When Jesus sent his disciples out to preach, he gave them this unusual instruction: “Don’t take anything with you.” Why did Jesus tell his disciples not to take anything with them, but to beg for everything? Would Jesus give this same instruction to modern disciples if he were living in present times? What would happen if he did? How would people react if such a disciple showed up asking for food and place to stay?

Some years ago, a young Jesuit priest, Richard Roos, wondered about these very questions. He decided to find the answers to them. He got permission from his superiors to spend the 40 days of Lent making an 8OO-mile walking pilgrimage from San Diego to San Francisco.

Father Roos walked through sunshine, rain, and high winds. He walked and walked, day after day, just as the early missionaries did. There was one difference, however. He identified himself only as a Christian on a Lenten pilgrimage.

What answers did he get to his questions? How did people react to him when he showed up? He writes:

I was never treated harshly or unkindly. The people who hosted me were of all denominations of Christianity and even no religion at all. All were fascinated by the concept of a pilgrimage.

He concluded his report with an unexpected observation. It relates directly to how he preached the Gospel. He writes: Generally, I found that my presence and our conversation gave or strengthened them in their hope in God and in the goodness of people.

He preached the Gospel on his pilgrimage by his faith and his example. It was this faith and this example that came through when he talked with people. In other words, he did not preach the Gospel by words. He preached by a more powerful way: by his presence, his faith, and his example.

Some years ago, a number of young Christians were attending an international summer camp. They came from many nations around the world. One project assigned them was to come up with effective ways to preach the Gospel in our modern world. After the young people talked about using television, radio, rock concerts, and shopping malls, an African girl said something that touched the heart of everyone. She said: When Christians in my country think a pagan village is ready for Christianity, they don’t send books or missionaries. They send a good Christian family. The example of the family converts the village.

And that brings us to an application of today’s Gospel to each and every one of us here. Jesus wants us to preach the Gospel today. He wants us to do it the way Father Richard did it, but with one exception. He does not want us to do it on a Lenten pilgrimage. He wants us to do it in our homes, in our work places, and in our communities. He wants us to do it the way the African girl suggested. He wants us to do it by living as prayerful people with a deep faith in God and in people. He wants us to do it by our presence and by our example, more than by our words. And if we do it in this manner, not only will we strengthen the faith of those around us, but we will also invite them to imitate our own faith and prayerfulness.

During today’s Reading from the Gospel of Mark, we heard how the Lord Jesus served God the Father in obedience and humility. Jesus came on earth to do His Father will and obeyed to the end. “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.” He did not come as a King but as a humble servant in human flesh.

Jesus went to His hometown and taught in the synagogues. As we heard in today’s Gospel, few believed in Him because they personally knew Him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. Because of their lack of faith, the grace of God could not manifest itself through Jesus. Very few were healed.

How often during His ministry did Jesus say, “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me? But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Surely, the people from the hometown of Jesus had heard of the great miracles He was performing throughout the country. Surely, it must have been obvious that the grace of God was at work through Him. If only they would have believed that God the Father was manifesting Himself through Jesus, would that not have been sufficient faith for numerous cures? But no, the unbelief of the people was limited to their worldly perception of the human nature of Jesus. Refusing to believe in the Son of God, the grace of God did not manifest itself upon them through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Today, there are similar circumstances in our world. When in need of a healing through the anointing of the holy oils, many people search for a charismatic priest who is alleged to perform miracles. During this time, they have no faith in the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that is manifested through their own local priest who has the authority from Jesus to administer the Sacrament of the Sick in the Church.

People forgot that priest, who administers the Holy Sacraments of the Church, is the instrument of the Lord Jesus. While the priest is visible at the ceremony of Baptism, during the Consecration of the bread and wine or during the Sacrament of Confession, Jesus is also present, He being the One who is administering the Sacraments. Jesus is manifesting Himself through the priest during the Sacraments.

My brothers and sisters, as Jesus obeyed and served the Father in humility, the priests, and all of you are also called to obey and serve the Lord in humility. As the power of the Spirit of the Father was manifested through Jesus Christ, so it is in the Holy Church, be it through the priest who is administering the Sacraments, teachers who are teaching in a classroom children and youth and people who work for the parish. We should humbly believe in the grace of God the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit that is manifested through the sacraments, the priest, and people who come to the church to pray, sing, and work.

With this belief, spiritual knowledge, and understanding our faith will bring us to the realization that God is manifesting Himself all around us, in ways that we have never seen before.

A priest was giving a talk on Scripture in Canada. After the talk a woman came up and gave him a note to read on his flight home. When the priest was on the plane, he took out the note. It read:

We have had many prayers answered in our family, but none so meaningful as the answer to our daughter’s recovery from an emotional problem. On the twelfth anniversary of my daughter’s emotional illness, I prayed in a special way to Jesus to heal her as he did the woman in the Gospel.

As you recall, the woman in the Gospel believed that if she could only touch his garment, she would be healed. After she touched it, Jesus turned to her and said, “Woman, your faith has healed you.”

With that same kind of faith, I told Jesus that I believed he could heal my sick daughter, and that I had enough faith for both of us. The next day we noticed small, positive signs pointing to her recovery. They continued in the days ahead. And after each one, we thanked Jesus whom we truly believed was answering our prayers. That was six years ago. Today she is a happy young woman. And what is even more marvelous, Jesus is now using her to help other people.

This mother ended the story with this observation:

God cannot answer prayers unless we pray. And if we pray, God will answer our prayers in his own time and often in a way more marvelous than that for which we prayed.

