Turn Up The Flame Homily Part 4

by Fr. Michael A. Van Sloun

PENTECOST
Acts 2:1-11; Ps 104:1,24,29-31,34; 1 Cor 12:3-7,12-13; Jn 20:19-23

Only You Can Start A Forest Fire:
Turn Up The Flame For The Summer

Saturday, May 10, 2008, 5:00 and 6:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 11, 2008, 8:00, 9:30 and 11:15 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Mass

 

Only you can start a forest fire!

 

Today we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost.
  It is the great fire feast.
On the first Pentecost the disciples were huddled together in the Upper Room (Acts 1:13).
  and tongues as of fire came to rest over each of their heads (Acts 2:3).
For them, fire was a good thing.

 

For the DNR, the Department of Natural Resources;
  for the USDA, for the U. S. Department of Agriculture,
  for the U. S. Forest Service, fire is a bad thing.

Not for us.
Fire is a good thing.

 

Right now we’ve had plenty of rain;
  there is no danger of forest fires.
But just last summer, last fall,
  it was really dry, and there was the danger of forest fires.
Remember Smokey the Bear:
  “Touch out your matches!”
  “Only you can prevent forest fires!”

 

Not us.
We follow the Holy Spirit,
  the fire starter,
  the burning presence of God.
Strike your matches!
Yes, my friends, only you can start a forest fire!

We are now ninety days into the Turn Up the Flame campaign.
We have started a great fire here.
  2500 pledge sheets have been turned in.
  Many, many good people are on fire for the Lord.
  We have hundreds, thousands of good Catholics at St. Stephen’s
    who want to intensify their spiritual lives.
 
But with the arrival of mid-May,
  the opening of fishing,
  the beginning of the cabin season,
  the front edge of the summer vacation season,
  we are coming up upon a very dangerous, risky spiritual time.

 

As we travel northward to the forests, to the lakes,
  to go fishing, to go boating, to relax,
  there is a very real danger that many of us will be listening to Smokey the Bear,
    “Crush out your smokes!”
    “Touch out your matches!”
    “Only you can prevent forest fires!”
The danger is that we will “Turn Down the Flame.”

 

Don’t listen.
We want to start bigger and better fires, but not forest fires,
  the fire of faith in our hearts.
Now it the time for us to be on fire for Christ.
Now, more than ever, it is crucial to Turn Up the Flame. 

 

Sadly, for many folks,
  while they go on vacation during the summer,
    or whenever they travel,
  the attention to their spiritual life goes down.
Mass attendance goes down.
Prayer time goes down.
The amount of Bible reading and spiritual reading goes down.
The amount of help and service to those in need goes down.

 

Just because we may be on a vacation,
  doesn’t not mean that we can go on spiritual vacation.
God never goes on vacation.
God loves us and provides for us:  winter, spring, summer, and fall.
We need to live our faith,
    with full force,
    with flames high,
  whether we are at home or on the road,
  weekdays or weekends,
  here in the metro area or up at the lake,
  in Minnesota or any place else that we may go.

 

My friends, God never goes on vacation.
When it comes to our spiritual lives, we must never go on vacation,
  especially during the summertime.

 

God is begging us to Turn Up the Flame for the summer.
  Forget the AC. 
  Turn up the heat.
  Our goal is for a “hot summer,”
    a long, long, hot summer,
    a real sizzler – at least spiritually speaking.

 

Please, don’t you be worried about fire.

 

God spoke to Moses through a burning bush (Ex 3:2ff).
  God speaks through fire.
God led the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land
    as a pillar of fire by night (Ex 13:21-22).
  God leads by fire.
On Pentecost, tongues of flame/fire came to rest over the disciples’ heads.
  The Holy Spirit comes in the form of fire (Acts 2:3).

 

Fire is a good thing.

 

In the letter of James, the apostle writes,
  “A small flame can set a huge forest ablaze” (Jas 3:5b).

 

Remember, only you can start a forest fire.

 

For each of us, you and me,
  we, at the very least, have a small flame of faith within us.
The hope is that we will be good tinder, highly flammable,
  and that a fire will explode,
    that a raging fire will ignite in our minds and hearts,
    and that our whole being will be on fire for Christ.

 

This is the goal for our families, and for our parish too.
Each of us, individually, is a tree (Lk 3:9;13:6-9),
  and collectively, a family is a small grove, a little orchard,
  and our parish is a great forest.

 

Remember, only you can start a forest fire.

 

You and me, we need to
  strike a match, turn up the flame, set the forest ablaze,
  to be on fire for Christ ourselves,
  and be a fire starter and an accelerant for those around us.

 

Moms and dads, help your family catch fire.
Young people, help your friends catch fire.
Individual parishioners, help the larger parish catch fire.

 

Pentecost is about having a fire that burns so big and so bright
  that it totally overcomes the darkness (Jn 1:5).

 

Turn Up the Flame is not just for Lent, not just for the Easter Season.
Turn Up the Flame is for the summer too.

 

Our spiritual capital campaign is very different from a fund-raising capital campaign.
Really, contributing money is not so hard.
  All a person has to do is make the pledge,
    write the check, or put the money in the envelop,
    and “You’re done!”  It’s over fast.

 

In a spiritual campaign, we’re never done.
A spiritual pledge requires time and attention every single day.
The problem is that we have slippage.
  We set goals for ourselves and then don’t follow through.
  Oftentimes our follow-through is the worst is in the summer.

 

Therefore, in a spiritual campaign like Turn Up the Flame,
  we need to have revivals, rallies,
  to keep our energy high, to renew our commitment to be faithful to our pledges.

 

We need a boost as we head into the summer,
  and Pentecost is an ideal feast day to talk about getting spiritually fired up for the summer.

 

Remember, God never goes on vacation, nor should we.

 

And, don’t forget, it only takes a spark to set a forest ablaze.
  Only you can start a forest fire.

 

To conclude, please take out your white worship aid booklets,
  turn to the inside cover, and let us offer the Turn Up the Flame prayer together.

 

All-powerful and ever-living God,
  we praise you, our light and salvation.
We ask you, giver of all good gifts,
  to help us to grow in wisdom and readiness.
May our flasks be filled with rich oil
  produced by prayer and acts of kindness.
Strengthen our resolve to trim away all sin.
Increase the flame of your Spirit within us
  so our light will shine more brightly before others,
  that they might see our good deeds
  and glorify your holy name.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.