on like this in his room so they closed the door but he said they didn't close the door fast enough to prevent the Holy Spirit from coming in and father Emilia noted Eve was completely healed and when the doctors were releasing him they said we don't understand this doesn't make any medical sense that you're completely well and so what happened is his father merely an eternity if he was given a year off because of his sickness obviously so he asked his superiors he said can I take a year to investigate and to study this whole charismatic renewal Catholic Charismatic renewal he was given permission and he began to read some books written by priests and maybe also lay people on the grace of the Catholic Charismatic renewal and as he studied these books he discovered he says what these people are teaching and saying is completely in accordance with Scripture it doesn't contradict Scripture at all and it's also in accordance with with the teaching of the church the tradition of the church and so what happened is is after his year of learning about the Catholic Charismatic renewal and the grace of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit he went back to the Dominican Republic and while he was down there he was asked to help out in a town called Pimentel and there was a priest who wanted some time off you want to go off on a vacation so they sent father Emiliano to cover him for a few weeks and and the priest was leaving father Emiliana said hey do you think while I'm here I could have a little you know charismatic prayer group and the priest was very reluctant he said I I'm not into that charismatic stuff but because father Emiliana was helping him out for a few weeks he said fine do whatever you want and so on Wednesday nights father Emiliano had a little charismatic prayer group so the first night two hundred people showed up and it says the people he says this is from a little book called Jesus lives today by father Emilia a note added if it says the people had such faith that this first night they brought a on a stretcher his spine was broken and he had been unable to walk for five and a half years Father Emiliano prayed for him he was healed and there was he says ten other people were also healed that night so guess what next Wednesday a week later it says over 3,000 people came to the prayer meeting that night a woman named Mercedes Dominguez she was blind for ten years everyone knew her she was healed she could see and it's interesting when father Emilio speaks about the healings that the Lord worked through through his ministry he doesn't only give the names of the people sometimes he'll even say where they lived to highlight they said I'm not making these stories up everyone new matter see it as Domingues everyone knew she was blind for ten years she could see so the next Wednesday seven thousand people showed up to the prayer group now that night the police officers complained to the police chief they said we can't control this this is out of control too many people in in the small town so they went to the police chief and the police chief smiled because his wife was cured the week before it says she had been ill for 12 years and the love of God had touched her a few days later the couple received the sacrament of matrimony this was one of the phenomena and father Emilia noted a thief's ministry people didn't just encounter the power of the Holy Spirit and the the the lordship of Jesus they also were led to come into communion with the Catholic Church countless people who were married outside the church were received the sacrament of matrimony in the church people who have been away from the Eucharist began to receive the Eucharist this was a Catholic revival through the power of the Holy Spirit so that so the the police officer obviously allowed the the meetings to continue and what's beautiful is that the following week there was 20,000 people there and there was more police officers because of the healing of the police chief and fell Emiliana says do you know how God reacted to the policeman who wanted to have the meetings stopped that night the Lord healed a semi paralyzed policeman the victor victim of a stroke from then on we had the whole police force on our side that's the way the Lord solves problems and that night he says a lady well-known in the town who had been deaf for 16 years was completely cured and then the final prayer meeting the fifth week there was over 42,000 people who attended and when the priests came back a couple days later he was just blown away it's like what have you done in my parish and this is this is just one example of just just how powerfully the Lord worked through father Emiliana Tara thief who was prayed over by some Catholic Charismatic and received a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in his life after his short time in the Dominican Republic he began going around the world doing evangelization ministry and healing ministry he made twenty world tours because he was a French Canadian who spoke English and Spanish he would go from country to country he could speak a lot of languages and he would fill stadiums and he would preach the lordship of Jesus Christ and people were converted and people were healed the number of medically documented healings through the Ministry of father Melia an alternative it's it's it's staggering I met a woman beautiful woman her name is Celia she came and she spoke in my church in Houston not too a few years ago maybe maybe two or three years ago she was at a healing service by Father Amelia at a daddy if in a stadium now years before she had an infection in her ear that was so bad that they had to remove her hearing apparatus there was nothing in her in her left ear for her to be able to hear she she couldn't hear obviously from her left ear because there's nothing in there she was at the healing service called Emiliana says someone is being healed the left ear and she experiences boom in her left ear she could hear she could hear in her left ear and what's astounding is she went to her her doctor and he examined her and he said to her you can't hear in your left ear because there's nothing in there to hear what she said well yes I can test me and she's what we call an on-going miracle she can hear in her left ear even though there's nothing there and I got to meet her and you can actually tell that her ear is different it's kind of there's a you know it you can tell that something happened to her ear and