When was the last time you felt goose bumps? Scientists tell us that goose bumps — or goose pimples, if you prefer — are left over from the days when human beings were covered with hair. In our skin there are tiny muscles connected to our hair follicles. Physiologists say that when an animal is cold, these muscles contract so that the hair will stand up and trap warm air next to the skin. We also get them when we’re frightened. These same physiologists maintain that the raised hair would help scare off an attacker. You’ve probably seen the same result when your cat has been frightened and the fur on her back stood straight up. If all of this theory is true, then you and I have probably experienced goose bumps when we’ve been very cold or very frightened.
There’s another time you have probably felt them. An Irish friend of mine once told me that when she felt goose bumps, she knew the Holy Spirit was there with her. She had them when she felt something very true was being said about God. Today is the great feast of Pentecost; but for the next few minutes, I’d like to think of this as being “Goose Bump Sunday”.
I have a problem about today’s gospel and just what I might share about it. When I gave a homily a few weeks ago, on the Sunday after Easter, we heard the same gospel — or at least the beginning was the same — about the disciples being behind locked doors when Jesus appeared to them. My opening question for that homily was about walking backwards up a flight of stairs. In that reflection I spoke about how “trust” drives out “fear” and about how the “peace” of Christ leads to “joy”. Today, at the end of our Easter season, here on Pentecost, I want to continue that reflection. Today, our focus will be on the “joy” and excitement of Pentecost.
The pursuit of excitement in our secular world is almost a full-time occupation. At least it might seem that way from all the commercials and news we find on TV and in magazines. We pursue excitement but never seem to be able to find it.
Some people look for excitement in drugs. Why else would dealers be able to sell crack to kids and adults not only in downtown Houston but in our affluent suburbs as well? Kids get hooked on drugs because they are looking for excitement, for something different. And drug pushers make it as attractive and as exciting as possible.
But drug pushers are not the only ones who focus on making things exciting. Have you taken a look at car commercials? Is there anything more exciting than owning and driving the latest model of the fastest, sexiest car? Although somehow when it’s parked in our own driveway or stuck in traffic on I-45, it rapidly loses its excitement.
Our search for excitement is what makes us buy much of what Madison Avenue pushes on us — from action toys with the Saturday morning cartoons to the latest perfumes and aftershave lotions. We are hooked on the promises for a new, exciting life. If we can’t find it at home, why not look for it elsewhere, perhaps in an affair with a younger woman, or with another man?
Young adults and teenagers are not immune from this search for excitement. Why else would they be into rock music and MTV? We learn at an early age that our own, individual lives appear to be dull in comparison with what we think the lives of other people must be. Each one of us believes ours is the only dull life there is. We all want to put more excitement into our life. Most of us look for it everyplace we can — with one exception. When was the last time you looked for excitement in church? When was the last time you found excitement in God: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
Most of us don’t come to church expecting to be excited, to be filled with the excitement of the Holy Spirit. We usually don’t come to church expecting to have goose bumps. Yet that’s how it all started.
Some two thousand years ago the friends and companions of Jesus were filled by the Holy Spirit. When that happened they did not say: “That’s nice, now let’s go home and have lunch.” Nor did they fall on their knees and begin praying privately to God. No. Those foolish characters went running out onto the streets of downtown Jerusalem and began shouting and preaching about Jesus.
What would happen if we all did that in downtown Houston? If you were a visitor to Houston, or even a long-time resident, you’d say such people where either crazy or drunk. That is exactly what the Jews in Jerusalem said that morning. Those people are drunk with new wine. Peter, himself, was forced to tell them they weren’t drunk; it’s only nine o’clock in the morning.
I’m not suggesting that right after Mass we all go out shouting the praises and glory of God all over Houston. On the other hand, have you ever thought what might happen if every Catholic, if every Christian, in Houston would do it? I agree it’s unlikely — yet anything can happen.
What then am I suggesting, if it’s not a mass march on Houston or even FM 1960? What I am suggesting is this: that each one of us can be open to the excitement of the Holy Spirit. Many of us don’t even really know that the Holy Spirit is around. Sometimes the Holy Spirit seems to be the forgotten person in the Trinity. A recent issue of the magazine, “U.S. Catholic” has an article on prayer. In a survey they conducted, they found that while 43% prayed to God the Father and another 43% to Jesus, only 7% prayed to the Holy Spirit — and then mainly for wisdom.
