(Mass during the day) First Reading: Acts 2:1-11 Responsorial: Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 Gospel: John 20:19-23
"Lord, send out Your Spirit..."
Parents have a unique and holy vocation. It is a calling that requires so many and varied skills. Perhaps the strangest among them is that of letting go. After two decades of caring for their children, making sacrifices, and devoting so much time and energy, good parents must bring themselves to let their child go forth as an adult. Of course, the bonds of love will remain, but the parent must surrender much if the child is to come into his or her full potential.
Two weeks ago we celebrated the feast of the Ascension. If you think about it- it is a strange thing to celebrate the moment when the Son of God leaves us. Should we not mourn at a moment of parting? And yet Jesus must go to the Father if we are to come into our potential and know the fullness of the Spirit. It is a paradox for us to consider on this feast of Pentecost.
In the First Reading, we read the account of Pentecost from the Acts of the Apostles. Jesus has ascended and the Apostles have replaced the fallen Judas with Matthias. Now, restored, the Twelve Apostles and all the disciples are ready to receive the Spirit. The passage uses analogous language to speak of this overwhelming event: there was a noise like a great wind, over them rested something like tongues of fire. Then they begin to speak in different tongues. In this case, it does not appear that the gift is one of ecstatic speech, but the capacity to speak in various human languages. Jews from all parts are able to understand them. In this moment, the Spirit empowers the Apostles and the Church for their task of witnessing to Christ. With his physical departure from their sight, they come into their own and exercise this remarkable new capacity. They have become a new mode of Christ’s presence in the world. The Spirit flows abundantly over them and begins their work of witnessing first to the Jews and then to the world. Their ministry already brings communion as the crowds overcome linguistic differences and share in this mighty act of God.
The Psalm takes up the theme, acclaiming the power of God’s Spirit to transform all creation. Sure, a part of us might wish that Jesus had never ascended, that he might walk among us as he did in his ministry. Yet, such a presence would be limited by time and space. This new presence of Jesus in the power of the Spirit and through the ministry of his Church spreads far and wide across places and peoples with new possibilities. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this kind of transformation is that we are no longer the object to be transformed, but subjects who participate in the transformation.
Paul addresses the Corinthians in the Second Reading by speaking of the way the Spirit diffuses throughout the Christian community. Remember the Corinthians were proud, boasting of their spiritual gifts and emphasizing their particular status. Paul calls them to recognize that the same Spirit flows in all of them for the sake of all. No one may domesticate or make personal claim to this Spirit which belongs to and empowers the entire Body of Christ.
The moving passage from the Gospel of John offers a variation on the theme of Pentecost. In this scene, the disciples remain in fear behind locked doors. They are still struggling to make sense of all that has happened when the Lord appears in their midst once again. After all that Jesus has told them and promised them, this is the culminating moment when they receive this new mode of Jesus’ presence in absence. They will now do his works and manifest his glory. They will continue his ministry of liberation from the power of sin. And they will know his peace even now in their fear and uncertainty. This peace is living in harmony with God, neighbor and the world. This is that unique peace that comes from God alone and empowers the believer to love as Jesus loves: to the fullest measure.
On this Feast of Pentecost, we crown our fifty days of Easter with the memory of the gift of the Spirit and the exercise of that Spirit which empowers us to proclaim Jesus Lord and testify to him with our words and works. Even in his departing, he empowers us in a new and extraordinary way to participate in his life for the sake of the world. Now, with our help, Christ can be everywhere in our world with words of mercy and the promise of peace.
