Pentecost – Mother’s Day 2008
May 11, 2008
Story from Ghana, West Africa Once upon a time thee were three women who wanted to have children. They tried everything to get pregnant, but to no success. All three women went to the local medicine man for help. When they arrived at the lodge of the medicine man they explained their situation. He told them that he could help but there was a “Catch 22.” He explained that they could surely have a baby, but when they gave birth they would go mad or go crazy.
The women needed to think carefully about this. The three women went back to their homes, thinking about the consequence of having a baby. Two of the women decided that “yes” they wanted the medicine, even if it made them crazy. The third woman decided that “no” she did not want a baby if it made her mad. So the medicine man gave the two women his medicine and all three women went back to their homes. Sure enough, in due time the two women gave birth to beautiful babies. The mothers waited several month, expecting to become crazy but nothing happened. So they went back to the medicine man and asked: “When are we going to go crazy?” The medicine asked them if they were not already crazy and the women said “no.” Then as they talked their babies began to fuss. So both women began to sway and bounce to calm their babies. They began to coo and make funny noises for their babies. The medicine man began to laugh. “Look at you,” he said to the women. “Who is making the music that you are dancing to and what are the strange cooings you make, the faces you distort and your smiles without reason. Is this not craziness???? And I tell you that with children they will make you even more crazy with each passing year. You will make fools of yourselves in public and in private.”
When the third woman heard this story she went back to the medicine man and said that she too wanted to have a baby, but he told her that it was too late. Her fear of what others might say about her and her unwillingness to risk the unexpected had prevented her from her deepest desire.
I laughed when I read this story. A small baby can turn the most dignified adult into what seems like a crazy person, saying such things as “kitchey, kitchey koo” and making funny faces.
Here is the connection with Pentecost and Mother’s Day. A crazy thing happened on that first Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples they started to act strange. People said that they must be drunk. In the same way that parents of a baby might be accused of being crazy because they make baby sounds and have exaggerated expressions on their faces. At that first Pentecost the disciples began to speak in different languages. The interesting thing is that these uneducated Galileans were not making crazy babbling sounds. Rather they wee speaking in recognizable languages, not their native Aramaic, but in languages from all over the world. Strangers visiting Jerusalem from far off, heard the disciples of Jesus speaking in their own dialects and their diverse languages. It was a crazy event. No wonder the disciples attracted so much attention and won so many converts. There is no earthly explanation for this remarkable event. Only God could touch people in such a way that they could communicate with strangers from other lands in such a profound way.
Pentecost say to us that the Gospel is for all people. The disciples spoke in foreign languages because the Gospel isn’t just for people who speak Hebrew or Aramaic or Greek or Latin. It isn’t just for people who speak English or Spanish. It is for people everywhere: rich people and poor people, people of every color and nationality. People who are saints and people who are sinners. The Gospel is for everyone. No exceptions – no ifs, ands and buts. Everybody.
Story: Thee was a man who was famous for dedicating his entire life to outcasts, the homeless, people in prison, those with AIDS. He was interested in just about all poor people. When he was asked what he did these works of compassion, he said: “The reason I do what I do is because of the body language of Jesus.” He was asked to explain what Jesus’ body language had to do with anything. The man said: “Yes, Jesus’ body language. Think about Jesus hanging on the cross. His arms wee stretched to their fullest extent. Now I realize that his are stretched because his hands are nailed to the wood of the cross. However, I believe that the arms of Jesus are stretched out to the fullest because that was the only way he could welcome everyone into the full embrace of God’s family. And that needs to be our body language also. That is why the image of the cross is so vital and important to us as Catholic Christians. We need the loving embrace of the outstretched arms of Jesus.” That is the story of Pentecost and miracle of motherhood.
Last point: Nobody can see or understand God. God is far beyond anything we can imagine. No one has ever seen God. However, the New Testament gives us a hint about the Holy Spirit. Thee are three symbols of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures. One symbol is that of a dove. It come from a story about the baptism of Jesus when the Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus in the Jordan River in the form of a dove. So the dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Now I want you to see the other two symbols at once. I am going to light this match. The flame is another symbol of the Holy Spirit. In the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles we read that “tongues of fire which parted and came to rest upon each of one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” The flame is another symbol. Now watch as I blow out the flame. That is the third symbol of the Holy Spirit: the wind. You cannot see the wind and you cannot control the wind, but a mighty wind like a tornado and pick up a house and move it. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is like that. You cannot see it, but when the Spirit moves, people’s lives are changed. That connects with the image of Jesus’ body language with his arms stretched out to embrace and accept us. It all fits together a dove, a flame and the wind.
