From: Joel 2:28-32 (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition and New Vulgate)
Joel 3:1-5 (New American Bible)

The Spirit poured out

[28] And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
[29] Even upon the menservants and maidservants
in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

[30] and I will give portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and co-
lumns of smoke. [31] The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood,
before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. [32] And it shall come to pass
that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion
and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and
among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

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Commentary:

2:18-3:21. The second part of the book is all about salvation. The Lord’s compas-
sion (2:18) is shown by the message he sends via the prophet to the people in
response to their conversion: “The Lord answered and said to his people” (2:19).
On the Lord’s behalf the prophet encourages Judah and Jerusalem, telling them
that they have no reason to be afraid, for the Lord is going to deliver them from
their afflictions and provide them with every sort of earthly good (symbolized here
by the produce of the earth – grain, wine, oil: 2:19-27).

But the high point will be when God pours out his “spirit on all flesh …” (2:28).
The outpouring of the Spirit is the definitive sign that the “day of the Lord” has
come. That “day” is mentioned five times in the book (1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14),
each time with greater emphasis. The day of the Lord is an End time when a
number of things will happen: wickedness will be punished (1:15; 2:1-3); the po-
wer of the Lord will be manifested by portents in the heavens and on earth (2:30-
31); and, above all, it is the day when the Lord will judge all nations (3:1-8).

2:28-32. This is the great passage about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The
word “afterward” in v. 28 marks the transition from the material benefits de-
scribed in the previous verses to spiritual benefits. The outpouring of the Spirit
involves charismatic and prophetical gifts primarily (moral gifts derive from these).
This infusion of the Spirit is the fulfillment of an ancient promise, found in Num-
bers 11:16-30: “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, […] and I will
take some of the spirit which is upon you and put it upon them, […] Would that
all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!”
This hope is accentuated in Joel, for now no limits are placed on who will benefit
from it – elders, young people, and even servants (vv. 28-29). And the Lord will
once more perform wondrous things through them (v. 30), like those done by
prophets in the strict sense (cf. Deut 13:2; etc.).

St Peter sees this promise being fulfilled when the Holy Spirit is poured out on
the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21). “Peter turns to this passage from Joel to ex-
plain the significance of what has occurred, and the signs which those present
have seen: ‘the pouring out of the Holy Spirit’. It is a super-natural work of God,
carried out with the signs typical of the coming of the Lord, as they were foretold
by the prophets and realized in the New Testament with the coming of Christ”
(John Paul II, Address, 8 November 1989). Therefore, too, in the tradition of the
Church, this descent of the Holy Spirit is seen as an extension of his descent on
Jesus in the river Jordan: “God promised through the mouths of his prophets that
in the last days he would pour out his Spirit on all his servants, and that they too
would prophesy. Thus, the Spirit of God, who had become the Son of man, so
that by remaining within him, he would inhabit the heart of mankind and animate
all the works carried out by the hands of God, fulfilling the will of the Father
through all men and making all men new – new creations in Christ. Luke tells us
that after the ascension of the Lord, the Spirit descended on the apostles at Pen-
tecost, to restore men to new life and to bring the new covenant to completion.
Therefore, the disciples praised God in all the tongues of men, laying all peoples
open to the action of the Spirit and all nations open to the power and authority of
God” (St Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, 3, 17, 1-2).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Romans 8:22-27

Christians are Children of God (Continuation)

[22] We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until
now; [3] and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of
the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our
bodies. [24] For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope.
For who hopes for what he sees? [25] But if we hope for what we do not see,
we wait for it in patience.

[26] Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to
pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for
words. [27] And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of
the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of
God.

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Commentary:

19-21. To make his point more vividly St Paul, in a metaphor, depicts the whole
of creation, the material universe, as a living person, groaning in pain impatiently
waiting for a future event, raising its head, straining to see something appear on
the horizon.

The material world is indeed, through God’s design, linked to man and his des-
tiny. “Sacred Scripture teaches that man was created ‘in the image of God,’ as
able to know and love his Creator, and as set by him over all earthly creatures
that he might rule them, and make use of them, while glorifying God” (Vatican II,
“Gaudium Et Spes”, 12). The futility to which creation is subject is not so much
corruption and death as the disorder resulting from sin. According to God’s plan
material things should be resources which enable man to attain the ultimate
goal of his existence. By using them in a disordered way, disconnecting them
from God, man turns them into instruments of sin, which therefore are subject
to the consequences of sin.

“Are we of the twentieth century not convinced of the overpoweringly eloquent
words of the Apostle of the Gentiles concerning the ‘creation (that) has been
groaning in travail together until now’ and ‘waits with eager longing for the revea-
ling of the sons of God’, the creation that’ was subjected to futility’? Does not the
previously unknown immense progress—which has taken place especially in the
course of this century—in the field of man’s dominion over the world itself reveal—
to a previously unknown degree—that manifold subjection ‘to futility’? [...] The
world of the previously unattained conquests of science and technology—is it not
also the world ‘groaning in travail’ that ‘waits with eager longing for the revealing
of the sons of God’?” (John Paul II, “Redemptor Hominis”, 8).

Reestablishment of the order willed by God, bringing the whole world to fulfill its
true purpose, is the particular mission of the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life, the true
Lord of history: “’The arm of the Lord has not been shortened.’ God is no less po-
werful today than he was in other times; his love for man is no less true. Our faith
teaches us that all creation, the movement of the earth and the other heavenly
bodies, the good actions of creatures and all the good that has been achieved in
history, in short everything, comes from God and is directed toward him.

“The action of the Holy Spirit may pass unnoticed because God does not reveal
to us his plans, and because man’s sin obscures the divine gifts. But faith tells
us that God is always acting. He has created us and maintains us in existence,
and he is leading all creation by his grace towards the glorious freedom of the
children of God” (St J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 130).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States

From: John 7:37-39

Different opinions about Jesus

[37] On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed,
“If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. [38] He who believes in me, as
the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” [39] Now
this he said about the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive; for
as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

37-39. On each of the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles the high priest went
to the pool of Siloam and, used a golden cup to bring water to the temple and
sprinkle it on the altar, in remembrance of the water which sprang up miraculous-
ly in the desert, asking God to send rain in plenty (cf. Ex l7:1-7). Meanwhile, a
passage from the prophet Isaiah was chanted (cf. Is 12:3) which told of the com-
ing of the Saviour and of the outpouring of heavenly gifts that would accompany
him; Ezekiel 47 was also read, in which it spoke of the torrents of water which
would pour out of the temple. Jesus, who would have been at this ceremony,
now proclaims – in the presence of a huge crowd, undoubtedly, because it was
the most solemn day of the festival – that that time has come: “If any one thirst,
let him come to me and drink . . .”. This invitation recalls the words of divine wis-
dom: “Come to me, you who desire me, and eat your fill” (Sir 24:19; cf. Prov 9:
4-5). Our Lord presents himself as him who can fill man’s heart and bring him
peace (cf. also Mt 11:28). In this connexion St Augustine exclaims: “You made
us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you” (Con-
fessions, 1, 1, 1).

