By Barb Arland-Fye
Editorial
John Cooper tells a heartbreaking story about a young woman’s life-threatening struggle with alcoholism in the June 6 issue of the St. Anthony Catholic Church (Davenport) Email Newsletter. Cooper, the parish’s pastoral associate and business manager, writes that he first met Milena when she began showing up for daily Mass intoxicated and disruptive. Her desire to attend Mass was real, he discovered as he and others journeyed with Milena. However, they couldn’t convince her to get the help she needed. At publication time, Milena was in the hospital, her organs shutting down.
Reflecting on Pentecost Sunday, John said, “the coming of the Spirit into brokenness and fear — resonates deeply with Milena’s story.” That same Spirit allowed John to understand that Milena was responding to the Holy Spirit “in her own way through persistence, tears, unfiltered spiritual hunger at Mass, and most of all, a desire to change.” He asked readers to pray, “that the Spirit grants this beautiful soul the peace she needs — whether in this life or the next.”
“The Spirit opens borders, first of all, in our hearts,” Pope Leo XIV reflected in his homily for Mass on Pentecost Sunday. “He is the Gift that opens our lives to love. His presence breaks down our hardness of heart, our narrowness of mind, our selfishness, the fears that enchain us and the narcissism that makes us think only of ourselves” (https://tinyurl.com/37zh83h3).
When we invite the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, “We then become capable of opening our hearts to our brothers and sisters … moving beyond our fear of those who are different … The Spirit also transforms those deeper, hidden dangers that disturb our relationships, like suspicion, prejudice or the desire to manipulate others,” the Holy Father said.
“The Holy Spirit,” he continued, “brings to maturity within us the fruits that enable us to cultivate good and healthy relationships: ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’” (Gal 5:22). The Holy Spirit “teaches us, reminds us, and writes in our hearts before all else the commandment of love … Where there is love, there is no room for prejudice, for ‘security’ zones separating us from our neighbors.”
Three days before Pentecost, Bishop Dennis Walsh preached, “Our unity, our witness of love and concord, is the most powerful evangelization tool we possess.” He said we are to live out this prayer of unity in our homes, our parishes and communities. “It means actively seeking reconciliation where there is division, extending forgiveness where there is hurt and building bridges rather than walls. It means listening with charity, speaking with kindness, and always remembering that the person next to us, or the one we disagree with, is a beloved child of God.”
This is the hard work of being a Christian, letting go of being the victor, letting go of inaccurate or false assumptions about others whose viewpoints diverge from ours. Listening with charity requires opening the borders of our hearts to allow other viewpoints to enter.
When John Cooper first witnessed an intoxicated young woman at Mass get up to stand in the Communion line, he assumed she was not Catholic and later instructed her on receiving a blessing instead. But she was Catholic. Despite her struggle with alcoholism, she desired to receive Christ in the Eucharist. John, guided by the Holy Spirit in his prayer life and participation in the community of faith, let go of his prejudice to open the borders of his heart.
Let us pray, as Bishop Walsh asked, that the Holy Spirit “empower us to overcome our differences, to embrace one another as brothers and sisters, and to live out the radical unity that Jesus prayed for.” Prayer, exercised with sincere action, will lead us to open the borders of our hearts.
Barb Arland-Fye, Editor
arland-fye@davenportdiocese.org
