SUNDAY HOMILY
PENTECOST
SUNDAY A
“It
will always be Pentecost in the church!”
Readings
Reading I: Acts 2:1-11
Reading II: I Cor. 12:3-7, 12-13
Gospel: Jn. 20:19-23
Reflections on
the Word of God
Anecdote
1: Why are the Swiss watches gone?: If in 1968 someone
had asked which country would dominate watch making in the 1990s,
most people would certainly have said Switzerland. Switzerland
had dominated the world of watch making for the previous sixty
years. They had led the way in discovering new ways to manufacture
better and more durable watch parts. They had developed the
best waterproofing techniques. In fact, in 1968 the Swiss made
65% of all watches sold in the world, and laid claim to 90%
of the profits. However by 1980, in Switzerland, watchmakers
had been laid off by the thousands and the Swiss controlled
a paltry 10% of the watch market. Why? The Swiss had ignored
an important new development, Quartz Movement. Ironically a
Swiss invented the Quartz movement, but it was rejected because
it had no mainspring or knob. It was too much of a paradigm
shift for Swiss watchmakers to embrace. It was too new and too
strange. Today's text from Acts tells of a powerful paradigm
shift in the people of God, of "God's deeds of power,"
the miraculous activities that accompanied the descent of the
Holy Spirit on the apostles.
Anecdote 2: Fly like an eagle: There is an
old fable about a changeling eagle. A tribal who lived in a
forest, one day found an eagle’s egg. He took the egg
home and hatched it along with the other chicken eggs. This
eaglet started growing up with the other chicks. It started
eating white ants and little worms, pecking and hopping here
and there like the other chicks. But it never learned to fly
like an eagle. One day as it was foraging for food from the
ground, it saw an eagle majestically soaring high in the sky.
As the eaglet was admiring the grandeur of the soaring eagle,
the other chicks came and said to the eaglet, “Look, that
is the eagle –the king of the birds. You and I are chickens.
We cannot fly like the eagle.” Often we lead poor lives
without realizing the power inherent in us. We are like that
eaglet helplessly admiring the power in others when we ourselves
possess that power. Very often we end up in defeat, frustration
and failure because we are ignorant of the power God has given
us through His Spirit. We can do marvelous things when we associate
with God. St. Paul very confidently said, “I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil: 4:13)
(John Rose in ‘John’s Sunday Homilies’)
Introduction
The Jewish Pentecost: Both the Jews and the
Christians now celebrate Pentecost. Along with Passover and
the Feast of Tabernacles, Pentecost was one of the major feasts
of the Jews living in Jesus’ day. During these three great
Jewish festivals, every male Jew living within twenty miles
of Jerusalem was legally bound to go to Jerusalem and participate
in the feast. The word Pentecost literally means "Fiftieth,”
because the feast was celebrated fifty days after the Feast
of the Passover. Another name for the Jewish Pentecost was "The
Feast of Weeks,” noting the completion of a “Sabbath”
(seven) of weeks since Passover. Originally Pentecost was a
day of thanksgiving for the completion of the harvest. During
Passover, the first omer of barley (a Hebrew measure of about
a bushel) was offered to God. At Pentecost, two loaves of bread
were offered in gratitude for the harvest. Later, the Jews added
to the Feast of the Pentecost the element of Yahweh’s
covenant with Noah, which took place fifty days after the great
deluge. Still later, this feast became an occasion to thank
God for His Sinaitic covenant with Moses, which also occurred
fifty days after the beginning of the exodus from Egypt.
The Christian Pentecost: Pentecost marks the
end and the goal of the Easter season. For Christians it is
a memorial of the day the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles
and the Virgin Mary in the form of fiery tongues, an event that
took place fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus. Pentecost
celebrates the “incarnation” of the Holy Spirit
into the world of men and women. Pentecost also commemorates
the official inauguration of the Christian Church by the apostolic
preaching of St. Peter, resulting in the conversion of 3000
Jews to the Christian faith. It is thus the official birthday
of the Church. This Rock Magazine reports that there are now
34,000 Protestant denominations which means, on the average,
more than sixty-nine new denominations have sprung up every
year since the Reformation began in 1517. So whose birthday
is it anyway? You could say, "Pentecost is the birthday
of the Church Jesus established nearly 2,000 years ago."
Today’s Scripture readings remind us that Pentecost is
an event of both the past and the present. The main theme of
today’s readings is that the gift of the Holy Spirit is
something to be shared with others. In other words the gift
of the Holy Spirit moves its recipients to action and inspires
them to share the Spirit and His gifts with others.
