SPEAKER_00: In the first reading today, we see Saint Paul has arrived in Ephesus, and he finds some believers and asks them a strange question.
SPEAKER_00: Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?
SPEAKER_00: And their answer is kind of shocking.
SPEAKER_00: We've never even heard there is a Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: They believed, they were religious, they were trying, they had received John's baptism, they had repentance, they had good intentions, but they were missing the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if sometimes that's the story of many of us Catholics.
SPEAKER_00: We believe, we come to Mass, we try to be good people, we try to do what the commandments ask of us, we know repentance.
SPEAKER_00: But if someone were to ask us, what role does the Holy Spirit actually play in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Many Catholics would not even know what to say.
SPEAKER_00: The forgotten person of the Trinity is often the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We know the Father, we love Jesus, but the Holy Spirit, sometimes he comes as an afterthought.
SPEAKER_00: And yet the entire Christian life is impossible without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot forgive enemies without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot stay faithful in suffering without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot fight temptation without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot become a saint without the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Christianity is not self-improvement, it is transformation.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples in the gospel today think that they have arrived.
SPEAKER_00: They tell Jesus, now we believe.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we get it.
SPEAKER_00: We understand.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus almost smiles at them and says, Do you believe now?
SPEAKER_00: The hour is coming when you will all scatter.
SPEAKER_00: What is he telling them?
SPEAKER_00: Be careful of overconfidence.
SPEAKER_00: Because in a few hours Peter will deny him.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples will run.
SPEAKER_00: They will hide behind locked doors.
SPEAKER_00: Good intentions were not enough.
SPEAKER_00: They needed Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: They needed the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's the lesson for us today.
SPEAKER_00: There are some battles in life where your intelligence will not be enough.
SPEAKER_00: Your personality will not be enough.
SPEAKER_00: Your willpower will definitely not be enough.
SPEAKER_00: Your education, your money, your titles, your influence, all your things, none of that will be enough.
SPEAKER_00: You will always need the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because there will come moments when life knocks at your door with sickness, disappointment, betrayal, loneliness, anxiety, grief, deep temptations, and you suddenly realize I can't do this by myself.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus already knew that.
SPEAKER_00: That's why his final words in the gospel are so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: In the world you will have trouble, but take courage.
SPEAKER_00: I have conquered the world.
SPEAKER_00: Notice he does not say you might have trouble.
SPEAKER_00: No, he says you will have trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Christianity is not the absence of storms, it is the presence of Christ in the storm.
SPEAKER_00: And because Christ conquered the world, suffering does not get the last word.
SPEAKER_00: Sin does not get the last word.
SPEAKER_00: Our mistakes, death does not get the last word.
SPEAKER_00: Anxiety does not get the last word.
SPEAKER_00: The tomb does not get the last word.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ does.
SPEAKER_00: And so we move towards Pentecost this week.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe our prayer should become very simple.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, I know about you.
SPEAKER_00: And I invite you to live in me.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, strengthen what is weak.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, heal my wounds.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, set me on fire.
SPEAKER_00: Because the greatest tragedy is not to lose money, status, success, or comfort.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest tragedy is to live an entire Christian life and never unleash the power of the Holy Spirit already given to us.
SPEAKER_00: And so the greatest saints in history were not necessarily the smartest people.
SPEAKER_00: They were simply the people who let the Holy Spirit take over.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the challenge for us today.
SPEAKER_00: Do I really trust on the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_00: Do I call down the power of the Holy Spirit in my life?
SPEAKER_00: Do it.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus is asking us to trust and to live with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.