Jesus’ words as preserved in v. 37 led St Alphonsus to write this tender commen-
tary full of love for our Saviour: “In Jesus Christ we have three fountains of grace.
The first is the fountain of mercy, where we can be purified of all the stains of our
sins. […] The second is that of love: no one who meditates on the suffering and
shame that Jesus Christ undergoes out of love for us, from his birth to his death,
can fail to be kindled by that happy fire which comes down on earth to set on fire
the hearts of all men. […] The third is the fountain of peace: let him who seeks
peace of heart come to me, who is the God of peace” (Meditations for Advent,
med. 8).

Furthermore, when Jesus speaks of “rivers of living water” flowing out of his heart,
he is probably referring to the prophecy in Ezekiel 36:25ff where it is announced
that in messianic times the people will be sprinkled with clean water and will be
given a new spirit and their heart of stone will be changed for a heart of flesh. In
other words, Jesus, once he has been exalted as befits his position as Son of
God, will end at Pentecost the Holy Spirit, who will change the hearts of those
who believe in him. “For this reason, Christian tradition has summarized the at-
titude we should adopt towards the Holy Spirit in just one idea – docility. That
means we should be aware of the work of the Holy Spirit all around us, and in
our own selves we should recognize the gifts he distributes, the movements and
institutions he inspires, the affections and decisions he provokes in our hearts”
(St. J. Escriva, Christ is Passing By, 130).

To say that the Holy Spirit will come visibly on the day of Pentecost does not
mean that he has not been active before: when the prophets of the Old Testa-
ment speak they are inspired by the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Pet 1:21) and there are
countless passages in the New Testament where we are told that he is acting:
for example, he overshadows the Blessed Virgin at the Annunciation (cf. Lk
1:35); he moves Zechariah to prophesy the wonders of the Lord (cf. Lk 1:67-79),
and Simeon to proclaim that the Saviour of the world has come (cf. Lk 2:25-38).

But, asks St Augustine, “how are the words of the Evangelist to be understood:
“The Spirit had not yet been given, since Jesus was not yet glorified’, if not in
the sense that, after the glorification of Christ, there would certainly be a giving
or sending of the Holy Spirit of such a kind as there had never been before?” (De
Trinitate, 4, 20). Our Lord was referring, therefore, to the coming of the Holy Spi-
rit after his ascension into heaven, an outpouring which St John sees as symbo-
lically anticipated when Christ’s side is pierced by a lance and blood and water
flow out (Jn 19:34). The Fathers saw in this the birth of the Church and the sanc-
tifying power of the sacraments, especially those of Baptism and the Eucharist.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Mass Readings

These readings are for the day of the feast itself. Readings for the Vigil mass (on the evening before) are shown further down the page.

First reading	Acts 2:1-11 ©

When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.

Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. ‘Surely’ they said ‘all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome – Jews and proselytes alike – Cretans and Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.’

Psalm	Psalm 103:1,24,29-31,34

Second reading	1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13 ©

No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose. Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.

Gospel	John 20:19-23 ©

In the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.

‘As the Father sent me,

so am I sending you.’

After saying this he breathed on them and said:

‘Receive the Holy Spirit.

For those whose sins you forgive,

they are forgiven;

for those whose sins you retain,

they are retained.’

These readings are for the Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast:

First reading	Genesis 11:1-9 ©

Throughout the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. Now as they moved eastwards they found a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled. They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.’ (For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen). ‘Come,’ they said ‘let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered about the whole earth.’

Now the Lord came down to see the town and the tower that the sons of man had built. ‘So they are all a single people with a single language!’ said the Lord. ‘This is but the start of their undertakings! There will be nothing too hard for them to do. Come, let us go down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer understand one another.’ The Lord scattered them thence over the whole face of the earth, and they stopped building the town. It was named Babel therefore, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. It was from there that the Lord scattered them over the whole face of the earth.

Alternative first reading	Exodus 19:3-8,16-20 ©

Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel:

‘“You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own, for all the earth is mine. I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.”

‘Those are the words you are to speak to the sons of Israel.’

So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people, putting before them all that the Lord had bidden him. Then all the people answered as one, ‘All that the Lord has said, we will do.’

Now at daybreak on the third day there were peals of thunder on the mountain and lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp all the people trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain of Sinai was entirely wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. Like smoke from a furnace the smoke went up, and the whole mountain shook violently. Louder and louder grew the sound of the trumpet. Moses spoke, and God answered him with peals of thunder. The Lord came down on the mountain of Sinai, on the mountain top, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain.

Alternative first reading	Ezekiel 37:1-14 ©

The hand of the Lord was laid on me, and he carried me away by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, a valley full of bones. He made me walk up and down among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the ground the whole length of the valley; and they were quite dried up. He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘You know, Lord.’ He said, ‘Prophesy over these bones. Say, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will learn that I am the Lord.”’ I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a sound of clattering; and the bones joined together. I looked, and saw that they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, “The Lord says this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead; let them live!”’ I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath entered them; they came to life again and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army.

Then he said, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying, “Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead.” So prophesy. Say to them, “The Lord says this: I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know that I, the Lord, have said and done this – it is the Lord who speaks.”’

Alternative first reading	Joel 3:1-5 ©

Thus says the Lord:

‘I will pour out my spirit on all mankind.

Your sons and daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams,

and your young men see visions.

Even on the slaves, men and women,

will I pour out my spirit in those days.

I will display portents in heaven and on earth,

blood and fire and columns of smoke.’

The sun will be turned into darkness,

and the moon into blood,

before the day of the Lord dawns,

that great and terrible day.

All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved,

for on Mount Zion there will be some who have escaped,

as the Lord has said,

and in Jerusalem some survivors whom the Lord will call.

Psalm	Psalm 103:1-2,24,27-30,35

Second reading	Romans 8:22-27 ©

From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free. For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience.

The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.

Gospel	John 7:37-39 ©

On the last day and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood there and cried out:

‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to me!

Let the man come and drink who believes in me!’

As scripture says: From his breast shall flow fountains of living water.

He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive; for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Viewing the Church Through the Lens of the Holy Spirit, Biblical Reflection for the Solemnity of Pentecost by Father Thomas Rosica, CSB

Viewing the Church Through the Lens of the Holy Spirit

Biblical Reflection for the Solemnity of Pentecost

By Father Thomas Rosica, CSB

TORONTO, JUNE 7, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Pentecost is the 50th day that signals the start of the universal mission of the Church -- a mission that overcomes human obstacles and has the Spirit as its driving force. The mighty breath of God and the fire of the Spirit's presence engulf the group of disciples gathered in prayer around Mary, Mother of the Lord in the upper room.

Luke's narrative of Pentecost in today's first reading from Acts (2:1-13) consists of an introduction, a speech ascribed to Peter declaring the resurrection of Jesus and its messianic significance (14-36), and a favorable response from the audience (2:37-41). The Twelve were not originally in a position to proclaim publicly the messianic office of Jesus without incurring immediate reprisal from those religious authorities in Jerusalem who had brought about Jesus' death precisely to stem the rising tide in his favor.

Psalm 104 reminds us that this Holy Spirit, this breath of God that we as Christians have received, is the same Spirit that sustains the constant renewal of all created things.

Paul's theology of charisms

In today's second reading (1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13), St. Paul reminds the Corinthian Christians that the different gifts of the Holy Spirit are given for a purpose: a service to be offered for the good of all. They are not ends in themselves. Christians are called to establish a unity that brings together in Jesus Christ all peoples, religions and states of life.

