Seen and Unseen

Homily for the Feast of Pentecost
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Given at St. Patrick's Church
By: Rev. Fr. Ronnie P. Floyd, STL

 “I believe in one God the Father almighty maker of heaven and earth of all things visible and invisible.”

 We say these words every week on Sunday professing our belief in an unseen world. and for centuries this belief was a foregone conclusion to Christians and non-Christians alike. People felt in their heart a longing, a longing for the perfect, a longing for stability, a longing for the unchangeable and eternal, and this longing they reasoned, suggested that there was something in us and in the world, that could not be seen or touched or tasted but which would satisfy the deepest longings of the Human heart. 

Today, distracted by so much busy-ness, by so many material marvels that entertain us and keep us occupied, that help us forget the reality of death and suffering, people often forget that desire, that yearning, for something better than this world. Even many Christians, have a backwards understanding of heaven, thinking that it is just a re-hashing of this world, except that no one will suffer, and everyone will be a millionaire. Often it takes the reality of suffering and sacrifice, to remind us again, that our heart longs for something better than this passing world.  AND… This blindness is not a new thing. Jesus speaks of it over and over again in the scriptures. Jesus cures the blind so often in the Gospels not because there are an inordinate number blind Jews in Israel, but because He is speaking to all mankind, telling us all that there is so much more to be seen and thought of than just what our eyes can see.

 Faith is difficult, because it demands that we who are blind Act as if we can see. Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine yourself walking now down Main Street, here in Wareham, with all the construction going on. Scary isn’t it. Just because you can’t see the holes in the side walk and the men working, and the heavy equipment, doesn’t mean it’s not there.

 In the Gospel of John, our Lord says, “These words are Spirit and Truth and the Spirit gives life” Our Lord was talking on that day about the Eucharist, The gift of Jesus’ flesh and blood, which He says IS TRUE FOOD AND TRUE DRINK! Like the whole of our faith, this teaching then and now is difficult!  Back then many of those following Jesus abandoned Him, because He taught this absurd notion that “We must Eat His Flesh and Drink His Blood.” And He was given every opportunity to clarify Himself to say no, I was just kidding, I was meant it symbolically, But He didn’t, in fact He re-enforced the REALITY of the Eucharist By saying, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you shall not have life within you.”

 As Catholics we TRULY BELIEVE that HE IS REALLY PRESENT That the bread and wine, which we offer God, Is transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, So that after the prayer of Consecration, when the priest lifts First the body, and then the blood, of the Lord, Although it may look like bread, there is no bread there, but TRULY it is His flesh, and although the chalice make look like its filled with simple wine, in truth it is His blood. The Great Angelic Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, called this mystery Transubstantiation. Saying that although the accidents were those of bread and wine the substance was His body and blood. Another way of saying this is that the appearance is that of bread and wine, while the reality is His body and blood.

 Initially that is a hard concept to grasp, isn’t it, since usually things are what they seem to be. But then again, all you need to do is look in your car’s mirrors and read: “objects in the mirror are closer than they appear to be,” to realize this. Or think of the Sun and Moon. During the course of the day it often appears as if the Sun moves across the sky, and at night as we drive home in our car I am sure we have all pondered why the moon seems to follow our car. When we look up at that same night sky it appears as if we are seeing stars and planets and galaxies. When in reality, astronomers will tell us, that that light took thousands and perhaps even millions of years to get here, and today that heavenly body, might no longer be there.

I am sure all of us have heard and even used the phrase “things are not what they appear to be,” and that is what our Faith is about, Spirit and Truth, which gives life! Our faith is full of unseen realities: At the core of it is a belief in the unseen God. A belief that He is actually a Trinity of persons A belief that He loves us, and became Man. A belief in the reality of Jesus’ miracles, And the reality of His Sacrifice, A belief in His resurrection and in the promise of Heaven, and danger of Hell. As St. Thomas wrote in His famous song of Eucharistic praise: “Faith for all defects supplying, when the feeble senses fail.” It is the Spirit that gives life! And today Jesus send’s His Spirit on the Church to teach us all things, and help us see, if only in a partial way, for now, the reality of the unseen world.

 The Spirit gives us blind sinners the courage to live as if we could see. and challenges us to act on realities unseen, but very real. It is the Spirit that gives us the strength, to fight our passions, Living according to God’s law, focused on going to heaven, Rather than on the pleasures of this world, which seem so good, so natural for us to seek. It is the Spirit that gives us the ability even to sacrifice everything With Christ on the Cross, for the things of Heaven. The Spirit that allows us to see the perfection of Christ’s Church Despite the imperfection of its Priests, religious, and laity. and to see the beauty of our neighbors even through the camouflage of their sins And on this weekend, when so many of our second graders will make their first holy communion it is the Spirit which gives us the ability to kneel in adoration before the Eucharist aware that what looks like bread, is actually the Body of the Lord, which has been Sacrifice, and what looks like wine, is actually His Blood.  Whether we open our mouth to be fed by the Lord like a little child is fed by a loving parent. Or we raise our hands, brought together to make a throne for us to receive the king of the world, The Spirit allows us to see that Jesus is giving Himself to us, so that we can be strengthened to give ourselves for others! To live in this world, but not to be of it!

 Eucharistic devotion is so important to the life of a Christian because in receiving the Lord and adoring Him, a little piece of that unseen world, the reality that is more real than what we can see is incorporated into our hearts. We receive Him so that we can see how much we have to be thankful for so that we can understand what He gave to us and now asks of us, and so that He can remain with us always, even unto the end of the age. Today we have the opportunity to receive the Lord, if our hearts are free from all sin, and open to His goodness. But it is important to remember that receiving Him is not enough. St. Paul warns against those who receive Him unworthily, with no desire to see the spiritual reality and truth, and be transformed by it. If we would see, we must ask the Holy Spirit to fall down upon us: by regularly confessing our sins, by living lives of prayer, and by acting as if we can see. One of the most powerful ways of doing this is Eucharistic Adoration, When we take some time out of our busy day, out of the material world To focus on the unseen world.

 In two weeks time the Church will celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, often called Corpus Christi. In honor of the Feast day there will be many different events and devotions going on in our Parish and around the Diocese. Particularly, here at St. Patrick’s we will celebrate our annual forty hour devotion, as the Blessed Sacrament remains exposed for Adoration for 40 hours straight on the Altar of our Church. The unseen reality of Jesus’ love and gift for us will be here to be adored all day and all night, So that no one will have an excuse that they were too busy. Today I would challenge all of you hear to consider Individually or as a family spending an hour of Eucharistic Adoration with the Lord, to help you deepen the spirits gift of sight which is poured upon the Church each Pentecost.