God did this in the case of the mother’s daughter. God used her illness to prepare her to help other people in need.

Saint Paul writes in his Second Letter to the Corinthians:

[God] helps us in all our troubles, so that we are able to help others … using the same help that we ourselves have received from God.

That is a significant statement. Let me repeat it for you:

[God] helps us in all our troubles, so that we are able to help others … using the same help that we ourselves have received from God.

That brings us back to the Canadian mother’s statement that God often answers our prayers in a way more marvelous than what we prayed for. Let us close with a brief meditation. I’m sure many of you are familiar with it. It was found in the pocket of a dead soldier. It reads:

I asked for health, that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things….
I asked for riches, that I might be happy;
I was given poverty, that I might be wise….
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need for God….
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things….
I got nothing I asked for, but everything I hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men most richly blessed.

Blessed are you Lord and God of love, you who has given to each of us the gift of a Father.
Today we honor him and we thank you for the wonderful things that are ours because of him.
His love for us has been a sign of your Divine affection and a sharing in your holy love.
His concern for our needs and our welfare is a mirror of your holy care.
Bless our Fathers this day with your Strength that they may continue to be a sign of your Love in our Families.
Bless them in this lifetime with joy and laugher, with pride in their children and with peace in their hearts.
Bless too, those Fathers who have gone out of this life. They gave us life, may they now enjoy the fullness of life in the embrace of God of Love and Peace.
Fathers, may you, on this special day, be blessed by God and by our love for you. AMEN.

There is an ancient story that you may have heard. Saint Augustine was walking along a sandy beach meditating on the Holy Trinity. He kept saying over and over to himself, “How can God be both three and one? How can God be both three and one?” Suddenly, he was distracted from his meditation by the sight of a small child with a toy bucket, carrying water from the sea to a hole in the beach. Smiling at the child, Augustine asked, “And what are you doing?” The small child said, “I’m emptying the ocean into this hole.’ Augustine thought, “I’m trying to do what the child is doing. I’m trying to pour the infinite God into my finite little mind.’

Later, saints engaged in similar meditation on the Trinity, trying to get some partial glimpse into this central mystery of our faith. For example, Saint Ignatius of Loyola likened the three Persons in one God to three musical notes, united in the harmony of a single sound. Saint Luke does not say so explicitly in his Gospel or his Acts of the Apostles, but he clearly views Sacred Scripture as being Trinitarian in structure. The Old Testament focuses on the Father, who created the world. The Gospel focuses on the Son, who redeemed the world. The Acts of the Apostles and the letters of the apostles focus on the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies the world.

That brings us to ourselves. What might we do to make the Trinity come alive for us in our daily lives?

One way some people try to do this is a prayer exercise they follow each night before going to bed. They do a three-minute replay of their day. During the first minute, they pick out a highpoint of the day, for example, going out of their way to help someone. They speak to the Father about it and give thanks for the grace to do it. During the second minute, they pick out something bad that happened, like ignoring someone to whom they could have spoken a kind word. They speak to Jesus about it and ask him to forgive them and to give them the opportunity to make it up to that person. During the third minute, they look ahead to tomorrow to some critical point, for example, something they ought to do but have been putting off. They speak to the Holy Spirit about it and ask for the courage to deal with it in the day ahead. This exercise combines prayer with a simple examination of conscience.

In a very practical way, therefore, it brings the Holy Trinity into our daily lives.

Let us conclude with reflection: Glory to God the Father, who created the earth, and to God the Son who redeemed the earth, and to God the Holy Spirit who hallowed the earth…. Glory be to thee, Most Holy Trinity, today, tomorrow, and forever. Glory be to thee. Amen.

The Holy Spirit! Finally we come to celebrate this great solemnity honoring the Holy Spirit of God. We complete the great 50 days of Easter. We have celebrated 7 weeks to show that the Spirit is the perfect completion of all that happened to Jesus in His death and resurrection.

My Dear Brothers and sisters to understand the role of the Spirit in our life we have to start with Jesus himself. The Spirit had a big role to play in his life. The Spirit descended on him at his baptism, revealing him as the Father’s beloved Son. At his baptism he also received power from on high for the mission he was about to begin. The Spirit was not just given for a moment; the Spirit remained with him throughout his public ministry.

Jesus said: ‘The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor

What a beautiful mission. Jesus was filled with the Spirit, and power went out from him through his gracious words and compassionate deeds.

It was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. It was the Spirit who opened the minds of his disciples and helped them to understand the meaning of his death. When he was raised up to glory at the right hand of the Father, Jesus poured out the Spirit on those who were to carry on his mission.

The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they began their mission. And we see the great courage and confidence with which they did so.

My Dear Sisters and Brothers

And the same Spirit descends on us at our Baptism and Confirmation. The Spirit is not given for a moment but accompanies us on our journey in the footsteps of Jesus. The Spirit gives us power to participate in the work of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is our strength in times of weakness, our guide in times of doubt, our consoler in times of sadness, our advocate who always pleads our cause. We can’t take even one step without the Spirit.

In The sacrament of confirmation we received gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Wisdom, understanding, and counsel guide our mind and assist our conscience in knowing right from wrong. Fortitude enables us to do the right thing even when it is difficult or unpopular. Fear of the Lord is really awe and reverence for God.

My Dear Brothers and sisters, if we live in the Spirit, that Spirit brings us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are beautiful things, and make our life joyful.