WEBVTT 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:18.800 You will remember on holy night, holy Thursday night, Peter stood in the courtyard of the high priest warming his hands by a charcoal fire, and he looked like every frightened human being in history. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:32.079 A servant girl, not a Roman soldier, not a member of the Sanhedrin, a servant girl asks him, Were you not also with Jesus? 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:48.320 And Peter the Rock, the leader of the twelve, the man who had earlier had sworn he would die before betraying Jesus, looked her in the eyes and said, I do not know him. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:54.399 Three times, three denials, the cock crows. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:58.719 Peter runs into the night and weeps. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:08.560 Now if we fast forward fifty days, same Peter, same Jerusalem, same people, same danger. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:12.959 Now he stands in the middle of the city and opens his mouth. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:19.359 He does not whisper, he does not apologize, he does not soften the message, he preaches. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:22.799 And he preaches to thousands. 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:26.480 He tells them that Jesus Christ is risen. 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:29.040 He tells them to repent. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:32.000 He tells them to be baptized. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:37.680 And three thousand people converted in that afternoon. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:42.879 So here's the question Pentecost asks every Christian. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:44.959 What happened to Peter? 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:51.040 What happened between the coward by the fire and the preacher in Jerusalem? 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:54.640 What turns cowards into martyrs? 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:58.159 What turns fishermen into apostles? 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:07.120 What turns eleven frightened men hiding behind locked doors into the movement that changed human history? 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:09.680 The resurrection? 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:15.520 Well, we saw, we know that Peter saw Jesus post-resurrection. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:18.800 In fact, they went back to their normal lives. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:20.719 They went back to fishing. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:27.919 He saw Christ alive, he touched him, he ate with him, but he was still hiding. 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:29.759 Was it belief? 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:32.080 Well, they already believed. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:33.599 Was it courage? 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:36.400 Well, courage is built over years. 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:40.719 These men changed from one moment to the next. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:44.800 There's only one answer: Pentecost. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:52.159 The Holy Spirit came, and he did not simply visit, he moved in. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:58.879 You see, Christianity is different from every other religion in the world. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:12.879 Most religions shape their way by saying, God is there, you are here, now you must climb, pray harder, meditate more, reach upward, find him. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:17.680 Christianity turns it upside down. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:20.479 God comes down. 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:29.120 He becomes a child, he walks the roads of Galilee, he dies on a cross, he rises, he ascends back to the Father. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:34.400 And then on Pentecost, he does something almost unimaginable. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:38.159 He moves into the human soul. 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:45.439 Saint Paul says, Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:46.719 A temple. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:49.199 Think about that. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:58.240 In the Old Testament, the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem was in a temple, the most sacred place on earth. 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:00.800 Only the high priest entered it. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:12.560 Once a year, people removed their sandals before the presence of God, and now God has made his dwelling in baptized souls. 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:20.319 The Holy Spirit lives in your temple, not symbolically, not poetically, literally. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:25.199 This is what the church calls the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:26.560 Indwelling. 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:30.240 God making his home within. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:34.160 The Holy Spirit is not a guest. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:37.759 He's not visiting, he's not renting a room. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:39.439 He has moved in. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:43.199 And here's the question Pentecost asks. 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:45.120 Are we living like it? 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:50.160 Because I think one of the tragedies of modern Catholics is this. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:54.160 The Holy Spirit is the forgotten person of the Holy Trinity. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:57.120 We pray to the Father, which is good. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:00.399 We pray to Jesus, excellent. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:07.199 But when was the last time we actually prayed to the Holy Spirit? 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:13.360 When was the last time we stopped and simply said, Come, Holy Spirit, come? 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:17.279 When was the last time we listened? 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:21.759 Because the Holy Spirit is closer than people realize. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:24.879 The Hebrew word is rua. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:27.360 The Greek word is pneuma. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:30.800 The Latin word is piritus. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:34.879 They all mean the same thing breath. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:38.560 The Spirit is the breath of God. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:43.120 God breathes into Adam and he lives. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:49.199 Jesus breathes on the apostles and says, Receive the Holy Spirit. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:56.240 At Pentecost, the Spirit comes like a mighty wind, and the church is born. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:01.279 The Holy Spirit is closer to us than our own breathing. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:20.959 Every prayer, every act of faith, every movement towards goodness, every time a person forgives someone, every time someone comes back to confession, every conversion, every vocation, every saint, every fight against temptation, the Holy Spirit is there. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:25.920 Working quietly, faithfully. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:40.800 And maybe somebody here today is carrying something heavy: fear, sin, grief, anxiety, indifference, perhaps even a locked room in your soul. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:43.759 Remember where the gospel began. 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:49.439 The gospel began with locked doors. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:54.240 That was the first church, locked, fearful, hidden. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:58.639 And then the risen Christ walks right through those walls. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:02.560 Maybe that is Pentecost for some people here. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:08.879 Christ walking into your locked room and saying, Peace be with you. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:14.959 Then breathing his spirit again, a new beginning. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.560 And so here's a challenge for you. 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:29.519 I don't want anyone leaving here today saying, Oh, that was a nice homily, which is nice to say, but today, Pentecost demands something. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:32.959 So here's the assignment for this week. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:34.639 You have homework. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:42.560 Every morning, before you grab your phone, before your emails, before the coffee, four words. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:45.600 Come, Holy Spirit, come. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:47.439 That's it. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:49.360 Four seconds. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:53.439 But do not underestimate four seconds surrendered to God. 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:56.319 Say it before the difficult conversation. 00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:58.560 Say it before a doctor's visit. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:06.879 Say it before confession, before communion, before that meeting, before temptations, before any decision that you make. 00:08:07.199 --> 00:08:09.600 Come, Holy Spirit, come. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:19.199 Because the Spirit is courage, the Spirit is wisdom, the Spirit is strength, the Spirit is love. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:23.120 And I want to end where we began. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:25.439 What happened to Peter? 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:30.959 The same thing that happened to every baptized Christian. 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:33.360 The Holy Spirit moved in. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:39.200 The fire is already there, the breath is already there, the wind is already there. 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:42.240 The problem is not that God is absent. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:47.759 The problem is that too many Catholics live as if the temple were empty. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:49.759 It's not empty. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:54.159 He is there right there, right now, in your soul. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:58.879 Pentecost is not the feast of waiting for the Holy Spirit. 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:03.519 Pentecost is waking up to the fact that He is already there. 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:10.799 So throw open the doors, open the windows, let him into every locked room. 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:21.039 And when the Holy Spirit asks the question he's been asking saints for two thousand years, will you let me make you holy? 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:24.159 You need to say yes. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:26.879 Say yes today. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:35.200 Because the same spirit who turned Peter into a coward turned Peter into a martyr and an evangelist. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:44.720 It's the same spirit that lives in this church, in this parish, in the pews that you're sitting in, lives in the souls of the people here. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:54.639 And if that spirit could change Peter, imagine what he can do to you if you finally say yes. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:58.000 Come, Holy Spirit, come. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:01.279 Lead me, show me the way. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:03.279 Amen.