Pentecost and Chef Boy Ar Dee

The apostles were told by Jesus to go to Jerusalem and to wait.  They were more than happy to comply with this direction because it was not safe for them to be out and about on the street.  The Temple Gang, still feeling their oats from their victory in getting Jesus crucified, wanted a chance to scatter the disciples of the so-called Messiah to the four corners of the earth. So Peter and the rest of the gang happily went back to the Upper Room and the scriptures say that they spent the time praying.  They probably were praying to be spared from being discovered by the Jews.  They also prayed that the lock on the door held and that no one had seen them steal back to the Upper Room.   When they were not praying, they filled the time discussing recent events and the words of Jesus and there probably was some discussion as to the meaning of the parables Jesus taught them.  They waited and continued to wait, happy that they could not hear a hostile crowd gathering outside their door.  In short, they appeared to be a pathetic gang of losers that would be very happy to just fade out of the public's memory. Then suddenly, everything changed.  There was the sound of a mighty wind and the Holy Spirit descended upon them and now they could not open the door fast enough to get out of the Upper Room.  They almost tore the door off of its hinges in their effort to get outside.  When they were outside, the fruits of the Spirit became manifest.  They threw caution to the wind and were not able to stop telling the crowd about Jesus and the good news that sin and death had been defeated.  More than that, there were people from everywhere, from all of the civilized areas of the world.  Not since the attempt to build the great tower of Babel had there been so many people, speaking so many different languages in one place. Everyone that was there heard the Good News, the Gospel, being proclaimed to them, each of them in his or her own language. Those losers, those timid and frightened bunch of rag-tag followers of Jesus had now lost all of their fear and boldly taught in the Holy Name of Jesus. They would NOT be silent!  The Apostles claimed their first converts that day and the Catholic Church was truly born and was visibly under the protection of the Holy Spirit as Jesus, the Son of God, had promised. 

It's an amazing story, the Holy Spirit infusing His gifts into the eleven like that!  What is even more amazing is that we have all been drenched in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the very same gifts that were infused into the Apostles were infused into us when we received the Sacrament of Confirmation.  If that is the case then why didn't we react as the Apostles did on that Pentecost Sunday? The reason, I believe, is that such a display was not needed when the bishop laid his hands on us.  We received the very same gifts that the Apostles did and they are as much a part of us as the very blood that circulates oxygen throughout our body through our veins. 

When I received the sacrament of Confirmation, I have to tell you that the only thing I felt at that moment was hunger, not a hunger for the Word of God mind you, a hunger for the pizza I knew was going to be waiting for me at home once this ceremony was over. It was a Chef Boy Ar Dee pizza kit that I made by myself.  Please keep in mind that this was prior to the opening of Falco's Pizzeria, the Cathedral of Pizza in Brighton Park on the southwest side of Chicago where I grew up,  

and even today a stop on the All-Chicago Gluttony Club Tour, although your attire should now include a bulletproof vest and if possible you should hire armed security guards to accompany you. So I was ignorant as to what pizza was supposed to look and taste like but the homemade treat filled us up and living in ignorance kept us satisfied. It was truly a memorable night.  To be very honest on this Thursday night I felt no different than I did at the close of Wednesday night.  Does that mean that the Gifts of the Spirit have passed me over?  Did the bishop make a mistake when he laid his hands on me? Did he not slap me hard enough? (That used to be a feature of the ceremony - a slap to ready you to be a soldier of Christ - this is not done anymore.)  I did receive the Gifts, the bishop did not make a mistake. The simple fact is the reception of a sacrament does not depend on the emotions it may or may not stir up. When I go to communion, for example, sometimes I feel the True Presence and other times I do not.  I still know intellectually that Jesus is present and my prayers are no less fervent because I know what I know. That is the genius of the Sacraments, they work as designed no matter how the person receiving them feels.  

But, where is the evidence that I received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit?  I barely speak English well much less any other language so I don't have the gift of tongues.  I can go on and prove negatively that I do not have evidence that I received anything like the gifts that the Apostles received, except, that I did receive them. Our pastor, Father Joe, in his homily pointed out that we use these gifts all of the time.  He pointed out that perhaps one time when you were more patient with someone that you normally had no patience with, well, that was one of the gifts of the Spirit that you were calling upon. In daily life. these gifts express themselves in many different ways which we sometimes do not recognize.  The gifts are there to be called upon when needed.  I cannot imagine, for example, those poor Christians in Iraq that were offered a choice between giving up Christ in favor of Islam, and to a soul, they refused to betray Christ and they were shot by the radical thugs whose god is not the same God of decent Christians and Muslims.  The Spirit was present in these people and gave them Courage.  So it is with us.  The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are there in each of us who have been confirmed in Christ and they are at the ready when we need them. 

The fact that they are there and we don't recognize them makes me wonder what we Catholics COULD do if we used these gifts like the Apostles did on the birthday of the Church so long ago?  We could make this world different if we wanted to and if we depended upon the Holy Spirit to help us as Jesus intended. If we truly used the gifts of the Holy Spirit, what a wonderful world we COULD have.  God bless.