The first reading: Acts 2:1-11 from the Acts
of the Apostles describes in detail the miraculous transformation
that took place during the first Pentecost. There was first
“a noise like a strong driving wind.” Then there
were “tongues as of fire” resting on the disciples,
and each was filled with the Holy Spirit. The first manifestation
of their reception of the Holy Spirit came when the apostles
began to proclaim the good news of Jesus, and all the Jews,
in Jerusalem for the feast and coming from “every nation
under heaven,” were able to understand what was said,
each person in his own native tongue. The miracle of the tongues
on Pentecost thus reversed the confusion of tongues at the Tower
of Babel described in Genesis 11. Later, Acts describes how
the Holy Spirit empowered the early Christians to bear witness
to Christ by their sharing love and strong faith. This "anointing
by the Holy Spirit” also strengthened the early Christian
martyrs during the period of brutal persecution that followed.
In the second reading: I Cor 12:3-7, 12-13:
St. Paul explains how the sharing of the various spiritual gifts
of the Holy Spirit enriches the Church. Wisdom, understanding,
counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord are
the gifts of the Spirit mentioned in Isaiah 11: 2-3. Paul refers
to the varieties of gifts given to the church as coming from
the same Spirit who activates all of them in everyone for the
common good. Charity, Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
gentleness, faith, patient suffering over an extended period,
chastity modesty and continence are the twelve fruits of the
Holy Spirit described in traditional Catholic catechism. The
word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the grace of healing,
the working of miracles, prophecy, the discerning of spirits,
diverse kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues"
are the charisms of the Holy Spirit enumerated by Paul in I
Cor.12:4-10. In addition to these Paul lists the particular
fruits of the Spirit at work in the individual soul in his Letter
to the Galatians, explaining, “What the Spirit brings
is … love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control” (5:22). He continues, “Since
the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit”
(5:25). Paul insists that these spiritual gifts are to be used
in the present time for the benefit of others, for the common
good and for building up the body of Christ.
Today’s gospel relates how the risen
Jesus gave his apostles a foretaste of Pentecost on the evening
of Easter Sunday by appearing to them and inviting them to carry
on the mission given him by his heavenly Father. He then empowered
them to do this by breathing upon them and saying, “Receive
the Holy Spirit.” On the day of the Pentecost Jesus would
fulfill his promise to send the Advocate or Paraclete who would
enable them to fulfill Jesus’ commission of preaching
the gospel to all nations. Today’s gospel passage also
tells us how Jesus gave His apostles the power and authority
to forgive sins. “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose
sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you
retain, they are retained”. These wonderful words which
bind together inseparably the presence of the Holy Spirit and
the gift of forgiveness are referred to directly in the Sacrament
of Reconciliation. But they have a much wider meaning. Those
words indicate the power we are all given of being the agents
of forgiveness in the world of today, which is often fiercely
judgmental and vengeful.
Role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and the
Church. How beautiful is the thought that the Holy Spirit lives
within us. Saint Paul reminds the Corinthian community of this
fact when he asks, "Do you not know that you are God’s
temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?" (I Corinthians
3:16). It is the Holy Spirit who develops our intimacy with
God. "God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts
crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ (Gal 4:6). "God’s
love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who
has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). "No one can say,
‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit"
(I Corinthians 12:3). Moreover, we know that it is the Holy
Spirit who teaches us to pray (Romans 8:26). By the power of
the Spirit, we also know the Lord Jesus through His Church.
Pentecost Sunday is the birthday of the Church., for it is the
Holy Spirit Who enlivens, enlightens, guides, and sanctifies
the Church. We know Jesus through the Sacramental Mysteries
of the Church, and the Holy Spirit is at the heart of the sacramental
life of the Church. Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders are
the Sacramental Mysteries in which people receive the seal of
the Holy Spirit. It would be impossible to receive Jesus in
the Eucharist without the descent of the Holy Spirit at the
Epiclesis of the Divine Liturgy. Even forgiveness of sins comes
through the Holy Spirit (John 20:21-23). The Holy Spirit both
confirmed the apostles in Holy Orders as priests and empowered
them to forgive sins by His power.
