June 12, 2011
Pentecost Sunday Mass During the Day A
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.
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. Acts 2:1-4
As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. 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 Corinthians 12:12-13
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." John 20:20b-23
Piety
For every need of the Church there is a new coming of the Spirit. When our hearts open up to the need of the other, we are touched by a coming of the Spirit. The Spirit is alive in us when we are able to recognize Christ in each other. The first time I said to another that the Christ of my heart recognizes the Christ of your heart, the Spirit was alive in my heart. When we know love for one another, it is the work of the Spirit we are witnessing to as we take the deeper look at another. We are all gifted by the Holy Spirit when we understand how the mystery of Christ makes sense in our own lives. The good that we do for another is done for Christ who identifies with all the needs that surround us in the ravaged spirit of the Lord that is the suffering of all our brothers and sisters. The sevenfold gift of the Spirit touches our minds as Wisdom, Knowledge Counsel and Understanding: it touches our heart with Piety, Fortitude and the Fear of the Lord. The gifts of the Spirit are ours for the taking.
Study
The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus breathed on the disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Christ gave to the Apostles the power of his love. The Acts of the Apostles describe how the entire house shook. The disciples went out from the locked doors to proclaim the mighty acts of God. We study how to speak for the Lord. The excitement of our hearts passes over our entire demeanor and people hear more than merely our words. The presence of the Spirit in our lives gives power to the sermon we preach with our lives. The words are just now and then. Our lives are the every day of the sermon we have to come to be by the love we share with each other.
Action
We need to say a thousand different ways that “Jesus is lord.” We can only say that with the conviction of our hearts by the WORKING of the Holy Spirit on us. Christianity never has to be a boring Religion if we give sway to the Spirit of the Lord. Christ is willing to be all of us. He came to us by our Baptism. But he lives in us by the actions of the Spirit in the love we have for one another. Pentecost needs to be every day of our lives. All the different forms of service come from the same Lord. The different workings of the Spirit in each of us are given to each of us as manifestations of the Spirit. All the actions of the many of us are the outflow of the same Spirit at work in each of us. We have all been given to drink of the one Spirit. Together we make the one Body of Christ, the Mystical Body of his Church. Pentecost is the richness of the life of the Spirit spelt out in each of us. LIVE PENTECOST!