and she says to this day when she goes to see her doctor her doctor gets emotional and says Celia you're a wonder of God there's no explanation for you to be able to hear out of your left ear and again there's so many wonderful stories of the power of God through the Ministry of Emiliano Terra death and through this general outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we've experienced in the church in these last decades now this experience of the outpouring of the holy spirit and power with signs and wonders is nothing new we've seen this in the history of the church for example one of my favorite Saints Saint Philip Neri as the young seminarian he was in the habit of praying in the catacombs at night and one night he was praying it was it was on the eve of the feast of Pentecost he was praying on his knees he was praying for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and this is very interesting it's a tragedy that so many Christians and so many Catholics don't really want the gifts of the Holy Spirit they say well you know I'm not really into the gifts of the Holy Spirit that's kind of for the charismatic people I don't know if I'm really wanting the gifts of the Holy Spirit why would you not want the gifts of the Holy Spirit if God offers us gifts which he does which we hear in Scripture we should wish it with great delight with eagerness like Saint Philip Neri pray Lord give me your gifts give me the gifts of the Holy Spirit he was praying for the gifts of the Holy Spirit on the eve of Pentecost and then he saw the way he describes it he saw like the catacombs open and the skies open and he saw the saw this ball of fire come down from heaven and it came down he says it's like it came in into his mouth and [Music] into his his heart and he says it caused his hurt it seemed like his heart was expanding and burning and filled with this fire of love and it was so intense and it was so hot that he did the drop and roll thing he fell to the ground to cool his his chest that was burning and he's saying Lord I can't take this this is too much I'm overwhelmed with the fire in my heart and this fire of the Holy Spirit that came into the heart of st. Philip Neri left not only a spear to all it kind of change in his life from then on there was this this wonderful joy they called him the prophet of joy he had the joy before but there's even more after he had this love he had this just this great fire of love for God but it also left a physical change in him just like Saint Francis of Assisi who had the stigmata physically change or st. positive Peale physically changed through the love of God Saint Philip Neri his doctors noticed that he had this protrusion over his chest where his heart was and they didn't know what they couldn't explain it and they also saw that he had these intense heart palpitations especially when he was talking about the things of God his heart would begin to palpitate so intensely that towards the end of his life he couldn't even preach anymore he couldn't even celebrate Mass in public anymore because it was overwhelming the love of God palpitating in in his heart and this this fire in his heart actually radiated a physical heat he was never cold even in the winter he left his window open he he was he had this fire and children would come to him in the wind in winter to draw close to his chest to warm up and when Saint Philip Neri died the doctors did an autopsy they were so curious and they found that his heart was much larger than a typical human heart that his heart should have been and the artery where the blood went out of his heart was actually twice the size of that typical artery and his heart was so big that two ribs were broken out to make room for his expanded heart and that explains the protrusion over his chest now I could talk all day about Saint Philip Neri again the prophet of joy he's one of the great reformers of the church during the time of the Reformation but again an example of the power of the Holy Spirit changing lives now the reality is and I include myself in this as Christians as Catholics we don't invoke the Holy Spirit enough our devotion to God the Holy Spirit it's weak its weak we need to to invoke we need to call down the the fire of God the love of God the power of God more often many people have said and I agree is that our devotion to the Holy Spirit our invoking the Holy Spirit should be similar to how we as Catholics invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary as Catholics a lot of us we pray the rosary daily some people a couple rolls razor they a lot of people do consecrations to the Blessed Virgin Mary prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary and I support that a hundred percent I love to pray the rosary every day I love to call upon the Blessed Mother I prayed lots of Hail Marys throughout the day that's good don't stop doing that but I think it's important for us who are seeking the fire of God on earth the love of God on earth to invoke the Holy Spirit in a similar fashion to be in the habit of constantly calling on the Holy Spirit for his light his power his love his wisdom his his his his Grace's his gifts we need to invoke the power of the Holy Spirit now I want to give you five signs that you're filled with the Holy Spirit again another great tragedy and I'll say it I'm not I'm not afraid to say it a great tragedy is so many of our Catholics they're not manifesting being filled with the Holy Spirit yes I know you receive the Holy Spirit in baptism but that Holy Spirit needs to be stirred up it needs to be fanned into flame five signs that you fill at the Holy Spirit number one you're in love with God have you ever met someone who's in love with God we should all be in love with God years ago I went to a Catholic High School I spoke to the religion class I was speaking to the students about the love of God how the love of God changed my life and I just spontaneous is anyone here in love with God two hands went up all the other people kind of looked at me a little weird two hands went up and the schoolteacher he kind of chuckled I said what's so funny he says these two guys are Pentecostals and I'm thinking to myself what a tragedy what a tragedy Catholics should be filled with the Holy Spirit and in love with God when a Catholic is asked are you in love with God these should answer unhesitatingly yes I love the Lord with all my heart buying soul and strength what a tragedy the Catholic Church