Pentecost Sunday (Year B)

Pentecost Sunday (Year B)

Acts 2:1-11; 1Cor 12:3-7,12-13/Gal 5:16-25; Jn 20:19-23 (15:26-27,16;12-15)

Come Holy Spirit and fill the heart of your faithful 

and enkindle in them the fire of your love

Image Courtesy: Mangalore Diocese 

One bright Sunday morning like today, Benson's mother hurries into her son's bedroom and wakes him up. "Benson, it's Sunday. Time to get up! Time to get up and go to church! Get up!" Benson mumbles from under the covers, "I don't want to go." "What do you mean you don't want to go?" says the mother. "That's silly. Now get up and get dressed and go to church!" Benson goes, "No, I don't want to go and I'll give you two reasons why I don't want to go." He sits up on the bed and continues, "First, I don't like them and second, they don't like me." His mother replies, "Now, that's just plain nonsense. You've got to go to church and I'll give you two reasons why you must. First, you're now forty years old and, second, you're the pastor!"

Just as we have heard in the story, the disciples were in a sleepy situation. They were frightened and nervous about the consequences of being identified with the person of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit reminded them that they are the witnesses to all that they had seen and heard. 

Pentecost which means fiftieth was the second of the three most important Jewish Feasts. For the Jews, it was a day of gratitude and a day of thanksgiving for the completion of the harvest.  It occurred seven weeks after the Passover and on this day the first fruits of the wheat crop were offered to God.  

On this day people celebrated the event where God gave his Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. 

On this day the Spirit came down on the Disciples and the church was born. 

On this fiftieth day after the resurrection, a great transformation took place in the small group of disciples. They were persons perplexed, scared, frightened, and disappointed, which kept them closeted in a little upper room.  

The Spirit descended on them while they were together praying and it was for all the people.  At this time people had come to Jerusalem from every nation to express their harvest gratitude. They spoke different languages; they came with different intentions; they had different motives.  It is this mixed group that heard a sound that made them assemble together. To their astonishment, some Galileans spoke to them in their own native language. They were surprised that some unheard illiterates of Galilee spoke the language they understood so well. All are aware of how difficult it is to learn another language. Yet we are told that these disciples spoke freely and people, coming from various nations, understood them perfectly. It is the hearers and not the speakers who make this claim.  This was the novel experience of the new harvest, Pentecost.  

Dear Friends,

In the second reading we heard that Paul advised his community that they should live by the spirit and must not look to gratify the desires of the flesh. He reminds the church that since they have been born again through faith in Jesus and the Sacrament of Baptism and have received God's gift of a new heart and spirit, they belong to God. Therefore they are called to embrace the spiritual ways of the spirit. They are called to live a holy life as children of God.

Here is another story to conclude: A black squirrel once asked a wise old owl what was the weight of a single snowflake. "Why, nothing more than nothing," the owl answered. The squirrel then went on to tell the owl about a time when he was resting on a branch of a maple tree, counting each snowflake that came to rest on the branch until he reached the number 1,973,864. Then with the settling of the very next flake -- crack! The branch suddenly snapped, throwing the squirrel and the snow to the ground. "That was surely a whole lot of nothing," said the squirrel.

Our daily personal efforts to spread the Kingdom of God may be as lightweight as snowflakes. But by heaping our snowflakes together we shall eventually be able to break the heavy branch of sin, evil and injustice growing in our world today.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.

And kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.

And you will renew the face of the earth.

Lord,

by the light of the Holy Spirit

you have taught the hearts of your faithful.

In the same Spirit

help us to relish what is right

and always rejoice in your consolation.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

(The English translation of the Prayer to the Holy Spirit from A Book of Prayers © 1982, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. (ICEL). All rights reserved.)

(You are most welcome to add your comments, prayers and reflections below)

Happy Feast