Ecstatic and charismatic activity was common in early Christian experience, as they were in other ancient religions. But the Corinthians seem to have developed a disproportionate esteem for certain phenomena, especially tongues, to the detriment of order in the liturgy. Paul reminds the Corinthians that ecstatic phenomena must be judged by their effect.

Power to confess Jesus as Lord can come only from the Spirit, and it is inconceivable that the Spirit would move anyone to curse the Lord. We learn that there are some features common to all charisms, despite their diversity: all are gifts (charismata), grace from outside ourselves; all are forms of service (diakoniai), an expression of their purpose and effect; and all are workings (energemata), in which God is at work. Paul associates each of these aspects with what later theology will call one of the persons of the Trinity, an early example of "appropriation."

The image of a body (12-26) is introduced to explain Christ's relationship with believers (12). Paul applies this model to the church: by baptism all, despite diversity of ethnic or social origins, are integrated into one organism. The reading then develops the need for diversity of function among the parts of a body without threat to its unity.

He breathed on them

The Gospel of John (19:20-23) describes another way the Holy Spirit is given to the apostles: the risen Jesus breathing on the apostles to impart the Holy Spirit. The power of the Spirit not only authorizes, but also empowers the apostles to forgive and to retain sins. Jesus formally sends out to the world his apostles, as he had been sent to the world by the Father. Jesus' breathing on the apostles huddled in the Upper Room recalls Genesis 2:7, where God breathed on the first man and gave him life; just as Adam's life came from God, so now the disciples' new spiritual life comes from Jesus.

Behind the scenes

In my work at Salt and Light Television Network in Canada, I have had to quickly learn about broadcast technology, and all that goes into making a good film. One important aspect of television is the intricate camera work "behind the scenes."

The close up and wide-angle camera shots make all the difference in filming and telling a story. If we use too many close-ups, we lose sight of the bigger picture. If we overuse the wide-angle lens without attention to the particulars, it doesn't make for good television. Good television combines the wide-angle or panoramic shots, the intermediate views of the surface, and finally the close-ups that offer attention to detail and often provide necessary depth for understanding the whole picture.

I would like to offer three lenses through which we might consider this feast: 1) the wide-angle lens that looks at our belonging to the Church; 2) an intermediate lens that focuses in on the ideologies at work in the Church today; and 3) a zoom lens to sharpen our hope, the great manifestation of the Holy Spirit to the Church.

"Sentire cum ecclesia"

Pentecost is considered to be the birth of the Church. Our baptismal consecration in service to Christ cannot be separated from consecration in service to the Church. One of the main themes permeating the thought of St. Ignatius of Loyola is his exhortation "Sentire cum ecclesia" or "think with the Church." "Sentire cum ecclesia" also means to feel with the Church and to love the Church.

Pentecost invites us once again to walk with the Church, breathe with the Church, hope with the Church, feel with the Church, "sentire cum ecclesia." What does the Church mean for me as an individual? What is my personal relationship with the Church? Do I love the Church? Do I feel loved by the Church?

Moving beyond ideology

From the wide-angle view of the Church, let us take a closer look at our current ecclesial reality. Today, some of us seem to be stuck in the ideological battles that followed the Second Vatican Council. Perhaps we are frozen in categories of left and right; traditional vs. avant-garde; male vs. female; hierarchical vs. lay-led, or prophetic vs. static.

Our inter-ecclesial and inter-community fixations and polarizations on all sides of the ecclesial spectrum can distract us from addressing with requisite depth and discernment the issues facing us today. Whatever is not purified and transformed within us is transmitted to others -- especially to the next generation.

When we sell ourselves to cynicism and despair, meanness of heart, smallness of spirit and harshness in ecclesial discourse, we betray our deepest identity as bearers of joy, hope and truth. Is joy present in our Christian witness? What prevents me as an individual and us as a community from giving a robust, joyful witness to Jesus Christ, the Catholic Faith and the Church?

Zooming in on hope

Finally, let us zoom in on hope, a true manifestation of the Spirit at Pentecost. Is it not true that many of us in the Church today feel like we are caught in a flash flood that is unexpected, powerful, destructive and filled with despair? The flame seems to have gone out and our influence is terribly diminished. The media exerts a powerful influence on the thinking, the attitudes and the faith of people.

The flash flood bears down with immense force on all of us. Some view our present situation with great pessimism and grow disheartened, depressed and even cynical. Perhaps we have chosen to look at everything only from the data of sociology, psychology, polls and predictions, blogs and brief Twitter messages, and foresee an inevitable, almost deterministic future designed more or less by demographic, social, and economic forces, a future which is dismal and dark.

For the world of sound bites, hope usually means that we make ourselves believe that everything is going to turn out all right. We use the word hope lightly and cheaply. This is not the hope of Christians. We must be icons of hope, a people with a new vision, a people that learn to see the world through the lenses of Christ, the Spirit, and the Church.

Signs of the times

Vatican II encouraged Christians to read the signs of the times, and for Pope John XXIII, these were signs of hope and glimpses of the Kingdom's presence in our midst. It is not a kingdom of this world, so that it cannot be identified specifically in this or that location, but it is nevertheless here already, fostered by the Eucharist which is the pattern to be reproduced in all society, as well as still to come.

The Kingdom manifests itself through the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, courage, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. And the Spirit's fruits make the Kingdom palpable and palatable: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, long suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, continence and chastity.

It is also possible to follow a "via negativa" and to say where the Kingdom is not. Where there is no justice, no peace, no sharing, no mutual trust, no forgiveness, there is no Kingdom. Where there is rancor, envy, distrust, hatred, ignorance, indifference, a lack of chastity, cynicism, there is no Kingdom and certainly no life.

"Duc in altum!"

We cannot weigh the life of faith and judge the vitality of the Church solely on the basis of demographical or sociological indicators, numbers, polls, and outside statistics, as helpful as they may be. The fire of Pentecost invites us to rediscover the depth, beauty and vastness of the Church's mission.

What is required of those imagining and building the Church is to think big, and to cast our nets into the deep. "Duc in altum!" We must shape our vision on the firm conviction in the victory of the Cross and in Jesus Christ's triumph over sin and death. Individuals and communities without vision and a Church without a mission are like a person without relationships.

Unless we are able to go beyond ourselves, we will remain undeveloped personalities. When the Spirit truly dwells within us, we will be blessed anew with creativity, imagination and hope.

Guarantee of the Spirit's presence

What is the deepest and surest assurance and intimation that the Holy Spirit is present in our world and Church today? The answer is: joy. If there is joy present you can bet that the Holy Spirit has something to do with this precious gift.

St. Augustine who was the most musically passionate of the Fathers of the Church memorably evokes the experience of this joy with these words: "Whenever people must labor hard they begin with songs whose words express their joy. But when joy brims over and words are not enough they abandon even this coherence and give themselves to the sheer sound of singing.

"What is this jubilation? What is this exultant song? It is the melody that means our hearts are bursting with feelings that cannot express themselves. And to whom does this jubilation most surely belong? Truly to God who is unutterable, if words will not come and may not remain silent what else can you do but let the melody soar? This is the song of the Holy Spirit."

On this great feast of the birth of the Church, let us ponder anew the whole reality of the Church, from the wide-angle view of its vastness and beauty, to the sometimes turbulent and complex surface, zooming in finally on hope, one of the deepest manifestations of the Spirit alive in the Church. In doing so, we can marvel once again at the mercy and generosity of God and give thanks to the Lord who continues to call us to fidelity and joy.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, / and reignite in us the fire of your Love! / Make us joyful witnesses to your hope in the Church! / Move us beyond our ideologies that divide and blind us. / Lord, send us your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth... / the face of our Church, the face of our local communities, our own faces, our own hearts. Amen.

