Dear Friends,

Today All Are One Roman Catholic church celebrated our first-ever, First Communion! With the challenge of Pentecost–being filled with Jesus’ Spirit, it seemed appropriate to also be accepting one of our members into fuller participation with us. Being a smaller parish, we were able to individualize this special day for one young man. It was a joy to celebrate with you Liam!  Below, find today’s homily–Pastor Kathy

Today friends, is a very special day! Our Church remembers it as Pentecost—“pente” from the Greek meaning, “fiftieth.”  Now, I think we can be quite sure that the “coming of the Spirit” didn’t happen exactly fifty days after Easter and when it comes right down to it, whether it was five or fifty days, is not as important as the fact that Jesus did, indeed send his Spirit, a person, a force, his life-blood—to be with those first apostles and disciples and ultimately, us, in a special way, in his physical absence, so that he could indeed say, “I will not leave you alone!”

Today is also special because of the fact that our friend, Liam Darst will receive his first communion in the presence of his family and friends and by doing so, become ever more a part of this community. Liam has prepared for a long time to be ready for today and we are all so happy that this day has finally come!

He and I have been preparing for at least 17 weeks as there are 17 chapters in the book of preparation and it has been even longer as several weeks we had to cancel because of snow storms!–we all remember those days, not so long ago when we could barely find our front doors amid the snow piles!

But alas, spring has come, we are on the cusp of summer and new and abundant life seems to be all around!  Pentecost is really all about new life, beginning back there 50 days ago with Easter and the new life of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  Pentecost represents the new life that is possible in each of us through our connection to our brother, Jesus, first in our baptisms and then through our more adult response in our own confirmations, our own reception, or coming of the Spirit into our lives.

The reading today from Acts says that those in the room “were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak as the Spirit enabled them.”  Those of us here who have experienced our own “coming of the Spirit” into our lives have that same power of that first Pentecost which the Spirit gives, to enable us to be our best selves—to speak, to act, to do that which is needed in our world, even when we might have to stand alone to get it done.

We marvel at what we hear in the Scriptures today about what that first Pentecost was like—what these first “receivers” of the Spirit were able to do, but we, my friends, have that same power to do good, if we but choose to use it!

Liam and I spent time talking about what it would be like to receive Jesus in a special way in communion and how this “receiving” would help him to live a better life.  We talked about how God, in Jesus is, with us in a special way, always, living in us, through our parents, our sisters and brothers, our friends and then, in holy communion, in a special way.

We talked about it, trying to understand “how” this can be that Jesus is present to us in this special way, when the bread, we are told, “is his body” and the wine or grape juice, we are told, “is his blood,” yet it still tastes like bread and wine or juice.  So, he thought about it for a while and being inspired by the Spirit, said, “It’s a miracle!”  And Liam, indeed, it is! Where Jesus and his Spirit are concerned, speaking of “miracles” is always the truth!

In the first reading from Acts today; we learned that there were many different nationalities present in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost, speaking in many different languages and each one understood what the apostles had to say about their friend, Jesus, in their own tongue!

Liam and I spent time talking about as he grows and matures; he will understand even more fully how much God loves him—loves us all, and that is why we receive communion when we come to Mass, when we are ready, to have that sense that Jesus is always with us, helping us to be our best selves.

And one day, you Liam, will be old enough to take that next step—to be confirmed in your faith as so many here have already done.  But for now, your first holy communion is enough!

In the reading from Corinthians today, we hear that the Spirit of God gives each one a special gift that we are intended to use for the good of all—the gifts of the Spirit are never intended just for us.

We have probably all been aware of times in our lives when we “spoke” words either orally or in written form for the “good of all” that were profound and we wondered, “where did that come from?” It was the Spirit, my friends, speaking, writing, teaching through us for the good of all.

So Liam that is what you have to look forward to from this day onward, first through your first reception of communion today and later, as you grow, through Jesus’ Spirit.

And in conclusion, I say to you and to each of us, God’s love through Jesus is always there for us, especially through his Spirit.  Remember Liam, we talked about a way to understand “spirit” is to think about all that makes up who each of us is—all that makes us unique.  There is no one like you Liam, in this entire world,  and who you are is what our God wants you to share with this world, in whatever ways you choose to do that.  The same is true for all of us!  And Jesus gives us our “marching” words, so to speak in today’s gospel, “Peace be with you!”—and in case, we didn’t get it the first time, Jesus says it again, “Peace be with you!”

Liam, my friend, and to each of us today, we will always know if we are doing the right thing if the overall feeling we are experiencing is, peace.  Blessings on you especially today, Liam and on all of us!  Amen? Amen!

My friends, we are coming to the end of the Easter Season with today and concluding next Sunday with Pentecost—the coming of the Spirit among us! This past Thursday, the Church remembered the day that Jesus was with the apostles one moment and then suddenly wasn’t with them, at least physically.

He told them and us that he would never leave us, so we knew that he certainly meant more than physical presence.  A close look at Jesus’ life and words tells us that his message to those first apostles, disciples and ultimately to us, was always “loaded,” so to speak, with more than meets the eye.  The above example of his being with them and then physically leaving them along with his additional message that, in fact, he would be with them always, is a case in point—many layers and ways to understand what he has said.  The parables are other examples of this.

