June 3, 2001

A party of British sailors landed on an island just south of the North Pole. They accidentally set fire to the stunted vegetation that scantily clothed what they viewed as a very ugly and cold and inhospitable place. A few years later, another party of British sailors came upon that same island and they could not believe the difference. All about the once burned and barren island stood silver birch trees glittering in the sunlight. It was a scene of magnificent beauty.

What had happened was that the fire what was set by the first group awakened seeds of birch trees that the icy cold of the island had lain dormant below its surface for many years. Thanks to the fire, they came to life and a barren wilderness bloomed like a rose.

I received an unexpected visit one day in my office. A young man knocked on the door and said, "You probably don't remember me but I served your 7:00 AM Mass at Annunciation in Elma for 10 years. You were a lot of fun. You were kind to me and your homilies even at that hour of the morning were interesting to me. Because of you, I became a man of faith, and my faith has been extremely important to me. I am a medical student and your presence in my life has been extremely important to me. So I am doing my rounds here at the BGH and I just wanted to say thanks."

Honestly I did not remember the young man at all. The seed of faith inside that young man was ignited during those early morning Masses and the flame took the form of kindness, humor, and interest unbeknown to me.

On Pentecost Sunday, the flame of the spirit touched eleven very ordinary and lackluster men and a transformation took place not unlike that of the island just south of the North Pole. These eleven began sporting courage and charisma and grace and jubilation and tenacity and all sorts of wonderful virtues that, prior to that day, had lain dormant inside of them.

What occurred that day could very well occur today, and the Spirit may be looking to us to be the flame by our ordinary day to day actions. We could very well be Pentecost in someone unbeknownst to us. COME HOLY SPIRIT! AMEN!

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