[The readings for Pentecost are Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23]

* * *

Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, chief executive officer of the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and Television Network in Canada, is a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

Arlington Catholic Herald

GOSPEL COMMENTARY JN 20:19-23

Come, Holy Spirit!

By Fr. Jerome Magat

6/8/11

The solemnity of Pentecost commemorates the event that occurred 50 days after Easter when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and Mary, firmly establishing the Church and invigorating the apostles with the zeal to proclaim the Gospel to the farthest ends of the earth. Pentecost, however, is not a holy day private to Catholics. Pentecost originated as a Jewish harvest feast — it’s one of the three major feasts of the Jewish calendar. Of course, for the apostles, the harvest would not be wheat crops but the first believers of the Gospel.

What we know of the events of Pentecost is not recorded in any of the Gospels; rather, our scriptural account that narrate these events is found in the Acts of the Apostles. Hence, the Gospel passage for this Sunday depicts Easter Sunday night when Christ breathed on the apostles and promised them that he would send the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for “breathe” used in this account is found in only one other place is Scripture: in the Book of Genesis, when God breathed life into Adam. In the Gospel, Christ is breathing new life into the Church. At the time of the apostles’ encounter with Jesus in the upper room at Easter, they are portrayed as a band of scared and inept men; at Pentecost, their lives would be changed forever.

It never occurred to the apostles that the Gospel should be kept a private affair among themselves. Instead, they evangelized the known world. Their evangelical posture is a challenge to Catholics who refuse to talk about their faith — those who fear that such discourse might offend less pious ears. For others, their “private Catholicism” is a form of politeness so as not to “impose” the good news on others. This apathy and lack of courage is not a sign of the Holy Spirit that filled the apostles at Pentecost. Had the apostles not evangelized the world, would we have known names like Beethoven, Mozart, Palestrina, Michelangelo, Bramante, Fra Angelico, Louis Pasteur, Blaise Pascal, Leonardo DaVinci, Dorothy Day, Blessed Junipero Serra (the father of California), Blessed Teresa of Kolkata and Blessed Pope John Paul II? Would the Church have been the developer and the genius behind the modern system of economics (based on monastery bartering systems) or the system of modern diplomacy, or Western music (all rooted in Gregorian chant) or even the Julian or Gregorian calendars?

A true spirit of evangelization can only be accomplished through the Holy Spirit. This power cannot be overestimated. It is the same Spirit that pours forth the virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit into the soul of every person who is baptized. It is the same Spirit whom the priest invokes at every Mass during the eucharistic prayer. The Holy Spirit gives power to our sacraments and makes Jesus present in the Church today as He has from Her inception, two millennia past. Let us call upon the Spirit in confidence to assist our efforts to proclaim the good news!

Fr. Magat is parochial vicar of St. William of York Parish in Stafford.

The Work of God

Year A

- Pentecost Sunday

Receive the Holy Spirit

John 20:19-23

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (NRSV)

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Pentecost Sunday - Receive the Holy Spirit

Peace be with you. Do you realize what this means? Can you understand that the peace I give is the peace of God, something that no one had before my resurrection?

Peace is with you, by this I mean the peace of reconciliation between God and men that I achieved with my suffering, my passion agony and death. I reconciled men with God; I brought mercy into the world to give everyone the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of my incarnation. Glory to God in the highest heavens; and peace on earth to men of good will.

Receive the Holy Spirit.

Do you understand what I am saying when I say “receive the Holy Spirit”?

I am not giving you anything that belongs to this world. I am not giving you anything that I could give before my resurrection; I am giving you the great love of God, which is the will of my father and mine. I am giving you my peace first, to prepare you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, the fire of love, which purifies you and then fills you with love.

And how, you may say, can you receive peace now and experience my gift of the Holy Spirit? It is all very simple.

Repent of your sins.

Imagine that you are experiencing the last judgment at this moment. Think about all the sins of your life and make a list. Go through the list with a magnifying glass. Meditate on the consequences of those sins on other people; feel sorry for them and for your soul.

Realize that it was you, who made me suffer and crucified me; so that by my death on the cross I could die for the forgiveness of your sins.

Do an examination of conscience based on the ten commandments, realize that as a human being you are a sinner, you are no exception, you have offended God.

But it is not time to hate yourself or to find excuses to prove your innocence. I have the cure for your sins. Don’t simply hide your darkness and increase it, by doing nothing to change your way of life.

I am the way. Simply follow my instructions. I am the truth therefore see your soul with my eyes, but know that I am ready to forgive you. I am the life, your sins are your death, choose me and you will live. Only if you accept your guilt and come to me with sorrow for what you have done, will you obtain mercy. You will have to humble yourself to make up for the pride of your past.

Go to a priest and confess your sins, I will be listening to you through him and will absolve you of your sins through the power that I have given to my Church. Unless you receive my forgiveness, you will struggle in life without ever knowing what peace of God really means.

Receive the Holy Spirit. Immerse your self in the fire of my love, be purified from evil and come to know me, love me and serve me.

I am Love, be united to me. Love me by keeping my commandments, and by loving one another. Receive my love, as you desire to be with me.

Receive the Holy Spirit. Receive the greatest gift that God has offered men. Receive the spirit of love, God Himself.

A good father on earth gives good things to his children when they ask him. I give you the Holy Spirit if you come to me. I give you the love of the Father and my love.

Receive the Holy Spirit.

Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary

The Sacred Page

Friday, June 10, 2011

Let the Fire Fall! Reflections on the Readings for Pentecost

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The Lectionary provides a wealth of Scriptural inspiration for this weekend’s celebration of the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost.

As usual, there is too much beauty and richness for us to deal with it all in depth. I was minded only to deal with the Sunday Mass Readings, but the Vigil’s selections are just too rich to pass without a brief comment on each:

The First Reading Options for the Vigil:

Genesis 11:1-9. This the Tower of Babel narrative. Holy Mother Church suggests this reading because it is a kind of “bookend” near the beginning of Scripture that pairs with a “bookend” near the end of the Scriptural story: Pentecost. Notice the contrast and comparison between Babel and Pentecost: in both cases, all humanity is represented (the list of nations in Gen 10 is roughly summarized in contemporaneous terminology by St. Luke in Acts 2:9-11). In both cases, there is confusion because of speaking. At Babel, they are confused because they do not understand. At Pentecost, they are confused because they do understand. The Tower of Babel tells us how mankind was fractured. Pentecost tells us how mankind is reunited as a family: by the Spirit, which forms the Church, which is the new Family of God. Notice that at Pentecost, Peter’s leadership and preaching is highlighted (Acts 2:14-42). Peter’s role in the Spirit-unified Family of God is crucial. Without his leadership, the Family breaks up into autocephalous communions or various denominations. Only where his Spirit-empowered leadership is respected does the Family maintain its transnational unity.

