Sunday, May 12, 2013

Informer / Holy Spirit (2013-05-12)

This is my homily, Sunday  May 12, 2013.  I am a Catholic chaplain at  Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU, Teaneck),   FDU Newman Catholic Association,  New Jersey City University (NJCU) in Jersey City.  At FDU, Sunday Evening Mass 5:00 pm/7:00 pm celebrated during Fall and Spring semester  at  FDU University Interfaith Chapel, 842 River Road, Teaneck, NJ.

** This is our final Sunday Mass of Spring 2013. We will resume Sunday August 25, 2013 @ 5:00 pm ***


Acts 7:55-60 | Psalm 97 | Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20 | John 17:20-26

Bibliography: John Henry Newman, “Sermon 15, Religious Faith Rational”,  Parochial and Plain Sermons Book 1   (1891),  San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997. Pages 123-127.


[__01__]        In this Gospel, Jesus is praying for his disciples at the Last Supper. They are about to be sent out on mission.

[__02__]        The upcoming final examinations.  In order to prepare ourselves for these examinations, we would have 2 general paths to take.   And, we probably have to go down both paths… that is…  (A) Re-read the material in textbooks, articles  AND (B) re-read / review our notes.

Both are important. But, are not using our notebook – our teacher’s guidance – as a way to know what would be most important in the textbook, the article, the equation or experiment.

[__02__]     Could we not say the same is true in any of our spiritual decisions, our moral decisions… our relationships as well?

That is, there is information that we learn on our own….  And there is information that we have written down, in our notebooks, learned from others.

[__03__]    I make this distinction – in the academics of Becton, Dickinson ..and Fairleigh Dickinson as an example.


In a sermon about religious faith, Cardinal Newman / Blessed John Henry Newman reminds us that much our everyday – and intellectual – knowledge is based on what we learn from others.

That is, we do not simply learn everything based on our own effort, cognition, and completion of the syllabus. We learn also from what others tell us.  We learn from what we hear from another person.

[__04__]     And, this telling – and hearing – is the basis of the early Church, the telling of the Good News. It remains the basis of our communion and worship today.

In this regard, Newman preaches that religion has a rational basis.  In other words, though we cannot prove the Trinity – as a geometric proof …. Nor can we prove the Resurrection with physical DNA … we have heard about these events – these facts from others. 

We have also learned these truths from those witnesses for whom their faith became, literally, a conviction…  a death sentence.  Many martyrs have died for our faith.

Throughout our lives, we learn to trust the the perceptions, the information which we gain from others.

That is, have we not, at times, put aside our own perception and information for information from another.

Often, this acceptance of another’s  viewpoint is based on trust and on love … and, we call this by different names … friendship, family, marriage.

We also consider this trust to be part of our faith and salvation.  We have been told….


[__05__]          The upcoming final examinations.  In order to prepare ourselves for these examinations, we would have 2 general paths to take.   And, we probably have to go down both paths… that is…
(a)   Re-read the material in textbooks, articles
And also…
(b)   Re-read / review our notes.

So, also in our spiritual decisions and moral decisions.  

Cardinal Newman considers our 5 senses to be similar to the books that we have bought or borrowed from the library.  That is, our senses – as the books – enable us to be independent, to think, to reason, to conclude.

Newman refers to the 5 senses as “infomers” or “informants.”

The “informants” present themselves to us as sight, sound, smell, touch, taste.

When we hear “informant”, we may immediately think “criminal”or “confidential”.

Let’s say confidential…

A detective will use multiple confidential informants to solve the case. And, we will also use multiple informants (both sight and sound) to ascertain something about a bright light or big noise.   

In the absence of some expert meteorologist to inform us… on radio/TV … our sense perception of thunder and lightning together tell us about the storm.

Then, after gaining this data, we might also tune in for more information, more advice.. evacuate?

[__06__]     Cardinal Newman is putting in a word for religious faith that is based both on what we can know – on our own – and what we are told from others. 

That is, our faith is based on what we learn – intellectually – and what we are taught … and write in our notebooks.

[__07__]     This is true in our faith and in our relationships…

We rely on our senses, our intelligence to tell us what to do.  But we also rely on others…





[__08__]        Often, for advice, we turn to our friends, our family, this is natural.

They know us, care for us, love us.

We turn in prayer also to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  God loves us and cares for us.

This love enables us to trust the guidance of another.

[__09__]      In such a relationship of trust, we may hear what we do not want to hear, from an informer not currently on the payroll.

This is also the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts, informing our consciences. Yet, the Holy Spirit is also another person, a divine person. He is not on our payroll.

Jesus invites us to trust in the person of the Holy Spirit to be informed. The truth may be inconvenient … truth about our own words, actions, attitudes.

This is an act of trust.

[__10__]    Repentance – expressing sorrow – is also an act of trust, a an act of trust in the other person and in the Holy Spirit.

We may gain information contrary to what our paid informers – of sight and sound – are telling us.

[__11__]     Isn’t this trust also the goal in our relationships of family and of marriage? 

That is, we want unity, community, closeness.  But, we also want protection and love from someone with a greater vision, someone outside of myself.

Our mothers – whom we honor and pray for today – are also our first informers.

They are informers, sworn to protect us, to guide us.  And, they do so not simply by passing us information or raw data.


[__12__]    They protect us also by being our first translators, our first interpreters and giving our lives meaning and definition.

Our mothers teach us to trust our own perceptions and to trust in God.  Jesus also teaches us that God’s Holy Spirit is in our hearts as our guide toward justice and love.

Dying and rising to new life, Jesus also gives this trust new meaning. Our savior gives meaning to the surrender of his life to God’s will.   We learn, for example, that the weakness of God – on the cross – is greater than human strength.

We also learn – through his life and death – that all human life has meaning and is precious to God at all stages.

We cannot gather this information solely on our own.     

But, we can gain it through God’s help, through our families… and through trust in  the Holy Spirit, in every place and time.


[__fin__]

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