Ah, June. June is a balm after the craziness of May, a month that can be a wild ride, whether you have schoolchildren or not, because there is always such a flurry of activities to attend. Years ago, my friends and I referred to it as “Maycember” because, like Advent, May arrives with an overfilled calendar of good things: dance recitals, class parties, tournaments, graduations (for all the stages—kindergarten, eighth grade, high school, college, [insert excuse to celebrate]). With better weather and theoretically free-er weekdays, suddenly weddings, barbeques, park days, and hikes are on the docket. “Quick! Let’s get together before all the swim lessons start and the vacations separate us!”
When my husband and I were engaged, I didn’t quite help my mom on this front: I insisted that we marry on the first weekend of June so that Jim and I could get settled as a married couple before our next semester in college started. Not once did it occur to me to ask if it would be a convenient time for my mom, since I assumed that a wedding can’t possibly be that much work, and further, when is there ever a convenient time, anyway? Little did I know that I chose the worst possible time for her because, not only had she been juggling the usual May overload, but Maycember also meant stressful yearly deadlines at her office.
I’ve been feeling the crush of May this year and it seems as though I’m still running the hamster wheel into June. As our wedding anniversary approaches, and as our kids are now young adults, I am better able to look back and understand my mom’s stress…and apologize for it!
I awoke this morning, a Saturday, with a terrible headache and a laundry list of things to accomplish (including laundry!). Three of our kids spent the day with my parents while Duke decided to sing and play guitar at Mass under the tutelage of his (exceptionally talented) Uncle Jake after taking his first swipe at the SAT. Knowing that tomorrow brings a high school/college graduation party for our super-achiever and super-kind nephew (can you tell we’re proud of him?!), I decided to attend Mass with Duke and free up my Sunday for less-rushed and much-needed family time.
As I sat in the pew (on time, I might add, since I was alone), I breathed in the peace of the space. From my vantage point, I could see the profiles of my brother-in-law and my son as they sang together, which always makes my heart smile.
But the music.
The hymn choices all pointed the congregation to the Holy Spirit, and the ancient words felt as though they descended upon me and brought renewal and calm.
I am sure that the calm I felt was nothing compared to the sheer relief that Our Lady and the Apostles felt when the Holy Spirit descended upon them nine days after Jesus’s Ascension. It’s hard for us modern-day Christians to truly understand the power of that moment: Jesus had been once again physically absent and it’s easy to imagine them feeling confused. uncertain. anxious.
And then.
On Shavu’ot (Pentecost) morning, the Holy Spirit filled the Upper Room with a rushing wind and descended like tongues of fire upon their heads, filling them with joy and the ability to communicate with the multitudes of visiting Jewish travelers present in Jerusalem for the annual celebration (Acts 2). The ability of Jesus’s disciples to communicate with the travelers allowed them to preach the Good News of Jesus’s life…and consequently “undid” the scattering that happened in Babel so many centuries before and unified the people, not as a result of the pride of the Tower of Babel, but as a result of the desire of God to re-collect His People, Gentile and Jew. Stranger and friend. In his 2012 homily, Pope Benedict XVI explained that
…unity can only exist as a gift of God’s Spirit who will give us a new heart and a new
language, a new ability to communicate…[The Holy Spirit] settled on each one of them
and kindled within them the divine fire, a fire of love capable of transforming them.
Their fear evaporated, they felt their hearts filled with new strength, their tongues were
loosened and they began to speak freely in such a way that everyone could understand
the announcement that Jesus Christ had died and was risen. At Pentecost, where there
had been division and alienation, unity and understanding were born.
While Pentecost does not fall on the same day or even the same month from year to year, this year it ushers us into June and the rest of Ordinary Time as a hinge, turning us from chaotic Maycember and toward each other. May we find unity and peace as we embark on yet another season of summer and promise. Especially standing in the long, hot line to the water slide.
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