Exodus 19:3-20. The Sinai Narrative. The reason Holy Mother Church suggests this reading is that the Jewish Feast of Pentecost—which literally means “Fifty”, taken from the fifty days counted after Passover—was the Jewish liturgical celebration of the Giving of the Law at Sinai. This parallel and its significance is missed by modern readers, but not by ancient Jewish readers of Acts! At Sinai the Law was given in a fearsome storm, and on tablets of stone. At Pentecost, there is a “peaceful storm” of the Spirit (the rushing wind, the lightning-like tongues of flame) and the giving of the Law on the Heart. As St. Thomas says in his treatment of the Old Law in the Summa, “the law of the New Covenant is nothing other than the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit is the Law written on the heart promised with the New Covenant (see Jer 31:31-34). Hebrews 12:18-24 is a must-read for the connection between the Sinai account and Pentecost! The pouring out of the Spirit makes the members of the Church into a Kingdom of Priests (Exod 19:5-6; see 1 Peter 2:9), a promise that was rejected by the Tribes at the Golden Calf episode, but is renewed to the Apostles and the other Israelites who heed their preaching in Jerusalem at Pentecost, and also to all us Gentiles who also partake in the same Spirit.
Exod 37:1-14. The Resurrection of the Dry Bones in Ezekiel’s Vision. The dry bones in this vision, at one level, represent the national hopes of God’s people Israel, which have “died” and been “scattered” by war, exile, and diaspora. At Pentecost, we see a remarkably widespread, representative group of Israelites from around the world, gathered together in Jerusalem and “reunited” or even “resurrected” as the New Israel through the blowing of God’s Spirit. They form the infant Church.
Joel 3:1-5. The Outpouring of the Spirit in the Last Days. The connection of this reading is obvious, since St. Peter quotes it as being fulfilled during his sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2:17-20.

The Psalm. Psalm 104, the great “Creator Spirit” Psalm, is the Responsorial for both the Vigil and the High Mass of the Feast Day. Verse 30 is used as the refrain: this verse is virtually the theme of the “decade” of the Spirit that we celebrate from Ascension to Pentecost. Psalm 104 celebrates God’s glory revealed in his creation, which is brought forth, maintained, and renewed by the Spirit (compare Genesis 1:2). At Pentecost, the Wind that blew over the waters of the young earth blows again over the believers gathered around the Apostles. The Church is the foretaste or first-fruits of the New Creation, since Christ’s resurrected Body is our food. As St. Paul says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation!” (2 Cor 5:17). This concept flows nicely into the Second Reading (Rom 8:22-27), where Paul refers to us as having “the firstfruits of the Spirit,” that is, already in a mysterious way participating in the Creation that is to come in the next age, a participation which as yet is denied to rocks, trees, petunias, and Labrador Retrievers. We have the “down payment” of the Spirit, yet we await a fuller experience of the New Creation which will come at the resurrection, when the rest of nature also will be renewed.

The Gospel. This is the famous passage (John 7:37-39) where Jesus identifies himself as the Source of the River of Life which flows from the New Temple (see Ezekiel 47). This image is based historically on the spring called the Gihon, which emerges just below the Temple and flows down the City of David (a very old part of Jerusalem) to the Pool of Siloam, which provided the water for all of the populace of the city. The Gihon is the “river whose streams make glad the city of God.” In Ezekiel’s vision, the Gihon is replaced with a much more spectacular river flowing from the Temple. In John 7, Jesus identifies himself as the New Temple, and the Spirit as the River which flows from him. The NAB translation of this passage is defensible, but I believe a different division of the Greek clauses is to be preferred. In my opinion, the Greek of John 7:37-38 should be understood as follows:

“Whoever thirsts, let him come to me,

and let him drink who believes in me.

As the Scripture says,

‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water’”

Translated this way, it is clearly Jesus’ heart that flows with rivers of living water. I think this division of the clauses makes better contextual, narrative sense as well as theological sense.

Jesus’ Scriptural “quote” here is a paraphrase and summary of the vision of Ezekiel 47 and other passages from the prophets that foresee a supernatural river coming forth from the New Temple. The Church sees in Pentecost the definitive realization of this vision. The River of the Spirit is the water of baptism, which conveys the Spirit to believers (Acts 2:38).

(The comments on the Sunday Mass Readings will have to wait till tomorrow ...)

Posted by John Bergsma

Archdiocese of Washington

Our God Sits High, Yet Looks Low! A Meditation on the Fact that We are Nearly Invisible From Space.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

There is a rather humorous aspect of the story of the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis. You likely know the basic story which begins with the men of that early time saying, Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves (Gen 11:4). It was an image of pride, of grandiosity. The humor comes, that when the tower is built, the great tower, with its top reaching to the heavens, the truth is, it is actually so puny that God has to come down from heaven to see it. The text says, And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built (Gen 11:5).

Now, of course, as omniscient, God clearly sees everything, and the humor in the text is not some primitive notion of God. Rather the humor is for our benefit. For in effect it says that our greatest, tallest, most prominent and glorious work that we saw as reaching heaven itself, is in fact so puny that God has to stoop to “see” it. He has to descend to get a glimpse of it. What ultimately DOES alarm God is how colossal our pride is, and he has to humble us, by confusing our language and scattering us about the planet.

I recalled this story as I viewed the video below. It is wonderful footage of earth, taken from the Space Shuttle. There is verbal commentary and explanation by one of the astronauts, explaining some of the features we are seeing, and where on the globe we are looking as the pictures pass by. The view is remarkable. But what is more remarkable is what we do NOT see: us!

It is an astonishing thing that, even though the shuttle is passing over well populated areas, there is no visual evidence that we even exist. No cities or buildings are visible, no planes streaking through the skies, even large scale agricultural features seem lacking. There is only one mention of a color difference across the Great Salt Lake, due to a railroad bridge preventing lake circulation. But the bridge is in no way visible, only its effect.

We think of ourselves as so big, so impressive. And yet even in low earth orbit, we cannot be seen. It is true, at night, our cities light the view, but during the day – next to nothing says we are here. Even the magnified picture on my 30″ iMac screen shows no evidence of us below.

And having viewed the video I think of Psalm 8:

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens….When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Yet, You made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Yes, we are so powerful (by God’s gift), and yet so tiny as to be nearly invisible from a short distance into space. Our mighty buildings rise. But they rise on a speck of space dust called earth, revolving around a fiery point of light, called the sun. Yet our huge sun is but one point of light in the Milky Way Galaxy of over 100 Billion Stars. And the Milky Way Galaxy, so huge to us as to be incomprehensible, is but one Galaxy of an estimated 200 Billion Galaxies.

What is man O Lord that you are mindful of him? Jesus says of us: And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered (Matt 10:30). Yes, God who knows the numbers of the stars and calls them by name also knows the number of the hairs on each of our heads. Nothing escapes him.

And old preacher’s saying goes: “We serve a God who sits high, yet looks low!” Indeed, never forget how tiny you and I are, yet never cease to marvel that God knit you together in your mother’s womb and sustains every fiber of your being. We cannot even be seen from low earth orbit, but God who sees all, looks into our very heart. Do not cease to marvel that, though tiny, you and I are wonderfully, fearfully made (Psalm 139), and that He has put all things under our feet.

Photo: Frerieke at Creative Commons

Archdiocese of Washington

First Huddle, then Hustle! On Pentecost and Evangelization

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

As we prepare to celebrate Pentecost Sunday we ought to consider how the Church is strengthened and empowered for her great mission to go unto all the nations. The principal account of it took place in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2).

As we encounter the Church we find a Church that has been given quite a tall task:

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you (Matt 28:19-20).