needs a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit the fire from heaven needs to come down and set the world on fire the second sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit is when we're filled with the Holy Spirit we like to talk to God we love to be in communion with God if we're still not on fire with the Holy Spirit we find prayer kind of burdensome like flossing or brushing your teeth or maybe doing your homework it's something you kind of have to do because it's sort of the right thing to do when you're filled with the Holy Spirit you want to be with your Father in Heaven you want to talk to him you want to commune with him prayer becomes a lifeline third sign that you're filled with the Holy Spirit is you fall in love with Scripture you fall in love with the Word of God the Word of God when you read it it doesn't just mean something to you it means everything to you and this is the graces if for some people it's it's like a it's like an almost like a light switch they're filled with the love of God and they read scripture with with new eyes they recognize that in Sacred Scripture is the revelation of the God who made us and who's seeking us and also the revelation of my own identity dignity Authority and destiny we love scripture in Luke chapter 24 verse 45 at the resurrection Jesus risen from the dead it says then Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures and I think that's part of the baptism of the Holy Spirit being filled with the Holy Spirit the Lord Jesus he opens our minds to understand the scriptures it doesn't mean we're gonna understand every single verse but it does mean that when we read there's something that happens and we love to read scripture it becomes the bread man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God okay fourth sign that you're filled with the Holy Spirit when we're filled with the Holy Spirit were given a hatred for sin the things that we kind of like to do the things that we kind of had an attachment to we knew they weren't maybe the best things to do the things that we weren't willing to let go of all of a sudden we find them repulsive I don't want to do these things anymore I can't do these things anymore I want to be holy I want to love God I've encountered God his wonder his glory his beauty his holiness and these things I don't want them anymore there's a desire for holiness and it's such a beautiful thing I know when I was a teenager when I fell in love with God when I opened myself to the Holy Spirit there was just this desire to be holy I started going to confession a lot you know wrestling with my brokenness with my sinfulness when the Lord fills us with the Holy Spirit he takes away a lot of our sinfulness but he leads and he leaves enough in our life to keep us humble and also to keep us fighting but again there's that desire I don't want I don't want to do these bad things anymore I want to be holy and finally in the last sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit is we want to tell others about Jesus you could even say we have to tell others about Jesus and this is why if we ever want a new evangelization in the church there has to be a new Pentecost when someone is filled with the love of God they have to tell other people about what happened to them I've been made new I see now who I am I'm in love with God I know I'm his child I know I made for eternity and I need to I need to share this with anyone who's willing to listen there's a joke in our community they say you know when a person is baptized in the Holy Spirit they should really be locked up for a few months because they're so eager to tell people about Jesus they overwhelmed people sometimes even turn people off is like dude relax you know but again this is this is the work of God he gives us like the disciples on the day of Pentecost at the fire the courage the zeal to go out to the whole world and to proclaim the gospel so brothers and sisters what must we do what must we do let me give you one practical suggestion on living in the spirit the holy spirit my dear friends is dynamic the Holy Spirit is always on the move the Holy Spirit moves gently and peacefully but with great force and with great efficiency and someone who is devoted and open and filled with the Holy Spirit walks with the spirit and his or her life is led by the inspirations of the Holy Spirit do you want to have a devotion to the Holy Spirit try to open yourself up to the wonderful little inspirations that the Holy Spirit gives you the Holy Spirit is constantly leading us inspire us inspiring us to do good things the Holy Spirit is always showing us the next good step to take the nice thing about a devotion to the Holy Spirit is if you happy with your life good because the holy spirit is gonna be taking you somewhere else don't worry if you're depressed or or or struggling or things are miserable in your life turn to the Holy Spirit he'll move you somewhere else whether you like it or not the Holy Spirit is always on the move it doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit isn't going to lead you through times of purification where you might be feeling depressing and and discouraged at all that the Holy Spirit knows what he's doing he's doing great works but again my invitation is in your devotion to the Holy Spirit with a pure heart with with with a an honesty what do it what does what does David say in Psalm 51 created me a clean heart renewing no no what what does it help me out here father can how does Psalm 51 start have mercy on me God in your kindness and your compassion blot out my offense or wash it more and more from my guilt cleanse me from my sin a humble a humble and contrite heart you will not spurn the Holy Spirit is looking for humble and contrite hearts if we have a humble and contrite heart he will not deny us the Holy Spirit he will give us the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will lead us and when the Holy Spirit leads a person wonderful things happen the fire of the Holy Spirit begins to ignite around this person and if another enough people are filled with the Holy Spirit we will set the whole world on fire so join with me in praying over and over again vainly sancti spíritus come Holy Spirit you

Channel: Fr. Mark Goring

Views: 51,719

Keywords: Pentecost, Holy Spirit, St. Mary's Parish, Catholic Church, Ottawa

Id: tTwwEU_mgkU

Length: 26min 21sec (1581 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 01 2020