Weekly HOMILY for May 11, 2008: Puzzles and People

Feast of Pentecost, Cycle A
Our Lady of Grace
May 11, 2008

Focus: How a puzzle helps us understand the gifts of the Holy Spirit
Function: To have children and adults understand their relationship to Christ and to one another in concrete situations
Format: Analogy


Puzzles and People
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


The Image of a Puzzle

What would you say this is? (Show one piece of a puzzle.) And this is another piece. (Show second piece.)

What do we know about two pieces of a puzzle? (Show how one interlocks)

If I turn them over and show you the picture, what does that tell us? (That the two pieces are part of a larger picture.)

So if each of us is a piece of the puzzle, then two things become evident: (1) Each piece – each person – contributes to the total picture. This piece/person may be the nose; this piece/person may be the ear.

(2) Each piece connects with four other pieces.

Puzzles and Pentecost

I would like to use this puzzle say that puzzles can help us appreciate something about today’s Feast of Pentecost.

Pentecost celebrates God’s presence within us and this presence is God the Holy Spirit. Pentecost opens up for two truths that are revealed in the puzzle analogy.

First, the Holy Spirit within us makes us realize that each of us – you, you, you, and I – are part of the living Body of Christ on this earth.

Saint Paul, in our second reading today, says: “As a body is one, though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one, so also Christ.”

What he is saying is that each of us, even though we are different and there are many of us, that each of us contributes in an important way to making up the living Body of Christ on this earth.

Yes, it is something like the pieces of our puzzle making up the whole picture of Jesus.

And second, like the pieces of a puzzle, each of us is connected with one another.

Saint Paul, in the second reading, says: “For in one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of the one Spirit.”

So, we can say that each of us is different; each of us is unique with our own piece of the puzzle.

But like those pieces, we are all inter-connected with each other by the one Spirit of God that lives and breathes within us.

Application

What I’d like to ask now is, “How does the power of God’s presence within each of us make a difference for us at our ‘sides,’ that is, at the places where we connect with other pieces of the puzzle?”

For starters the Holy Spirit, who makes Jesus Christ present, can help us to RECONCILE ourselves with other pieces of the puzzle and draw us into communion both with God and with his Church. (Demonstrate the connectedness of the two pieces.)

That same Holy Spirit that is poured out upon us will show us God’s BLESSINGS and challenge us to share our bounty with all those in need. (Demonstrate the connectedness of the two pieces.)

Finally, that same Holy Spirit will quicken those of us who have grown lukewarm in our faith or it will drive out the sluggishness or REKINDLE the desire we used to have for heaven by our mixing with other pieces at Sunday Mass each week (Shake the piece as a way of energizing it.)

Conclusion

We have all spent time with puzzles and there is fun in seeing the wonderful scene or picture emerge before our eyes.

The puzzle we are working on today is the body of Jesus Christ becoming a reality by our own participation at the corners of our lives. (Show one piece, pointing to its four corners.)

(Saturday 2:00pm and Sunday 11:30am) As a remembrance of this special day, boys and girls, we are going to give each of you a piece of a puzzle that you can place on your dresser.

May it be a daily reminder of the important part you play in being part of the Body of Christ and what being a part of that Body calls you to do.