Usually with homilies, I talk at you for a little while, and you listen. But today, we’re going to try something a bit different — We are going to expect the Holy Spirit to fall in power. We’re going to expect to experience Him together.

…And reap a HARVEST in the Spirit.

Pentecost is, after all, HARVEST time. That’s what the Jewish feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks WAS… it was a culminating celebration of the first harvest of the season. It’s sometimes referred to as the “Feast of First Fruits,” and it took place in the springtime (50 days… or 7 weeks… after Passover). It was when the first fruits of the grain harvest were bundled into sheaves and brought in as an offering before the Lord.

In the New Testament, the Pentecost HARVEST is infinitely better.

The harvest we get to bring in, the FRUIT we get to receive is God Himself. The Holy Spirit!!!! the Third Person of the Trinity!!!! 

He falls upon the disciples gathered in one place, and they are FILLED with Him. FILLED with the absolute BEST HARVEST imaginable.

Psalm 126 says: “They go out, they go out, full of tears, carrying seed for the sowing: they come back, they come back, full of song, carrying their sheaves!”

What are sheaves??? Well, a “sheaf” is an amount of grain large enough to require BUNDLING — What God is promising, therefore, is that you’re gonna be SO WEIGHED DOWN with a harvest of FRUIT that you’ll need to tie it up into bundles to carry it all!!!

So tonight, I want to send you all home with BUNDLES of fruit. I want to send you home FILLED with the Spirit. That’s what we’re gonna ask for.

How’s that sound?

Now this flies in the face of our culture that is so obsessed with, and so afraid of scarcity. We are all so worried that there won’t be enough of… whatever…

Not enough oil.
Not enough energy.

Not enough votes.

Not enough jobs.

Not enough money.

Not enough security.

Not enough time.

Not enough education.

Not enough success.

Not enough control.

But here’s the TRUTH — Our God is not a God of “not-enough.” He is the God of MORE THAN ENOUGH… He is the all-sufficient, all-providing God of the UNIVERSE. 

He tells us: “My grace is sufficient.” …It’s ENOUGH for you. More than enough! 

God is enough!

Let’s just go ahead and declare that together: “GOD IS ENOUGH.”

We are not guaranteed material comfort and ease. We do NOT believe in the prosperity gospel… But so often, I think we live our faith through that lens of scarcity… through that lens of “not enough.” We don’t expect enough. We don’t expect God to be enough… when we are IN FACT guaranteed a FRUITFUL life… We are promised to be FILLED with the Spirit. We’re promised an ABUNDANT HARVEST in the Spirit!!!!

Jesus tells us: “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit.”

He says: “Look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest!!!”

Bearing fruit and rejoicing in that harvest should be NORMAL for Christians.

The image the Lord gave me in prayer while preparing this homily was a branch WEIGHED DOWN with fruit. I heard Him telling me: “The branch is heavy with fruit!” 

The Lord has so much fruit prepared for us. He loves us so much. But we have to realize:

Fruit that isn’t picked… fruit that isn’t harvested… rots… It falls to the ground and decays.

So I say: Let’s pluck some fruit! It’s ours! It’s our inheritance.

This is not an intellectual exercise. This is not about mental or even spiritual effort. 

This is about encouraging an atmosphere of FAITH and EXPECTATION. 

…Of RECEPTIVITY.

This is about waiting for the Spirit to come in power — and EXPERIENCING Him here and now… just like the disciples EXPERIENCED tongues of flame coming down and resting upon them in the Upper Room at Pentecost, FILLING them and EMPOWERING them with the love of God in a whole new way.

Jesus PROMISED us the Spirit, and therefore He PROMISED us these fruits. 

So I am just gonna go ahead and proclaim the fruits of the Spirit found in our second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians — I’m going to DECLARE these “fruits of the Spirit” over you and ask for a harvest from God — and I invite you to expectantly RECEIVE the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

Let Him breathe upon YOU.

And so we invoke You, Holy Spirit

We invite You, Holy Spirit. You are welcome here.

We ask You:

Come Holy Spirit.

Vene Sancte Spiritus.

Holy Spirit, we ask for a harvest of love.

Holy Spirit, we ask for a harvest of joy.

Holy Spirit, we ask for a harvest of peace.

Holy Spirit, we ask for a harvest of patience. 

Holy Spirit, we ask for a harvest of kindness. 

Holy Spirit, we ask for a harvest of generosity. 

Holy Spirit, we ask for a harvest of faithfulness. 

Holy Spirit, we ask for a harvest of gentleness. 

Holy Spirit, we ask for a harvest of self-control.

Lord, I ask that each of these fruits of the Spirit might become more and more visible in each of our lives. Let them be signs of Your Presence and Goodness in our life. Bring about a harvest in us. Let our lives truly glorify You, radiate You, and attract more and more people to You.

Psalm 104 — “When you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.” 

Send Your Spirit upon us now, and RENEW us Lord, so that the entire world might be renewed. 

Bring about a NEW PENTECOST here in our hearts, our parish, our diocese.

We EXPECT You, Holy Spirit. You are the WELCOME Guest of our souls. 

We ask to experience BREAKTHROUGH….

Breakthrough from fear.

From wounds of hopelessness, rejection, and betrayal. 

Breakthrough in faith… wash away our skepticism. Our doubts.

Breakthrough in virtue… Holy Spirit, come and remove our addictions. Our sinful tendencies. Our faults and failings.

Burn them up in Your Fiery Love.

We give you permission to reap a harvest in our lives.

Come Holy Spirit.

Help us to receive the Holy Eucharist tonight with bold expectation.

With bold faith.

Jesus, come and live Your life in us, through the power of the Spirit.

We must decrease. You must increase.