Sunday 19th of May 2024 - Pentecost

Acts 2:1-11/ Psalm 103(104)/ Galatians 5:16-25/ John 15:26-27,16:12-15

Today we mark what is effectively the birthday of the Church. After the death of Jesus, the disciples were leaderless and heartbroken. The Apostles, chosen so carefully by Jesus, had not acquitted themselves very well. One had betrayed Jesus completely and then committed suicide. Peter, chosen personally by Jesus to be the leader on earth, had adamantly denied even knowing Jesus at the hour of most need. In fact, all of them, except for one, had abandoned Jesus to his passion and death. They were now fearful of their own people and had locked themselves away. Jesus had appeared to them on several occasions after his resurrection and before he returned to Heaven. He had promised to send the Holy Spirit to them, but they had little or no understanding of what that meant.

Pentecost always gives me great hope in my faith. Sometimes we can feel overwhelmed and unable to stand up for what we believe in the increasingly secular world we find ourselves in. We too can be tempted to hide away keeping our faith within the walls of our homes and church buildings. Something dramatic happened at Pentecost that even the most sceptical historian would find difficult to explain. The little group of predominantly uneducated and simple people that had been gathered around Jesus, finding themselves leaderless and in fear suddenly came out of hiding and started teaching with power and authority. This was not something that they had planned to do, trained to do or where in any way qualified to do. Something happened that empowered this ragtag group to go out and start spreading the message of the risen Lord with the healing, love, and joy that he brings.

This was the birth of the Church, by the power of the Holy Spirit working through people it has continued to grow ever since. The accounts of the early church show how the Holy Spirit works through willing participants. Where is that power and energy in the church today? The Holy Spirit is no different and is as powerful as ever. What the church needs is us, its members, to be more open to what the Holy Spirit is calling us to do. To be willing instruments of that power rather than obstructions to it. This is what Pope Francis is calling us to do, to listen to and cooperate with the Holy Spirit so that the Church and the world can continually be renewed in the faith of Jesus, the risen Lord.

People heard the Apostles in their own languages. There is ambiguity as to whether the Apostles were speaking in foreign tongues or that people heard them in their various languages. The important point is that the message of redemption is for all people, from wherever they may come from. The language of God is universal and not impeded by borders, nationalities, tribes, or sects. All can understand the language of redemption in their own way because of the universality of the church.

How are we to respond to the Holy Spirit working through us today? The letter to the Galatians gives us a starting point. As Christians there should be something noticeably different about how we live in the world. We are in the world but not of the world. There are plenty of good people around doing many good things and this is all to the good. The actions of the Christian should also be good, but they should flow from a knowledge and love of God led by the Holy Spirit. In his letter Paul lists these as, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In contrast he lists the dangers of a self-centred worldly approach, ways that we are encouraged to seek in our secular and commercialised times, including, sexual irresponsibility; idolatry, feuds, jealousy, quarrels, factions, envy; and so on. All things we see happening around us daily. They are the basis for all that goes wrong in the world, for domestic violence, child abuse, disputes, wars and suffering of many kinds. The remedy is to live a life in the Holy Spirit allowing us to be completely changed, becoming ever more Christlike in our lives. The face of the earth needs to be renewed by the Holy Spirit working through us, working through the universal church. There is no limit to what the Holy Spirit can achieve only a limit to how we respond to the Spirit working through us. We need to come out from the places we hide to use the gifts we have been given by the Holy Spirit to allow that same Spirit to work through us in the world today.

Let our prayer today be based on the words given to us in the psalm,

‘Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you will renew the face of the earth’.

God Bless, Brendan.