Pentecost (B) – May 19, 2024

St. Paul – Lyons, KS

Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 24; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23

Pentecost: The Feast of Mission and Contemplation

One of the holiest places in the world is known as the Cenacle. If you go to Jerusalem, you can visit this place. Even though the building there isn’t the original building, you can still go visit this place. So why is the Cenacle so important? What is it? What happened there? Anyone? (“Bueller?”) The Cenacle is also known as the Upper Room, the place where some of the most important events in the life of Jesus took place. First and foremost, it was the room of the Last Supper: this is where Jesus gathered with the Twelve for the Last Supper. The second thing that happened there is Jesus appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, even though the doors were locked. And finally, this place is where, after Jesus’ ascension (which we celebrated last week)—this is where the disciples and Mary gathered, in prayer, in expectant waiting. There in the Cenacle, the disciples and Mary—first and foremost—they wait, for ten days. After his resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days with them. And when he leaves, this new team, ready for action, for the mission, being sent—they do nothing! They wait. For ten days, they just contemplate everything that had happened. But on the tenth day? Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is sent. In tongues of fire, the Spirit fills them, empowers them, sends them! Everything changes. Pentecost, the birth of the Church! And from the Cenacle—the same room as the Last Supper—from this room, they go forth! Ok, like I say about all of these feast, we aren’t just celebrating another cool miracle, something that happened thousands of years ago and is now a long-distant memory, no. We are celebrating a profound reality, a fact, an event that directly affects us, here and now, today. We live this, we carry this on, we have the same Spirit! But how?

Sacrosanctum Concilium, which was the first document issued by the Second Vatican Council—about the liturgy, the same document which so memorably describes the Eucharist as the Source and the Summit of the Christian life—in the introduction to that document, the Council fathers say that the Eucharistic liturgy reveals “the real nature of the true Church… [Which] is…both human and divine, visible and yet invisibly equipped, eager to act and yet intent on contemplation.” I love that description of the Church. It’s the perfect description: eager to act, yet intent on contemplation.

There in the Cenacle for ten days, the disciples were ready for action, excited, filled with anticipation, chomping at the bit—and yet first and foremost they were intent on contemplation. And I think there is a lot for us to learn from that. Because this is the tension we have to hold together too: always ready to act (to act! to live what Christ calls us to live!)—ready to act, but intent (first and foremost) on contemplation. Like we talked about during “Reconnecting…”, prayer and our life of prayer and being with Jesus is essential. But it’s not either/or; it’s not either mission and work and service or prayer and contemplation and relationship with Jesus; it’s not either/or. It’s both/and. We need both, held in tension! And this is key.

Eager to Act, but First Intent on Contemplation

This is the tension we have to hold. And we’ve been working on the prayer and contemplation part, reclaiming Sunday, all of that. Great! But we can’t forget—especially on Pentecost Sunday we can’t forget how important action is as well. And the stakes are high in all of this. I think we really underestimate that, though. We underestimate how important all of this is.

Let me reframe it, though. Reframe it to help us try to grasp how important this is. So during the first year of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II began a custom. On Holy Thursday, every Holy Thursday, John Paul II would write a letter to all of the priests of the world. And in his very first one, there’s a place toward the end where he talks directly to priests who are weary, who are experiencing burnout, who are wondering if it’s worth it, who, he says, have kept their hand to the plow and have endured the heat of the day. And he says, “When you feel worn down, when you feel like you’d like to throw in the towel, remember that there are places all over this world where there is not a priest, and so there is not the Eucharist. And in such places, from time to time, they’ll gather in an old abandoned church. And they’ll take a stole, which they’ve kept and treasured, and they’ll put it on the altar. And they’ll gather together and they’ll say all of the prayers of the Mass. Until they come to the time of transubstantiation, those words of institution. And then they’ll stop. And silence will pierce the assembly. A silence with a sob here and there, people weeping, crying, because what they desire so much—because of the absence of the priest they are incapable of having.” And then Pope John Paul II, the Holy Father, said this, “My brothers, such places are not rare in this world.”

When I first read that, it cut me to the core. Because in that simple statement—after helping these priests to contemplate the reality of the situation—John Paul II made both an incredibly moving encouragement to those weary priests, and the most powerful call to mission, to action that I’ve ever heard. 

Ok. This call to mission and action is not just for priests, but to each of us! Yes, sure, imagine how this community would change if there were no priest, sure! But also, imagine: what if there were no people who followed Christ, who gave their lives to him; no people who shared in His mission? We are blessed here in Lyons, in the Diocese of Wichita: we have many, many priests, and our churches are full of good people, good and faithful people. We are so blessed! But this is not the norm. Just like there are many places without a priest (some not too far from here)—there are places without good, faithful Catholics ready to act. And this is what’s desperately needed.

