Pentecost Acts 2:1-11; I Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13; Jn 20:19-23

An old beggar lay on his deathbed.  His last words were to his young son who had been his constant companion during his begging trips.  “Dear son,” he said, “I have nothing to give you except a cotton bag and a dirty bronze bowl which I got in my younger days from the junk yard of a rich lady.”  After his father’s death, the boy continued begging, using the bowl his father had given him.  One day a gold merchant dropped a coin in the boy’s bowl and he was surprised to hear a familiar ring.  “Let me check your bowl,” the merchant said.  To his great surprise, he found that the beggar’s bowl was made of pure gold.  “My dear young man,” he said, “why do you waste your time begging?  You are a rich man.  That bowl of yours is worth at least thirty thousand dollars.” —  We Christians are often like this beggar boy who failed to recognize and appreciate the value of his bowl.  We fail to appreciate the infinite worth of the Holy Spirit living within each of us, sharing His gifts and fruits and charisms with us.  On this major feast day, we are invited to experience and appreciate the transforming, sanctifying, strengthening and unifying presence of the Holy Spirit within us.  This is also a day for us to renew the promises made to God during our Baptism and Confirmation, to profess our Faith, and to practice it.

In Genesis we read the story of the Tower of Babel. The people of the earth became skilled in construction and decided to build a city with a tower that would reach to heaven. By building the tower they wanted to make a name for themselves and also prevent their city from being scattered. God came to see their city and the tower they were building.  He perceived their evil intentions, men were proud and they wanted to challenge God.  So God confused their language. They spoke to one another as they used to, but they understood differently.  On the day of Pentecost the spirit of God has re-established unity. People spoke different languages, but everyone understood in his language. Difference in language makes it difficult for people to communicate with one another.  But the early Christians were able to grasp the meaning of each other's message, because they spoke the language of love, the language of   understanding, the language of selflessness, and the language of kindness. It is the Church's mission to reunite the human family that has been torn apart by sin. That's why all the visitors in Jerusalem heard the Apostle's words in their own languages. That's why as soon as the risen Jesus breathes on his Apostles; he instructs them to forgive sins.

 

The feast of Pentecost demands from us that we should get united with God. Edmund Bruke wrote, "Whatever disunites man from God also disunites man from man."  Once we establish our unity with God we can strengthen the unity at home, in the parish, in the place of our work, and in our society; among the members of the family, among our colleagues, among the members of our parish, and among all whom we come across. 

Secondly, the Spirit brought courage. At the trial scene Peter   disowned Jesus and swore that he did not know him. But after receiving the spirit the same Peter proclaimed aloud the message of Jesus and   called the people to repentance. The Spirit blesses us too with courage. When we accept it we too will be able to make our contribution to better the world.

Thirdly, the spirit brought the light of knowledge to the Apostles. When Jesus was speaking to them of his agony and suffering the disciples were contemplating on as who would be on his right and who would be on his left.  They cherished the dreams of the kingdom where Jesus would take over the rule of the Roman Empire. But the descend of the Spirit revealed the meaning of the words of Jesus to them. They knew what their faith would demand of them. They knew what their responsibilities would be. They knew the meaning of Christian love. Their ignorance was wiped out. The Apostles knew their strength and their weakness.  And they accepted the supremacy of the Spirit in their life.

 

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Blessed Trinity. He is the love between the Father and Son lived so intensely that he is a person himself. When we are baptized, that same Spirit takes up residence within our souls, and he brings Jesus and God the Father along with him - because where one is, all three are.

The influence and action of the Holy Spirit in our lives increases when we are confirmed. This gift surpasses all other gifts. In the Holy Spirit, the prophecy of "Emmanuel" (God-with-us) takes on unimaginable proportions: not merely God among us, as in the Incarnation, but God within us, a guest in our souls, a guide for our life's journey, a personal trainer for our spiritual fitness.

 

The feast of the Pentecost requires from to live in a new relationship with God through His spirit and in a relationship with others where everyone could understand each other everyone could help each other. May the gifts of the Holy Spirit enable us as He did the Apostles to fulfill Jesus’ commission to preach the Gospel to all nations and to live our life in a new dimension always aware that our God is within us.