You Will Recieve Power

Yesterday, I was blessed to do one of my favorite things: hang out, pray and talk with young people. We were celebrating a local "World Youth Day" at St. Anthony Shrine in Emmitsburg, MD, in solidarity with the youth who traveled to Sydney. Here is the talk I gave (bear with it - it was half an hour! Sorry!):

The Scripture passage we just heard speaks of Jesus’ promise to His followers of the Gift of the Holy Spirit. The other day, as he was welcomed to the shores of the Sydney harbor, Pope Benedict XVI had this to say:

Almost two thousand years ago, the Apostles, gathered in the upper room together with Mary and some faithful women, were filled with the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14; 2:4). At that extraordinary moment, which gave birth to the Church, the confusion and fear that had gripped Christ’s disciples were transformed into a vigorous conviction and sense of purpose. They felt impelled to speak of their encounter with the risen Jesus whom they had come to call affectionately, the Lord. In many ways, the Apostles were ordinary. None could claim to be the perfect disciple. They failed to recognize Christ (cf. Lk 24:13-32), felt ashamed of their own ambition (cf. Lk 22:24-27), and had even denied him (cf. Lk 22:54-62). Yet, when empowered by the Holy Spirit, they were transfixed by the truth of Christ’s Gospel and inspired to proclaim it fearlessly. Emboldened, they exclaimed: repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 2:37-38)! Grounded in the Apostles’ teaching, in fellowship, and in the breaking of the bread and prayer (cf. Acts 2:42), the young Christian community moved forward to oppose the perversity in the culture around them (cf. Acts 2:40), to care for one another (cf. Acts 2:44-47), to defend their belief in Jesus in the face of hostility (cf Acts 4:33), and to heal the sick (cf. Acts 5:12-16). And in obedience to Christ’s own command, they set forth, bearing witness to the greatest story ever: that God has become one of us, that the divine has entered human history in order to transform it, and that we are called to immerse ourselves in Christ’s saving love which triumphs over evil and death (Holy Father’s Msg, for the Young People on the Occasion of WYD).

Friends, we have inherited this same faith; we have received this same Spirit; and through the Spirit, we have received power…to be His witnesses!

You know, I love super hero movies: Batman, Superman, Spider-Man – you name it, I am there. Earlier this summer, I went to see “Iron Man.” Did any of you see it? The film tells the story of a rich man, Tony Stark, whose company supplies weapons to the government to carry out the various wars around the world. Early in the film, his convoy is attacked by terrorists, and Stark is kidnapped, kept alive, they tell him, in order to build them a powerful weapon. Realizing that his life must have some other, higher purpose, he instead uses his genius to create the iron man suit, with which he escapes. He then hones the suit to help himself become Iron Man, and he then turns his life toward helping the weak and oppressed.

Tony Stark had natural gifts. He also received power. When he looked at these two things together, he realized that there was also purpose to his life. We too are gifted, and, yes, we too receive power – the power that Jesus promises us.

But what kind of power? What do we use this power for? Where does it come from?

Well, first and foremost, the Spirit comes from God – because the Spirit is God. Jesus promises us that we will be sharers in God’s life, and the confirmation of the promise is the Gift of the Spirit. As Christians, we have received this Spirit in our Baptism and have had it strengthened through Confirmation. But the world remains in desperate need of this great Gift. Who will bring that Gift to the world – to our friends, to our schools, to our workplaces? Again, let’s listen to the words of the pope:

How much our world needs a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit! There are still many who have not heard the Good News of Jesus Christ, while many others, for whatever reason, have not recognized in this Good News the saving truth that alone can satisfy the deepest longings of their hearts. The Psalmist prays: “when you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth” (Ps 104:30). It is my firm belief that young people are called to be instruments of that renewal, communicating to their peers the joy they have experienced through knowing and following Christ, and sharing with others the love that the Spirit pours into their hearts, so that they too will be filled with hope and with thanksgiving for all the good things they have received from God our heavenly Father (Message to Pilgrims at WYD, 2008).