And Luke adds a detail in his account:

Jesus said “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And (behold) I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Lk 24:46-49)

And so the Church gathered in Jerusalem, about 120 in all, and prayed for nine days (the origin of the Catholic practice of “Novena” wherein one prays nine days for an intention). On the Tenth Day the Holy Spirit came. During those nine days we find the little Church somewhat fearfully gathered. There is no evidence that they are boldly seeking converts. They are a small community huddled together, fearful, behind closed doors, and awaiting a fulfillment of the promise of Jesus to send the Spirit. This was something they probably only vaguely understood.

So there’s the image: a community fearfully and apprehensively huddled together, wonder how they would ever Go unto all the nations when they were too afraid even to go out side the doors where the huddled together.

This is all about to change, but for a moment, grasp the picture and consider with me if it does not look a lot like many of our Catholic parishes today. Increasingly small communities that huddle together and talk only privately about the Lord but are afraid to go out of the doors of the Church and speak a word about the Lord. Perhaps they will be laughed at, scorned or asked questions they cannot answer. The general approach of most Catholic parishes in terms of evangelization does not seem to be to open the doors and go out but, rather to open the doors and hope people come in. But Christ said “GO.” And still we huddle together fearfully and with an inward focus. We spend most of our time talking about inward things like what color to paint the women’s restroom, who will be the new Holy Name Society President, why women can’t be ordained etc. All perhaps important issues to resolve but the main mission of evangelization is neglected and we focus on inward things too much.

Hence we are huddled together, fearful, and lacking in proper focus. Outside the Church doors is a world that needs to hear from us, but still we huddle together, timid and fearful of opening the doors and going out.

To be sure it is not wrong to huddle together. It is essential for us to gather each week as a community to ponder the word of the Lord, hear his teaching and plan, be fed and strengthened for our mission. But if all we do is huddle, we are missing the point.

Consider a football game. The offensive team always huddles before the play. This is essential to make sure all the team members are on the same page and know their roles. The quarterback makes clear what each is to do. But at a certain point it is time to break the huddle and come out and execute the play. If you went to a foot ball game where all they did was huddle you wouldn’t stay long. The huddle is not the game or the point, is to prepare the play. And then it is time to hustle up and run the play.

What would you think of a football player that was afraid to come out of the huddle and run the play? Perhaps he is afraid of getting hit or something. Well it’s clear that we’d think he’s a pretty poor excuse for a football player. But this is our struggle as Christians. Too many of us are afraid to come out of the huddle (the Mass) and run the play. What play you say? “Go there are make disciples of all nations…..” The deacon or priest says it at every Mass: “The Mass is ended, Go in peace.” And this is short for “Go make disciples….” And so it is that the huddle is supposed to break and we are to go out on the (mission) field. But in too many of our parishes this is not happening. We are not passing on the faith well even to our children, let alone strangers.

Come Holy Spirit – The early Church was also huddled together behind closed doors. But on that tenth day (Pentecost) the Holy Spirit descended on them as a strong rushing wind and tongues of fire. And suddenly they started speaking boldly. The next thing we notice is that the door is open and Peter preaches a sermon to the crowd so bold that three thousand are added to their number that day.

And the Church went forth that day, unto all the nations. Sure there were fits and starts but the mission to the world had begun. The huddle broke and the play was executed. Surely the Church would huddle frequently, but then they would break huddle and hustle up to the line to execute the play: Go therefore.

How about your parish? How about you? Don’t just huddle….., hustle! When the Mass concludes “Go in peace” don’t miss that this is a commissioning. Get out on the field and execute the play. Move the ball, gain some yards! And if you loose some yards, get back up, huddle up again, and hustle again. But don’t give up! First huddle then hustle.

Here is an excerpt from the Sermon I preached last Pentecost at my parish here in Washington DC that makes some of these points. We have been conducting a neighborhood outreach this past year.

Archdiocese of Washington

I Have Come to Cast A Fire On the Earth! – A Meditation on the Feast of Pentecost

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

What a wondrous and challenging feast we celebrate at Pentecost. A feast like this challenges us, because it puts to the lie a lazy, sleepy, hidden, and tepid Christian life. The Lord Jesus had said to Apostles, and still says to us: I have come to cast a fire on the earth! (Luke 12:49). This is a feast about fire, about a transformative, refining, and purifying fire that the Lord wants to kindle in us and in this world.

The Readings today speak to us of the Holy Spirit in three ways: The Portraits of the Spirit, the Proclamation of the Spirit and the Propagation by the Spirit. Let’s look at all three.

I. The Portraits of the Spirit – The Reading today speaks of the Holy Spirit using two images: rushing wind, and tongues of fire. These two images recall Psalm 50 which says, Our God comes, he does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, round about him a mighty tempest. (Psalm 50:3).

Rushing Wind – Notice how the text from Acts opens: 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.

This text brings us to the very root meaning of the word “Spirit.” For “spirit” refers to “breath,” and we have this preserved in our word “respiration,” which means breathing. So, the Spirit of God is the breath of God, the Ruah Adonai (the Spirit, the breath of God).

Genesis 1:2 speaks of this saying the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And Genesis 2:7 speaks even more remarkably of something God did only for man, not the animals: then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Gen 2:7).

So the very Spirit of God was breathed into Adam! But, as we know, Adam lost this gift and died spiritually when he sinned.

Thus we see in this passage from Acts an amazing and wonderful resuscitation of the human person as these first Christians (120 in all) experience the rushing wind of God’s Spirit breathing spiritual life back into them. God does C.P.R. and brings humanity, dead in sin, back to life! The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us once again as in a temple (cf 1 Cor 3:16). It has been said that Christmas is the feast of God with us, Good Friday is the Feast of God for us, but Pentecost is the Feast of God in us.

Tongues of Fire – The text from Acts says, Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.

The Bible often speaks of God as fire, or in fiery terms. Moses saw God as a burning bush. God led the people out of Egypt through the desert as a pillar of fire. Moses went up on to a fiery Mt. Sinai where God was. Psalm 97 says, The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are round about him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him, and burns up his adversaries round about. His lightnings lighten the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory. (Ps 97:1-6). Scriptures call God a Holy fire, a consuming fire (cf Heb 12:29) and a refining fire (cf Is. 48:10; Jer 9:7; Zec 13:9; & Mal 3:3).

And so it is that our God, who is a Holy Fire, comes to dwell in us through his Holy Spirit. And as a Holy Fire, He refines us by burning away our sins and purifying us. As Job once said, But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold (Job 23:10).

And he is also preparing us for judgement, for if God is a Holy Fire, then who may endure the day of his coming or of our going to Him? What can endure the presence of Fire Himself? Only that which is already fire. Thus we must be set afire by God’s love.

So, in the coming of the Holy Spirit God sets us on fire to make us a kind of fire. In so doing, he purifies and prepares us to meet him one, He who is a Holy Fire.

II. The Proclamation of the Spirit. - You will notice that the Spirit Came on them like “tongues” of Fire. And the reference to tongues is no mere accident. For notice how the Holy Spirit moves them to speak, and ultimately to witness. The text says: And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.”

So behold how the Holy Spirit moves them to proclaim, not just in the safety of the upper room, but also in holy boldness before the crowds who have gathered.

