the holy spirit gives us more problems: Pentecost B

Today is the feast of the Pentecost, the feast where we commemorate the coming down of the Holy Spirit upon our Lady and the Apostles.  Some will see in this feast the wonderful ending to the story of Jesus, the culmination of a life’s work and mission.  Some will look at it with a sigh of relief saying, “thank you Holy Spirit, now we can breathe easy, now we are more secure, now we are comforted, now we can be comfortable.”  But is it really?  You see if you look at the bible more closely, whenever the Holy Spirit comes, he comes not to solve our problems but to create them.  Let me repeat that in case you missed it.  The Holy Spirit did not come to solve our problems, but the Holy Spirit come to create them.

If the Holy Spirit did not come to Peter, James and John everything would have ended up differently for them.  Peter would have returned to the simple life of a fisherman, and James and John would have returned to inherit the fishing enterprise of their father Zebedee.  But as it is, the Spirit came on Pentecost Day and from then on their lives, and even their deaths, took a different turn.  

Because of the Spirit in their lives these fishermen scouted the known world bringing the gospel message, braving the elements, confronted their persecutors, faced court ligations and imprisonment, received insults and false accusations, and finally James died by the sword, John was cooked in boiling oil and Peter was crucified upside down.  The Holy Spirit came to them not to solve their problems but gave them even more.  Have you noticed that?

Imagine a life without the Holy Spirit.  You received the Holy Spirit in baptism and because of that you became a child of God and a child of the Catholic church. Without that you would not be here today in this church wondering when this priest would finish his sermon so that you can all go home, eat breakfast and hit the malls.  

The Holy Spirit in our life, rather than solve our problems, creates more problems for us.  This is the secret and the challenge of Christianity!  You see Christianity is not a feel-good religion where I can only think about myself and my own family or those I love.  Christianity is not a life where I can simply shut my door close, away from the troubles of the world.  No.  In Christianity the Spirit challenges me to look outside, the Holy Spirit challenges me to peer outside and find a problem and be involved, he summons me to action, he calls me to do something, to be part of the solution.  

Mother Teresa looked outside and found in the streets of Calcutta the problems of destitution and poverty, and there she lived her life and answered her summons.  Vincent de Paul peered outside, found a problem in the formation of seminarians and priests and there directed his life’s endeavors.  Marie Eugenie looked out and saw the problem of uneducated and powerless women and there with them she spent her life and call.  Teresa of Avila prayed, immersed herself into prayer, and instead of merely finding solace and consolation in the privacy of her room, peered outside it, found her call to reform Carmel, and a lot of opposition too.  When the Holy Spirit comes, he comes to give us problems and to open our eyes to the challenges before us.

In our second reading Paul affirms that “to each individual, to each one of us, the manifestation of the Spiritis given for some benefit.”  It means that there is something there in each of us that was made for the benefit of another.  It is the Spirit’s gift, and it is a manifestation that the Spirit lives in you.

Let us be aware of the Spirit in our lives.  Look around you, peer around and ask yourself, allow the Holy Spirit to prod you to ask yourself, who needs me today, what can I do to manifest God’s love in this part of the world?  Do some brainstorming as to what problems the Holy Spirit is inviting you to get involved with today.  Remember the Holy Spirit comes not to solve our problems but to create them.