We welcome you all to our celebration of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the end of our joyful season of Easter. We look forward to our meal after our Sunday morning Mass at Holy Savior, celebrating Pentecost with different ethnic foods celebrating our families and our ethnic heritage. We priests wear red vestments on Pentecost, symbolizing the burning fire of God’s love and the tongues of fire that descended on the apostles, as described in the first reading today. In some parts of Italy on Pentecost, there is a tradition of scattering rose leaves from the ceiling of the church to recall this story of the fiery tongues. I was able to see this firsthand last year when I traveled to Rome with my Notre Dame program and attended Mass at the Pantheon with Dr Timothy O’Malley and my other classmates. It was an amazing experience. In some parts of France, there is a tradition to blow trumpets during Mass on Pentecost Sunday, recalling the sound of driving wind, another symbol of the Holy Spirit. The great wind of the Holy Spirit is also referred to in our reading from Acts of the Apostles today.
The message of the Holy Spirit descending on the apostles was not something they kept to themselves; the apostles immediately began to speak to the crowds that had assembled in Jerusalem. The crowds were comprised of persons from different places such as North Africa, Asia Minor, Rome, and all over the Mediterranean basin. Those in the crowd were amazed to hear these men speaking to them so that all could understand the message in their own native tongue. The apostles were commissioned by the Holy Spirit to speak a message that is meant for all, not just for one people or one nation. The 11th chapter of Genesis, reports that out of their arrogance and pride, men tried to build a tower that reached up to heaven. God punished them by having them speak different languages, unintelligible to others. As a result of this arrogance, humanity became deeply divided. What happens today at Pentecost is the opposite of the Tower of Babel, as all are speaking and hearing God’s message with full understanding. Rather than being divided out of arrogance and pride, people are brought together in unity under God.
At Pentecost, Christ brings us a message of peace today, just as he brought a message of peace to the apostles as they huddled in fear in today’s Gospel. We receive the same call that Jesus gives the apostles, saying that as the Father sends him, so he also sends us. We are called is to continue Christ’s mission in the world.
As I thought about the Holy Spirit at the center of our celebration of Pentecost today, I thought about the questions a lot of us might have. Who exactly is the Holy Spirt. A great wind? A presence within? A mysterious ghost? A personal being? Pope Benedict once stated that the Holy Spirit is perhaps the most neglected person of the Trinity. Perhaps because we are a bit unsure about the Holy Spirit, we might not know how to welcome him into our lives.
In an address he gave at St Peter Square in 2012, Pope Benedict XVI asserted that the Holy Spirit is indeed a real presence, stating that all “Christians should avail themselves to the Holy Spirit in prayer, particularly when they cannot find the words or inspiration to pray.” Benedict talked about how “Paul teaches us that in our prayers we must open ourselves to the presence and action of the Holy Spirit, who prays in us with inexpressible groanings, to bring us to adhere to God with our whole heart and with all our being,” The Holy Spirit can be the strength in our weak prayers, the light of our dimmed prayers, and the focus of our dry prayers. The Spirit can give us inner freedom and can teach us how to face our trials, assuring us that we’re never alone, that the Spirit is always with us. We can call upon the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts and actions.
Come Holy Spirit; renew the face of the earth. Help us to live out our faith with courage and conviction, with compassion and love. As we celebrate Pentecost this weekend, we joyfully celebrate the Spirit that is with us and the responsibility that comes with it.
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