John: 20:19-23
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Today’s liturgical commemoration and feast of Pentecost reminds us of that great event in which the Holy Spirit imparted upon the disciples the mission to be sent as witnesses of faith and fortitude to the world.
John’s gospel bestows the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation upon the disciples per this outpouring of the Holy Spirit from Jesus during the Easter resurrection experience. This passage reminds us that the Holy Spirit doesn’t allow us to sit idly by out of fear. The wounds that Jesus shows to his disciples remind us of our wounds caused by sin and turning away from God’s love. These wounds can be forgiven and cast aside with the peace that the Holy Spirit brings about. The Spirit of God, the 3rd person of the Trinity, brings about the glorification of God the Father & God the Son to His church for God’s plan of salvation. Other words for the Holy Spirit are the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Divine Consoler, and Comforter.
Acts 2:1-11
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. 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. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.”
The celebration of Pentecost or Hag Shavuot (festival of the weeks) for the Jewish faithful occurs 50 days after Passover in which a sheaf offering is made. Such a commemoration is one of three festivals marking the occasion for the beginning of the wheat harvest in which the first two loaves of bread made were presented at temple (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shavuot). It is fitting that the Holy Spirit would come upon the disciples during this time. In both the gospel of John and the book of Acts, the imagery of the Holy Spirit as Breath from Jesus and Wind remind us of the Hebrew word ruach and pneuma. Just as God the Creator breathed life in us with the account in Genesis, so too does the power of the Holy Spirit breathe life into us as a Church.
The disciples were called to be the first fruits of the harvest of the Holy Spirit that brought life to the early church as Jesus’s fulfillment of the law and sign of God’s new covenant to us. It is much like the miracle of a plant or flower that requires good soil, water and sunlight to grow. The Holy Spirit is that key ingredient that helps us to grow. The Holy Spirit is with us for each sacrament celebrated and with us during those other moments in which we as church are going out doing the will of the Father & Son.
While we might be like the early devout Jews in the account from the book of Acts questioning such a miracle, we must revel in the noise from heaven. Oftentimes we have the tendency to let the noise of the world and of the evil one impede our Christian call to go forth and be sent. Our tongues may not be tongues of fire to our brothers & sisters because we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to come rest upon us. We are good at casting judgement and complaining about various matters that don’t resemble the Holy sound of God’s spirit. The sounds that come forth from our own tongues may be negative and displeasing sounds that don’t help us grow as a Church community. We must ensure that our words, our breath or pneuma is one that brings life to our brothers and sisters. It is quite easy to be a skeptic and cynic these days and think that our voice is the only one that matters. On the contrary, the Holy Spirit unites us all to understand the gift that our Lord bestows upon us on this Pentecost Sunday. As St. Paul reminds us: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Cor. 12:13).
The hymn from Veni Sancte Spiritus or Come Holy Spirit that is traditionally sung today is a beautiful hymn to reflect on (https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2020/05/lost-in-translation-sequence-veni.html):
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.
You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
O most blessed Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of yours,
And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.
On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend;
Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end. Amen.
Alleluia.
StreetEvangelist 
