Podcast | Pentecost Changes Everything | (Episode 137)

Welcome to Heart of the Homily Podcast.

My name is Michelle Lopez, and I'm here with Father Goar, our pastor.

How's it going, Michelle?

Happy Tuesday.

Thank you.

You two doing great.

And um, it's been a just a beautiful weekend looking at Pentecost and um entering into this new season of the church.

Amazing.

We Pentecost closed out the Easter season.

And I thought we we talked about this earlier, but whole uh the whole Lent and then now Easter season, just so beautiful, so fruitful.

It was a great day on Sunday.

Yes, and I think um, yeah, and your homily again was just really good and challenging and opening up um really Pentecost to understand in a in a new way, in a new, I think, a personal way too, to ask some good questions.

So we're gonna hop right into it.

And I'm actually gonna read um from the Acts of the Apostles.

So Pentecost is when the apostles were in the upper room and the Holy Spirit came as tongues of fire, and then they were sent out after that.

And so I'm gonna kind of pick up in the Acts of the Apostles um two verses 38 to 41.

So this is kind of Father, where you wanted to focus on your homily, um, the transformation of Peter.

Okay, so Acts of the Apostles, um, Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises made to you and to your children and to those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.

He testified with many other arguments and exhorting exhorting them, saying, Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.

Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day.

Wow.

Three thousand persons.

Right, and I'm glad you read that because think about that.

And that's the question, and it's not to rehash the homily again, but I think it's important because this is fundamental to really understanding who we are and how can we deepen our faith.

Because one of the greatest questions in all Christianity is what happened to Peter?

Right?

And we think about that, and it's something I mentioned in the homily is that he's there holy Thursday night.

Peter collapses in front of a servant girl.

It's not a soldier, it's not some big authority, it's not someone uh it's it's just if you think about it, how fascinating.

It's not like this imposing, strong figure saying, confess.

No, it's just a simple servant girl who says, weren't you with Jesus?

And he says, No, I I don't know that man.

Yeah, Peter's transformation, um, so important to understand Christianity, like you're what you're mentioning, what you're mentioning.

So, Father, um kind of with this transformation, you pulled out some really amazing things for us to consider too.

Why do you think Peter uh Peter had so much like how did fear overwhelm him?

And then how did that make even more room for the Holy Spirit to enter at Pentecost?

Right.

And I think there's something consoling in seeing the humanity of Peter.

Um, because if we fast forward 50 days, Pentecost morning, Peter stands in Jerusalem and he's preaching publicly.

Right there out in the open, and it's the same man, the same city, same danger, but it's a it's clearly a different Peter.

And so when we're studying and we're looking at the scriptures and we're we're trying to grow in faith, we need to ask that important question: what changed in him?

Because I think sometimes people say Christianity survived because of politics or power, influence, it was the right time at the right place, or um no, Christianity exploded because it had no power.

The apostles had no buildings, no institutions, no money, no army, no social, no social status.

And and we have to really come to think about that roughly three centuries later, Christianity is transforming the whole world.

Right.

And I think a lot of people still wrestle with that because the question again is what explains that?

Um, and the only answer, the simple answer, is Pentecost, the power of the Holy Spirit.

And when you think about that, it's the church survived and has survived all of these thousand years later because of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the one that guides the church.

The Holy Spirit is the one that is completely and totally fully alive right now in this moment, guiding every step of the way.

Because if it was left to our dues, the church would have ended a long time ago.

Yeah, that's so true.

Man, and what and Peter is such an incredible example to look look at because we see his weakness his weaknesses like in the gospel story, but then we see that I mean there's a dramatic change, um, which makes me think of even my own story.

But many people I've walked with, um, I don't know, it's really beautiful.

The Holy Spirit's still at work, and still with many people's lives, we can say, like, you are not the same man or you're not the same woman.

And that's the power of God at work in our life um through the Holy Spirit.

And that's why I think Pentecost matters and why we need to meditate on it and reflect, well, why does Pentecost matter?

Because it's not merely the birthday of the church, it's the day fear lost.

Something happened, right?

You look at these men, and it's it's not this gratitude.

No, one moment to the next, it was the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the power, that fire that came down upon them sets it all into motion.

And that's powerful.

It's so powerful.

And it also, I think, is a great moment for um us to make sure that we understand like the story of salvation.

Because if the spirit of God moved in, like you said in your homily, it's because it left at some point.

And kind of knowing the story of salvation that, you know, in the garden, um, when sin entered the world, the spirit of God left.

Yeah.

And then it returns at Pentecost.

Right.

