We are in the in-between time. Between Easter in its glory and Pentecost with its tongues of fire.
For the disciples, they were between the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit too. For as Jesus rose into the heavens, they had not received the Holy Spirit yet. It was a time of trust for them. And waiting. They were in their own in between time.
A time of waiting and trust in the Spirit to give them the words and power and confidence to preach to the ends of the world.
Waiting and trusting.
We know about that, don’t we?
We wait for things all our life. From the time we are children to the end of life.
Children wait to be older – so they can do more things. My granddaughter at 6 years of age was eager to help clean our house for our Memorial Day dinner. And while we were amazed at this 6-year-old’s enthusiasm for chores, it was clear as she stood on the bathroom vanity cleaning mirrors, she wanted badly to be helpful and old enough to do more for others.
As we get older, in our teens and twenties, we might wait for that special person to spend a life with. And during college that adds loneliness to the list of emotions we feel as we wait for the next part of our life to start.
When I was serving in the military we always waited for our next marching orders. In the Navy it was what ship would we be assigned, what port would be next. Then it was waiting until our service was over. If it was soon, we called you a short timer.
We wait for exciting things, but we also wait when struggles occur.
Most of us either have experienced or know someone we love who has been diagnosed with cancer or other illness. We wait for the test results and then we wait for treatment to be over and then we wait to find out what our new normal is going to be like….and how normal will it be.
We wait for the next job, which is hard especially when we have lost the one we had and our families depend on us.
We wait all our life. For so many things. And how we wait. What we do while we wait, makes all the difference. How we wait can even impact what we are waiting for.
Children try to grow up too soon and get in trouble.
Single people can marry the wrong person because, well, time was running out.
We can go from one bad job to another. And be miserable.
And we can allow fear to take over our lives when we wait for a diagnosis or healing.
But the good news is that Jesus has already sent us someone who can help us while we wait. Someone to help us make decisions and calm ourselves while we look toward the end of waiting. If we trust.
In fact, the only way to wait is really to call upon the Holy Spirit. Give our life to him. Listen to the Holy Spirit who guides us on the right path, to the right job, to the right person, to the right life choice as Christians.
You see, it doesn’t matter where we are in life. It really doesn’t matter what the question is or what the future we are waiting for is all about. As disciples of Christ, everything we do, say or plan should be tested against our first mission, our first goal, our main reason for being here….and that is the be Christ for others. To share in our life, where we are, the good news of Jesus Christ.
I know what you might be thinking.
It’s hard to trust and have patience when we are waiting for a job and the bills are piling up.
It’s tough to keep the faith when your marriage is in trouble.
It’s hard to trust and have patience when you are undergoing treatment for an illness or cancer. Telling others about Jesus is not always what we wake up and focus on in the hospital. Maybe the focus is on how much pain will I have today.
But it’s when we are at our weakest when we are being tested the most, with struggles and chaos, and our world has been turned upside down….it’s precisely then that how we live and love, speaks the most clearly and loudest to people around us.
We are called to preach to the ends of our world, wherever that may be. And where we are today, what we are doing for work, where we are living, who we call friends and family …that’s where we are commissioned to reach out to first.
A study was done a few years ago to understand why people become followers of Christ. The survey asked who it was that actually inspired them to take the step to finding out more and turning their life around and toward Jesus Christ.
The truth is … It seems it is not our homilies that are drawing people to God at all. It seems the people that are instrumental in drawing people to Christ are family and friends.
That is right. The people who actually make the difference in those seeking the truth in their lives are family members and friends who demonstrated the meaning of Jesus Christ in how they lived.
Which of course means much is expected of all of us, and we all have a lot of work to do to measure up to our baptismal calling to witness about our faith and belief to others.
So, we must ask ourselves today are we like the men of Galilee who kept staring as Jesus had ascended in the sky. Are we holding on to an image of Jesus as one who is only feeding our needs? Not realizing the work the Holy Spirit has planned for us?
Claiming to be Catholic but not drawing others to Christ doesn’t make sense. Being a baptized Catholic by its nature means we proclaim, shout, sing, pray and live and breathe about Jesus Christ. There is no other life for a Catholic if one is true to their discipleship.
Waiting in this life should be filled with asking for the Holy Spirit to guide us and then being quiet enough…pushing aside our wants, at the moment, so we can hear what the Holy Spirit wants for us. Then we need to trust and persevere until our life is colored by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus promised us we would have an advocate. But many see calling on the Holy Spirit as an option, yo
u know, if we need him. Someone to send a few more petitions to as things get tough. B
ut the disciples knew it was only with the Holy Spirit that they could do anything.
And it isn’t optional for Christians today either.
It is with the Holy Spirit that our whole life will fall into order and make sense. As Christians,
we need his power and presence in our life.
Today we are called to trust even more in the Holy Spirit to reach others and to live our life faithfully during this time of waiting — not for the Holy Spirit, he is here, but waiting for the coming again of Christ, when he will descend once again from the Heavens.
I wonder what Christ’s first question will be.
Maybe to ask each of us if we were able to use this time of waiting to reach others, to share the good news, to tell them about the Advocate. To look at the world we lived in and count how many of our friends and family became disciples. What will be our answer?
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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