Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 4, 2017 - Pentecost Sunday: Mass during the Day - A
[Acts 2:1-11; 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23]"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]
The celebration of the feast of Pentecost is a celebration of the very life of the Church. With baptism, we become alive with the Holy Spirit as a baby begins breathing on its own after birth. St. Paul makes it clear in today's second scripture: 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. St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of the "new law of Christ" saying that this new law is, "Nothing other than the Holy Spirit working in our hearts through faith in Christ." [I-II a. 106] The Church is not a matter of buildings, no matter how magnificent, but a community of faithful persons, all of whom have received the Holy Spirit by virtue of baptism/confirmation.
St. Paul also makes it clear that the effective manifestation of the Church/Spirit depends on all of us contributing our gifts "for some benefit." When the disciples received the Holy Spirit, they went from a frightened and enclosed group to a living proclamation of Christ, now present in the Church through the Holy Spirit. When we celebrate the Eucharist, it is the Holy Spirit (not the priest) who brings about the transformation of our gifts of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. When we share our faith with someone else either by word or deed, it is the Holy Spirit working in us to "put skin on" God's love.
Tradition speaks of the feast of Pentecost as the "birthday of the Church." As such, then, it is our birthday as well! AMEN
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