Like if we don't know that story, we're kind of like, oh yeah, that sounds nice.

That's the spirit of God would come, but it's like, no, you don't understand.

You have to know the story to know that like everything's different now.

That's the difference.

The spirit of God that left has returned.

That has returned now at baptism for us, but at Pentecost, we see the spirit return, which makes all the difference.

And if you know the story, then you can kind of start moving in that right direction.

Um, something that a statement that I made in the homily that probably surprised some people was I said that many Catholics struggle or don't really understand the third person of the Holy Trinity.

What's the doctrine?

What is uh what the church calls the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, right?

Um, because the catechism talks about it.

St.

Paul, if you read his letters, it's all through his letters.

Um some of the greatest saints have just treatises and and talk about the importance of the Holy Spirit.

And and yet, if we um we talk in our Bible studies and with different groups, we see that a lot of Catholics don't talk about that.

Yeah, God lives in the soul.

Um, of course, not metaphorically, not poetically, he literally lives in the soul.

The baptized soul becomes a temple.

And that was what I was trying to drive home is if you think of the old testament, uh of the importance of the temple in Jerusalem, right?

We've been to Jerusalem and and it's the center of everything, it's a center of that town, and and the temple's not there anymore, and it's still that Western Wall, and just where it used to be.

And um, but St.

Paul then says, You are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and how that must have been mind-blowing for these people.

What do you mean?

That temple in Jerusalem now dwells in me?

How could that be?

And how is it holy?

The holies of the holies.

Um it's a reorientation of your understanding of the human person and now and now yourself, right?

Like um, to compare your for St.

Paul to draw our attention to the temple, like you're saying, is just this dramatic shift of our own sanctity and sacredness.

The extreme reverence, right?

The same reverence that you would have walking into a very sacred place.

Think about places in the world or maybe even locally where you enter and you say, Wow, the presence of God is here.

I feel God so strongly in this place.

Well, that's extreme reverence.

That's that's how Pentecost, that's how Pentecost changes everything.

God moves from stone, right, into the soul.

The new holy of holies is that baptized person.

And I I think that that's how I think that that's uh we need to see ourselves in that way.

It changes how we see ourselves.

Imagine if every single Catholic walking around understands and remembers very clearly, I am carrying God, I am the temple of the Holy Spirit.

I think that conversations would change if we really understood that to the core.

I know marriages would change, the way you parent it parent would change, everything changes.

Right?

Absolutely.

And also I think it would help us know the fact that God is not distant, yeah, but God is closer than your breath.

And I think that truth is something we might know in our head, but we maybe don't really experience it like deeply in our heart, because I think it would challenge the way that we'd see ourselves, the way that we would even pray, knowing that like God is so close, the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

It's not something we have to go out and seek out there, but it's something through our baptism, like within us.

Um, which Father, you really drew on like this being the difference of Christianity, is like that transformation from the inside out, God dwelling within us.

Um, you said most religions kind of shape their behavior from the outside, or it's uh but Christianity really is that transformation from within.

Would love to talk a little bit more about that because I feel like sometimes people group all the religions together, but this this is the uniqueness of Christianity.

And it's well, it's it's we are the only religion that understands this.

Because every other religion in the world is his God is there, up there somewhere.

You are down there, you miserable person, and you have to figure out a way to get God's attention or to make your way up, right?

And it's it's almost uh merit-based or uh trying to get into God's good favor, um, where Christianity turns it up on its head upside, absolutely upside down.

No, God comes down, um, the word becomes flesh, becomes a baby, this vulnerable human being that we can all relate to, dwells among us, walks the same places that we can today still walk, um, has those human relationships, has those struggles, those trials, it goes through his passion and death, is resurrected, and ascends back to the Father.

And then that same God says, I promise I will never leave you orphaned.

I will never leave you alone.

I promise you.

I will send you the advocate, I will send you the Holy Spirit that will accompany you and be with you until the end of times.

That's huge.

What God does that?

Oh my gosh.

And I don't think any other religion understands God in that way.

No, not at all.

Because everything that you just said right there, Father, it's the greatest news of all time.

Like this is it's unbelievable.

That's the good news love.

Right.

Yeah, and you even think about Jesus' passion, taking on our sins, the resurrection, restoring us to relationship with the Father, like even that would have been good enough.

But like God goes to the ends.

Like we're not only, right?

God the Father, Jesus, but now the third person of the Trinity being a part of this story of salvation and sending the advocate to not just visit us, but to dwell within us.

Exactly.

I mean, we are we are never alone.

We will we're never alone.

