By Fr. Marcel Uzoigwe, CSSp. | Acts 2:1-11, Ps.103:1.24.29-31, 1Cor.12:3-7,12-13 & Jn.20:19-23
Dear brothers and sisters,
We celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Pentecost day. In its original Jewish celebration, Pentecost has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. It was rather, a Jewish agricultural Feast of thanksgiving for the rich harvest. And it is celebrated to mark the end of the Paschal Feast (Easter) celebration. The Pentecost celebration comes after fifty days of the Paschal Feast; hence the name Pentecost is taken from the word ‘Penta’ meaning fifty.
During his ascension into heaven, Jesus instructed his apostles not to leave Jerusalem but to wait in prayer until the Holy Spirit promised by the Father comes down upon them (Acts 1:4). They would then bear witness to him ‘in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth’(Acts 1: 8). Acts1:4-5. That served as a period of preparation to get themselves ready for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for the work of the mission. Interestingly, God in his infinite wisdom decided to fulfill this promise to send the Holy Spirit on the day of the Jewish feast of the Pentecost, when so many Jews in diaspora were expected to be in Jerusalem.
The first reading deals with the account of the descent of the Holy Spirit. It gives a number of elements that characterized the changes that the Holy Spirit brought with it to the disciples. First, we see the same people who locked themselves up for fear of the Jews emerge from their hideout to speak to the people in all boldness about Jesus Christ, proclaiming the same message for which he was crucified. Paul will later write that ‘God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control’ (2 Timothy 1:7). The coming of the Holy Spirit ushered a new era where truth cannot be suppressed out of fear of bodily torture or death. Secondly, what the apostles said could be understood by all the people that assembled there in their own native languages. This phenomenon contrasts what happened in the ancient time at the Tower of Babel (Gen.11), when the people rebelled against God and ceased to understand each other’s language. The Pentecost event is seen as a reversal of the confusion and disorder at Babel that symbolizes division among men. It was Caiaphas, the Chief Priest, who prophesized that “Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11: 51-52). Thirdly, the single preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost was so powerful that it brought 3000 people to repentance. It is indeed ‘not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord’(Zech. 4:6). The Holy Spirit can do all things, and is essential for the living out of the Gospel and witnessing to it.
Paul tells us in the second reading that ‘no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit’. The coming of the Holy Spirit brought about great transformation such that we are given any of the various gifts of the Spirit. During the nine days novena by which we prepared for this day, we have explored and reflected on these gifts of the Holy Spirit, their impacts and uses in the life of the recipient. Besides the sanctification of the Christian, the gifts are bestowed for various services in the body of Christ, the Church. That there are different gifts is an indication that all bearers of the different gifts are meant to work together knowing that it is the same Lord who bestows the gifts that we serve in each other. That corresponds with the significance of the one language spoken by the Apostles that is understood by all in their native languages. It is also an indication that the Good News is meant to gather the human family scattered into factions by prejudices, hatred and selfishness, to speak now the one common language of love, knowing that God, whose children we are, is love (1 John 4:8). After all, ‘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 Corinthians 12:13). This theme of unity is an invitation to overcome everything that is capable of separating us from one another, and from God our father; that includes sin and anything that causes division. So, Jesus bestows on his disciples the power to forgive sins, as we read in the Gospel of today.
Having suffered a lots in the hands of the Jews, as well as desertion by his very disciples during his Passion, Jesus understands the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation as a means to achieve peace and harmony. On appearing to his disciples, he breathed on them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:23). Forgiveness of sins characterized Jesus’ ministry to the discontent of the Jewish authorities (Mark 2:7). But it is at the very heart of the redemption that he brought. As Paul puts it, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18).
With the sending of the Holy Spirit, Jesus commissioned his disciples to take up the mission he started. They are to take the Gospel to all corners of the earth, preaching repentance and forgiveness, baptizing the converts in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This empowerment is extended to all of us who have been called and bestowed with the Holy Spirit to share in the mission of Christ. It is a call to live out the demands of the Gospel in our daily lives as well as witness to it among men.
Pentecost is, therefore, not a mere historical event, but a living event of the constant outpouring of the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth. Pentecost experience is not a once in a lifetime event. Constant renewal and infilling by the Holy Spirit on those who have earlier received him is evidence in the Bible (John 20: 22; Acts 2:1-4; Acts 4:31). We must continually pray to be filled anew by the Holy Spirit. May this celebration serve to fulfil the purpose of the Pentecost in our lives. Amen.