”For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in St John’s Gospel something I want you to consider….”For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit”…Jesus did not just give himself completely on the cross and it ended there…His gift continues to this very day in how he pours out his Holy Spirit to us…Notice the word St John uses…....”ration”……God does not give like we do…He does not give what is left over…He “pours out” the Holy Spirit generously upon us….Some many read this and say, clearly that does not apply to me - I say to that person - WRONG!…..We just have to “make room” for God…..Allow me to illustrate my point with an analogy…..A cup of water, filled to the top has no room for milk to be poured into it…Before the milk can be poured into the cup…The water has to be poured out….Our job is to empty ourself of our very self…Then God will not “ration” his Holy Spirit upon us…But pour it into our soul without measure….This applies to everyone….We are too quick to short change ourself…To "write ourselves off"….The 12 men who Jesus chose are really no different then the working people of today….The only real difference between the first 12 and us is, they radically trusted…they did not “ration” the gift of themselves both to God and to their neighbors….Outside of that, there is no difference between us and the first 12 disciples…The same Holy Spirit that empowered them can also empower us…Its all about “making room” for the Holy Spirit…That is what these 12 fisherman did…And that is what we must do…Make room!…..And God will not “ration” his gift of self (i.e. The Holy Spirit) to you!…..We just “think” we can do more with our life on our own without God…How wrong of a mindset that is!…God can do infinitely more with your life than you can…Don’t believe me?…Ask a bunch of uneducated fisherman

“You believe in me, Thomas, because you have seen me, says the Lord; blessed are those who have not seen, but still believe!”

When I would go to Kolkata to serve with Mother Teresa’s sisters, I was very close with a Mexican sister named Sister Karina….The first year I went to India I got very sick and Sister Karina “pulled some strings” and got me an appointment with a good doctor in the city free of charge….And over the years, I got to know her well….One day, Sister Karina asked me to help her take some families who lived on the street for a picnic at a Catholic all boys school on the outskirts of the city…Sister Karina made some nice food but she needed help getting the families across town, so me and some other volunteers helped out…When we arrived with the families at the park, Sister was distributing the meal she cooked…There was this one Japanese young nun who was helping us…She was concerned that the food would run out and kept telling Sister Karina to not put so much food on each plate…But Sister did not ration the food, she gave it out generously….The Japanese sister did not know that Sister Karina had money…And if the food ran out…She would go to a vendor on the street and simply buy more food….Why tell you this story?…I always remember how the Japanese sister wanted to “measure out” what was to be given away…But Sister Karina corrected her - She did not “ration” her gift - And gave without measuring or calculating…This is how God gives to us…We cannot be like that young Japanese sister - She was young - She will learn!…We must give without measure of our self…When we are empty…God will then fill us with his Holy Spirit…Sister Karina gave out the food almost recklessly…But she knew there would be more food if what she made ran out…This is how we must live and give….What God did for the first 12 disciples he can do for us as well…Its all about how willing we are to empty ourself - To “make room” for God, who does not calculate what he can and can not give…God gives without measure!

“Taste and see how good the LORD is; blessed the man who takes refuge in him”

St John today tells us something very important about how God operates….God gives of himself radically and is still giving himself to the world today…The problem is not God - Its the same God and the same Holy Spirit - The problem is we do not make room for what God wants to give us….At the end of the day it comes down to trust…Somehow we “think” what we currently have "in our hand" is better when what God has to give us…How wrong that mindset is……Jesus Christ took 12 uneducated blue collar workers and transformed them into earth shakers!…Wrap your arms around that reality for a moment - Tell that to Harvard Business School….The same God and the same Holy Spirit that did that for the original 12 can do the same for us today….The issue is not God - The issues comes down to us…We must “make room” and give without measure……”For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit”