Author: SHSS

Sunday is Pentecost. Pentecost means fifty days after Easter. On this day, we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. The Holy Spirit is the Breath of God and the third person of the Holy Trinity.

We experience God in three distinct relationships at once. We experience God as Father and Creator. We experience God as Word, Savior, and Redeemer, whom we call Jesus. And we experience God as Sanctifier and Sustainer, whom we call the Holy Spirit.

It is the Spirit who opens us to belief. It is the Spirit who converts religion into sincere and convicted faith. It is the Spirit who gives us zeal for the faith, and it is the Spirit who reminds us of all Jesus said and taught. It is the Spirit who moves us to recognize Jesus as Lord. The Holy Spirit sets our hearts on fire. That is why the color of the day is red, symbolizing the fire that came upon the Apostles.

The Work of the Spirit

It is the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us when we receive the sacraments. At Mass, it is the Spirit, through the sacrament of Holy Orders in the priest, who makes Jesus present in the Eucharist. It is the Spirit who moves us to ask for forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation. It is the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of Baptism who allows us to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, as Jesus foretold.

It is the Spirit who inspires us to understand and grow spiritually through our contemplation of the Scriptures. It is the Holy Spirit who brings us the gifts of God: Wisdom, Understanding, Good Counsel, Knowledge, Fortitude, and Piety. These gifts produce fruits in us that show the Spirit is present. These fruits of the Spirit are love, peace, joy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, chastity, patience, generosity, and self-control. It is the Spirit who helps us live out the Gospel.

Perhaps this is easier understood if we say: the Father speaks the Word, and the Spirit is the Breath needed to speak the Word, who is Jesus.

A Pentecost Reflection

What gift of the Holy Spirit do you see yourself as needing? What fruits of the Holy Spirit have you recognized in others and in yourself? The gifts of the Spirit are given to be shared. How do we share the gifts of the Spirit given to us in all the sacraments?

Rev. Msgr. Guy A. Massie
Pentecost Sunday
May 24, 2026

Truth as a Central Theme in the Gospel

I would like to focus on the Gospel. Jesus prays that his apostles, and through them all of us, be consecrated in the truth. Truth is a major theme in the Gospel of John. Jesus describes himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. So we must ask: what is truth, or better still, who is truth?

Jesus brings us truth about God, about God’s attitude toward us, and about the purpose of life itself. Jesus is the truth. Those who seek the truth are, in the deepest sense, seeking God — seeking Jesus.

Truth in a Distracted Society

It seems to me that in our society, the desire to know the truth has taken a back seat to conspiracy theories, fear tactics, and rumors. Truth has been reduced to a personal preference. We hear phrases like “your truth” and “my truth,” as though truth were simply a matter of feeling or mood.

Our society seems more ready to embrace falsehoods than to search for a truth that exists outside ourselves — a truth confirmed by real events and real actions. If that is where we find ourselves, then we must ask: how do we receive and hold fast to the truth that the Church teaches?

The Truths of Easter

What is the truth of the Easter Season and its celebrations? What truths are we consecrated in? To what truth are we called to bear witness?

If these are truths, they must be lived. Jesus prays that we be consecrated in the truth. To consecrate is to set something apart for a sacred purpose. With that in mind, consider the truths we are called to bear witness to — with our lives, and if necessary, even with our deaths:

The truth that God is.
The truth that God became incarnate among us, fully human in all things but sin.
The truth that we are created in the image of God.
The truth that God has invited humanity to share in his own divine life.
The truth that God so loved the world that he entered it in Jesus, redeeming our unfaithfulness through his perfect faithfulness.
The truth that we must imitate Christ by willing the good of others.
The truth that Jesus is risen and is still with us.
The truth that life will triumph over death, light will triumph over darkness, and truth will triumph over falsehood.
And the truth that what we do to one another, we do to God.

The Foundation of It All
Upon what are all these truths grounded? On this: that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. That God is light, and in him there is no darkness. That grace and truth came to us through Jesus Christ.

We are called to live Jesus.

