A few weeks ago, I was at home in the Rectory on my day off, and I decided that I would cook a hot breakfast for myself.  Now, I don’t get to cook much.  There’s just not time. This is pretty much an extravagant rarity for me, as most days, I’m lucky to get in my bowl of Cheerios and small glass of orange juice, which has pretty much been my breakfast, my entire life.  So that day I scrambled up some eggs.  I made some toast.  I put a couple strips of bacon in the microwave.  And last Christmas, some friends from Italy sent me an espresso maker and some Italian coffee, what they called “migliore” or the best Italian coffee.  I hadn’t used it yet, so I thought I’d try it out.  So I got out the instructions, I followed the directions to a “T”, and I brewed up this little pot of Italian espresso.  Now, I don’t drink coffee. I never have.  I am part of those modern generations of Americans that learned to drink orange juice, or milk, or Diet Coke in the morning, instead of coffee.  I find that just like coconut and with gasoline, I like the smell of coffee, better than I like the taste of coffee.  Anyways, so I pour my half-a-cup of espresso, which looks like something that I would expect to find under my car, than in a cup.  I put in three or four teaspoons of sugar, because that’s the only way that I’m going to kill the taste.  And I down my espresso along with my homemade, hot breakfast, as I read the paper.  It was approximately a minute and half later that I felt the jolt.  My heart started racing.  My eyes popped.  Every muscle in my body seemed to go into overdrive.  I got up.  I did the dishes.  I cleaned the rectory.  I did my laundry and put it all away.  I watered the plants.  I washed my car.  I went and worked out.  And that was all in the first couple of hours.  I thought I was dying.  Who drinks that stuff every day?  Between the caffeine and the sugar, I was charged up for the day.  I got an incredible amount of work done, but there were several minutes that I thought my heart was going to beat right through my chest.  I don’t think we’ll have espresso again for a long, long time.

        Now I don’t know what it felt like when the Holy Spirit hit the Apostles on that Pentecost day.  But I suspect that it must have been a lot like really strong espresso.  They were up and they were moving.  Our first reading today tells us that were even speaking in different languages!  Everything changed for the Apostles and for the Church on Pentecost.  God took these fearful men who were hiding behind locked doors, and He set them on fire for the Gospel.  The Holy Spirit turned them into Super Christians.  And from that moment on, there would be no stopping them or the Church.  They were driven.  They were out there charging ahead.  They were like an Italian charged up on espresso!  But it wasn’t coffee, or drugs, or alcohol, it was the Holy Spirit!  The Holy Spirit changed things that much!  It made that big of a difference!  And they would never be the same again.

         More than anything else, the Apostles desired that same gift of the Holy Spirit for us.  Today, especially in 2009, we too need that blast of the Holy Spirit to truly do what Jesus calls us to do.  We can’t do it on our own.  We were never meant to do it on our own.  The Holy Spirit is to empower us as individuals and most especially us as Church, to do and become everything that God wants us to be.  The Holy Spirit is THAT important.  It is that essential to the Christian life.  How are you letting the Holy Spirit into your life?  Do you pray for the Gift of the Holy Spirit AND the gifts of the Holy Spirit?  We should, you know.  We really should.  If the Holy Spirit is supposed to be what keeps us charged up every day as Catholic Christians, than we should pray for it every day!

         This Feast Day, which ends our Easter season, reminds all of us of the importance of the Holy Spirit and just how important it especially to the Church, to us as a community.  The Holy Spirit empowers us to follow Jesus and to build up His Kingdom.  We can drink all the espresso in the world, and eventually, no matter how much sugar you put into it, you are going to get tired.  The Holy Spirit is the energy source that never wears out or runs out.  The more you use the Holy Spirit, the more of It God is going to give you!  God has the perfect renewable energy source, and it is not the wind, or the sun, or water.  It is His Holy Spirit.  As a follower of Jesus Christ, may you let the Holy Spirit charge you up and get you going!

God bless us on this Feast Day,  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us !!!