Message
1. We need to permit the Holy Spirit to direct our lives:
1)By constantly remembering and appreciating his Holy Presence
within us, especially through the sacraments of Baptism and
Confirmation. ii) By fortifying ourselves with the help of the
Spirit against all types of temptations. iii) By seeking the
assistance of the Spirit in our thoughts, words, and deeds,
and in breaking our evil habits. iv) By listening to the voice
of the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the Bible and through
the good counsel of others. v) By fervently praying for the
gifts, fruits and charisms of the Holy Spirit. vi) By renewing
our lives through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Life in
the Holy Spirit is a life of commitment, of sacrifice, and of
joy. It is a call to love as Jesus loved, not counting the cost.
As Saint Paul exhorts us, "Walk by the Spirit and do not
gratify the desires of the flesh. If we live by the Spirit,
let us also walk by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16, 25).
2. We need to cultivate the spirit of forgiveness:
The feast of the Pentecost offers us a chance to look at the
role which forgiveness should play in our dealings with others.
It challenges us to examine our sense of compassion, patience,
tolerance and magnanimity. Learning to forgive is a lifelong
task, but the Holy Spirit is with us to make us agents of forgiveness.
If we are prepared on this day of Pentecost to receive the Holy
Spirit into our lives, we can be confident that our lives will
be marked by the Spirit of forgiveness.
3. We need to observe Pentecost every day:
"It will always be Pentecost in the church," affirmed
Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, on Pentecost Sunday
1978, "provided the church lets the beauty of the Holy
Spirit shine forth from her countenance. When the church ceases
to let her strength rest on the power from above which Christ
promised her and which he gave her on that day, and when the
church leans rather on the weak forces of the power or wealth
of this earth, then the church ceases to be newsworthy. The
church will be fair to see, perennially young, attractive in
every age, as long as she is faithful to the Spirit that floods
her and she reflects that Spirit through her communities, through
her pastors, through her very life" (The Violence of Love,
The Plough Pub. Co., Farmington, PA: 1998). Archbishop Romero’s
words remind us, as does today’s Gospel, that Pentecost
is not just one day, but every day. The Spirit of God, who was
breathed into the first disciples, still breathes in all who
believe and daily inhale the ever-present grace and power that
are Jesus’ living legacy. Without breath, there is no
life. Without the Spirit, the church is a field of dry, dead
bones. Fulton J. Sheen once said about the Church, "Even
though we are God's chosen people, we often behave more like
God's frozen people--frozen in our prayer life, frozen in the
way we relate with one another, frozen in the way we celebrate
our faith." Today is a great day to ask the Holy Spirit
to rekindle in us the spirit of new life and enthusiasm, the
fire of God's love. Let us repeat Cardinal Newman’s favorite
little prayer, “Come Holy Spirit:”
“Come Holy Spirit
Make our ears to hear
Make our eyes to see
Make our mouths to speak
Make our hearts to seek
Make our hands to reach out
And touch the world with your love. AMEN.”
Humour
of the Week
A mouse with a gift of tongues: Pentecost is
not about speaking a foreign language; it is about understanding
what someone else, someone foreign and alien, is saying. Make
no mistake; being bilingual can be very useful. In fact, there’s
a story about a housecat who was on patrol one dark night, quietly
walking from room to room, looking for intruders. As he entered
the kitchen, he saw a small mouse by the cabinets, in search
of crumbs to eat. Immediately, the mouse took off, with the
cat in hot pursuit. Through the dining room, through the living
room they flew, around the corner and past the stairs. Finally,
in the front hallway, the cat cornered the mouse. From his corner,
the mouse turned to face his nemesis and said,” What do
you plan to do with me?”
“I’m
going to eat you,” said the cat.
“But
why?” asked the mouse. “What have I done to you?”
“Because,
that’s what cat’s do, I really have no choice in
the matter; it’s the way the world has been ordered.”
“Well,
do what you must, then, but I can’t watch.”
So, the
mouse covered his eyes with his paws, and turned to face the
corner. Instantly a “woof-woof, woof-woof-woof”
was heard, and the cat took off like a shot out of a cannon.
The mouse
peeked out to make sure the cat was gone, and then said to no
one in particular, “Thank goodness I’m bilingual.”
Useful Web Sites of the week
1) Theology Library -Links to sites on canon law, vocations,
religious orders, Church history, saints: http://www.shc.edu/theolibrary/
2) Catholic Information Network- General Catholic as well as
papal and liturgical documents: http://www.cin.org/
3) Catholic.Net - Information center with the latest Catholic
news: http://www.catholic.net/,
4) Capsule Movie reviews:
http://www.cdowk.org/catholic_advance/capsules.html
