Homily for May 27, 2007 Pentecost Sunday
A doctor who comes to me for spiritual direction gave me a book this past week that I wish I would have had about 5 years ago. It's a story about a professional storyteller, Joel ben Izzy who lost his voice in surgery. The Book is the Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness. This storyteller, after months of depression, ran into his old teacher who challenged him and insulted him a lot, too.
In the course of their dialogue he asked him what happened, and, when he told him the teacher said, "So what's the point? Every story, if it's a good story, has a moral. What's the point?"
And Joel ben Izzy said, "I don't know." And he challenged him to finish the story, and he said, "But I don't know how it ends."
And he said, "Well, keep talking and the ending will find you." Well, that story meant a lot to me for obvious reasons, but also it became a way for me of thinking of the feast of Pentecost that we celebrate today.
Pentecost is one moment in an ongoing story. It's a feast day in the life of the Jewish people. It was originally an agricultural feast, and it's a moment in the life of the early church. The Acts of the Apostles is the continuation of Pentecost.
One of our inquirers who is looking into the Catholic Church has been reading that book recently, and he told me what an inspiration it's been to him. If anybody wants to begin reading the Scriptures I would suggest you begin with that book. It's volume two in a two-volume work. The first volume is the Gospel of Luke. The second volume is the Acts of the Apostles. And there's probably a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth volume and so on.
And I don't know what volume we're in, but I think what I would like to suggest is we're in the middle of a continuing story. It's the continuing story of the church; the continuing story of God's Spirit coming into our hearts; the continuing story of the incarnation, of God becoming flesh and blood in human life; of all of us becoming little Christs to the world. And we don't know how that story is unfolding.
Oftentimes, you know, if you're in the middle of a story and you only know the story from within, all you know is your own feelings and your own perceptions, and you know little pieces that come to you piecemeal. And we don't know the overall pattern.
Sometimes if you're in the middle of the story, all you know is that you want out of that story. And this particular storyteller's teacher told him that and he said, "What would you do if you were in the middle of telling a story and one of your characters wanted out?"
And he said, "My characters never want out of my stories." But, can you relate to that? Sometimes you feel like you're in a story that you'd like to get out of, and you don't have a choice but to keep on talking, keep on acting, keep on telling the story, and the ending will find you. Maybe we don't know the ending yet.
Anyway, that's where Pentecost comes home to me now. You and I are all in the middle of an ongoing story. Maybe all we know is our own feelings and perceptions, but the promise of God is there, and we know that if we just keep on talking the ending will find us, and it will be a beautiful ending because it's being written by God's Spirit of love.
I want to end, too, just by making a comment on the second reading. I wish they'd have continued that reading when they put the lectionary together, because at the end of that chapter, the eighth chapter, of Paul's letter to the Romans there's a passage that I find very beautiful, where he says, "The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, because even when we don't know how to pray, God's Spirit makes intercessions for us with sighs that are too deep for words, and God who searches our hearts knows what the Spirit means."
So think for a moment of those times in your life when all you could do was sigh. God's Spirit was within that sigh, and God knew and knows what the Spirit means, and God hears that prayer.
In the course of their dialogue he asked him what happened, and, when he told him the teacher said, "So what's the point? Every story, if it's a good story, has a moral. What's the point?"
And Joel ben Izzy said, "I don't know." And he challenged him to finish the story, and he said, "But I don't know how it ends."
And he said, "Well, keep talking and the ending will find you." Well, that story meant a lot to me for obvious reasons, but also it became a way for me of thinking of the feast of Pentecost that we celebrate today.
Pentecost is one moment in an ongoing story. It's a feast day in the life of the Jewish people. It was originally an agricultural feast, and it's a moment in the life of the early church. The Acts of the Apostles is the continuation of Pentecost.
One of our inquirers who is looking into the Catholic Church has been reading that book recently, and he told me what an inspiration it's been to him. If anybody wants to begin reading the Scriptures I would suggest you begin with that book. It's volume two in a two-volume work. The first volume is the Gospel of Luke. The second volume is the Acts of the Apostles. And there's probably a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth volume and so on.
And I don't know what volume we're in, but I think what I would like to suggest is we're in the middle of a continuing story. It's the continuing story of the church; the continuing story of God's Spirit coming into our hearts; the continuing story of the incarnation, of God becoming flesh and blood in human life; of all of us becoming little Christs to the world. And we don't know how that story is unfolding.
Oftentimes, you know, if you're in the middle of a story and you only know the story from within, all you know is your own feelings and your own perceptions, and you know little pieces that come to you piecemeal. And we don't know the overall pattern.
Sometimes if you're in the middle of the story, all you know is that you want out of that story. And this particular storyteller's teacher told him that and he said, "What would you do if you were in the middle of telling a story and one of your characters wanted out?"
And he said, "My characters never want out of my stories." But, can you relate to that? Sometimes you feel like you're in a story that you'd like to get out of, and you don't have a choice but to keep on talking, keep on acting, keep on telling the story, and the ending will find you. Maybe we don't know the ending yet.
Anyway, that's where Pentecost comes home to me now. You and I are all in the middle of an ongoing story. Maybe all we know is our own feelings and perceptions, but the promise of God is there, and we know that if we just keep on talking the ending will find us, and it will be a beautiful ending because it's being written by God's Spirit of love.
I want to end, too, just by making a comment on the second reading. I wish they'd have continued that reading when they put the lectionary together, because at the end of that chapter, the eighth chapter, of Paul's letter to the Romans there's a passage that I find very beautiful, where he says, "The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, because even when we don't know how to pray, God's Spirit makes intercessions for us with sighs that are too deep for words, and God who searches our hearts knows what the Spirit means."
So think for a moment of those times in your life when all you could do was sigh. God's Spirit was within that sigh, and God knew and knows what the Spirit means, and God hears that prayer.
Labels: Homilies
posted by Fr. Larry Voelker at
5:18 AM
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