Breathe Deeply

Deacon David Pierce homily

Let all the earth cry out to God with joy. Shout joyfully to God, all the earth, sing praise to the glory of his name; proclaim his glorious praise. Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds!” Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Many of us may react to these commands in our psalm with confusion.  The earth cries out to God with joy?  We are to shout joyfully?  Where is that joy in the daily news?  Our newspapers are filled with local and world-wide, depressing coronavirus news.  TV coverage is difficult to watch since there’s little to no joy – just sadness and anger, and those feelings are truly infectious.

Wait.  Let’s change the channel so to speak and focus on the bigger picture – that which gives us hope and lifts our spirits and gives us joy.  It’s the sixth Sunday in Easter.  It’s the middle of May, and the earth has come awake and cries out with joy – at least in the Northern Hemisphere and certainly here on Cape Cod.  Flowers bloom; the weather is warm; grass is green and growing; birds are everywhere; striped bass, black sea bass, river herring, and scup have returned.

Yes, how tremendous are God’s deeds!  The wonders of our world. And let’s remember when we do good works – through charity, for example – we are doing God’s deeds – good deeds – prompted by the Holy Spirit that is within us.  The Holy Spirit helps us keep our Baptismal promises.

Our first reading from Acts is about the Holy Spirit.  It reads: “Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit…they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”   

Speaking of receiving the Holy Spirit, there was a science teacher in a Catholic school who held up a cork-stoppered glass chemistry flask half-filled with water.  She asked her class of students, “How can I get the air out of this glass?” 

One young man shouted, “Suck it out with a pump!” The teacher replied, “That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass.”

After numerous other suggestions, she smiled, uncorked the flask, picked up a pitcher of water, and filled the flask to overflowing. “There,” she said, “all the air is now removed.” She then said, “A successful and loved-filled Christian life is not accomplished by ‘sucking out a sin here and there,’ but by being filled with the Holy Spirit.”

We’re just a few weeks from Pentecost, May 31, when we speak of being filled with the Holy Spirit.  Each of us is a water flask of sorts.  Do we need a re-fill?

We’re also one week after Mother’s Day and one week before Memorial Day.  May is certainly a month full of remembrances and a mixture of joy and sadness.  That’s life.  It’s not all a bouquet of roses. Actually, life is like that.  We are all like that. It has been said, “The more we love roses, the more we must bear with thorns. Our lives are full of love and the thorns we must bear.”

Speaking of roses, we remember our mothers on Mother's Day, especially their love and sacrifices for us.  We remember those Armed Service veterans who fought and continue to fight for this country and lost their lives in doing so.

We remember those veterans still living and struggling from the ravages of war – loss of limbs and posttraumatic stress disorder, a very real, debilitating, life-changing consequence of warfare and what those men and women had to endure.

Pentecost is another enduring memory for us Catholics, and today we’re given a preview through our Gospel reading:  Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.”

A rabbi, a priest, and a minister were all asked the same question: “What would you like people to say about you after you die?” 

The priest said: “I hope that people say that I helped them to understand the absolute love that God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit offers to them through the Church. That the Holy Spirit is our Advocate and is the Spirit of Truth.” 

The minister said: “When I die, I hope that people will say that I saved many souls by bringing them to Christ. That they understand the Holy Spirit is within them and is their guide.”

Finally, the rabbi was asked, “Rabbi, what do you hope people will say about you after you have died?” Without pausing, the rabbi answered: “Look, he’s breathing!”

Let’s all take many deep breaths on this 6th Sunday of Easter to calm ourselves, deal with our anxieties, and steady our nerves during this coronavirus pandemic. At the very least, deep breathing should remind us that the Holy Spirit is the breath of God. There’s no need for masks and social distancing to avoid that breath.  Just breathe deeply, and have no fear.

PLEASE NOTE:  To prevent any misunderstanding, I remind everyone that masks and social distancing are required.  God's breath is okay.  Everyone else's breath, no way.  Be safe.