Pentecost Sunday May 28, 2023
Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
Have you thought about it? About what you would do with more power? For those of you who weren’t at the 4pm Mass last week, I asked everyone to consider what they would do with more power. I explained that Jesus had all power in heaven and on earth and used it on a single command: “go make disciples, baptizing them…” I explained that power is not found in fear and coercion, but in the ability to give others the freedom to choose what is good. I concluded by pointing out that every one of us does have power in any moment that we are conscious – more power than any government or corporation. I challenged everyone to use that power to make disciples of all nations, starting with themselves.
Perhaps you aren’t ready to answer the question of what to do with our power, however, because you don’t yet really believe that we have any real power. More than governments and corporations? How can that be? What kind of power is that? The grace of God. As a baptized, [soon-to-be] confirmed Catholic, you have access to that “all power in heaven and on earth” that Jesus was talking about just before his Ascension. That power is called the grace of God.
And how is it so powerful? How does it work? We can see government power at work when people follow laws or face punishment. We can see corporate power at work when marketing campaigns get millions of people to buy certain products. We can see social power at work when people toss out their convictions just to avoid being cancelled by the Twitter mob. So, how can we see this power called grace? Most of the time, you can’t.
And the reason you can’t always see it is that it works at a different level. Unlike the powers of force, greed, and fear which merely confine freedom to get a certain outcome, this power of grace increases freedom. Worldly power creates external pressure on people and aims at appearances. The power of grace increases internal freedom in the human soul, allowing them to make the choice to become a disciple, to be baptized, and to enter into eternal life.
Human beings are complex. We are a union of body and soul. We have animal instincts, but also rationality and free will. We are made in the image and likeness of God. At the very center of every person is that mysterious place that only God can access. Think of a spring in a mountain. The water wells up from deep within the earth. We can build things around that spring – channels, aqueducts, pipes, irrigation – to funnel that water where we want and mostly produce the results we want. What we can’t do, however, is change where the water comes from or how much of it there is. If the spring dries up, it’s beyond our power to fix, no matter how many complex structures we build around the surface. If the water source is contaminated, we can’t change that. We might be able to filter it after the fact, but not purify it at the source.
So it is with power. We can use force, fear, and greed to “build” things that channel human behavior in a certain direction, but we can’t access that inner soul to change it there. But God can. And the Holy Spirit poured out on Pentecost, [poured out in Confirmation today], He is God. [This is why Jesus in the Gospel says that “Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me.”] As God, he can reach into the very source of the spring – our inner souls – to create water where there is none, to strengthen the flow – the freedom – of that water, to purify that water from the poison of sin. Indeed, he can so radically increase the strength and purity of that water that it breaks the worldly structures built around it to control it. In this metaphor, the water is our freedom, our love, and it is the grace of God.
Still, that’s what the Holy Spirit does… what God does, right? How can I say that we have that kind of power? How do you and I have any influence on the inner soul, the hidden spring of water inside another person? Because you and I have the Holy Spirit. It’s why the Apostles on Pentecost could be understood in a dozen different languages. Our words are like all those other worldly structures channeling the “water” of our thoughts into external structures. Speaking in the Holy Spirit, however, the Apostles could convey truth more directly, transcending the structural limitations of language… kind of like being able to simply create water inside a container instead of having to slowly pour it through a funnel.
By receiving the Holy Spirit, we gain a certain kind of access to the inner reality of other people… one that no worldly power can ever have. For all these analogies, there is still a mystery here. The dynamic of God’s power and human freedom will always be mysterious to us here on earth. Yet, we do have some idea… some apprehension of this mystery through the gift of faith. While we can’t measure this power in the same way as watts of electricity or numbers of votes in the electoral college, we do know that the grace of God is real because we see it in conversions, the lives of the saints, and the endurance of the Church.
To put it as simply as possible, the grace of God is a power that can enter a person’s soul and increase their freedom from within. By God’s generosity, we are able to receive that grace into our own souls. Because we have the Holy Spirit, we are given the gift of being able to channel that grace towards the souls of others. We can use God’s own power in service to the inner freedom of our family, friends, neighbors, and even our enemies. We see one clear example of this in the power to forgive sins through Baptism and Confession. We know that every sacrament bestows grace. God has taught us that every prayer, every loving act of self-sacrifice, every act of service has the potential to channel grace into our own souls and the souls of others. It is really the work of the Holy Spirit in us, but we really are working with him.
So, work with the Holy Spirit. Don’t be fooled by worldly displays of power or by the lie that you are powerless. By prayer, sacrifice, and the sacraments, use God’s power in the form of grace to find freedom for yourself and, indeed, for the whole world.