Msgr. Guy A. Massie
May 17, 2026

On the Sixth Sunday of Easter, we continue our Gospel reading from the discourses at the Last Supper, according to St. John. Today, Jesus gives us two main points: first, his commands; and second, the promise of the Holy Spirit.

The Commands of Jesus

What are the commands of Jesus, and what is the motive for obeying them? There are many commands of Jesus. Among them are: love one another as I have loved you; do this in memory of me, referring to the Eucharist; be merciful as your Father is merciful; and forgive your enemies. There are many others.

The reason we believers are commanded to obey these commandments is because we love Jesus. We are not to obey simply out of legalistic reasons, but rather because we love Jesus. This presupposes that each of us has a deep relationship with Christ in the depths of our hearts.

Jesus invites us to forgive, not because the one being forgiven deserves forgiveness, but because we love Jesus. We are being asked to come to the celebration of the Eucharist not to fulfill a law, but because we love Jesus.

There are people who say, “I do not go to Mass; I pray at home. I do my own thing.” The Eucharist calls the Church together. We are called by Christ to gather in his name. We are Catholic; we never stand alone. We always stand as a member of this body.

While praying at home is good, and while doing your own thing may be wonderful, it is not what Jesus commanded. It is what makes you happy. If we love Jesus, we do not need emotion or feelings of fervor. We need to obey these commands because we love Jesus.

We grow in the love of Jesus as we learn more about Jesus in the sacred text and in the teaching of the Church. It is in experiencing God as Holy Spirit that we are drawn to Jesus.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

The second point of today’s Gospel is the promise of the Holy Spirit. The Easter Season began on the Second Sunday of Easter and continues until Pentecost. Pentecost is fifty days after Easter. It was on this day that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the community of the Church gathered in the upper room.

While the goal of the Easter Season is to celebrate Easter, it is also a preparation for the great feast of Pentecost, which this year is on May 24.

Msgr. Guy A. Massie
May 10, 2026
Sunday Readings

To know Jesus is different from simply knowing about the Lord. To know about Jesus is more than an academic exercise. To know the Lord is a matter of constant conversion and turning to the Lord in the very depths of our hearts.

To know the Lord is to confess in our innermost being that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We come to know Jesus through our understanding of the Gospel passages, through the sacred texts of the New Testament, through those who have known Him throughout history—namely the saints—and through the teachings of our faith community, the Church.

As I have said time and again, the saints are not just statues who lived long ago. The saints, through their lives and writings, gave witness to Christ, and they have much to tell us about faith. Looking at the faith of parents and grandparents, and learning from them how important Jesus is to them, is another way to come to know Jesus.

Jesus Is the Way

For the disciple, Jesus is the Way to the Father. Jesus is the way of how to live here and now. Jesus is the way through darkness, confusion, and fear.

In the first reading for Sunday’s liturgy, the early Christian community is struggling with newcomers, prejudice, and change. How is Jesus the Way through their communal problem? Do we not have similar issues? In prayer, how do we discern which way to go with our fear and our unknowing?

Jesus Is the Truth

For the person of faith, Jesus is the Truth. Christ is the truth that can set us free from fear. Christ is the Truth about who God is. In this truth, we are reminded that we are made for God, and anyone or anything else will not satisfy us.

Christ is the mind of God. In Christ, we are called to face the truth, as difficult as this may be, and be freed by it. The woman at the well (Jn 4) faced the truth about herself and was freed. Can we say that Jesus is the Truth we long to hear?

Jesus Is the Life

In John 10, we read, “I came that they may have life, and life in abundance.” Jesus is the Life. In God, there does not exist death; all are alive for God.

If Jesus is our life, then eternal life has already started, and in our growth in the Spirit, we nourish the eternal life in us which began at our baptism. This leads us to say with St. Paul, “For me, life is Christ.”

Living in Christ

To live in Christ is to live in freedom, to lessen our fear, and to increase our love and mercy for one another.

Msgr. Guy A. Massie
May 3, 2026
Sunday Readings