Pentecost Sunday Year C
Pentecost Sunday.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Pentecost, the event by which Jesus completes his paschal mystery. A moment we looked forward to since the Easter Sunday, and more intensely since the ascension of Jesus into heaven. Pentecost marks the end of the Eastertide because by this event humanity is yet again set on the path of knowing God through love. Hence, next Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, a life into which the Holy Spirit comes to draw us deeper
So, today, in a very powerful way, we invoke the Holy Spirit to come fill us afresh and enkindle in us the fire of his love.
The word Pentecost comes from a Greek word which means Fiftieth. It parallels the Jewish feast of weeks which takes place fifty days after the Passover feast. During the feast of weeks called Shavout, the Jews celebrate their becoming God’s holy people, symbolised by the gift and their acceptance of God’s law. On the Pentecost Sunday, Christians celebrate the founding of God’s people, the birth of the Church, when the Law of the Spirit is written in the human hearts. During Shavout, God’s people would expect special graces from God.
So, be expectant of the graces of the Holy Spirit because Pentecost was the moment when the promised Advocate made his home in the human heart for his mission, a journey of knowing God. “Stay in Jerusalem until you have received the power from on high”. On the Pentecost our mortal bodies are quickened and the weak and the fearful made strong and courageous, thus fulfilling the ancient prophecy of Joel 2:28, which says, “for it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh”.
On the Pentecost, God sealed the new covenant and the new law with the eternal Spirit, and engraved them, not on stone tablets, but in the human hearts. (See Romans 8:2, 2 Corinthians 3:2-8, Jeremiah 31:31-34).
On the Pentecost, Jesus, the second Adam, who ascended into heaven, makes his home in us as a life-giving spirit. (see1 Corinthians 15:45), and enkindled in the hearts of believers the fire he promised in Luke 12;49, the fire of God’s love, the person of the Holy Spirit.
Today’s first reading gives an account of the outpouring of that uncontainable love in the hearts of believers. At the heart of that account of the Pentecost, is the line which says, “and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son, we could then say that the Apostles were filled with the love of God, thus all fears were gone. The signs of speaking in tongues and prophesying could not be compared to the gift of knowing such an overflowing love. Because the former will come to an end, but the Latter remains forever.
On the Pentecost day, God crowned his constant self-giving throughout the salvation history by pouring himself into our hearts through his eternal spirit. Therefore, there was an overflow of love, for hardly could anyone contain such a love so perfect and unconditional.
Therefore, the apostles suddenly realised how much they have been loved, accepted and share in the divine life of God. The result of this was an outburst of courage and strength, the weak became strong, the coward became courageous, the uneducated and the ignorant were imbued with the wisdom from on high. Their words and actions immediately became empowered by the consuming fire of God’s love. Hence, the people that heard them as they spoke had an encounter because their preaching were infused with a burning love. From the Acts 2:5 we see that it was the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles that attracted and drew the multitude to them. It wasn’t so much about new strategies, philosophies, and profound theologies. As important as these things might be, they will profit nothing without the power of the Holy Spirit.
Here is the thing, when openness and obedience meet the Holy Ghost, then the stage is set for the rending of hearts unto conversion and repentance. Brothers and sisters, this is what we need today, when the actions of the Holy Spirit in us brings about a powerful penetration through the deafness and blindness of our world. He is the one who preaches and prays in us.
Therefore, the Holy Spirit is indispensable if we are to witness with power and great love. As the scripture says, we and the Holy spirit are witnesses to these things (Rm 8:16, Acts 5:32). Only with him could one witness to God’s great love with our lives, by yielding to the desires of the Spirit and not to the desires of the flesh. As Today’s second reading from Galatians 5;16-25 says, if we are guided by the spirit we will not be in danger of yielding to that which opposes the spirit. Therefore, the Scripture says that by the arms of the flesh shall no one prevail.
Yes we received the Holy Spirit in our baptism. But how many of us still walk his power? We need a fresh outpouring to rediscover the power and the beauty of our baptismal and Christian calling. That is why Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 prayed that we rediscover the beauty of being baptised in the holy spirit, a Pentecost that will spread in everyone the joy of living and witnessing to the Gospel. …Are we still filled with that Joy?
There is always a need for a fresh outpouring of God’s spirit into our hearts, for the renewal of our love for God, our vision and strength. Hence, everyday we pray today’s responsorial psalm, “send forth you spirit o lord and renew the face of the earth. Holy Spirit. Brings about renewal, revival makes us joyful Christians for he is our Consolation. He is the Love that comes into us and overflows to others. He is that living water that wells up into eternal life and flows from the heart of believers to quench the thirst of those we evangelise (see John 7:38 John 4).
Today’s Gospel from John 15 calls him the Advocate and teacher of all truth. He defends and pleads our cause, by granting us the knowledge and the revelation of the truth, Jesus who sets us free. So, it is he who reveals God to us as Love. No wonder the apostles couldn’t contain this Pentecost encounter that exposed them to the perfect love of the Father towards us.
Through him we are made right with God. Hence, only by the Holy Spirit could we ever say with St. Paul in Romans 8:1-2, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set me free from the law of sin and death. In fact, without the Holy Spirit we can do nothing. Now, I would like to invite us to pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit into our lives, families, friends, and every human heart. As we call upon him on this Pentecost Sunday, may he fill us with knowledge, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety and awe and wonder for his service, may he bear in us the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. With Him there are varieties of gifts. Do not be afraid or shy to pray and desire for a fresh outpouring. They are free gifts to our new Life in Christ.
As we pray, let the overflow begin to happen already. Let the life-giving water from the sanctuary in Ezekiel 47 begin to rush and start welling up in us, into every dryness in our lives and families. May we have a new experience of his personal love. And in the power of the spirit with which Jesus worked, may we too go out to witness, knowing that, through the Holy Spirit he abides with us for ever. Come Holy Spirit X3
Let us pray,
Pour out your spirit upon your people, and grant us a new vision of your glory, a new experience of your power, new faithfulness to your word, and a new consecration to your service, that your love may grow among us and your kingdom come through Christ our Lord.
The Lord be with you.
May the Almighty God bless you, the Father and the son and the Holy Spirit.
Go in peace and Happy Pentecost Sunday