June 4, 2017

Pentecost Sunday Acts 2: 1-11; 1 Corinthians 12; 3-7, 12-13; John 20: 19-23 Today is the feast of Pentecost. It’s an amazing feast in the Church. Scripture writers depict it as an awesome verbal and visual event that had never been witnessed before. Events like this charge people up. Can you remember a time when such an awesome event happened in your life. Let’s us examine what happened. The apostles were gathered in the Upper Room. They had disappeared from sight after Jesus’ crucifixion and were hiding. The upper room is not that big a room. It could easily accommodate those gathered for the Last Supper. But to stay and live in this place would make it very difficult since it was above the site of the tomb of David, a frequent visiting site for the Jewish people. The apostles had barricaded themselves behind locked doors. Their fear was very real. Since Jesus had been killed, they felt they were next on the list. They had just learned that Jesus had Risen AND NOW JESUS APPEARED…it was totally scary to them. Jesus said, “Peace be with you.” This couldn’t have been very calming since they had a ton of questions that were cascading in their minds. Jesus showed them His horrible wounds and again said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” Then He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sin you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained?’” So without any hesitation, Jesus moves from granting His peace to commissioning them to continue to do the same work that He was doing: showing the world that God is love, loves everyone and needs everyone to love. This would have been enough to paralyze many people saying ‘well let me think about this…I have to check with my wife and family…I can’t just leave my full-time job, how will I provide for my family…I’m not a public speaker…my gifts are definitely not in this area…let me go on a retreat and get some more training…’ They didn’t even have time because the Spirit came on each one. St. Luke describes it a little differently in today’s first reading from Acts of the Apostle. He describes the event this way, “And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” This is a powerful event showing us the reality of the Holy Spirit and what the Spirit does. The Apostles immediately leave the Upper Room and go out probably to the Temple area and Acts tells us they spoke to a gathered large crowd, people from all over the known world and everyone could understand them, “speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.” There is no communication problem. Everyone understands. Can we project and say that everyone understands this as the language of God, the language of love? Definitely, this is God’s message delivered through Jesus. Pentecost didn’t just come two thousand years ago. Receiving the Holy Spirit didn’t just happen at our Confirmation. The Spirit is with us in every sacrament we receive. The Spirit is with us every moment encouraging us, pleading with us, filling us with an enormous bag of gifts so that each can share God’s love. The Spirit is God’s continual and perpetual gift to each person each day to be unwrapped and used. The devil continues to break into our lives and reminds us that we are no good…we are sinners..we don’t have any gifts to do this…Notice these are similar to the questions bombarding the apostles when Jesus came and gave His peace. The Spirit gives the Lord’s peace always. It is true that we are all sinners, and will be until the day we die and go to the Lord. But we are forgiven sinners. Jesus has redeemed each believer and opened heaven and promised heaven to each of us if we believe in Him and follow His commandments. So we are redeemed, forgiven sinners. Now can we share what we have received? This is what it is all about. Like the apostles, our Baptism has commissioned us to be Jesus. The Spirit gives us GRACE and help to live and to love so that we can we untie the hurts that we hold too tightly. Can we let go of our prejudices and realize that each person is loved by God? Can we let our pride be drowned by God’s gifts and love and realize that it is all about Him and not about us? The Word Among Us has a beautiful little reflection for today: “At his son’s twenty-first birthday party, the proud father began a toast by recalling the day his boy was born. ‘What a wonderful day it was!’ he said. ‘Your mother and I are so glad you came into our lives—although we don’t care much for what you have done since then!’ he was joking, of course, and his son knew it. He knew his father loved him and treasured every day they had spent together. We’re celebrating a birthday today as well: the day the Church was born. But as that father’s joke showed, there’s more to a birthday than remembering the day it all began. So today, let’s thank the Holy Spirit for ‘what He has done since then!’ Think about it: without the Spirit’s inspiration, Christian men and women would not have handed down the gospel message from generation to generation until it reached you. But the Holy Spirit doesn’t just live in our great saints whether past or present. He is also in you, helping you live a holy life. Have you ever felt inspired to reach out to someone in need? That’s the Holy Spirit. Have you ever felt inspired to share you faith with someone? That’s the Holy Spirit. Have you ever fought hard against temptation and won? That’s the Spirit. Have you ever left Mass or come out of a prayer time feeling refreshed and closer to God? That, too, is the Holy Spirit! So thank Him! Think of some small way you can celebrate what He has done and what He is still doing today. Maybe look online to see the different ways Pentecost is marked across the world. Maybe spend a few extra minutes in prayer reading about the gifts of the Spirit. Or maybe treat yourself and your loved ones to a special dessert. After all, it is a birthday! ‘Holy Spirit, I am so grateful that You came to be with Your Church and, even more so, that You are with me today!’” So I reflect on: • Do I share the “mighty acts of God’ with the people God has placed in my life? Or do I keep them private not letting others know about God’s love to me? • We must ask ourselves the question, ‘What do I feel my role in the Church is today?’ • The message of Pentecost is not restrictive it is for all. Do I see my mission as one of embracing the entire family of earth? • Who are the people in my life that I need to bring peace, that I have to be at peace with? • Sacred Space 2017 states: “In the book of Genesis, God breathes on human beings to bring them life. Now Jesus breathes His spirit into His disciples to give them new life They will have power over sin, which otherwise deadens the human heart. Holy Spirit, I welcome you now into my small heart. Let today be ‘the first day of the week’ for me, which means the first day of my renewed creation Let us celebrate this together. I listen to Jesus speak to me: ‘Peace be with you.’ I bring before Him those aspects of my life most in need of peace and hear Him say again, ‘Peace be with you.’ Jesus speaks of peace but shows His hands and His feet. He reminds me that there is a cost to being a presence of peace in the world.