We are so glad that we are able to be back for mass this weekend. I know that this has been a challenging and difficult time for all of us on many different levels, hasn’t it? What a wonderful celebration we have today as we come back for our public mass together in Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit in the world. So, as we think about the coming of the Holy Spirit and how that event changed the world, I want us to think about other moments and events that have changed our lives. The pandemic will rank up there in events that have changed our lives and changed the world. But we also have a lot of personal events in our lives. During the pandemic, we have had graduations, births, and other life changing events. This weekend, on May 31, I mark the 12th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. When we think of these events, we may realize that this one event is part of a bigger process and a bigger picture. For example, when a child is born to parents, the date of birth marks the child’s entrance into the world, but then the parents and the child forge a relationship that grows and develops over a lifetime. My priesthood officially started at my ordination on May 31, 2008, but it was proceeded by years as a missionary, years of discernment, and year of formation at the seminary, and it has been following by the years I have been serving in the Diocese of Jackson as a priest. I never dreamed that I would one day be director of temporal affairs and vicar general of the Diocese, with all the changes and challenges I have faced in those positions in the past couple of years. But an event like the birth of a child or a wedding day or a graduation or an ordination is just the beginning of something much bigger. Being faithful during years of growth and development, that commitment is tested and it becomes truer and deeper. We have heard during the Easter season different accounts of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance in the 50 days leading up to Pentecost. We hear in the Gospel today how Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in the locked room on the evening in the first day of the week. Yet, in reality, we can say that the actions of the Holy Spirit had been with the disciples since the day they met Jesus, as they participated in his ministry during his lifetime on earth and after his death and resurrection. We should all pray today the words of the psalm, “Lord, send out your spirit, and renew the face of the earth.” Yet, perhaps we need to take care in praying those words, because the the spirit can take us to some very unexpected places.
I want to thank all of you how we have been able to continued to function as a Christian community during this time of lock down and stay-in-place orders. No, it is has definitely not been the same, but we have shown a lot of courage and creativity in practicing our faith and remaining an active community. I want to thank our parish staff and all of you, our parishioners, who have kept our community going. It is going to take a few weeks of trying things at our public masses to see what works, but I know you will be patient with us and we will all work it out. I am so glad that our public masses are starting again.
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