ON FIRE

Fifty days ago we lit the Paschal Candle, to remind us of the light of Christ in our midst…to remind us that we are the light of Christ; called to be on fire with God by the life we live…the joy we radiate. We may not be luminous, but we are conductors of light.

After today, the candle will no longer be here to remind us. What will you do now to remind yourself that the Holy Spirit is with you every moment of the day and in every circumstance? 

At Mass, we gather as a community of God to remind each other…to help bring out the Christ in ourselves and in each other.

A former Jaguar coach once said, Our goal is not to win the Super Bowl. Our goal is to bring out the best in each player …the rest will happen.

Our goal is not to get to heaven. Our goal is to bring out the best - the Christ - in each other!  The rest will happen.

Two of my favorite books are: Souls on Fire (by Eli Wiesel) and Silence on Fire (by Fr. William Shannon). The first is about the beginning of the Hasidic movement (of very pious Jews) in the 1700s in Eastern Europe and its founder, the Baal Shem Tov, a messianic figure and like Pope Francis a prophet of joy.

He said, What matters to me is not that two and two are four, but that God is one. Better still, that man and God are one…[the very prayer of Jesus…Father, I pray that they may be one as you and I are one.]

The Baal Shem also said, To love another is to love God! To change oneself is to change the world.

Silence on Fire is about the prayer of awareness: The prayer of awareness is primarily wordless prayer…It is to be filled with God…to be filled with joy…on fire with God’s presence. That is what really matters.

Jesus is the model of total awareness of God. What Resurrection, being Easter people and Pentecost are all about is entering into Jesus’ awareness of God!

What must we do to have this awareness of being one with God…so as to be on fire with God?

Let us learn from the first disciples. In the early centuries of the Church, many went to the desert for a holy encounter. Abba Lot went to Abba Joseph and said, As best I can, I pray, meditate, fast. What else should I do? Abba Joseph stretched his hands to the heavens and his fingers became torches of flames. If you want you can be turned into fire?

As someone wiser once said, There’s the crux…do we want to be turned into fire? Do we want to be on fire with the love and presence of God?

To be turned into fire, we cannot reverence the holy presence in the Eucharist on the altar…in the monstrance…in the tabernacle, and not reverence the holy presence of the Holy Presence in our brothers and sisters.

To be turned into fire, we cannot pray for the poor and not do all in our power to eradicate poverty, undo injustice, and defend human rights.

To be turned into fire, we cannot pray for peace and hold resentment in our heart, disparage our neighbor, judge, criticize and gossip.

In other words to be set on fire means a new way of seeing and being.

The awareness of God will lead us to act differently. But that is secondary. The first step is to realize that we don’t have to do anything or go anywhere to encounter God, because God is where we are. We are already there. We simply have to become aware!

We did not come to Mass today to encounter God. We came with God. God is always with us. We came to be more aware of God with us!

There are three golden rules regarding investment in real estate. We know them well: location, location, location.

There are three golden rules regarding encountering God: awareness, awareness, awareness.

We simply have to become aware. When that happens, faith, life, love, truth are not things that we do to get results. They are realities that in various ways help to define who we are.

Faith is not about behaving better; it’s about seeing reality differently.

One of the great errors of history and of our time is the dichotomy between the faith that many profess and the practice in their daily life.

There is a hunger in all of us for authenticity! The authenticity that fills us with peace and joy!

To receive the fire of Pentecost, the spirit of God’s love, is to be authentic…It is to live in the presence of God…to be evermore aware that we are one with God and with each other. 

As St. Paul said, The Spirit of God who lived in Jesus and raised him from the dead, now lives in us.  

And as the holy mystic, St. Mechtild of Magdeburg said, The day of my spiritual awakening came when I saw all things in God, and God in all things.

Being turned into Pentecost fire means seeing God in every man and woman, in all creation, and being so transformed that we become so transparent that others see the flame of Christ in us. 

We don't need the Paschal Candle. We are the light of Christ!