PENTECOST SUNDAY (C)
(Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,
12-13; John 20:19-23)
Saint
Paul writing to his very mixed congregation – from ‘nouveau riches’ to slaves –
at the vibrant Greek port of Corinth had to proclaim Jesus’ Good News in the
face of social practices and current ideas both full and feisty, which demanded
that he speak clearly and, when necessary, decisively. And so, rejecting the idea that anyone could
be rightly inspired to curse Jesus – part of the dregs left over from their
recent pagan worship of idols -- he then declared:
Brothers
and sisters: No one can say, “Jesus is
Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
Now,
those words are wonderful to me for Jesus had said earlier (John 6:44):
No one can come to Me unless the Father Who
sent Me draw him;
and
together, those two complementary sayings embrace the most sublime and
beautiful truth of our sanctification:
no one can come to Jesus and learn from Him unless the Father first of all
draws him and the Spirit then enables him to say “Jesus is Lord”; that is, only
thanks to the goodness of the Father can we encounter Jesus, and, only in power
of the Spirit can we subsequently confess or proclaim Him.
Now, all
that is mirrored in Jesus’ very first words to the disciples after having risen
from the dead, and while they were still held chained by fear of the Jews:
Peace be
with you. As the Father has sent Me, so
I send you … Receive the Holy Spirit.
Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, had inspired John the Baptist to prepare the way
for Jesus:
In those
days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea; “Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
(Matthew 3:1)
Likewise
Jesus, the Incarnate Lord -- one with the Father and the Spirit -- on beginning
His public ministry, took up that very same call to repentance:
When He
heard that John had been arrested, (Jesus) withdrew to Galilee. From that time on (He) began to preach and
say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:12, 17)
How then
could He -- the Risen Lord – after having proved the physical reality of His
appearance, Personally identify Himself more convincingly to His fearful
apostles as the Lord they had devotedly followed, eagerly listened to, and
sincerely loved, than by speaking of the Father Who had sent Him, and of the
Spirit through whom the repentance He had called for from the beginning would
show itself in the forgiveness, healing, and renewal of their own
now-to-be-bestowed ministry:
Peace be
with you. As the Father has sent Me, so
I send you … Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are
retained.
Thus the
Risen Jesus showed Himself – by wounds and words -- to be indeed the Lord and
Master they had erstwhile so proudly known and humbly followed. Truly, there was no room for doubt with such
testimony!
Receive
the Holy Spirit … such was to be their spiritual endowment when Jesus would no
longer be with them … indeed another Comforter, an Advocate:
I will ask the Father, and He will give you
another Advocate to be with you forever.
This is the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot receive, because it
neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know
Him, because He abides with you, and He will be in you. (John 14:15-17)
In that
way the gift of the Spirit was made in the first place for both their personal
comforting as individuals committed to Jesus, and for their confidence and
courage as a small group of Jews thanking God for His gift of the long promised
Messiah, before becoming distinct from their Jewish compatriots as founding
members of the Christian Church. There
was, above all however, a bestowal of the Spirit for their Apostolic continuation
of Jesus’ ministry by their divinely-witnessed proclamation of the Truth and
Holiness of His Gospel to and for the whole of mankind:
I have
told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy
Spirit that the Father will send in My name—He will teach you everything and
remind you of all that I told you. (14:25-26)
They had
to wait and pray in Jerusalem for a short while before that further gift of the
Spirit, praying with Mary the mother of Jesus … learning from her and looking
back over those days, months, and few years they had spent with the Lord
Himself, lovingly recalling all that He had said and done in their presence and
company, and looking forward in anticipation to where and how the Spirit would
lead them in their service of Jesus. And
then, most unexpectedly,
when the
time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And
suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it
filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to
rest on each one of them. And they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the
Spirit enabled them to proclaim. (Acts
2:1-4)
Whom,
what, did they proclaim? The mighty acts
of God manifested in Jesus’ proclamation of His Good News! You knew that of course; but notice how they proclaimed Jesus: IN THE SPIRIT!!
Mother
Church has never proclaimed Jesus as a mere record from history, even
though she has ever remembered and
treasured particulars of His life and the substance of His teaching with all
possible factual accuracy. Her past
memory of Him is also her abiding experience of Him as the living Lord and
loving Saviour still alive in the minds and hearts of His disciples through His
Eucharistic Presence, thereby enabling them to recognize and co-operate with
the formation of His Body on earth, His Church, by the Father’s Gift, His own
Most Holy Spirit. And what exaltation
must have thrilled the hearts and minds of the Apostles when the Spirit came
upon them before the gathered Church for the very first time!
Now there
were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large
crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own
language. They were astounded, and in
amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?
What does this mean?” (Acts
2:5-12)
My dear
brothers and sisters in Christ let us deeply cherish, let us give heart-felt
thanks for and lovingly meditate on, the Gift of the Holy Spirit which is ours
in a truly special way on this a most holy day in Mother Church, for the Spirit
is given that each and all of us might come to personally know and intimately
love Jesus and thus give authentic witness to Him as living Christians and
Catholics.
In the
performance of that most glorious privilege, calling, and duty however, we must
ever be on our guard lest we confuse our desire to share or witness to the Gift
given us of God’s most Holy Spirit of Wisdom, Truth and Love, with any
insidious temptation to self-exaltation by hiving off swarms of personal
emotions and imaginations witnessing not so much to deep Gospel peace as to our
own personal surrender to modern clamour for and delight in surface excitement.
There is
comfort in the Spirit as the Apostles found, for He it is Who alone can conform
us to the likeness of Jesus; and what deeper comfort and joy can there be, than that of becoming more and more one with
Jesus the Perfect God and Perfect Man ?
There is
also power, purpose and commitment for us in the Spirit; for we are beings with
potentialities able to respond to and conspire with such power. Our hopes and aspirations likewise find
supremely fulfilling purpose and commitment as the Spirit opens up before us
all that God has prepared for those who love and serve Him in Jesus, on earth
as well as in heaven still to come:
There are
different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different
forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same
God who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some
benefit.
There is
so much on offer, so to speak, today for all who love Jesus in Mother Church:
present joy and peace; future prospects anticipated in our hopes and
aspirations; and prospects more glorious still, as yet unknown to us but
towards which the Spirit of Jesus is guiding all who will be docile and humble
enough to wait for His lead. So much on
offer, I repeat for all who want to walk with Jesus and become true adopted
children of His and our heavenly Father!
This day
of Pentecost is indeed like the freshly appearing beauty and joy of our
springtime- renewed world after winter’s drear grasp is loosened by an
invisible breathing offering life and promising hope. Dear People of God, the Holy Spirit, today’s
great and glorious Gift, is the Spirit of Wisdom, Love, and Truth; so in us, individually; so with us as a group; and so totally for us, individually and all
together!! Oh, He is beautiful and holy
beyond any words I can conceive. Happy
and holy Feast!!
