5/4/2016 – Wednesday of the 6th week of Easter – John 16:12-15

     During our Gospel readings these next two weeks as we journey toward Pentecost and the end of the Easter season, a major theme we hear is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives of faith to lead us and guide us on our journey.  This upcoming weekend, on the weekend we celebration the Ascension of our Lord Jesus, we will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation with 20 of our high school students.  The Spirit will enter their lives in a very special way during this Sacrament. The following weekend, we will celebrate the ordination to the priesthood for Joseph and for Jason Johnson, another seminarian in our Diocese originally from Vicksburg.  We celebrate with Joseph at the mass tonight and afterwards with a reception for him.  We will celebrate with him next weekend at the mass at the Cathedral of St Peter the Apostle in downtown Jackson.  In our Gospel today, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth who will guide us to all truth.  Even though today is only the 4^th of May, we have celebrated some wonderful saints already this month.  Sunday, May 1, was the day of St Joseph the Worker, evoking this humble carpenter as the patron of workers throughout the world.  Yesterday we celebrated St Philip and St James the Lesser, Apostles and martyrs for the faith.  We know that there have been martyrs throughout the history of our faith.  In particular, today, we remember the many martyrs in the British Isles in the 16^th century during the time of the English reformation during the reign of Henry VIII.  The Carthusians are an austere religious order in which its members withdraws from the world in contemplative reflection and prayer.  Silence is a hallmark of their religious lives.  The Carthusians were founded in the 11^th century under St Bruno of Cologne.   Today, there are only 25 Carthusian monasteries throughout the world, with around 350 males members and 75 female members.  During the English reformation in the year 1537, the Carthusian Charterhouse in London was dissolved, with its members arrested and later executed.  18 of these men were beatified by Leo XIII in 1886, with 3 of them canonized by Paul VI in 1970.  These monks were victims of the violence that befell many Catholics during the reformations of the 16^th century. I think a lot of us thought that the days of the martyrs were largely behind us, especially in the West, but in the past 10 years we have seen more Christian martyrs and more Christians in our own country facing discrimination and violence.  No matter where we are on our journey, even if we are called to martyrdom, the Spirit is there to lead us and guide us no matter what.  Joseph, we have been glad to have you in Tupelo this year.  We know that the Spirit will be with you as you start your priestly ministry in Pearl.