SERMON : A Single grateful thought toward heaven is the most complete prayer

On Pentecost day, God taught humanity a lesson on the etiquette of giving and receiving gifts. Gifts should be chosen and given with tenderness. And they must be received freely and with appreciation. Jesus, had noticed so many loopholes in the behavior of his disciples, like missing the point when he talked of heavenly things, whereby, they remained on the earthly understanding of things, mixing up earthly power and the heavenly one, discussing who among them was greater whereas it was not applicable to their situation, where the first had to be the last, and worse of all; he had found them lacking in courage when they abandoned him dying on the cross. Jesus knew what they needed most, and he promised them the gift of the Holy Spirit which would transform their fears into courage, hard to break: “I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, to be with you for ever.” He told them. “The Holy Spirit which the Father will send in my name…he will teach you everything, and remind you of everything that I said to you,” he continued. And indeed, when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then, there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4) As the early church experienced the raw power of the Holy Spirit, people learnt the first two principles in the etiquette of gift giving. A gift must be well chosen in terms of its utility to the receiver and secondly, it must respect the receiver’s freedom, hence it should never be forced on the receiver, however gracious it may be. But as always, not all people were convinced, some dared to make evasive jokes about the disciples that they had had too much to drink! Making fun of the great gift, they missed the occasion of self conversion. That is man. Today as we meditate on the great gift of the Holy Spirit, it is amazing to note that we have received the same Holy Spirit during our baptism and confirmation. And the etiquette for receiving gifts requires us to thank God often for that wonderful gift. Thomas Aquinas, the Roman Catholic writer and scholar, tells us how great that gift is. The Holy Spirit freely provides us with a meaningful vision, it reminds us of the right past events, hence revealing to us new opportunities. It gives us wisdom, knowledge, counsel or right judgment, understanding; strength, reverence or piety, and fear of the Lord. Through these gifts the Spirit shapes and steers our mind, and creates change in the way we think and react in different situations. But in real situations and concrete life, do we really see these gifts of the Holy Spirit in people we rub shoulders with in our daily hectic life? Yes we do. Our recent history which is marked with one of the most challenging situations in all human history; the genocide against the Tutsi, is a testimony to the presence of the Spirit in people given the way different people reacted in such a hard time. Our population was then dotted with people whose courage, enabled them to lay down their own lives while protecting the innocent people being hunted down for no reason at all. That courage is a vivid sign of the Holy Spirit who dwelt in them. You may rightly argue that they were so small a number. And that is what heroism means! It is not the thing of the mass but the exceptional few. This too questions our capacity to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, because, it cannot be forced on us. Hence, the etiquette does not only teach us how to choose and give gifts, but as well how to receive them and express our thankfulness. In this case, it might be hard to thank God enough, but a single grateful thought raised toward heaven would be appreciated. Ends