“Receive the Holy Spirit”
by Sam Miller
Pentecost Sunday
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 of the Apostles 2:1-4
Lord, send out Your
Spirit, and renew the face of the earth! Psalms 104
And no one can say,
“Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of
spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but
the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of
them in everyone. To each individual, the manifestation of the Spirit is given
for some benefit. 1
Corinthians 12: 3b-7
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.” John 20: 19-22
Piety
Spirit of the Living God
Chorus
Spirit of the Living God
Fall afresh on me
Spirit of the Living God
Fall afresh on me
Melt me, mold me
Fill me, us me
Spirit of the Living
God,
Fall afresh on me
Study
The arrangement of today’s
readings is in such a fashion that, if I had the power to do so, I’d put the
Gospel first. Why? The action in the
Gospel occurred, to my way of understanding, before the Acts of the Apostles. The first and second readings speak of the
coming and presence of the Spirit, which Jesus had already breathed on the
disciples in the Gospel, telling them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
It seems Jesus had to
repeat Himself for the disciples to “get it”!!
In today’s Gospel, Jesus said to His disciples, “Peace be with you.”,
and later, “said to them again, “Peace be with you.”
How about receiving the
Holy Spirit? Jesus breathed on them and
told them to receive the Holy Spirit. In
last week’s reading from Acts 1:5, 8 there were unmistakable hints given
regarding the coming of the Holy Spirit, in verse 5 “in a few days you will be
baptized with the Holy Spirit.”, and verse 8 “But you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” (From
John 16:7) “It is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate
will not come to you. But if I go, I
will send him to you.
The convincing arrival
of THE HOLY SPIRIT for all of Jesus’ disciples occurs today. The Spirit comes from the sky with a noise as
of strong driving wind and then appears as of tongues of fire. The fire parted and came to rest on each of
them! Holy smoke!!!
The phrase “Be not
afraid” appears 365 times in the Bible, once for each day of the year. There also are at least 36 occurrences of “I
am with you,” at least one for each day of the month and then starting over,
always comforting.
As Fr. Dave Pivonka, TOR
(from The Wild Goose) puts it, …” On Pentecost, something happened that changed
the disciples—and that same something has to happen to us. We can’t live our
spiritual lives in a locked room, but in front of the world, alive and full of
joy.”
Action
Lord, please bless me
with the ability to “get it,” to know and believe what You say is so!! Help me be blown away by the presence of Your
Holy Spirit in me. Let me be set afire
with a renewed desire to share Your message of love & joy to all boldly!! Amen!!
De Colores
