Word to the Wise
Sunday, May 23, 2021 - Pentecost Sunday - B
[Acts 2:1-11; opt: Gal 5:16-25; opt: John 15:26-27; 16:12-15 ,164]"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] 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]
There was once a long-serving Dominican novice master who was famous for his unintentional malapropisms. On the occasion of a highly contested Dominican election of a local superior, he was heard to say to the novices: "Brothers, please pray for us! If the Holy Spirit is not with us, God help us!" When all is said and done, that humorous statement sums up a heap of theology on the feast of Pentecost!
We are given two different accounts of how the Holy Spirit was imparted to the disciples. The more dramatic account in the Acts of the Apostles is the one most Catholics would think of. The imagination supplies a white dove and "tongues of fire" over the heads of those in the room and a sudden transformation of frightened disciples into bold preachers in all different tongues. The less dramatic account from the Gospel According to John(as if the appearance of the resurrected Jesus isn't dramatic enough!) has Jesus appearing post-resurrection to the disciples and "breathing" the Holy Spirit on them. However the Spirit came, the results are what count, and the alternative second scriptures from St. Paul's letters to the Corinthians and Galatians speak of the "gifts" and "fruits" of the Holy Spirit. Since he was writing within 30 years after Jesus' death and resurrection, this shows a lot of dramatic development in the understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit.
In all of this, what comes through clearly to me is that the Holy Spirit is the "great enabler." That the Church has survived the mixed bag of human membership for more than 2,000 years can only be the result of divine intervention! I count on that same Holy Spirit every morning I sit down to write this reflection just as Pope Francis relies on it in his leadership of the church. As that old novice master said, "If the Holy Spirit is not with us, God help us!" AMEN