Pentecost Sunday

​Dominica Pentecostes [Pentecost Sunday]: May 15, 2016
Delivered by Most Reverend Roger LaRade, O.F.A.
Beloved Disciple Eucharistic Catholic Church, Toronto
© 2016 Roger LaRade
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Acts 2, 1 – 11, John 14, 23 - 31.
 
“The Spirit of love and justice”
 
“…the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you myself.”
 
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles which is our first reading for today’s Mass is undoubtedly well-known to us. And the picture which goes with it, that of the tongues of fire sitting on the heads of Holy Mary, the Apostles and the disciples probably comes easily to mind. It is so familiar that I think it often loses its meaning for us; it loses its punch, its power.
 
But what an amazing event this is which is told to us in this reading. Think of it. This group of people, followers of Jesus, have been bewildered by recent events. First, Jesus was horribly tortured and died. Then, He was resurrected and appeared to them numerous times. Then, He left them by ascending to God the Father, His Father from Whom He came, and to Whom He needed to return. This group of followers was holed up in the Upper Room, the Cenacle, that same room where Jesus had celebrated the Last Supper with them. They are hiding there out of fear of what might happen to them. Their leader was now gone and they no longer had any sense of direction. They simply didn’t have a clue as to what to do.
 
And then this amazing event happens: As Jesus had promised them, in His returning to His rightful place with the Father, the Holy Spirit is sent to His followers. And this Holy Spirit makes all the difference. It is through this experience that the followers of Jesus begin to preach His truth. The Acts of the Apostles recounts the beginnings of this preaching and the growth of the Church. This preaching is understood by all: “Aren’t these people who are speaking all Galileans? How is it, then, that each of us hears them in his native language?”
 
It seems to me that the coming of the Holy Spirit is about an intense experience of God’s presence in one’s life. The Spirit of God is represented in Scripture, both Jewish and Christian, as breath. This Spirit is the breath of God, the life of God. The Holy Spirit is indeed “the Giver of Life” as we pray in our profession of faith, the Creed. And so, this experience of the presence of God is an experience of the very life of God. This is what is given to the followers of Jesus in today’s reading from Acts. This is what is given to each one of us as followers of Jesus. As Catholics, we believe that this is first given to us at Baptism and then comes most powerfully, completely, and permanently to us in the Sacrament of Confirmation. This Sacrament brings with it the Grace and responsibility to live our faith in an adult manner, in the manner of the first Apostles.
 
We have been given the very breath of God. This is the reason why Jesus was born as a human being, died, was resurrected and ascended to be once again with the Father. God became human so that we might become God.[i] The meaning of the life, death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus is that a place might be made in our hearts, in our bodies, for the life-breath of God. You’ll have often heard about our body being the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is precisely what this means: in us lives the life-breath of God. Our God is not only a far-off God, a transcendent God. Our God is also as close to us as our own breath, an immanent God.

“…the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you myself.”
 
The Holy Spirit deepens our understanding of the post-Resurrection vision which we have been exploring since the Feast of Easter: a vision of a new way of seeing ourselves. Today, we see that this post-Resurrection understanding makes us realize that our God is a most intimate God.
 
Furthermore, we recognize that in us lives God’s desire for justice and love, the hallmarks of Jesus’ life: “If anyone loves me, they will keep my word. Then my Father will love them, and we shall come to them and make our dwelling-place with them.” The deeper meaning of these words of Jesus comes to us through our reception of the Holy Spirit, which opens our minds and our hearts. It is this Grace-filled experience of God’s love for us that transforms our vision and our understanding. With this new vision and new understanding, we see our life, our world, and our Church with the eyes of God, eyes saddened by injustice, eyes seeking out justice based in love. We see ourselves as the very vessels of God’s justice and love for the world, and for the Church.
 
In this season of Easter, when Resurrection is followed by Christ’s Ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Church calls us to rejoice and partake in the glorious love of God the Father and God the Son, that love which is the Holy Spirit. Let us pray for one another, as we share in this loving Spirit, that our post-Resurrection vision of God’s love and justice may be deepened and become the center of our lives as Catholics.

[i] See Aemiliana Löhr, The Mass through the Year: Volume Two – Holy Week to the Last Sunday after Pentecost (London: Longmans, Green & Co Ltd, 1959), p. 153.