St Augustine tells us about Pentecost: “Keep this day with joy, celebrate it in freedom of spirit, for in you is being fulfilled what was foreshadowed in those days when the Holy Spirit came.” Today as we look into ourselves, to our right and left, the people around us and in the Church we notice God’s will and his plan for the entire universe is gradually unfolding itself to achieve its clearest and complete fulfillment!
What is the relevance of the Feast of Pentecost? This special day commemorates the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that he will send the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit shall give witness to all the things Jesus shared with his apostles. The Holy Spirit shall remind us that we shall never feel orphaned because Jesus is with us. And when the Spirit of Jesus dwells in us, there would surely be transformation. We cannot be the same person as long as we allow the Spirit who dwells in each one of us to work in us.Just like the apostles, their transformation was amazing when they received the Holy Spirit. From being fearful, they became fearless. Their sadness was changed to joy; their hopelessness was transformed into hope; their confused minds and wounded hearts because of their infidelity to Jesus during his passion and death were given light and peace. They then mustered enough courage to proclaim the Risen Lord despite the persecution and difficulties in the religious leaders.
This year, our parish celebrates Pentecost in a very different way. Each of our three Masses celebrates the various themes based on our reading. Yesterday, we have unveiled the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of all the Americas. We aim that that Holy family shrine will be the shrine of various saints that represent the many races that compose our parish family. St Paul explains and underlines in the Second Reading when he says: "It was in one Spirit that all of us, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free, were baptized into one body. All of us have been given to drink of the one Spirit"
The Church must always become anew what she already is; she must open the borders between peoples and break down the barriers between class and race. In her, there cannot be those who are forgotten or looked down upon. In the Church there are only free brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. The wind and fire of the Holy Spirit must continually break down those barriers that we men and women continue to build between us. Thus, we must continually pray that the Holy Spirit opens us and gives us the grace of understanding, so that we become the People of God deriving from all peoples. St Paul tells us more along these lines: in Christ, who as the one Bread feeds all of us in the Eucharist and draws us to him in his Body wracked on the Cross, we must become only one body and one spirit.
In this Mass, we celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation, the reception to full communion with the Catholic Church and the celebration of the First Communion. Many if not all of us here have received these Sacraments. I have enumerated just a while ago how the Holy Spirit had changed the lives of the apostles and disciples of Jesus during the first Pentecost. But one thing that we also have to note very well is that, in the Gospel reading today, the Risen Lord passes through the closed doors and enters the place where the disciples are, and greets them twice with the words: "Peace be with you". And after he had said this, he breathed on them. To his breath, to the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Lord joins the power of forgiveness. We heard earlier that the Holy Spirit unites, breaks down barriers, leads us one to the other. The strength that opens up and overcomes Babel is the strength of forgiveness. Exactly in this way, however, all of the greatness of the Pentecost event is perceived.
When the Crucified and Risen Lord appeared to his disciples, his message was that of forgiveness and not of accusation for their denials, betrayals. For the disciples, Jesus’ return was not a judgement hour, but an experience of God’s forgiving love, reconciliation and a fresh relationship... an experience of new life and resurrection.
For all of us, notwithstanding all of our limitations, there is now something absolutely new: the breath of God. The life of God lives in us. The breath of his love, of his truth and of his goodness. In this way we can see here too an allusion to Baptism and Confirmation, this new life belongs to God that the Lord gives to us. The Gospel Reading invites us to this: to live always within the breath of Jesus Christ, receiving life from him, so that he may inspire in us authentic life, the life that no death may ever take away.
Jesus can grant forgiveness and the power to forgive because he himself suffered the consequences of sin and dispelled them in the flame of his love. Forgiveness comes from the Cross; he transforms the world with the love that is offered. His heart opened on the Cross is the door through which the grace of forgiveness enters into the world. And this grace alone is able to transform the world and build peace.
However, we continually close our doors; we continually want to feel secure and do not want to be disturbed by others and by God. Forgiveness is the colour and character of the Church. We are here not to condemn or judge our offenders, but to forgive and offer forgiveness of God. Peace is the gift of the Risen Lord and this is the gift the Church offers to the people of our time. God’s plan for the world is hastened when we truly represent this image of the Church in our families and with our neighbours. And so, we can continually implore the Lord just for this, that he come to us, overcoming our closure, to bring us his greeting: "Peace be with you".
The Lord's greeting of peace is followed by another gestures that is decisive for Pentecost: the Lord wants the disciples to continue his mission: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you". This is the character of the 11:30 Mass this morning. We recognize those who offer their time and services to help the needy. To be inspired and fired up in order to do many great things becomes possible because of the Holy Spirit. These are difficult to live out, yet it is what is expected from us who have received the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost is all about action, rather than celebration. As our readings today show, Pentecost has to do with God manifesting Himself in concrete signs. Pentecost is all about movement. But as the same readings for today show, there is more to Pentecost than mere action and movement. All that action is motivated by passion, by a mysterious force and strength that comes from above. That passion shines through in God’s choice of images with which He revealed Himself: a strong wind along with flames. “There appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.” That same passion shines out in proclamation: “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3b). Action and passion that spill over into dedication to God’s own passion – His predilection for the least, the last, the lowest, and the lost sinners that He has come to save.
It is this divine commission and the Church’s commitment to action that make Pentecost day become what it is meant to be. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you. Receive the Holy Spirit.” It is this reality of the church’s being gifted, empowered, and sent forth that ought to take center stage in our thoughts and reflections for today.
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