Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 5, 2022 - Pentecost Sunday - C
[Acts 2:1-11; opt: Rom 8:8-17; opt: John 14:15-16, 23b-26]"If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you....The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ..." [1 Cor.]
The feast of Pentecost ends the liturgical Easter Season with the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The scriptures assigned for the celebration reflect both a richness and a diversity of traditions in regard to the event as well as to the impact of that "coming."
The traditions agree that the coming of the Holy Spirit took place after Jesus' death and resurrection. However, the evangelist Luke in the Acts of the Apostles presents the tradition of the disciples gathering AFTER Jesus' ascension. This is the tradition so often portrayed of the group in the upper room with "tongues of fire" over their heads. The tradition in the Gospel According to John presents the event as taking place during one of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances. St. Paul avoids the question of when and where and speaks rather to the presence and impact of God's Spirit dwelling in us. What comes through is the firm belief in the Holy Spirit as the continued presence of God in our midst as a church and in each one of us. St. Paul sees this as making us "children of God" and "joint heirs with Christ." [alternative second scripture].
All of this can seem to be lofty and referring only to early Church experience, but, in fact, it is a matter of everyday living out of our baptismal commitment. When we seek God's guidance in the daily and lifetime challenges of living in accord with what we learn from Jesus' teachings, it is the Holy Spirit that responds. When the Pope makes a decision in regard to the truths of our faith, it is the Holy Spirit whose power and guidance he invokes. Perhaps it is only on the feast of Pentecost, or when the Sacrament of Confirmation is celebrated in our parish that we give explicit recognition to the presence of the Holy Spirit, but just as our body breathes most of the time without our noticing it, the Holy Spirit breathes in us and challenges us to live as committed Christians. Time and again in my own life, I have asked for that guidance and inspiration and somehow the wisdom that I need comes. We celebrate this in the traditional "seven gifts of the Spirit": Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Piety, Courage and Fear of the Lord. All of these speak to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus promised not to "leave us as orphans" [John 14:18], and the presence of the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of that promise. It is up to us to take full advantage of that presence. AMEN