Led By The Holy Spirit – Pentecost – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church and Missions, Burns, Oregon; June 8, 2025

We learn in today’s 1^st reading that on the day of Pentecost, men from all nations heard the Apostles proclaiming the mighty works of God, each in their own language. We do not, however, hear what the Apostles actually said on that day. In the sequel to today’s reading, however, we do have the words of St. Peter in response to the wonderment of the crowd. In that first speech to the people he said, This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear. (Acts 2:32-33)

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ given to us by him, leading us to him and through him to the Father. The Holy Spirit teaches us all things, reminding us of the words of Jesus, giving us the understanding of their meaning. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ makes use of the sacraments for our sanctification. Living in the Holy Spirit we are able fruitfully to receive the sacraments.

Without the Holy Spirit we can hear the words of Scripture but they will be dry and lifeless. With the Holy Spirit the words of Scripture give us light, life, and strength.

Without the Holy Spirit the ritual of the sacraments will seem a dry, meaningless, mechanical and routine. With the Holy Spirit our hearts are opened to receive the invisible grace given to us.

Without the Holy Spirit the Church will seem to us just one more human institution with its strength and weakness. With the Holy Spirit we will recognize God at work in the Church, despite the sins of her members; we will perceive the deepest reality of the mystical Body of Christ, his beloved Bride, the very Temple of the Holy Spirit, our mother and teacher.

As the Holy Spirit, in the Holy Trinity, is the bond of love between the Father and the Son, so the Holy Spirit, in the Church, is the bond of unity that makes us one in Christ.

With the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, we have life; without the Holy Spirit, we remain dead, even though we still walk around upon this earth.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. … If you live according to the flesh, you will die. Alas, we carry around within ourselves the seeds of death, a traitor within, nourished by the corrupt world and exploited by the devil. St. Paul names this traitor within “the flesh” and speaks of those who are “in the flesh” (as opposed to those who are “in the Spirit” or “in Christ”) and those who live “according to the flesh” as opposed to those who by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body.

It is very important to understand correctly what St. Paul means by “the flesh”.

Now, we have bodies with flesh – it is part of who we are – and our bodies have needs and desires. This is all from God, who created us, and is, as such good. Our bodies are good, and so also our bodily needs and desires. What is not good is that we be ruled by those bodily needs and desires; what is not good is that we use our bodies in a way that goes against the law and purpose of God, a purpose that actually serves our true good and fulfilment. To be “in the flesh” means, in the first place, being ruled by our bodily needs and desired.  Nevertheless, even the sins that arise from our mind belong to the “flesh”.

Consider the seven capital sins, pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, lust, and gluttony. These define life “according to the flesh”. These are called “capital sins” because they are disordered tendencies we find within ourselves, tendencies that give birth to a multitude of temptations and sins. It is clear that giving way to lust, gluttony, or sloth all involve giving way to our bodily desires. Anger is very much felt in the body but involves a wrong perceived by the mind. Avarice is a peculiarly human sin, likewise involving the mind, the desire to have and accumulate things, regarding them as “mine”; it is often put at the service of bodily need and desire, but at times is placed in the service of pride as when a person values himself according to what he owns. Pride and envy – the only sins the evil spirits are capable of – even more involve the mind, comparing ourselves with others, often making that comparison in relation to the life of the body, being stronger, healthier, more athletic or more beautiful, but also making the comparison in terms of the endowments of the mind. Yet, even when these sins involve the mind, they belong to the life of the “flesh”. They make the spirit like the flesh, rather than spiritualizing the very flesh.

Hunger is intrinsically “selfish” because it serves self-preservation, but there is nothing wrong with this; we need to eat to live. Gluttony, however, is wickedly selfish because it puts the pleasure of eating and the satisfaction of hunger above greater goods to the point that someone like Esau would sell his sacred birthright for a lentil stew. (cf. Gen 25:29-34) Even the more “spiritual” of sins, like pride and envy wickedly imitate the natural egoism of fleshly desire. True “spirituality” puts the flesh at the service of a greater good, opening up to God and neighbor.

