Last week, I had an opportunity to speak to the heads of the diocese, informing them that I wanted to slow down a little bit on my responsibilities outside of the parish so that I could focus a little more on the issues that are related to St. Patrick's Church. I was having one of these conversations with the Vocation Director of our diocese, Fr. Burke Masters, who thought that what I proposed was a good idea and then promptly gave me one more job to do for the sake of the diocese.

Fr. Burke informed me that the bishop specifically requested me to offer a talk to our future priests on the lifestyle of obedience and the graces that pertain to such a lifestyle. My first reaction to this request was apprehension, since I began thinking how this lifestyle of obedience has gotten me into so much trouble in my priesthood. As you pretty much know by now, I believe in following the parameters of faith rather strictly, knowing that this adherence to the faith is the certain path that we have to enter the kingdom of heaven. I also know that, despite my perceived bravado that some place upon me in life, in my heart I am a coward and lack much of the nerve displayed by the prophet Jonah when he jumped from the ship to escape the Lord's will, only to be swallowed up by a big fish in order that he could reconsider his vocation.

I started thinking about the promises of obedience I have made in my own priesthood, promises which we priests renew every year during Holy Week at our local Cathedrals:

With firm faith, I believe everything contained in the Word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, sets forth to be believed as divinely revealed. I also firmly accept and hold each and everything definitively proposed by the Church regarding teaching on faith and morals.

Moreover, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the College of Bishops enunciate when they exercise their authentic Magisterium, even if they do not intend to proclaim these teachings by a definitive act.

As Christians, we all make some type of promise in our life. To those who are married, the promise is very specific: I take you to be my spouse. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.

Speaking for myself, I know I am a sinner and have fallen from this call of obedience on numerous occasions. Every time I sin, every time I turn away from God, I resign myself to a lifestyle that is not worthy of my vocational calling. I know that the same sin fell upon Adam and Eve, upon Jacob's children, upon the people of Egypt and upon Moses himself. I know that the disciples often failed to understand this call to obedience and that one saint after another, one pope after another, willingly acknowledge their sinful condition in the presence of the Lord. In fact, I think to myself that all but two human beings within this history of life have fallen into sin in the same manner that I have and the only two that did not fall into sin had enough baggage in their respective lives to hold their lives down for an apparent eternity, one being a pregnant teenage unmarried woman and the other who was condemned to die for serving as the King of the Jews and Savior of all.

On this Solemnity of Pentecost, the Church has paralleled many of the traditions from our first weekend of the Easter Season with this last one as well. We focus on the themes of sin and redemption; on the Pentecost Vigil Mass, we are given the option of reading four Old Testament texts that focus on the redemption of a people caught in sin. The faithful in the Book of Genesis lost their grace with God when they attempted to build a tower that would reach the heavens and symbolize some type of equality with God that could never exist. Because of this lack of faith, the Lord separated the faithful by mixing up their speech and forcing them all to speak different languages so they could not communicate with each other. In the book of Exodus, Moses speaks to the Lord on Mt. Sinai with a promise that the Lord would be faithful to the people if the people were faithful to God. For a brief moment, Moses lost that faith and was forbidden to enter the Promised Land as a result; the faithful people subsequently lost their faith as well and were also cast out of the Promised Land as well (as reflected by the Prophet Joel in the readings from the Vigil of Pentecost).

To me, the Feast of Pentecost, the last day of the Easter Season, appears to reverse the trend of those who expressed doubt in the Lord by elevating the hearts of those who believe to change their lives (a theme to which St. Augustine refers in his interpretation of today's gospel). In our first reading, those who speak of different tongues are able to understand each other through the power of the Holy Spirit. Those apostles in today's gospel who receive the Holy Spirit from the Lord have received the power to forgive sins, to love others in a special way and to receive a grace that escaped them in the past. Because of their faithfulness and obedience to the Lord, the apostles received the strength to fight the sins of their age. And through this faith, we are able to fight the sins of our age as well.

In my reflection on the theme of obedience, I started thinking to myself that the most daunting of the promises that I made as a Catholic does not refer to the promises I made at ordination. The more daunting promise is the one I made at the very beginning of my life, the promises of baptism that my parents made for me, promises that I would believe in a one God, three persons, and that I would adhere to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. I made a promise to uphold those teachings of baptism during the sacrament of Confirmation that I received in my teenage years.

I thought about the name I chose for confirmation, the name of Athanasius, a deacon and bishop who was exiled on numerous times for defending a faith he professed to believe at his own baptism. I thought about the lives of one saint after another who sacrificed their lives in the spirit of martyrdom to defend the teachings of faith presented before them. I thought about the priests in this diocese who rarely get the accolades for their adherence to their promise of baptism and yet go about their work joyfully and lovingly.

To me, if you uphold the promises of baptism, the promises of the Our Father that we pray at each Mass, the rest of the promises are a piece of cake. Once you realize that you make a promise to God to live life on earth as God lives in heaven, you realize that this is the hardest promise you ever make. You also realize, if you take this promise seriously, that everything else in life flows from the original promise you make - the life of a spouse or ordained minister flows naturally from the love that you profess through the life of a baptized Catholic.

On this last day of the Easter Season, we remind ourselves of the commitment we make to live this life of faith, as difficult as it may seem. And so, as a reminder of this life of faith, we return back to the gift of the Holy Spirit that exists in our lives and give thanks to this spirit that gives us strength in times of trial.

I would like to end today's homily with the simple prayer of the Holy Spirit that many pray on a daily basis as a means to strengthen our hearts and souls against the temptations and sins of today's age. May this prayer serve as a reminder of the life of obedience to love that we are all called to make as the faithful members of this body of Christ:

All-powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by water and the Holy Spirit you freed your sons and daughters from sin and gave them new life. Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their Helper and Guide. Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence. Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Dios todopoderoso, Padre de nuestro Se�or Jesucristo, que regeneraste, por el agua y el Esp�ritu Santo a estos siervos tuyos y los libraste del pecado: escucha nuestra oraci�n y env�a sobre ellos el Esp�ritu Santo Par�clito; ll�nalos de esp�ritu de sabidur�a y de inteligencia, de esp�ritu de consejo y de fortaleza, de esp�ritu de ciencia y de piedad, y c�lmalos del Esp�ritu de tu santo temor. Am�n.

And this is our prayer.