PENTECOST SUNDAY (C)
(Acts
of the Apostles 2:1-11; 1st. Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13; John
20:19-23)
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My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are celebrating
one of the three greatest solemnities enshrined in the liturgy of the Church:
Pentecost, recalling the Holy Spirit and the part He plays in the building up
of Mother Church and in our own individual lives as disciples of Jesus. There is much of beauty to be said about the
Holy Spirit, so let me make a beginning by recalling the words of St. Paul
which you heard in the second reading:
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the
same Lord. And there are diversities of
activities, but it is the same God Who works all in all.
Different ministries, callings, given to all sorts of people, but
each and every one of those called is offered the same Holy Spirit that He may enable
and guide them to suitably respond to and fulfil their individual calling. As the Apostle of England, Pope St. Gregory
the Great explained, “we are called to make the effort, and we go
out to battle; but it is the Lord Who does the fighting.”
There are differences of ministries, Paul went on to say, but the
same Lord: for whatever work we undertake, we do it in the name of Jesus, by His
most Holy Spirit, for the blessing of Mother Church and the salvation of those
of good will; there are diversities of activities, but the same God and Father
Whose loving Providence directs everything that is done to serve His ultimate
purposes for good; and St. Paul tells us elsewhere just what God’s ultimate purposes
are, when he writes (2 Corinthians 6:16):
You are the temple of the living God; as God has said: "I
will dwell in them and walk among them; I will be their God, and they shall be
My people."
Each of us then is called to serve our Lord and Saviour by making
use of the gifts His Spirit opens up to us, and in that way, to help build a
Temple for God’s Glory and also work out our own eternal salvation as St. Paul
explains further:
(The) foundation ….. is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become
clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and
the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it
endures, he will receive a reward. If
anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet
so as through fire. (1 Corinthians
3:11-15)
I remember reading of a man in the early Church whose vocation
from God -- as he saw it -- was to help pilgrims coming to Jerusalem at great
cost and personal danger from all over the world for love of their Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ: he would carry their baggage up the final hill to the holy city,
then go down again to help, in the name of Jesus, the next pilgrim up the hill so
often as he could that day and every subsequent day for which the Spirit gave
him strength. How humble and simple a
gesture, so beautiful and selfless! What total commitment to, trust in, and
love for, God manifested in Jesus!!
In the first reading you heard how the Apostles themselves received
the Gift of the Spirit and began to work under His guidance and even indeed
under His direct influence:
(They) were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And when this sound occurred, the multitude
came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own
language.
Peter made use of his own particular gift of the Spirit to
proclaim the name of the Lord Jesus at the very first Christian celebration of
Pentecost, and we are told that:
Those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day
about three thousand souls were added to (the disciples’ number). (Acts 2:41)
If we likewise, as living members of the one Body of Christ, open
our hearts to receive the Spirit, each of us will be given a share in the
Spirit’s gifts whereby we too may be enabled to work and prepare for God’s
Temple of glory in its ultimate beauty and variety.
All the members of that one body, being many, are (yet) one body.
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into (the) one Body (of Christ) --
whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to
drink into one Spirit. For in fact the Body is not one member but many. (1 Corinthians 12:12-17)
There is another reason, however, for our different gifts: it is
because we ourselves are all different; each one of us is a special creation of
God with our own unique personality.
Now, in the service of Jesus, the gift of the Spirit is meant indeed to
make us all one, but not, however, all alike; and so the Spirit
comes to make each one of us both a truly harmonious and living member of the
one Body of Christ, but also truly and fully our very own self as God planned
and created us. In God, individuality is
meant to build a unity that is strong.
