Where the Spirit Moves It happened some years ago at the Seattle Special Olympics.Nine runners -- all physically or mentally challenged assembled at the starting line for the 100 yard dash. At the sound of the starter's gun, they all took off, not exactly in a dash, but with an eagerness to finish the race and win.All, that is, except one boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times and began to cry. Hearing the boy's cries, the other eight runners slowed down to see what had happened. Then they all turned around and ran back to the boy. One girl with Down's syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, "This will make it better." Then all nine runners linked arms and walked together to the finish line. Everyone in the stadium stood and cheered for the winners -- all nine of them.Those young runners were a community; they were moving toward the same goal. When the eight heard the cries of one member of the community, they stopped their progress: they recognized the problem as Their own. They offered help as one. And then in solidarity, they walked across the finish line.Is that not a model of Church? Is that not what the Gospel message consistently proposes for those who would follow the Christ? Should that not be our vision this Pentecost?The Church exists not only as a community that has the same vision for the world, but as a community that is particularly dedicated to using its individual and collective gifts to help those in need.Those frightened by advancing age are in need of reassurance. Those who are ill need healing. Those alienated from the community are in need of welcome. Those who are grieving need consolation. Those who are poor are in need of assistance. Those struggling with addiction need support. Those discriminated against because of their color, their national origin or their sexual orientation are in need of fairness and justice. Those who are young and in trouble need guidance and loving care.And if these cannot find the fulfillment of those needs in their faith community, where are they to go? And if they suspect that they will not find that need filled there, I assure you they will not come, and that place will cease to be church! The current debates about empathy as a judicial qualification or the need for universal health care haven’t advanced the case for compassion. There are those who believe that the best way to make America strong is for people not to be worrying about taking care of everyone else. What is really needed, the argument goes, is for people to mind their own business and take care of themselves. The twisted logic seems to be if everyone minded his or her own business, no one would need help. Their conclusion: What’s holding us back as a nation is people being dependent on others!At first I wondered what church, synagogue or mosque would ever promote that perspective. But on further reflection, those views are not so uncommon even among our own Catholic people. The anti-empathy argument may have an unfeeling air about it, but by and large we generally shy away from being personally responsible for others. We will offer a prayer for the sick in the parish or for the elderly in a nursing home, but our first thought is usually not “I should visit them.” We will contribute to the local community supper for the poor, but wouldn’t think of sitting and sharing the meal with them.And what is even more tragic -- and I believe just as contrary to the Gospel -- is our reluctance to acknowledge our own need. For most of us, imbued with the principle of American self-sufficiency, being helped by others is not an appealing prospect. Yet what made those special Olympians a true community was that they identified their own need in responding to another's pain. It has been often said that the Church is a community of sinners -- of people frail and broken -- who come together to be healed through the Spirit of the Risen Lord, who himself embraced our brokenness to make us one with him.Today's feast is about that Spirit moving in and through all of us to make us one. In the words of a hymn likely to be sung in churches throughout this land today, "the gifts we have we are given to share." Like those special Olympians we have a common vision and that vision is that we are really one. To become truly one, we may very well, like those special Olympians, have to change the way the race is run and won. So we pray: "Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth you’re Spirit and we shall be recreated, and you shall renew the face of the earth." 