This power comes from God, but it is power for a purpose. There is meaning to our lives – meaning that comes from knowing and following Jesus. When He gives us power, he does so in order that we will be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. Certainly, the pope is doing this as he travels “Down Under,” but we are called to do the same thing – not to Australia but to Aberdeen, to Annapolis and to Appalachia. We are called to be disciples – to be witnesses – where we are, our “end of the earth.”

In order to live out this power for discipleship, we must ourselves be open to the Lord in our lives. First, this means a commitment to prayer. Setting aside time to pray – and really listening to what God has to say to you – is the first step of discipleship. It is in the silence of prayer that we hear what God whispers to us – we hear His loving plan for us: our vocation. The pope asked young people when he came to the US in April, “What is God whispering to you?” Do not be afraid to listen; do not be afraid to answer God’s call. It is a call, ultimately, to happiness!

Many young people find that the power that they have is often manipulated. The terrorists in “Iron Man” wanted to manipulate Tony Stark’s power for their own destructive ends. Advertisers and media tell us that we have to join this or that group, watch this or that show, wear this or that outfit, act this or that way, in order to be valuable and worthy members of society. They would rather this power you receive be kept quiet – be compromised – be weakened. Why? Because this power is a challenge to the world to strive to be better – to follow a deeper sense of meaning than MTV can give us.

In our world, there is the power to destroy, the power to abuse, the power to dominate, the power to control; but there is also the power to rebuild, the power to heal, the power to forgive, the power to love. These are the tasks of the Spirit. These are what Jesus has sent us out to the ends of the earth for. “When the Spirit acts [in us], he brings his fruits to the soul [and to the world], namely ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’ (Gal 5:22).”

Young friends, you are the bearers of that fruit! You are the ones Jesus is calling to witness to the world. This does not just mean that you are supposed to stand up in the middle of the cafeteria and begin preaching. Rather, it means that you conduct yourself as a temple of the Holy Spirit. Your attitudes speak louder than words to your peers. When you see the world as more than just the result of geological processes and biological accidents, you convey to others a sense of wonder and awe that forces them to look at things differently. It can also bring you into contact with an extraordinary world that God has created.

If you saw the movie “WALL-E” you saw the power of this wonder. The little robot found wonder in everything he looked at - from old shoes to sporks – and he kept a collection of these oddities. His sense of wonder and curiosity about the world eventually brings him into contact with a “visitor” with whom he falls in love. This wonder even takes him into space, and he continues to wonder at what he sees. Through the gift that his wonder has brought to the humans in space, even they rediscover their destiny – a return to home on Earth.

Wonder is like that – it is an attitude of joy and surprise at what we encounter every day. As Christians, our sense of wonder reminds us of how great God is – how awesome! Those who see us live our lives this way can also catch fire with a sense of the greatness of creation, and through that, God. That is what the Spirit does in us – He not only acts for our personal good, uniting us to the life of God, but also for the good of all. The Spirit is a Spirit of unity.

Last night (or tonight, Australian time), the pope gathered in a vigil with the youth in Sydney. The power for witness was his topic as they all prayed together – united in the Spirit. This is what he said:

You are already well aware that our Christian witness is offered to a world which in many ways is fragile. The unity of God’s creation is weakened by wounds which run particularly deep when social relations break apart, or when the human spirit is all but crushed through the exploitation and abuse of persons. Indeed, society today is being fragmented by a way of thinking that is inherently short-sighted, because it disregards the full horizon of truth– the truth about God and about us. By its nature, relativism fails to see the whole picture. It ignores the very principles which enable us to live and flourish in unity, order and harmony.

