November 21, 2025
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) on November 16, 2025 at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Malachi 3:19-20a; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; and Luke 21:5-19.
In this, our next-to-last weekend of the year with the Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaks about the end of the world, echoing our first reading from the prophet Malachi. In almost every moment since Jesus uttered these predictions of wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines, plagues, signs in the sky, and persecutions, people have been convinced that they are living in the moment of which Jesus speaks.
But that’s not the main point of our gospel today. The point is how we are to prepare for the coming trial. Luke tells us that only one kind of preparation is necessary: to cultivate our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Luke’s gospel — and its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles — are drenched in the Holy Spirit. Even before Jesus is baptized, Luke reports that Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah, and Simeon are filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus begins his public ministry by proclaiming “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” After the first Christian Pentecost, the Holy Spirit inspires Jesus’ disciples to experience joy, to utter proclamations, to perform miracles, to see visions, and to receive guidance.
The Spirit dwells within us, mercifully closer to ourselves than our own breathing. Let’s take a moment to acknowledge this amazing grace!
None of us knows when we will be personally affected by an earthquake, a famine, a plague, or a persecution. Jesus tells us not to prepare our defense. He says that all we need to do is to trust in the counsel of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus says, “I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking.” I used to think that this was a literary device that Luke used to explain how the disciples – including awkward, uneducated guys like Peter – would soon give eloquent, persuasive speeches in the Acts of the Apostles. Today, I know better. We will receive that same wisdom, as long as we can trust in the Holy Spirit, too! So, how can we learn to trust in the Holy Spirit?
The answer is simple: we just need do it. The more times in our lives we try to trust in the Holy Spirit, the more likely we will be able to do it in the future.
Since joining the Paulists, I’ve been pushed into all kinds of situations where I have no choice but to rely on the Holy Spirit, because I am woefully unprepared. I find myself flummoxed, grasping for the right words to say. And at least 98% of the time, in classrooms, hospital wards, prisons, counseling rooms, airplanes, chapels, and private homes, from Berkeley to Boston, from Austin to Chicago, in Guatemala City and Galilee, I receive Jesus’ wisdom in speaking. Time and again, even though I don’t think I know what I’m saying or doing, people respond that I’ve provided just what they need. They regularly tell me that my words and my actions are the answers to their prayers.
And in my work, I meet countless other people — lay people, clergy, and religious — who have had similar experiences. They found themselves in ministry situations in which they feel unprepared, and somehow, they’ve been inspired to say the right thing and to take the right action.
How did we become so skilled? The answer is obvious: it’s not us. Personally, the main skill I’ve acquired is shutting up and allowing myself to be a vessel through which the Holy Spirit can flow.
It’s ironic: in my life before the seminary, I lived in a world dominated by the future. At my job as an engineer, I was expected to think of everything that could possibly go wrong and then stop it from happening. In my free time as an amateur musician, I would spend months rehearsing exactly when and how to make sounds in relationship to all the other participants in the ensemble. Now, in pastoral situations, I am often at my best when I don’t plan ahead, when I’m present in the moment to whatever crosses my inbox or to whomever steps into the confessional.
I don’t think I’m especially holy. And you know what? You probably feel the same way: you probably think that you’re not especially holy, either. I have a life that places me in lots of situations where I get to experience God’s grace. And you, too, get to experience God’s graces every day.
Yet so many of us suffer from “imposter syndrome.” We hear about opportunities to serve the people of God, but we don’t think that we have the abilities to do so. Perhaps we didn’t learn much about the faith growing up. Perhaps we’ve been hurt in relationships in the past — perhaps even in previous church communities — so we have trust issues, even issues trusting the Holy Spirit. We’re anxious. We feel inadequate. We hear about opportunities, but we think we’re not up to the task:
- Old St. Mary’s wants a greater diversity of people to lector at Mass. “BUT they can’t be talking to me. I’m not holy enough to proclaim the Word of God in front of all these people who are holier than I am.”
- Old St. Mary’s needs more greeters before Mass and more hospitality ministers after Mass. “BUT they can’t be talking to me. I don’t feel as if I really belong here myself.”
- Old St. Mary’s needs volunteers to help lead Children’s Liturgy of the Word. “BUT they can’t be talking to me. I don’t know enough about the gospel.”
- The Paulists need men to consider becoming priests. “BUT they can’t be talking to me. I don’t know who God is.”
To quote a very funny Franciscan friar I heard preach decades ago. “The gate into heaven is narrow. You can’t get in if you have a big BUT!” [Pause for reaction.] You know what? The rest of us aren’t holier than you. The rest of us don’t feel as if we belong any more than you do. Most of you probably do know more about the gospel than the average kindergartner who attends Children’s Liturgy of the Word. And for those of you single gentlemen under the age of 40: I promise you that priesthood with the Paulists is an adventure, and you will find God by your side on every step of the journey.
I promise that the people of Old St. Mary’s, including all of us on the pastoral team — Elise, Ace, Fr. Dan, and I — are here to support you no matter your sense of inadequacy, inferiority, pain, or anxiety.
Think about it: Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would provide for all of us, not just a select few. There’s no special knowledge or skill needed to grow in relationship with the Holy Spirit. We all have the ability to step forward, to trust in God, and to allow the Holy Spirit to take the lead.