Need for Speed

Learning we need the Holy Spirit

Luke 11:10-13

Jesus said to his disciples:  “And I tell you, ask and you will receive;  seek and you will find;  knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives;  and the one who seeks, finds;  and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  What father among you would hand his son a snake  when he asks for a fish?  Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?  If you then, who are wicked,  know how to give good gifts to your children,  how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

          If I were to ask you what you think you really need, what would you answer? I would answer, “I need coffee!” Others may say, “I need shorter sermons!” Yet others, “I need a priest whose accent I can understand.” Still others say, “I need to check Facebook to see how many ‘likes’ I got on my last post!” If you’re Tom Cruise in the movie “Top Gun,” you’d say, “I feel the need…the need for speed.” But do we really need these things?

          Several years ago I had a conversation with a homeless man that completely changed my thinking on what I need. On an early morning jog in downtown Little Rock, I stopped to talk to a homeless man. Surprisingly, he said, “You know, I feel sorry for you.” I suppressed a laugh, and asked, “Why do you feel sorry for me?” He explained, “Well, because you’re a slave to so many things. But I’m free. I get up when I want, I eat when I want, I go where I want, I do whatever I want. But you are a slave to your alarm clock, and to your job, and to your lifestyle, and to gas prices, and to your retirement plan. You are a slave to all these things you think you need.” Pope Francis said that the poor have a lot to teach us; he was right. They teach us what we truly need.

          In the gospel today, Jesus also chimes in on our needs, especially in prayer. He says, “If you then, who are wicked know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” In other words, you know well what your children need, but you can’t see what you need. Fr. James Martin, the popular Jesuit writer, wrote that his father would drop the children off at Sunday Mass and sit in his car and read the paper until Mass was over (Become Who You Are, 10). We know what our children need, but we’re blind to what we need.

          Let me ask you again: what do you really need? Maybe you could spend a little time with the poor and get a better answer. You see, the poor can teach us that our so-called needs are just a form of modern-day slavery. Maybe all we really need is the Holy Spirit, not coffee, not short sermons, or the need...the need for speed.

 Praised be Jesus Christ!