Sharing the Holy Spirit’s Gifts With Others
(Homily for the Mass of the Holy Spirit - XUGS)

My dear pupils let me ask you a few simple questions: when you are at dining table and before you take your meal what do you do? Pray to God to bless you and the food; after you wake up in the morning to start the day, what do you do? Pray to God to thank him for a new day and ask help as you fulfill your day’s work; and before you start your virtual class and exam? Wat do you do? Pray to ask help from God for guidance and enlightenment.

What is my point my dear pupils/students? Every time you do something important, you pray first to thank the Lord and ask for His blessing upon you and the work that you do.

Now this school year we have just started doing something very important for you and for your future. What is that? We are back to school although home-based to attend classes and learn our lessons. Studying is our big activity now and that is why today we gather together (though physically apart) to celebrate the Holy Mass online to pray to God and to thank Him for the many blessings he has given us. We also ask Him to send us the Holy Spirit to help us with our studies. I am sure you are familiar with the Holy Spirit, who is also God just like the Father and the Son. He is the third person of the Holy Trinity. He is a friend, a true friend because He helps anyone who asks for His help. Also, the Holy Spirit wants us to be His close friends.

What did your teacher tell you about the Holy Spirit? I believe they told you several important things about the Holy Spirit; that He gives us spiritual gifts, such as wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. He wants us to be good and kind to one another, and that He wants us to study our lessons and do our assignments. Those are all correct! To be able to do good things and be successful in whatever we do especially in our studies, we need the Holy Spirit to come into our lives.

Can we share the gifts of the Holy Spirit with others? Yes, in fact the more we share His gifts with our parents, our brothers and sisters, our classmates, our friends, our teachers, and with anyone, the more the Holy Spirit will stay with us and become our dearest friend.

How do you do it? I will teach you how. One evening, you see your mom or “nanay” busy working in the kitchen preparing dinner for the family so you go to her and offer help by doing the other chores. In that way, you share the Spirit with your mom because one gift of the Spirit is service/helping others. Another one, your brother did something wrong and he told you to keep quiet and not to tell anyone about it. You explain to your brother that it’s better to tell your parents about it so that he can be helped in his problem. In this way, you try to make the Spirit work in him because honesty is a gift of the Spirit. Another example, your teacher informed your class that some children in the city were very poor and could hardly eat a decent meal a day. You think of ways to help them, you save some of your allowance and give them to the poor children. Again, in this way, you share the Spirit with the needy people because being compassionate and kind to others are gifts of the Spirit. Last example, you are having difficulty with your online classes because you are not used to it, your connection at home is not stable, and there are distractions at home but still you do your best amidst the limitations. Again in this way, you make the Spirit active in you because courage and perseverance are also a gifts of the same Spirit. There are countless examples on how you can make the Holy Spirit active in your life by sharing His gifts with others.

Story. 

One person went to a store which advertises that it’s selling everything people want and need. So he asked, do you sell, love, peace, and joy? The storekeeper answered, yes, sir! So he immediately responded, I will buy them! Later, the storekeeper came back and gave him seeds. He frowned and complained, why these seeds? The storekeeper answered, ah you have to plant the seeds so they become plants, that plants are now the love and joy that you want.

My dear students/pupils, the Holy Spirit is already in us. What we need to do is to let Him grow in us. He only grows and develops in us and fills us with His love when we use His gifts and learn to share these with others.