Notice the transformation! Moments ago these were frightened men who gathered only behind locked doors, in secrecy. They were huddled together in fear. But now they go forth to the crowds and boldly proclaim Christ. They have gone from fear to faith, from cowardice to courage, from terror to testimony!

And how about us? Too many Christians are silent, dominated by fear. Perhaps they fear being called names, or not being popular. Perhaps they are anxious about being laughed at, or resisted, or of being asked questions they don’t feel capable of answering. Some Christians are able to gather in the “upper room” of the parish and be active, even be leaders. But once outside the “upper room” they slip into undercover mode. They become secret agent Christians.

Well, the Holy Spirit wants to change that, and to the degree that we have really met Jesus Christ and experienced his Holy Spirit we are less “able” to keep silent. An old Gospel song says, I thought I wasn’t gonna testify, but I couldn’t keep it to myself, what the Lord has done for me. The Holy Spirit, if authentically received, wants to give us zeal and joy, and burn away our fear, so that testifying and witnessing are natural to us.

Note also how the Spirit “translates” for the apostles, for the crowd before them spoke different languages, but all heard Peter and the others in their own language. The Spirit therefore assists not only us, but also those who hear us. My testimony is not dependent only on my eloquence, but also on the grace of the Holy Spirit who casts out deafness and opens hearts. Every Christian should remember this. Some of our most doubtful encounters with others can still bear great fruit on account of the work of the Holy Spirit who “translates” for us and overcomes many obstacles that we might think insurmountable.

III. The Propagation by the Spirit – In the great commission the Lord said, Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age (Matt 28:19ff). He also said, as we have noted, I have come to cast a fire on the earth and How I wish the blaze were already ignited (Luke 12:49).

But how is the Lord going to do this?

Perhaps a picture will help. My parish church is dedicated to the Holy Spirit under the title: Holy Comforter. Above the high altar is the Latin inscription: Spiritus Domini, replevit orbem terrarum (The Spirit of the Lord, filled the orb of the earth). (See photo, above right, of our high altar).

And yet, we may wonder how He will do this.

But the walls of my parish Church answer the question. The clerestory walls are painted Spanish Red, and upon this great canvas are also painted the lives of 20 saints, surrounding us like a great cloud of witnesses (cf Heb 12:1). (See also, video below). And over the head of every saint is a tongue of fire.

THIS is how the Spirit of the Lord fills the earth. It is not “magic fairy dust,” it is in the fiery transformation of every Christian, going forth into the world to bring light and warmth to a dark and cold world. THIS is how the Lord casts fire on earth, THIS is how the Spirit of the Lord fills the orb of the earth: in the lives of saints, and, if you are prepared to accept it, in YOU.

In the end, the Great Commission (Matt 28) is “standing order No. 1.” No matter what else, we are supposed to do this. Parishes do not deserve to exist if they do not do this. We as individual Christians are a disgrace, and not worthy of the name, if we fail to win souls for Jesus Christ. The Spirit of the Lord is going to fill the orb of the earth, but only through us. The spread of the Gospel has been placed in your hands (scary isn’t it?).

Last year, my own parish, after a year of training, stepped out into our neighborhood, and went door to door and into the local park. And we announced Jesus Christ, and invited people to discover him in our parish, and in the sacraments.

Before we count even a single convert, this is already success because we are obeying Jesus Christ who said, simply, “Go!” “Go make disciples.” And, truth be told, we ARE seeing an increase in my parish. Our Sunday attendance has grown from about 450 to 520, a 15% increase. We are growing, and our attendance, while average for a downtown city parish, is going in the right direction. God never fails. God is faithful.

Spread the news: it works if you work it, so work it because God is worth it. Go make disciples. Ignore what the pollsters tell you about a declining Church and let the Lord cast a fire on the earth through you! Fires have way of spreading! Why not start one today? The Spirit of God will not disappoint.

I know this, my parish has a future because we are obeying Jesus Christ, we are making disciples. How about you and yours? If parishes do not obey, they do not deserve to exist and can expect to close one day, no matter how big they are today. I, in my short 50 years on this planet, have seen it: parishes once big, booming, and, (frankly), arrogant, are now declining and some are near closure. It happens to the best, if they do not evangelize, if they do not accomplish “Job 1.” The Lord wants to light a fire. Why not become totally fire? Let the Spirit propagate the Church through you (I am not talking about the person next to you, I am talking to you).

Happy feast of Pentecost. But don’t forget that the basic image is very challenging, for it means getting out of the “upper room,” opening the doors, and proclaiming Christ to the world. Let the Holy Spirit light a fire in you, and then, you can’t help but spread light and heat to a cold and dark world.

Let the evangelization of the whole world begin with you.

This video features details from the clerestory (upper window level) of my parish of Holy Comforter here in DC. Notice the tongue of fire above each saint. The paintings show how the Spirit of the Lord fills the orb of the earth, (see photo above), through the lives of the lives of the saints (this means you). It is not magic, it is grace, working in your life, through your gifts, and your relationships, that the Lord will reach each soul. The cloud of witnesses on the walls of my Church say simply, You are the way he will fill the earth and set it on fire. Let the blaze be ignited in you!

The song says: We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, looking on, encouraging us to do the will of the Lord. Let us stand worthy, and be faithful to God’s call….We must not grow weary…!

Sunday Gospel Reflections

Pentecost Sunday
Reading I: Acts 2:1-11 II: 1Cor 12:3-7,12-13

Gospel
John 20:19-23

¹⁹ On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."
²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
²¹ Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."
²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Interesting Details

(v.19) The disciples were afraid. They did not respond to Jesus' appearance or greeting. They probably did not even recognize him.
(v.20) Jesus identified himself by his hands and his side, which is to say, his suffering. This brought recognition and joy.
(v.21) Jesus sent the disciples to continue his mission.
(v.22) "He breathed on them." The word Spirit means breath, wind, and symbolizes power. Wind was experienced as a powerful force in the ancient world. People in the Old Testament considered the wind as God's breath, or God's power and spirit. Therefore in Genesis God's breath gave life to Adam, and now bestows even a greater life as God's children.
(v.23) John mentioned "sin" (singular) 25 times and "sins" (plural) only 6 times. The singular form indicates an evil force in general, instead of a list of specific sins.
See also the explanations on the second Sunday of Easter (Jn 20:19-31).

One Main Point

The disciples receive the Holy Spirit and Jesus' mission.

Jesus breathed on the disciples to give them new life as children of God. With this new life or new force, they will be able to fight against sin or the forces of evil.

Reflections

See Jesus saying to me "Peace be with you" repeatedly. Notice his tone, his gestures, his eyes, and so on.
Feel Jesus' breath on me. Have I received such a "holy force"? Have I ever felt it, and if so, when?
With that holy force, do I struggle against sin or the evil force (my own evil tendencies as well as those in the greater society around me)?

Sunday, June 12, 2011
Pentecost Sunday (Solemnity)

First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:

Acts 2:1-11
Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34
1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13
John 20:19-23

Turn away from sin, and be faithful to the Gospel.

-- Ash Wednesday

This prayer, which dates from the twelfth century, is substituted for the Angelus during Easter Season.

The Regina Coeli

In Latin

In English

Regina coeli, laetare, alleluia: Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia. Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, Alleluia,

R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Oremus: Deus qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi, mundum laetificare dignatus es: praesta, quaesumus, ut per eius Genetricem Virginem Mariam, perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum.