I believe our Church would be stronger and more meaningful to more people if the hierarchy remembered this—Jesus’ ultimate message, the one he truly wants us to get, isn’t on the surface, alone, but goes much deeper.

In deference to Ascension Thursday, celebrated this past week; I looked up the list of holy days within the Catholic church that are still considered, “days of obligatory Mass attendance,” being that we don’t usually meet for Mass on these days and I found an interesting thing.

Most years the Church considers, besides each Sunday, six days that are days of obligation to attend Mass.  Those days are: January 1, the Solemnity of Mary—this is a feast to Mary, our mother and sister that apparently is about “being serious and dignified.”  I think we might do better to say, this is a feast to remember that Mary was one of us and did a wonderful job of it! “Solemnity” seems to speak of putting someone on a pedestal, out of sight and mind.

Moving on, we have the Ascension of Jesus, usually celebrated 40 days after Easter—which the Church remembered this last Thursday. This one too should have its name changed—where is Jesus ascending to? For a long time now the “three tiers” idea of our universe; heaven, earth and hell has been dispelled with—probably since astronauts have gone further and further into space and haven’t run into heaven yet! Although, on a larger plane, what these same astronauts have discovered out beyond the earth could be said to be quite “heavenly.”

Next, we have the Assumption of Mary, body and soul into heaven—again we have the notion that she is going up somewhere. This feast day grew out of the notion that because she carried the Christ Child in her womb, we couldn’t just let that precious body rot in the ground. Here again, the Church misses the point of our loving God choosing to be one with us, in our humanity. Humanity thus, is a good thing, not something we need to belittle and thus, the gift our God has given us.

Then, comes November 1, All Saints Day, which is a good one in that it remembers that all of us, are of God.

Next, we have the Immaculate Conception celebrated on December 8 and in my opinion, this is a feast that the Church really needs to lose because of the wrong-headed theology it demonstrates. If Mary was truly conceived without sin—or in other words, perfect, then she wasn’t human, which by definition means, “imperfect,” thus, there goes Jesus’ humanity.

We conclude with Christmas, December 25—God with us!  But, and this seems to be important, if January 1, August 15 and November 1 fall in any calendar year, on a Saturday or a Monday, there is no obligation to attend Mass because, I guess, the Sunday obligation “spills over” in either direction and “covers us.”  Certainly, folks are encouraged to attend Mass, but no penalty of “sin” if you don’t! Sounds kind of anal to me!

Now, you might be wondering why Christmas, the Ascension and December 8 aren’t included here.  Well, the Ascension always falls on a Thursday, and the Sunday obligation can’t stretch that far, I guess, so it has to be a holy day, Christmas is always a holy day no matter what day if falls on as well as December 8. Now, why December 8 is always a holy day, I can’t tell and besides; I have already said that we should lose this one!

And why then, if Christmas is a holy day, is not Easter? Well, Easter is always on a Sunday, so that is covered too! Double anal!!

This all makes me think of Jesus railing at the Pharisees for “tying people up in knots” with over 600 rules and regulations for daily living, as he tried instead to get them back to the “heart” of the law, instead of the “letter” of the law.

So, why am I picking on the hierarchy here?! Precisely for the same reason that Jesus picked on the Pharisees and the other hierarchy of his time—he wanted them to get beyond rules, which are merely meant to control people and get to the heart of the law, meant to set people free to be their very best selves.  Love God, and love your neighbor as you would want to be loved and appreciated—that’s it and if you do that, there is no need for days of obligation. Completing days of obligation is really the easier thing to do, rather than being about, “loving God and others.”  I have known people in my life who have kept all the rules, except the one to show love and mercy.

This whole Easter Season, in its readings, set up by people more gifted than the “rule makers,” is intended to help us see the glory of God made visible to us through the life, death and resurrection of the human and divine, Jesus of Nazareth.

We know that his life, death and resurrection singled him out from among humans because people were drawn to him through his words, his actions and something very special they saw within him.  Even those who had never seen him in the flesh, or heard his words, like Stephen in the Acts’ reading today, and was stoned to death rather than be silent about this man who had so captivated his life.  The apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, once known as Saul holding the garments of those who persecuted Stephen, became the greatest evangelizer of Jesus, sight unseen, that the world has ever known—granted he did have the “throwing off the horse” experience!

The message from Revelation today is a simple one too, “I am coming soon” and again we know that this has many layers of meaning.  The reading from John is from the beautiful 17^th chapter that speaks so intimately of our God’s desire to be “one with us”—the very chapter where the name of our parish is taken from.  The Incarnation, in its very best sense was all about this—to be one with us as Jesus was and is one with the Creator.  Nothing here about keeping laws, rules, obligations—6 or 600!

Just love, love God, love each other. That was what was missing in Jesus’ time—the hierarchy of his time was into pressing the people with obligations and they, as my dear mother, through marriage, always used to say, “had forgotten the love.”

So, my friends, that is why I pick on the hierarchy as Jesus did in his time—to challenge them and us to remember the love—that is the only obligation we must ever keep—to remember the parables, the teachings and the wisdom of our brother Jesus—all about love.   Amen? Amen!