Cannonball Experience
“Receive the Holy Spirit.”
On Thursday, May 20th Jesuits, all over the world,
began an Ignatian Year to celebrate
the founding of their Order some 500 years ago.
They chose May 20th as the beginning because on May 20, 1521,
St. Ignatius of Loyola had his first conversion experience.
If you do not know the background story,
St. Ignatius was an officer in the Spanish Courts.
On this particular day 500 years ago, May 20th,
he was fighting on behalf of Spain against the French
in a city called Pamplona.
The French were easily beating the Spanish at this time
and the only thing left standing was the Citadel, the tower of the city.
Ignatius and a number of his officers were hold-up in there.
He refused to surrender thinking it shameful to do so.
He kept fighting on.
At one point, the Citadel was breached and
a cannonball came through the walls.
It went between his legs, shattering one of his legs
and taking a gaping flesh wound out of the other.
When the French came to the Citadel,
they were chivalrous in their victory.
They took Ignatius and brought him to their field hospital
because they were impressed by his valor and his honor.
They repaired his leg; a bit poorly because it was a field hospital
but in this moment he started his conversion.
In his time of recuperation, he had only access to the Bible,
a Book of Saints or some romantic novels.
So he would read these over and over again.
He noticed that when he read the romantic novels,
he could imagine himself in those roles and he enjoyed them.
But the enjoyment fizzled out quickly.
When he read the Book of the Saints
and imagined himself as one of the saints
and when he was reading the Bible and talking about Christ,
he would enjoy it and the enjoyment did not fizzle out.
This is the beginning of the Discernment of Spirits
that Ignatius eventually went on to popularize in his Spiritual Exercises.
He called this moment “a cannonball moment”
because in that moment that seemed disastrous,
his whole life was turned upside down
and the Lord used it as an opportunity
through the gift of the Holy Spirit to turn his life back to the Lord.
“A cannonball experience.”
Today we celebrate the feast day of Pentecost
and the gift of the Holy Spirit to all disciples,
to the Church, to live out the Christian message Christ.
Jesus promised us the gift of his Advocate, his Holy Spirit,
who would literally dwell within us, helping us with his Grace.
Here is the thing about St. Ignatius that is really important;
he had this “cannonball experience” but he still had a choice.
The grace of the Holy Spirit came upon him
and he saw life differently.
He was able to have colloquies or conversations with Christ;
conversations with Mary through the gift of the Holy Spirit
and he turned his life around.
He did so by his choice.
He did so with the grace of the Holy Spirit.
But he still had the choice to respond to that gift of the Spirit.
That is true for all of us.
This Holy Spirit comes into our life and we too have a choice.
And we too often have cannonball moments.
I suspect that if we look back at this last 15 or 16 months since the pandemic,
it’s been like a collective cannonball experience.
But the challenge, even though
we have the gift of the Holy Spirit,
the temptation is to not listen to the Holy Spirit;
it is to be distracted by the other spirits
that tell us nothing is different.
Let’s just go back to the way it always was.
Whereas the Holy Spirit will always invite us
to use the cannonball experience for an opportunity
to change and grow and to not come back the same way
but to become very different;
to become better Christians;
better human beings;
better disciples of Christ.
Today in our parish we are celebrating
the Sacrament of Confirmation at four of the other Masses.
We have nearly 90 young men and women
who will be making their Confirmation.
My hope is that when they hear those words,
“Receive the Holy Spirit”
that they can really understand the gift
that they are now getting and the choice it will now give them.
But they still need to choose to listen to the Holy Spirit.
The temptation will be to listen to all those other spirits
that will drive us into our own self-centered ways;
and often they are promoted by our secularism
but the reality is we still have a choice.
Do we listen to the Spirit?
Or do we listen to our own ego, our own desire for self?
The reality is for all of us is that
we all are given that gift of the Holy Spirit.
That is what this gospel says today,
receive the Holy Spirit.
Every one of us at our own confirmation,
indeed at our own Baptism
received this very Holy Spirit to live out our lives;
to be given the grace to see where Christ is in our life
and then to follow him.
But it requires of us to choose it.
We can still choose another way.
And the gift of the Holy Spirit is there
enabling us to choose this path that no matter what happens in our life
that God will make good of it.
As I said to all the candidates yesterday
and I’ll say it again today to them,
there are always going to be cannonball experiences in our lives.
Sometimes, they are small but significant.
Sometimes, they are large and significant.
Now I hope none of us will ever get hit by a cannonball
but we will have this cannonball experience
where it just seems like our life is falling apart.
Things are just going the wrong way.
I hope that you will remember that this is a cannonball experience
and we have a choice;
and if the gift of the Holy Spirit is within us,
we will be able to see things differently;
and to choose a path that makes us a better disciple.
I hope and I pray that for our young men and women,
who received the Sacrament this weekend.
I also hope and pray for that for every single one of us
because we know for sure that things
that we do not expect happen to us;
that cannonball experiences really do happen.
Oh, hopefully not every year but they do happen.
I pray that when they do, we are ready to receive that Holy Spirit;
and that we will be ready for a conversion experience;
to come and to follow Christ
because he promises us the gift of the Holy Spirit.