Today, with the Holy Church, we celebrate the end of the Easter season with
Pentecost. When
we think about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that the Risen Christ gives to us,
we might think of some of the images used to portray the Holy Spirit in
Scripture: the wind, a sacred breath, flames of fire, or a dove. It
might be more difficult for us to understand and conceptualize the Holy Spirit
compared to the ways we comprehend Jesus the Son and God the Father. Perhaps we can reflect upon the Holy Spirit today in our celebration of
Pentecost in the Spirit’s connection to these three biblical themes: NEWNESS, HARMONY,
and MISSION.
According to the Acts of the Apostles, something new and different happened to
the disciples on Pentecost: They were filled with the Holy Spirit in a new and
different way. The Spirit inspired them
to speak in tongues and enabled them to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. Echoing this theme, the psalmist asks God to send His Spirit to renew the face
of earth. Perhaps trying new things under the guidance of the Holy Spirit makes us
fearful. Perhaps we don’t want to give
up control. Perhaps we’re firmly entrenched in our own ideas, our own comfort, our own
preferences. Perhaps
in our faith, we’re comfortable in only going so far. We
don’t want to take that leap to something new and different that the Spirit is
calling us to do. We
need to trust where the Spirit is guiding us, even if it feels new and
strange. Remember:
Abraham left for a new land with only a promise from God to guide him. And
Mother Teresa started a new religious order of sisters and started work with
the poor of Calcutta based upon a vision she had from the Holy Spirit. Throughout the history of salvation, God calls his people to new paths, calling
them to leave behind what is closed and narrow. We
are called to be open to the surprises that God grants us. We cannot be closed and fearful to the
newness of the Spirit.
Indeed, the Spirit brings different chrisms and gifts. Look at the great diversity of gifts we have right
here in our parish of St James. Paul
says that although there are different kinds of gifts, all these gifts come
from the same Spirit. God
sends us the Spirit of UNITY AND HARMONY. But
we must not misunderstand: UNITY does not mean UNIFORMITY. The
Spirit draws us to a harmony amongst believers. Only
the Spirit can bring UNITY and HARMONY to us as disciples of Christ in the
midst of our diversity and our differences. Often, when humans want to create unity
according to our own earthly desires, we instead create uniformity and
standardization. But,
when the Spirit unites us, when the Spirit brings us together, we rise above
conflict and division; instead, we are called to experience the variety and
diversity and richness that we have in communion in our Catholic faith. I
think of how Pope Francis challenges all to come together to the Church in a
welcoming and friendly way, but in a way that keeps us true and faithful in
what we believe and in what we practice. The
Pope reminds us that we are called through the Holy Spirit to the Church’s
teaching and the Church’s sense of community, to remain in harmony with the
Body of Christ.
Let
us think of our call to mission: Who would we be as Christians if we did not
have a sense of mission? The
Spirit imbues us with a sense of mission, the missionary spirit that led the
first disciples to bring Christ’s Good News to the world, with the same
missionary spirit that impelled Paul to bring the Good News to the Gentiles and
St James to be a missionary to Spain. The
Holy Spirit draws us ever more deeply into the mystery of God, ever more deeply
into the joy of our faith. At
Pentecost, the disciples were able to speak the Good News of Christ in their own tongues, but the universal message they preached was understood by all
through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the mission they were called to
live out. Christ’s ministry and life, his death and resurrection, his ascension and his
sending of the Holy Spirit – these are not just events that happened many
centuries ago in Ancient Israel. The
truth that Christ brought to the world lives in us – in our words and our
actions. Those
events become a lived experience within us through the workings of the Holy
Spirit. The
disciples received the Holy Spirit from Christ himself; we receive the Holy
Spirit from Christ as well. This
Advocate and Comforter grants us the courage and conviction to live out the
Gospel message, to have a mission as a disciple of Christ. The
Spirit helps us look not only at the temporal and the earthly, but at the
divine and the eternal as well.
As a
Church, as disciples, today we celebrate the Holy Spirit, a Spirit that is
alive and vibrant. Today, we are called to renew the outpouring of the Spirit in us. Come
Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of
your love! Amen.
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