🎧 [Listen to Homily: Audio]
📺 [Watch Mass: YouTube Video]
1.
Memorial Day and the Wounds We Remember
This weekend
our nation observes Memorial Day. Originally called “Decoration Day,” it began
after the Civil War as a time to decorate with flowers the graves of soldiers
who had died in battle. It was a way of remembering sacrifice, remembering
wounds, remembering lives given for others.
And perhaps
Memorial Day feels especially meaningful today because we also live in a
divided time. There is tension, anger, suspicion, and fear in many places in
our country and even within families. We hear many voices, many arguments, many
accusations. Yet on every coin and every dollar bill remains that ancient
phrase: E Pluribus Unum
— “Out of many, one.”
That hope
for unity is not only an American ideal. It is also deeply connected to
Pentecost.
Because
Pentecost is the moment when the Holy Spirit descends upon frightened disciples
and begins gathering divided humanity into one people in Christ.
And
significantly, Jesus does not begin Pentecost by hiding His wounds.
He shows
them.
The risen
Christ still bears the wounds of the Crucifixion. And then He says:
“Peace be
with you.”
That is
important.
Jesus does
not pretend suffering never happened.
He does not erase the wounds.
He transforms them.
And then He
gives His disciples a mission of mercy:
“Whose sins
you forgive are forgiven them.”
Pentecost is
about receiving mercy from God and then translating that mercy into the way we
treat one another.
2.
Text, Teaching, and Translation
Pentecost
can be understood with three words:
Text. Teaching. Translation.
First, there
is the text.
The text of
today’s Gospel is simple:
“Peace be
with you.”
“Receive the Holy Spirit.”
“Whose sins you forgive are forgiven.”
Then there
is the teaching.
Jesus shows
His hands and His side. The teaching is that mercy is not cheap. Mercy cost Him
something. Love required sacrifice. Forgiveness required courage.
And that
leads to the third movement:
translation.
The
disciples are now meant to translate God’s mercy into daily life.
Not merely
to admire mercy.
Not merely to discuss mercy.
But to practice mercy.
And that is
not easy.
Because
mercy requires courage.
The Church
has a word for that courage:
fortitude.
Fortitude is
the strength to pursue what is good even when it is difficult. Mercy often
requires fortitude because forgiving someone can feel risky. Showing compassion
can make us feel vulnerable. Giving another person a second chance may require
patience, prudence, and trust in God.
The Holy
Spirit gives us courage not only to receive mercy, but also to become
translators of mercy.
3.
Mercy Is Not Pretending Wrongdoing Never Happened
One evening
around nine o’clock at night, I was cleaning accumulated junk out of my car and
throwing things into the dumpster near our school building. A neighbor walking
nearby saw me and came over rather seriously and said:
“You know
that’s illegal.”
I answered
somewhat awkwardly:
“Well… I own
this place.”
Which of
course is not really true.
You own this place.
We all share responsibility for it.
But
afterward I appreciated what the man was doing. He was watching out for the
neighborhood. He cared about the community. He was trying to protect what
belonged to others.
In a strange
little way, it became a reminder that keeping God’s commandments also means
caring for one another and caring about how we behave even when nobody is
watching.
Mercy does
not eliminate responsibility.
Mercy does not pretend wrongdoing never happened.
That became
clearer to me in one of my first jobs after college.
A young man
had recently started working in our office. My boss explained that he had
gotten into serious trouble at college for creating fake identification cards
for friends. He had been suspended or expelled. His parents were deeply upset.
His future suddenly seemed uncertain.
But my boss
decided to give him work in our office for a while.
I remember
thinking how beautiful that was.
The
wrongdoing remained real.
The consequences remained real.
But the young man himself was not discarded.
Someone gave
him another chance.
That made a
deep impression on me because I thought:
“I hope that
if I ever need a second chance, someone might show mercy to me too.”
4.
The Courage to Translate Mercy
Then
recently, someone rang the rectory doorbell asking whether he could perform
court-ordered community service here at the parish. He had received a
driving-while-intoxicated charge in another state and needed twenty-four hours
of service.
At first, I
hesitated.
I felt busy.
I felt inconvenienced.
Part of me wanted to say no.
But I also
remembered that young man from years ago.
So before
deciding, I called the Archdiocese. I checked with our Safe Environment office.
I spoke with our school principal. We made sure everything would be safe and
appropriate.
And
gradually I realized:
this was an opportunity to practice mercy responsibly.
Mercy does
not mean calling evil good.
Mercy does not ignore prudence.
Mercy does not abandon truth.
But mercy
does mean believing that people are more than the worst thing they have ever
done.
That takes
courage.
Sometimes it
is easier to discard people the way we discard old objects.
To throw away relationships.
To throw away patience.
To throw away forgiveness.
But the Holy
Spirit does not discard people.
Pentecost
teaches us that God continues working within wounded and imperfect human
beings.
And perhaps
one of the greatest signs of the Holy Spirit is when someone chooses not
bitterness, not revenge, not permanent condemnation — but mercy.
5.
Pentecost and the Courage to Forgive
Today Jesus
breathes the Holy Spirit upon His disciples.
The
frightened apostles become courageous apostles.
And one of
the first gifts He gives them is the power to forgive sins.
Why?
Because
forgiveness is one of the bravest things a human being can do.
It takes
courage to seek forgiveness.
It takes courage to admit wrongdoing.
It takes courage to give another person a second chance.
It takes courage to believe that grace can still change hearts.
And maybe
that is the message we most need today.
In divided
families.
In divided communities.
In a divided nation.
The Holy
Spirit gives us the courage to translate mercy into life.
So that out
of many, we may become one.
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