Our Catholic culture has deeply associated the Holy Spirit with wisdom not with excitement. Yet if we look at scripture we find that the Holy Spirit has always been seen with movement and excitement. When the disciples heard the driving wind that morning and beheld tongues of fire descending upon them, they had no doubt that this was the spirit of God. As devout Jews they recognized that the first line of Genesis speaks of the wind of God blowing across the void. When God spoke to Moses, it was from a burning bush. When Yahweh gave his commandments to Moses, Mt Sinai was covered by fire and smoke and peals of thunder. And when he led the Israelites out of Egypt, he led them with a black tornado by day and a column of fire by night. The disciples had no doubt that here, indeed, was the presence of God.
The presence of God. The felt experience of the love of the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit. The Spiritus Sanctus. The sacred storm. Meager words for something, someone, who must be experienced to be appreciated.
Have you ever felt like turning somersaults? I have. Also, since today is Mother’s Day, it’s a story that fits in, although it’s from a father’s perspective. At the time, we were living in New Hampshire. I was with Dartmouth Med and was scheduled to present a research paper at a national meeting in Atlantic City. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go, since Karen was expecting our second child. But her O-B assured us that the blessed event was several weeks away. So, I went off with my colleagues to Atlantic City.
As you probably guessed, when I was there I received a telephone message from a friend saying Karen had been taken to the hospital to deliver. I was sure it was a joke they were playing on me. But I called the hospital and sure enough, heard from her that we had our first son. For the next couple of hours I rushed up and down the Boardwalk at Atlantic City. And I really felt like turning cartwheels. Back then I was as un-athletic as I am now, so there’s no way I could have really done it. But for me, that’s what it is to be filled with joy and excitement.
It’s that kind of feeling the Holy Spirit can give. It’s not only when a son is born. There have been other times I have wanted to turn somersaults. Instead I’ve danced. Yes, really. Many of you know that I go each year to Grand Coteau for a retreat. The center has some five-hundred acres to roam through — and to dance through. I have been caught up in prayer sometimes in those fields where the only thing I could do was dance and shout. It’s not liturgical dance. Some would say it’s being foolish. But that is what excitement and joy in the Holy Spirit are really all about.
It’s other things too. This last time, God told me to go fly a kite. So, I did. There’s a little country store near the retreat house. I went there and the owner was able to find a kite in the bottom of one of their old display cases. And so, I spent the next couple of hours flying my “Chuck & Cheese’s” and praying to God out in the field. (And here it is!) When you’re open to the Holy Spirit, you’re open to being silly and doing outrageous things. You’re open to expressing the joy and excitement that are inside of you.
Sometimes we do it when we are alone with God. When there is no one else around to see our foolishness. At other times we have that excitement when we join in celebration with others. For me it occurred at the 5:30 mass on the Saturday of our last Spring Festival. It seemed to me that the joy of the Holy Spirit was with us in a very special way at that celebration.
It’s said that Pentecost is the Birthday of the Church. Wouldn’t it be great if each of our masses had the excitement and joy of a first-rate birthday party? In some churches it seems to. Our black brothers and sisters celebrate that way. When you hear good-old Gospel music, it’s impossible not to experience the Holy Spirit directly. And if you agree with me, let me hear you shout out “Amen, brother.”
Yes, that’s what I mean. We need to shout out “amen” more often. We need to truly shout out the joy of the Lord. Even our own hymns try to convey it sometimes. Aren’t you at least a little excited when you sing: “Everyone Moved by the Spirit is a Son or Daughter of God ….” that’s what it is to be truly a son or daughter of God, to be moved by the Spirit. Not to just sit back and meditate; but to get up and move. To do. To act. To be excited. To be excited like a child who gets straight A’s on a report card and comes running home to mom and dad. That child doesn’t say, “Oh by the way, I got straight A’s this semester.” You hear the kid shout it out as soon as the front door is slammed shut.
As Christians, we need to be as excited as a five-year old is on Christmas morning; and we need to do it not just once a year, but as often as we can. But you’ll tell me that’s not realistic. No one can be that “hyper” every day of your life.
However, what I’m saying is that some people are. And if you’re not, I have a suggestion for you: start with goose bumps. Just what do I mean by that? Just this. The next time you are moved by something you hear, or see, or read, or do -– and you feel those goose bumps on your arms and up your back – think of the Holy Spirit and the excitement being offered to you as a gift.
We talk a lot about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Well, I believe goose bumps should be included among them. Let yourself be open to those times when Spiritus Sanctus, the sacred storm enters your life. From that little start, that breeze, could come a mighty wind of excitement and joy. As Father Ed might say: “You could get your socks blown off.”
Pentecost; May 14, 1989 (Mothers’ Day)
Acts 2:1-11; 1 Cor 12:3-7, 12-13; Jn 20:19-23