At this time of year, we are in a time of transition. Easter time is ending. Graduations are happening. This is also the season for ordinations. Those who have learned their lessons, are now headed out into the world. It is springtime, and everything is new and fresh.
In the early Church at this time, prior to Pentecost, the Apostles were in hiding, not sure what the future would hold. Jesus had ascended into heaven and they had locked themselves away behind closed doors. Uncertain of their future, they were timid and reluctant to engage the outside world.
Can you relate to the Apostles?
What a shame it would be if we kept our faith locked up, behind closed doors.
We celebrate ordinations in the coming weeks. Frank is studying for the priesthood at St. Mary’s National Major Seminary Ggaba. Seminarian Frank's education is supported through CARITAS For Children's Sponsor a Seminarian Program. Between terms at the seminary, Frank mentors the children in CARITAS' child sponsorship programs in Central Uganda.
How desperately the world needs to hear this message. A world that is too often afraid to leave the comfort and security of home. A world that thinks that God doesn’t matter or that seems to have forgotten just how much we matter to God.
On Pentecost, I think about the apostles hiding in their upper room, and I think about others who are also waiting, and watching, and wondering – the unemployed, the sick, the grieving.
Each of us at some moment in our lives has known that upper room – that place of uncertainty. We have all been there.
The message of Pentecost is hard to receive, because we are called to trust in God. Trust that God’s promise will be kept, that he will not leave us as orphans. Because when we feel abandoned and alone, when we flee to our own upper rooms, that is when God often makes Himself known to us.
Pentecost answers the Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR), those who let Jesus into their lives, but not His Church. Pentecost teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the advocate Jesus promised us. His advocate. His Church.
He doesn’t always do it with a roaring wind. He may do it with a friend who listens. It may be an unexpected source. It may be clergy, or a lay volunteer. Someone who has been sent out, to answer a call. An answer to someone in need.
We celebrate ordinations in the coming weeks. Their wait is almost over. Let us keep those who will soon be ordained priests and deacons in our prayers. Like the apostles who learned their lessons, and have received the Holy Spirit, their ministries are beginning. With their gifts, they are now able to teach and serve.
God doesn’t want us to spend our lives in the upper room. He wants us to open the windows and let in the light. We should have faith and trust in Him. In this time of transition, let us be transformed.
As Saint Pope John Paul II said of this challenge and the courage needed:
"Do not be afraid to go out on the streets and into public places, like the first Apostles who preached Christ and the Good News of salvation in the squares of cities, towns and villages. This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel (Cfr. Rom 1,16 ). It is the time to preach it from the rooftops (Cfr. Matth 10,27 )."
Bishop Don Hying, Diocese of Gary: "The mission of the Catholic church from the morning of Pentecost until the end of the world is to proclaim the Gospel." Watch the video below for Bishop Hying's discussion of CARITAS For Children's participation in that mission.