Through the Holy Spirit all of our bodily needs and desires, all of our loves, including a proper self-love, are put at the service of Christ and his kingdom through faith, hope, and charity.

The reign of the flesh leads to disintegration, even within ourselves. We could think of the example of gluttony, leading to obesity, to all the health problems that follow therefrom, not to mention all the social problems. Or we could think of the interior conflict a man suffers who, on the one hand wants a happy family life, but, on the other hand, is consumed by avarice that drives him to excessive work outside the home, while trying to show his love for his family purely by providing them with expensive things.

The Holy Spirit brings interior unity and peace because we are meant to belong to a larger whole, not only of family or hometown or parish, but of the whole Church, the Body of Christ, the Kingdom of Christ. The Holy Spirit brings interior unity and peace by harnessing all of our energies and giving them focus and purpose in Christ.

Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God, like Christ, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

The Holy Spirit leads us by way of the virtues of faith, hope, and charity; he also leads us by means of his seven gifts: fear of the Lord, piety, knowledge, fortitude, counsel, understanding, and wisdom. Faith, hope, and charity are entrusted to us as “talents” with which we must work; the seven gifts render us docile to the impulse of the Holy Spirit, allowing him to work in us, guiding our exercise of faith, hope, and charity.

You see there is one way we act, more on our own, and we often need to begin this way and return to this way. There is another way we act, more under the impulse of the Holy Spirit.

We believe in Jesus Christ and we know that his Church tells us to attend Mass on Sunday, so we do so. That is good so far as it goes. It is another matter when through the Holy Spirit’s gift of understanding, we gain insight into the reality of Jesus Christ and his gift of himself in the Holy Eucharist, and then we are moved from deep within to attend Mass, not just on Sunday, but as often as possible during the week as well.

It is one thing when, having heard of the promise of eternal life and desiring to go to heaven, we obey the commandments of God. That is good so far as it goes. It is another thing when the Holy Spirit, through the gift of knowledge, gives us to recognize the vanity of this world and the evil of our sins, and so leads us through repentance to put our hope in God’s mercy and ardently desire and hope for the fulfillment of God’s promise.

It is one thing when, knowing that Jesus has commanded us to love one another, and so, doing the best according to our lights, we try to be kind and loving towards those whom God has put in our lives. That is good so far as it goes. It is another thing when the Holy Spirit, through the gift of wisdom, gives us to taste of the love the Sacred Heart of Jesus, kindling our hearts with the fire of his love, such that we are moved to say with St. Paul, the love of Christ impels us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore we have all died. And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Cor 5:14-15)

It is one thing when faced with a difficult situation and desiring to do the right thing, we think things through, seek advice, and make a careful decision. That is good so far as it goes. It is another thing when, on the spot, through the gift of Counsel, the Holy Spirit gives us just the right word to say, or shows us just the right thing to do.

Our good Father does not want us to be lazy and so he will often leave us to our own resources, as it were, leaving us to practice faith, hope, and charity the best we can according to our own lights; even then it is through the Holy Spirit that he secretly sustains and guides us. Yet, as we struggle by our own efforts, the Holy Spirit teaches us the poverty of our soul and leads us to seek his help, to rely on him, to trust him. Then he begins more and more working in us through the power of his seven gifts; then with amazement we realize, “I did that, but I didn’t do that on my own; that was beyond my capability.” Then our works of faith, hope, and charity take on, ever more, a truly divine quality.

The Holy Spirit, though, leads us step by step, from the beginning of the path to the end. He first leads us away from sin, to repentance, to put to death the deeds of the body. Then he leads us to the keeping of the commandments of God, the commandments of Jesus; then he begins to teach us everything, making God known to us. The more we turn away from sin and follow the commandments of God, the more we discover the Holy Spirit himself dwelling within us, together with the Father and the Son. Then we begin to cry out, not just a word, but from the depth of our heart, Abba, Father. Then we live in God and he in us. Then we begin to see as God sees; then we begin boldly to proclaim the mighty works of God by word and deed.

Leading us this way the Holy Spirit builds up the Body of Christ in love, leading us all to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Eph 4:13)