Am I passionate?

Homily

Solemnity of Pentecost B2

19 May 2024

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Am I passionate?

If your heart isn't into it, then don't do it.  This is the best advice I ever received from my mom, who passed away when I was 26 in 2001. She noticed I was skipping daily Mass as a seminarian, so she wondered about my heart.  I'll never forget her telling me that if I wasn't passionate about being a priest, then for the sake of everyone, don't do it.

You too are meant to have a heart that burns and bleeds and breaks.  Dedication to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which we will celebrate the Friday and Saturday after Corpus Christi as the ultimate hangover to the Easter celebration that officially ends today on Pentecost, shows that we Christians are fully committed to being alive in the Holy Spirit. To be alive is nothing less than to have a human heart that can burn, and bleed and break.

So, am I passioante?

If I never arrive at a place where my heart can feel and desire beyond my fears and doubts, then the whole Christian project is for nought.  I mean that.  The whole liturgical enterprise, beginning with Advent's hopeful longing for the coming of the Lord, through the penances of Lent when we through mortification try to put to death the sins of the flesh that only kill, through the Paschal Mystery of Jesus by which we lay hold of the truth that only by losing one's life in love will I truly find it for eternal life, through the graces of Holy Easter when we bravely follow the Resurrected Christ into newness of life - all of this is for nought if my heart is not fully animated by the Holy Spirit, if my heart cannot burn, and bleed and break.

Am I passionate?

The Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, a passionate Catholic, was invited to speak at Benedictine College on what he is convicted about, what he is willing to suffer and die for.  So many were offended by what he said.  For me, it doesn't matter if I liked the speech or if it fit my brand of Catholicism, nor does it matter whether I think he should have had the platform.  That's all beyond my control, and that's ok.  The reality is that his take on truth and love deserved respect, as it was not inherently hateful or harmful.  His passion has a place in the diverse and rich gifts of the Holy Spirit within our tradition and communion of the Church.

Reactions to the speech are in the realm of the flesh which St. Paul describes well - rivalry, jealousy, competitiveness and the like.  The talk was quickly judged in political terms - who is in or out, right or wrong, accepted or canceled, liberal or conservative.  All this reaction because he is judged like me to be part of a privileged and oppressive class.  

He simply said that it's family that ultimately brings life and happiness.  That's his conviction.

Maybe you're passionate about something else, and that's fine and good, so long as you're passionate about something positive.  To be a child of the Holy Spirit it to have a heart that burns and bleeds and breaks, and to refuse to get stuck in the realm of the flesh, fraught with sin and rash judgments and addiction to privacy and choice.

The only lasting peace and equality comes when people are children of the Spirit, and are willing to give their lives passionately for what they believe, rather than taking life.  Children of the Spirit don't whine or cancel, but imagine how much life there would be if everyone embraced their true nature, and their life as gift with responsibility.  

You are meant to have a heart that bleeds, and burns and breaks. Am I passionate?  Am I a child of the Holy Spirit?