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SPIRITUALITY

May 9 , 2017 | The Valley Catholic

By Father Brendan McGuire

Pastor of Holy Spirit Parish , San Jose , and Vicar General for special projects , Diocese of San Jose . Email him at bmcguire @ dsj . org .

Sunday , May 14 , 2017 We Become What We Receive

Sunday , May 21 , 2017 Filtering the Noise of Life

Through today ’ s scripture , we are called to offer spiritual sacrifices . A sacrifice occurs when we do something for somebody else , when we give up something . To sacrifice is to give up what you would like for somebody else . For example , if we are reading a book or enjoying ourselves when our mother asks us to clean up , we have to sacrifice reading the book and do the work . If we are playing a game at school and some other kid is not playing yet but wants to play , we could sacrifice our place and let them play . These are not huge sacrifices , but they are important because little sacrifices for other people make us think of others . That is how we follow Christ . Christ made constant sacrifices and eventually laid down his whole life for his friends . He wanted us to know what it means to be a child of God .

Scripture also tells us that we are called to build ourselves into a spiritual house and that we are living stones . Jesus is called “ The Living Stone ,” and we are called to be living stones that form a spiritual house , which means that we give up ourselves spiritually to sacrifice and form a community , form a building . We come and allow ourselves to be built into a house or church ; this requires that we give up something .

For example , all of us here today could have been in a multitude of other places . But we have not chosen that . We chose to sacrifice our time and place and to allow ourselves to be built into a spiritual house .

It is hard to give up what we want so that somebody else can have it . Now when you come forward this morning , and say , “ Amen ,” when you receive the Body of Christ , you become what you receive , the Body of Christ . But you promise to become that Body of Christ broken for others , that Blood of Christ poured out for others . You promise to sacrifice . That is what you are promising this morning ; to give up your own selfish things that you tend to want so that others can have . That is a tough challenge . I hope you are ready for it .

This is what we celebrate every Sunday . It is by no means a meager and small task . It is a monumental task . It is a task that we follow Christ until the day we die . He promises us that we will have our own room with him , that he has many dwelling places , and that he has made room for us . He promises that if we follow him , the way , the truth and the life , then we will have eternal life . We choose once again to become what we receive , so that we become that living stone and witness to the whole world that God is our Father through Christ .

I was recently at a restaurant with a friend of mine . We were there early , so there were very few people in the restaurant . We were deeply involved in conversations about the philosophy of life , and we did not realize how many people had come into the restaurant . When my friend went to use the restroom , I suddenly realized how loud it was . I wondered how I had ever heard my friend ’ s conversation . When he came back , he remarked how loud it was as well . But soon enough we were back into the conversation , and all the other voices just faded out into the background .

We humans have an amazing capability to filter out tons of noise when we choose to do so . We can push it all to the background and focus on what we really want to hear . I am sure that has happened to you . For the most part we can hear a conversation when we really want to hear .

This is a great metaphor for the Christian life . Today ’ s Gospel tells us that the Lord will send us his advocate , the Holy Spirit , the Spirit of Truth , and that Spirit will dwell within us . We believe that each one of us who has been baptized has the Spirit of Truth dwelling within us .

But just like at the restaurant , there is a cacophony of voices offering us advice . We do not know which voice truly to listen to , and even if we do want to listen to one , it is really hard .

There is only one way we get to hear that one , true voice : in and through prayer . We have to come to know that voice first before we can focus on it . It is in prayer in a private place that we hear and become familiar with the sound of God ’ s voice . But private prayer is not the only place where the voice speaks to us . When we become familiar with how God talks to us , then we know when God is directing us and when he is not .

There is no shortcut to gaining familiarity with the voice of God . We only become familiar with it after we have tried our hardest to listen . And when we come to hear it , we hear it not just in private prayer but in other places around us . When we start out in private prayer , the noise level is less , but often our inner thoughts stop the conversation in private prayer and the noise level is higher . To restart the conversation with God , we have to really focus to hear that voice again .

Scripture tells us this that God speaks to us in two ways primarily . The first way is to us as individuals : advice given to us to live our lives in our own particular reality . God will assist us in that way . The second is that God speaks to us as a community . That is why we gather around the Eucharist . It is not just as individuals with a personal voice from God but also in the midst of community .

This is our role today ; to listen to the Advocate that the Lord puts within us and to follow The Way , The Truth and The Life .

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