Let me give you, once again, a picture from the Fathers of the
Church. Water, as you know, is often
used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, and supremely in the
sacrament of baptism. Now water coming
down from heaven as rain falls upon and for all the plants alike: water falls
upon the ground and feeds the vine and the apple tree, the crops and the
vegetables, to name but a few. That same
water in the soil, however, produces eventually wine, thanks to the vine, and
cider thanks to the apple tree. Seeds in
the field, thanks to the one water from heaven bring forth now wheat, or
barley; now parsnips or potatoes, each according to their own nature. So it is with us, dear People of God: we should delight in and treasure God’s Most
Holy Gift offered to us today, for it is in Him alone that we can find and
fulfil our true and secret, indeed sacred, self.
St. John tells us of an event which occurred at the great Feast of
Booths in Jerusalem:
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried
out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who
believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of
living water." But this He spoke
concerning the Spirit, Whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy
Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)
Jesus was preparing His Apostles and His future Church for all
those countless peoples who, over the centuries, would come to Him thirsting
for the gift of His Spirit. He told His
Apostles to go out to the peoples in His name:
Peace to you! As the Father
has sent me, I also send you.
And then, in order that Jesus’ promise of living water might find
fulfilment:
He breathed on them and said to them, “receive the Holy Spirit.”
The Apostles could not give the Spirit of themselves; the Spirit
had first of all to be given them by Jesus Himself, only then could they give
the Spirit in the name of Jesus. But
there must be no obstacle of sin in the ones who would come thirsting for God’s
Gift, therefore Jesus tells His Apostles:
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you
retain the sins of any, they are retained.
People of God, recognize and reverence the dignity of Mother
Church. To establish, guide, and sustain His Church Jesus gives His
own most Holy Spirit: only in Mother Church can you find, and receive the
fullness of, the Spirit given to the Apostles for the Church, and only in
Mother Church can our souls be cleansed and freed from sin in order to worthily
receive the Spirit. In matters such as
this we must not follow the our blindly proud and sinful ignorant world around
us. Sins can be forgiven by God alone,
is not enough that your neighbour or your friend understands you; it is not
enough, in fact it is no excuse at all, that you might only doing what many
people are doing; it will not enough even if an evil government give you the
legal right to act contrary to Catholic teaching, as, for example, with
abortion, contraception, and sexual profligacy, for sin is sinful despite any
government legislation and can only be removed by God’s forgiveness. Therefore, Jesus gives His Apostles and His
Church the power to first of all forgive sins and then bestow the God’s Gift of
the Holy Spirit. None who is unwilling
to seek God’s forgiveness through His Church can receive His Spirit from the
Church in Holy Communion.
However, this emphasis on the need for sins to be forgiven is but
the reverse side of the most awesome and wonderful truth and, at the same time
the deepest and most fulfilling joy offered us by the coming of the Holy Spirit
into our lives at Pentecost. Our
heavenly, supernatural, destiny is to live in, share with, Jesus in the all-holy
beatitude of the most Holy Trinity, to personally experience the divine love
that ebbs and flows between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the eternal peace
of Their mutual Joy and Truth; and only the Holy Spirit -- purifying and working
in and with us here on earth -- can prepare us to become so one with and like
Jesus, that in Him and for His sake we may be admitted into the sublime
Presence of the Father of Glory. When,
therefore, God demands that we must be purified from our sins, He is not
interested in morbid nit-picking, nor is He tyrannically demanding total observance
of His own arbitrary laws and observances; He is seeking to help us become --
in Jesus -- His own adopted children, able to delight in and share with their
Saviour in ‘the glory He had with the Father before the world was’.
People of God, this is a day of exclusively Catholic and Christian
Faith, for Our Lord Jesus made it clear to His Apostles (John 14:17)
that:
This is the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive,
because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, because He abides with
you (in Mother Church) and will be in
you (individually, as a true child of Mother Church).
Come dear People to this feast, come on this most holy day, in total
trust, confidence, gratitude, and joy to receive the Gift of the Spirit from
Jesus Himself anew in Holy Communion.
The Spirit alone can make you truly free, and lead you to experience the
fullness of joy and peace; indeed, the Spirit alone can make you fully your own
real self: a unique reflection of the Father Who created you, in the Lord Who
saved you, and by the Spirit Who moves and forms you.