People are walking around this world—not even “this world,” this community, this city—lost, confused, in need. And even though they don’t know it, they’re looking for a Christian, one who bears the presence of Christ—they’re looking for Christ who will be found in His Church. They’re looking for a place, a community that can offer them something this world cannot—at the end of the day, offer them Christ!“Such places are not rare in this world”—in this county! And I think that we can begin something new. 

In particular, I’m talking about the ways we can serve the Church. As Paul said in our second reading, we are all parts of this one body; different gifts have been given to each of us, each part of the body. And yes, all of you are putting your gifts at the service of our broader community through your work, your job: teachers, administrators, laborers. As we know, especially in a small town, everyone has to wear a lot of hats to make a community thrive. And thank God! Those are ways the Spirit has blessed you! I hope that your God-given gifts are being put to use. 

But on Pentecost Sunday, it’s also a time to reflect on how we are using our gifts and talents to serve the Church.Like I’ve mentioned before, the most important entity in our community isn’t the police department, or the fire department, or the school system, or the Rec, or even the public works (water and sewer and electricity)—even though these are all so, so, so important! (Again, remember the great water crisis of 2021—that was rough! Water works is important!) But the most important thing in our community is? The Church. The Church is more important than the school, or water, or Amazon, or Apple, or Tesla. Why? Because it’s the one I have a vested interest in, so of course I’m going to say that? No. It’s because the Church offers us the solution to “Option 1,” as we’ve been calling it. The Church offers us the solution. The response to the fundamental questions at the core of our heart—it is Christ, and specifically, Christ in and through His Church that responds to the deepest longings of the heart. As Augustine says, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

But here’s the thing: I am not the Church. Karla and Pam and Linga and I are not the Church. We all are. As Paul points out in other places, the “body” is severely deformed if all of the parts aren’t there; it can’t function as well. (I mean, just imagine if you didn’t have thumbs. Doesn’t seem like a big deal, not that big—but boy would you miss them!) Same with each one of you: the Church, the Body of Christ, needs you. And that doesn’t mean you need to spend 40 hours a week here, no. Fundamentally, the Church needs you to live your vocation. Which for most of you is? Marriage, parenthood. And that is a vocation that is severely under attack. It’s a vocation that requires so much of you. And in the midst of it, you’ve been told a lie: and the lie is that a “good parent” is one that gets their kid through school, makes sure they’re successful in life and has a good job, is kind and charitable, a good person; a good parent is one that slaves away chauffeuring their kid from practice to practice, event to event. On and on, things like that. And sure, some of that is involved. But no: a good parent, a Christian parent, fundamentally, is a parent that first and foremost asks: “How do I help my children get to heaven? How do I help them follow Christ, and not follow the the World, that Option 1 mentality that will actually end up destroying them?” Do you see what I mean? It’s a wildly different criteria. So yes, parenthood is a big one. Taking that role more seriously. Placing that role in it’s proper light.

But also, we shouldn’t neglect the parish itself. The parish is the concrete place the Church is found in each community. And your service here—it’s invaluable. And even though it’s the most important work, it’s not the most complicated. The Spirit has given you the gifts! For example, in the Stewardship Way of Life we live, the most fundamental element isn’t money or teaching classes, no. It’s hospitality. So many of the ways that you can serve and help our parish the most—it’s hospitality. On the cover of the bulletin this week, you’ll see a QR code. Scan that with your phone and you can see many ways to serve the parish. And some of them may seem really insignificant, really simple. But let me tell you: some of the smallest things go the longest way. And one of the biggest ones? Hospitality. We have lost many parishioners to other churches, and to no church, for one reason: they did not feel like they belonged, they didn’t feel a part of this community, they felt anonymous. Hospitality, true hospitality, welcoming people, asking about their life—this is huge. So different parts of hospitality are huge, but there are many ways you can get involved. Simple things, but things that go so much further than you think.

So I would encourage you to take a look at that and consider a few new ways you can serve. I really think this parish is on the verge of a new springtime, a new Pentecost—and I think all it will take is us, each one of us saying “yes” to the ways the Spirit is inviting us to serve.

But the big thing is this, remember: it’s a both/and. Ready for action, yet intent on contemplation. We need both. But today, as we celebrate this Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the gift of the Spirit, the Spirit who empowers us to go forth and to gather people into God’s fold—to act! You have been called to do this. Each one of us has a part to play. So let’s be bold. Like the disciples, we are here in the “Cenacle,” the room of the Eucharist. And from here, in a way no less real and no less serious than the Apostles themselves—from here, we are sent out. Does this look like preaching to everyone, baptizing 5,000 people a day? No, of course not. But together, as part of this one body, one communion, the Lord can do incredible things through us.