And that's through the gift of our baptism that we're we have this indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which I definitely agree with you.

I feel like it's not something talked about a lot and it's not something understood because again, this would kind of change the way we pray.

We're not praying to be like, oh, like come visit me, God, but it's like calling to mind that God is within me, like my baptism.

He is right there at the at your baptism, he said, Okay, this is where I live now.

This is my dwelling place.

Wow.

And something that I I'm gonna ask you, and I I would challenge everyone, I would say, how often do we pray or address our prayers to the Holy Spirit?

And I'm guilty of this because I love Jesus, and and Jesus is my go-to guy, right?

Um, and a lot of times in my own prayer life, it's in those difficult moments or that moment of emergency.

Like I told you this weekend, this is something super personal, and I'll share this, but this weekend I made a mistake, and it wasn't like tragic or anything, um, but I needed to figure out how to undo the mistake.

And I prayed to the Holy Spirit.

I said, Okay, you gotta practice what you're preaching here, right?

And it was at all the masses, I was just I need to fix this.

Um and the Lord in in the gift of the Holy Spirit gave me the answer, and I was able to figure out how that conversation needed to be to heal um just a misunderstanding.

That wasn't even it wasn't even something that I did, it was just something in a conversation.

I said, Oh my gosh, I need to fix this.

And the Holy Spirit gave me the perfect conversation.

I mean, I'm telling you, perfect.

And I think it was perfect because God was saying, okay, you're practicing what you're preaching.

Now, maybe I'm just crazy and put anything, but I'm giving that to you because I'm guilty of it.

Jesus is my go-to guy, my best friend, uh, who I love to just be in conversation with.

And then I tend to leave the Holy Spirit for those emergency moments.

Like, oh, come, Holy Spirit, come, roll my guy.

Um, but so my question is, and or or something that I said in in the homily was that most Catholics, yes, we pray to God the Father.

We love Jesus.

We there is absolutely no problem praying to Jesus, but the Holy Spirit, I don't know.

We need to treat him as the person.

We need to speak to him, ask him, listen.

Um I remember studying once that the church fathers called the spirit the sweet guest of the soul.

Um even St.

Augustine that St.

Augustine called him the bond of love.

Um so my question is how do you address your prayers directly to the Holy Spirit?

That's a great question.

And it's a great invitation to be able to um kind of begin to implement that if it's not a part of our life of faith.

I know for myself there is this a season um that I realized that I basically don't ever talk to the Holy Spirit.

Yeah.

It was through a talk or something that I learned about the Holy Spirit and I was like, wow, I really don't, I don't know you.

And if you're the third person of the Trinity, then I got a long way to go if you're not a part of um really how I see God and how I see um even prayer.

And I really I I think first for me, I I read the catechism.

I started studying like, okay, who is the Holy Spirit?

You know, to have more like head knowledge of who he has revealed himself to be so that I could go in and pray with my heart and be able to invite him to be a bigger part of my life.

Um and it's beautiful for me, I the Holy Spirit, especially being the advocate and then the transformer.

And I know I'm in the different seasons of healing of just my own, you know, story, it's been the Holy Spirit that I've kind of assigned that to.

I've been like, okay, like Holy Spirit, like you are the transformer.

You're the one that made, right?

Peter the the coward into Peter the cur the courageous one, the martyr.

And really, like, I know that's been a focus in different parts of um really I think areas of my heart where I felt um they were impossible cases to be able to be like, all right, Holy Spirit, show up and show off.

Like well, I think that that's important what you're saying.

I think uh to see God as transformer, because the spirit is not energy, it's not some force, it's not an atmosphere, it is God.

And one of the greatest tragedies is not that he is absent, but that he's ignored.

And if we are able to see it, like you're saying, God, the transformer.

Yeah.

Transform my heart, transform my ways, transform my my addictions, my vices, transform um my behaviors, that's that's where we're tapping into this goal, this wealth of uh who we are as as disciples, but we're we're doing what Jesus is asking of us, right?

Call down the power of the Holy Spirit that already dwells within you.

Yes.

Absolutely.

It's like I used to, and this is like super elementary, but I used to tell the confirmation students when I was teaching at, I remember in St.

Michael's, I would say, the Holy Spirit is like that credit card that you get in the mail.

And it has that little sticker on the bottom that says, in order to activate this credit card, you must call this, right?

It you already have the credit card, but it's not gonna work unless you call that number and activate it.

And it's the same thing here.

It's this the Holy Spirit dwells within you.

He moved in, whether you like it or not, he's there.