What is our response, as Christian witnesses, to a divided and fragmented world? How can we offer the hope of peace, healing and harmony to those “stations” of conflict, suffering, and tension through which you have chosen to march with this World Youth Day Cross? Unity and reconciliation cannot be achieved through our efforts alone. God has made us for one another (cf. Gen 2:24) and only in God and his Church can we find the unity we seek. Yet, in the face of imperfections and disappointments – both individual and institutional – we are sometimes tempted to construct artificially a “perfect” community. That temptation is not new. The history of the Church includes many examples of attempts to bypass or override human weaknesses or failures in order to create a perfect unity, a spiritual utopia.

Such attempts to construct unity in fact undermine it! To separate the Holy Spirit from Christ present in the Church’s institutional structure would compromise the unity of the Christian community, which is precisely the Spirit’s gift! It would betray the nature of the Church as the living temple of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 3:16). It is the Spirit, in fact, who guides the Church in the way of all truth and unifies her in communion and in the works of ministry (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4). Unfortunately the temptation to “go it alone” persists. Some today portray their local community as somehow separate from the so-called institutional Church, by speaking of the former as flexible and open to the Spirit and the latter as rigid and devoid of the Spirit.

Unity is of the essence of the Church (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 813); it is a gift we must recognize and cherish. Tonight, let us pray for the resolve to nurture unity: contribute to it! resist any temptation to walk away! For it is precisely the comprehensiveness, the vast vision, of our faith – solid yet open, consistent yet dynamic, true yet constantly growing in insight – that we can offer our world. Dear young people, is it not because of your faith that friends in difficulty or seeking meaning in their lives have turned to you? Be watchful! Listen! (Vigil with Youth, 7/19/08).

The desire to “go it alone” – or even the feeling of “being alone” – is a common one today, especially for our youth. The excitement of growing independence and the fast-changing nature of our lives can often make us feel like we are the only ones who understand – we are the only ones who feel the way we do. It is a feeling not unlike the title character in “Hancock,” who is a superhero of sorts – really the only one of his kind. It is only through the confidence of a man who befriends him and the fruits of his newly converted life that help him to feel a deeper connection to those around him. That is the Holy Spirit’s role in our young lives: reminding us that we are not alone, that we are part of a community of faith – the Church – and that this community is better for having us there, and we are better for being there. Know that we are all part of this community because of that power of the Spirit, who has inspired us by the witness of those close to us. Now, young friends, it is our turn.

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses.”

Friends, Jesus is promising you something. He is promising you life – the life of God. This life is one of purpose – a life full of meaning, because it comes from the One by whom and for whom we are all made. It is not always easy to live this life in our world, but that is why Jesus gives us power. You are given the power to see God in every corner of the world – no matter how dark. You are given power to point out the works of God among us. And you are given power to transform our world into a world of peace, love and joy that is given by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 14:17). The promise that Jesus makes is the source of our hope. You are the source of our hope! Even if you don’t see it now, or if you can’t believe it, God has a purpose for you, and it is wonderful!

As a last example, let me talk about “Kung-fu Panda.” Po, the panda, ends up “accidentally” being chosen as the mystical “Dragon Warrior.” However, we learn that “there are no accidents,” and that the power to be the Dragon Warrior is a power from within. It comes from confidence in oneself and a realization that others care about you. Po then embraces his destiny – however accidental it might seem – and saves the valley.

Pope Benedict speaks to you when he says, “Remember: the Church has confidence in you! We Pastors especially, pray that you may love and lead others to love Jesus more and more and that you may follow Him faithfully” (WYD Message).

Let us call upon this Spirit now, as we finish, and pray:

Spirit of love,

You have gathered us here in this place

to witness the greatness of God

through the greatness of our shared faith.

Spirit of wisdom,

You pour into our hearts

a knowledge of God’s life in our midst

and help us to see His wonders everywhere.

Spirit of peace,

only You can give our hearts the rest we seek

in the midst of a wild and crazy world.

Spirit of the Church,

we have been given power

to share the Gospel message with the world –

to be disciples, witnesses for Jesus.

Help us to go forth with confidence,

knowing that You are with us always.

Through You, we give praise to Jesus Christ,

Who is Lord forever and ever.

Amen!