The Pentecost Sunday Christians of Season…. or…. Christians of Spirit!!! Acts2:1-11
1Cor12:3b-7
12-13, Jn20:19-23Dear brothers and sisters, we are people of life, people of faith, people of love and people peace. Our life, faith, love and peace should be practiced at all times, Because, Church is ever alive, active and moving forward with the presence of the Holy Spirit. We may renew our Sacrament of Confirmation on this Pentecost Sunday and continue to experience the ever abiding power of the Holy Spirit to live our Christian call fully at all times in all the places.
There was a boy riding on his bike outside a church. The priest saw him and told him to come into the church and the boy said,"...But they'll steal my bike. "The priest explained how the Holy Spirit would take care of it, so they went inside. The priest showed the boy how to make the sign of the cross and told the boy to repeat it..."In the name of the Father, the Son...Amen "The priest said, "What about the Holy Spirit?" The boy replied, "It’s outside taking care of my bike!
Holy Spirit is ever alive and active, we cannot restrict the Spirit of the Lord to one place and so, we are called to recognize and live in the shadow of the Holy Spirit. Why and how the spirit of the spirit of the Lord is present? Are we Christians and Catholics only on Sunday? Are we people of faith only when we receive Sacraments? Do we express our love for God and one another only on feast days? Do we celebrate our life and faith only during Christmas season and Easter occasion? No, we live, express and share our Christian call every day and always, and then we are people of Spirit not people of season. Last week Pope Francis mentioned in preparation for the feast of Pentecost to the gathered hundred thousand crowed in the general audience, don’t be a part of Christian, at certain moments, in certain circumstances, in certain choices rather be Christian at all times”. He said, if you are filled with Holy Spirit you will be Christian at all times.
The readings of today reveal the great celebration of Pentecost down in the salvation history and the new meaning given from the time of the Apostles. Pentecost in Greek means fifty. The remembrance of fifty days was celebrated for different reasons initially. First in remembrance of harvest on the fiftieth day from the Passover Jews celebrated the feast of thanksgiving or the wheat festival as Pentecost for fiftieth day. They gathered at Jerusalem temple and offered thanksgiving. Then People of Israel remembered the fiftieth day after the deluge in the time of Noah and celebrated Pentecost giving another meaning, after the experience of Exodus, they remembered the fiftieth day after their liberation when Moses showed tablets, the commandments which carried the words of the Lord, then they remembered Pentecost as the feast of covenant or tabernacle. Till now they did not see the Lord, they accepted, saw and experienced Lord in following the Commandments. So they failed time and again by not being faithful to the Lord of Yahweh. When, Apostles and disciples recognized Him as messiah after the resurrection, then Jesus of Jerusalem, Jesus of Palestine and Jesus of Galilee wanted to be Jesus of whole universe and whole world, So He says, I am going to my Father but The Spirit I give will be with you always and all the places of faith. So, when we say, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, it Holy Spirit makes Jesus and Father to be present with us always. In the Eucharist we have consecration prayer which says, Let your Holy Spirit come upon these gifts of bread and wine and change, transform into Body and Blood of Jesus our savior. So Spirit of the Lord’s presence is the presence of Jesus and Father.
We can’t see the Holy Spirit but we experience the Holy Spirit which was portrayed as wind, breath and fire. All these three, wind, breath and fire were recognized in the O.T as the powerful presence of the living God. So presence of Holy Spirit is the powerful live presence of God the Father and Son Jesus. Apostles proclaiming with courage and boldness, people listening their own languages reveal the super human power of the Spirit of the Lord. People came to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost from Mesopotamia, Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa, Crete and Arabia. There are even Romans present, most of them Jews, but Gentile proselytes also among them. The Pentecost feast of covenant, tabernacle or thanksgiving of only Jews now becomes the feast of all. It is the feast of powerful active presence of Holy Spirit.
Pentecost is not just one day, but every day. 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.
In the words of Blessed Mother Teresa, “I pray for you that the Holy Spirit may fill you with His purity. I ask the Holy Spirit to free you of all impurity--body, soul, mind, will, and heart-- that each one of you become the living tabernacle of God Most High, and so become a carrier of God's love and compassion”.
The recent last week new statistics of Catholic Church in the world reveal, as of now, the number of Catholics worldwide has increased from 1,196 million in 2010 to 1, 214 million in 2011. A communiqué from the Holy See Press Office stated that number corresponds to a growth of 1.5%/ “Their numbers have increased in Africa (by 4.3%), which has reported a 2.3% increase of its population between 2010 and 2011. In Asia, an increase in Catholics greater to an increase in the population was also recorded (of 2% compared to 1.2%). In the Americas and in Europe the increase in numbers of Catholics is equal to the population increase (.3%). In 2011, the total of baptized Catholics had a distribution of, by continent: the Americas (48.8%); Europe (23.5%); Africa (16%); Asia (10.9%); and Oceania (.8%).” So with the presence of the Holy Spirit Church is perennially young, attractive in every age and moving forward always.
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.”
|