But if you don't call that number, it's not gonna activate.

I like that.

And that's that prayer that you mentioned in your homily.

Come, Holy Spirit.

It's not like calling him from heaven to come because he's already within you, but it's kind of giving that permission to work, it's giving that activation to work, which is so beautiful because God wants to collaborate with us.

He's not like, even though he dwells within us, he's not there to override us.

And I think that says so much about God's heart, his fatherly heart that respects our freedom, that we have to give permission, you know, like Holy Spirit, like work in my life, heal me.

We have to invite him.

Exactly right.

And and it's like how I mentioned the breath of God, rua.

That's that's the word in the Hebrew.

In the Greek it's pneuma, in Latin, it's spiditus, but it all means breath.

It it if you think of your own breath, it's closer to you than anything, and that's mind-blowing.

And I gave the example how in Genesis God breathes life, right?

He breathes life into Adam.

Jesus breathes on the apostles at Pentecost.

The Lord, that that wind, right?

Because it says the wind, that mighty wind comes down, and that breath of God.

I think the entire Bible links spirit with breath.

And and also, too, you know, I was thinking about this in prayer.

It's like you don't have to remind yourself to breathe, right?

Like breathing just comes naturally, thank God, or else we would die.

It's like something that happens constantly.

You're constantly breathing, whether you want to or not, whether you uh intentionally tell your brain to breathe.

No, no, it happens without notice.

So does the Holy Spirit.

Yeah.

Every movement towards goodness, every desire that you have for prayer, every act of forgiveness, every vocation, every conversion, the spirit was already there.

And and again, as we mentioned earlier, it's this the Holy Spirit guides guides everything quietly, working, diligently, hidden.

And I hopefully that changes how we see spiritual life because God is more active in the day-to-day, minute to minute than we think.

Why?

Because think of it as you're breathing.

No one has to tell you, hey, start breathing.

No, you're gonna breathe, right?

Yeah, yeah.

And I think um when we think about that too, you're talking about the Holy Spirit being like the one that reminds us of all things we need in the faith, you know, because I feel like that Jesus talked about that the advocate will come to tell you what to say.

Yeah.

It will remind you of all that I've done.

And so I think even in our our our life of faith, to be able to, instead of trying to rely on ourself, to rely on the Holy Spirit to help us, to be able to be that advocate and say, like, help me remember what Jesus has done.

Help me remember, you know, what God is up to in my life.

And so He's again kind of like that advocate where we can um really rely on him to help us remember um who we are, who God is, and the story that we're living out in our own salvation.

Absolutely.

And I think that that's exactly why I said to everyone.

When you have homework.

And I hope you're doing the homework.

I hope that, and I'm gonna remind you the first thing that you do when you wake up before you grab your phone, before you get coffee, before you do anything, come, Holy Spirit, come.

Because theology without practice becomes information.

Like you're saying, gotta remember.

And Pentecost, the the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit, demands a response from you.

Yeah.

And the response, I mean, it it demands a response.

And then it's this invitation to live in reality of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and being a part of God's plan for humanity.

Like it's this invitation to greatness, you know, it's it's nothing of like this obligation that you know depresses us, but it's just this invitation to be fully alive and let the Holy Spirit be a part of that and intentionally again rely on him more than we rely on just like ourselves, our own self-dependency.

Exactly.

Rely on him.

Uh like today is the feast of St.

Philip Neri, which by the way I love.

Um He's one of my favorites.

Chiesa Nuova in Rome is very close to where I lived, and I used to go there all the time.

It would upset me because sometimes I would forget the times and they close in the middle of the day for a break and then they open the church back up.

But St.

Philip Neri's body's there.

And he's the one that I entrusted the whole deal of opening the Catholic Center.

And when the deal fell through, I went to Casanoa and I sat there in front of this body and was like really upset with him.

I was like, Saint Philip, I asked you for your help, and I need you to make this happen.

And so I really attribute us being able to acquire that Catholic Center because of St.

Philip Mary.

That's awesome.

But St.

Philip, and today's his feast day, and something that um he used to pray was Lord, watch over me, otherwise Philip will betray you.

Right?

And it was something that you were mentioning before.

Sounds like a pewter prayer.

Right?

Because it we have to be intentional, we have to remember, we have to do our homework.

Because before any difficult conversation, before that fight that you're gonna have with your wife or with your husband, before confession, before you receive holy communion, just say, Come, Holy Spirit, come.

Because that's gonna save you a lot of grief.

Yeah.

Save a lot of grief and then also um give God permission to work and to not let the old you work, but the new us, which is God dwelling within us.

And kind of going back to like, you know, at our baptism, the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

And so we should be operating from this, the new us, right?

The the new creation.

Um, and so saying those prayers here and there, I know for me has been transforming.

Part of my morning prayer I have at the start says, Come, Holy Spirit.

And I always look at it, knowing like reminding myself because I don't know how to pray.

So come, Holy Spirit, tell me how to pray, teach me how to pray.

Um, but it's it's such a humble invitation to um really rely on the advocate.

And the other thing that comes to mind with the Holy Spirit too is um it's the spirit of truth.

And so we we need that guide to live according to the truth and not the lies of the world, not the comfort of the world, not the fear of the world.

And I think about Peter, right?

Like Peter started living in the truth and reality that Jesus rose from the dead, that he has the Holy Spirit, and he has a mission greater than anything else, you know, to play in.

And he was able to be courageous in the way that he witnessed till the end of his life.

Um, and the Holy Spirit, I'm sure, reminded him over and over of things that he would have forgotten on his own.

You know, he wouldn't have been able to do what he did without the Holy Spirit, especially because the Holy Spirit reminds us of these truths so that we may live into them and not um anything else.

Think about that.

Um, I love what you just said because when we study figures, saints, lives like Peter, right?

And you look at the totality of his life, the richness, the beauty of finding purpose, having this all-in kind of mentality of I'm all in for you, Jesus.

Whatever happens, happens.

And I think about all of these young couples or married couples who are struggling, who maybe have a difficult life situation, who are raising difficult children, who are who are faithful, who are praying every single day, who um are really, really struggling.

But to be able to be on the other side of that and say, I will continue to be faithful, I will continue to pray, even though I don't see anything happening right now, but it is my life's purpose.

It is what brings me meaning.

I don't want anything else but to be faithful to you.

And so, and and to be able to get on the other side of that and say, I'll do my purgatory here.

Um, but to look at the totality of your life as well as as when you're studying the saints and to be able to say, my life can also be good and holy and have a meaning, even though I'm struggling, even though I'm having conflicts and difficulties and sadness in my life.

It has meaning because Jesus Christ comes first.

Um, and and with the gift and the help of the advocate of the Holy Spirit that was promised to me, gives me the courage, gives me the strength, gives me the love, the instruments, the the resources to be able to be what God has called me to be.

That's beautiful and so powerful and relatable.

And and also, Father, what you're saying too, I I see in the lives of all the apostles, right?

Is like it you look at their life, and we are literally like, yeah, they they were martyrs.

That means their life was super hard.

Yeah.

Like after Pentecost, they were given this courage to be faithful, but it didn't mean that you know there weren't shipwrecks, there weren't, you know, times of like poverty, there weren't, you know, there were all these different hardships that happened, but they started seeing it in light of the story of salvation, knowing that like God is with me, the Holy Spirit is at work.

So whatever happened like comes my way, if God allows, like this is part of the story being played out, and he's trustworthy.

And like I can be faithful, and God will bring new things and beauty from even like the most difficult circumstances, because their life was super challenging, you know.

And that's the whole thing right there.

You just named it because we tend to glamorize uh the lives of the saints.

And oh, isn't that beautiful?

Oh my gosh, I would love to be that.

I I hope if I'm ever called to testify to love or testify to the to truth, that I will be as courageous as Saint So-and-so or say.

No, don't glamorize it.

These people are people who struggled, who had your same life, who had your same flesh and bone, and who had the same challenges and same temptations.

And the but the difference is that those two roads open up.

Do I give in to this temptation or this evil or whatever it is, or do I choose the path that says, Purify my love, grow in holiness, seek me above all things, choose this road.

Those two roads are there.

And and it's not it, the Holy Spirit gives us those supernatural powers to be able to reject and to say, all right, I'm gonna choose this road, this road, this path to holiness.

But it's gotta be come, Holy Spirit, come.

I can't do it on my own.

If I leave it to my demise, I will fail, just like Philip said, Lord, watch over me today, otherwise, Richard will betray you.

Right?

And so it is through the power, it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Tap into it.

What a great invitation for this week.

So we hope all of you have been doing the challenge from the homily, which is taking four seconds every morning and saying, Come, Holy Spirit.

Um, so something that we hope from this week um is just becomes a part of your prayer life in great moments and in moments of trial, but allowing the Holy Spirit to really be a part of our life of faith.

So thank you, Father, for a great conversation.

Great time.

Uh, it's always wonderful to be with you, Michelle.

We'll see you next week.

Have a good one.

God bless.