R. Amen.

Queen of Heaven rejoice, alleluia: For He whom you merited to bear, alleluia, Has risen as He said, alleluia. Pray for us to God, alleluia.

V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.

R. Because the Lord is truly risen, alleluia.

Let us pray: O God, who by the Resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, granted joy to the whole world: grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may lay hold of the joys of eternal life. Through the same Christ our Lord.

R. Amen.

And the child grew

and became strong in spirit. Luke 1:80

Pray to end abortion.

Office of Readings and Invitatory Psalm

Office of Readings

If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, you should precede it with the Invitatory Psalm.

Introduction

O God, come to my aid.

O Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen. Alleluia.

Hymn

When God of old came down from heaven,

In power and wrath he came.

Before his feet the clouds were riven,

Half darkness and half flame;

But when he came the second time,

He came in power and love.

Softer than gale at morning prime

Hovered his holy Dove.

The fires that rushed on Sinai down

In sudden torrents dread,

Now gently light, a glorious crown,

On every sainted head.

And when the Spirit of our God

Came down his flock to find,

A voice from heaven was heard abroad,

A rushing, mighty wind.

It fills the Church of God, it fills

The sinful world around;

Only in stubborn hearts and wills

No place for it is found.

Come Lord, come Wisdom, Love and Power,

Open our ears to hear.

Let us not miss the accepted hour!

Save, Lord, by love or fear.

Psalm 103 (104) Hymn to God the Creator

The Holy Spirit is like a wind that blows wherever it pleases: you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. Alleluia.

Bless the Lord, my soul!

Lord, my God, how great you are!

You are robed in majesty and splendour;

you are wrapped in light as in a cloak.

You stretch out the sky like an awning,

you build your palace upon the waters.

You make the clouds your chariot,

you walk upon the wings of the wind.

You make the breezes your messengers,

you make burning fire your minister.

You set the earth upon its foundation:

from age to age it will stand firm.

Deep oceans covered it like a garment,

and the waters stood high above the mountains;

but you rebuked them and they fled;

at the sound of your thunder they fled in terror.

They rise to the mountains or sink to the valleys,

to the places you have decreed for them.

You have given them a boundary they must not cross;

they will never come back to cover the earth.

You make springs arise to feed the streams,

that flow in the midst of the mountains.

All the beasts of the field will drink from them

and the wild asses will quench their thirst.

Above them will nest the birds of the sky,

from among the branches their voices will sound.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

The Holy Spirit is like a wind that blows wherever it pleases: you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. Alleluia.

Psalm 103 (104)

Suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind. Alleluia.

From your palace you water the mountains,

and thus you give plenty to the earth.

You bring forth grass for the cattle,

and plants for the service of man.

You bring forth bread from the land,

and wine to make man’s heart rejoice.

Oil, to make the face shine;

and bread to make man’s heart strong.

The trees of the Lord have all that they need,

and the cedars of Lebanon, that he planted.

Small birds will nest there,

and storks at the tops of the trees.

For wild goats there are the high mountains;

the crags are a refuge for the coneys.

He made the moon so that time could be measured;

the sun knows the hour of its setting.

You send shadows, and night falls:

then all the beasts of the woods come out,

lion cubs roaring for their prey,

asking God for their food.

When the sun rises they come back together

to lie in their lairs;

man goes out to his labour,

and works until evening.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind. Alleluia.

Psalm 103 (104)

Send forth your spirit and new life will begin; you will renew the face of the earth. Alleluia.

How many are your works, O Lord!

You have made all things in your wisdom,

and the earth is full of your creatures.

The sea is broad and immense:

sea-creatures swim there, both small and large,

too many to count.

Ships sail across it;

Leviathan lives there, the monster;

you made him to play with.

All of them look to you

to give them their food when they need it.

You give it to them, and they gather;

you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

But turn away, and they are dismayed;

take away their breath, and they die,

once more they will turn into dust.

You will send forth your breath, they will come to life;

you will renew the face of the earth.

Glory be to the Lord, for ever;

let the Lord rejoice in his works.

He turns his gaze to the earth, and it trembles;

he touches the mountains, and they smoke.

I will sing to the Lord all my life;

as long as I exist, I will sing songs to God.

May my praises be pleasing to him;

truly I will delight in the Lord.

Let sinners perish from the earth,

let the wicked vanish from existence.

Bless the Lord, my soul!

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Send forth your spirit and new life will begin; you will renew the face of the earth. Alleluia.

The spirit of the Lord fills the whole world, alleluia.

– That which holds all things together has true knowledge, alleluia.

Reading	Romans 8:5-27 ©

The unspiritual are interested only in what is unspiritual, but the spiritual are interested in spiritual things. It is death to limit oneself to what is unspiritual; life and peace can only come with concern for the spiritual. That is because to limit oneself to what is unspiritual is to be at enmity with God: such a limitation never could and never does submit to God’s law. People who are interested only in unspiritual things can never be pleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him. Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.

So then, my brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live.

Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.

I think that what we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us. The whole creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal his sons. It was not for any fault on the part of creation that it was made unable to attain its purpose, it was made so by God; but creation still retains the hope of being freed, like us, from its slavery to decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God. From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free. For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were – but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience.

The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.

Responsory

Because through faith you are sons of God in union with Christ Jesus, God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, crying ‘Abba, Father’, alleluia.

The spirit that God gave us is no craven spirit, but one to inspire strength, love, and self-discipline. God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, crying ‘Abba, Father’, alleluia.

Reading	A treatise "Against the Heresies" by St Irenaeus

The sending of the Holy Spirit

When the Lord told his disciples to go and teach all nations and baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, he conferred on them the power of giving men new life in God.

He had promised through the prophets that in these last days he would pour out his Spirit on his servants and handmaids, and that they would prophesy. So when the Son of God became the Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon him, becoming accustomed in this way to dwelling with the human race, to living in men and to inhabiting God’s creation. The Spirit accomplished the Father’s will in men who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ.

Luke says that the Spirit came down on the disciples at Pentecost, after the Lord’s ascension, with power to open the gates of life to all nations and to make known to them the new covenant. So it was that men of every language joined in singing one song of praise to God, and scattered tribes, restored to unity by the Spirit, were offered to the Father as the first-fruits of all the nations.

This was why the Lord had promised to send the Advocate: he was to prepare us as an offering to God. Like dry flour, which cannot become one lump of dough, one loaf of bread, without moisture, we who are many could not become one in Christ Jesus without the water that comes down from heaven. And like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above. Through the baptism that liberates us from change and decay we have become one in body; through the Spirit we have become one in soul.

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of God came down upon the Lord, and the Lord in turn gave this Spirit to his Church, sending the Advocate from heaven into all the world into which, according to his own words, the devil too had been cast down like lightning.

If we are not to be scorched and made unfruitful, we need the dew of God. Since we have our accuser, we need an advocate as well. And so the Lord in his pity for man, who had fallen into the hands of brigands, having himself bound up his wounds and left for his care two coins bearing the royal image, entrusted him to the Holy Spirit. Now, through the Spirit, the image and inscription of the Father and the Son have been given to us, and it is our duty to use the coin committed to our charge and make it yield a rich profit for the Lord.

Responsory

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place, and suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house, alleluia.

While they were all together in one place, suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house, alleluia.

Hymn	Te Deum

God, we praise you; Lord, we proclaim you!

You, the Father, the eternal –

all the earth venerates you.

All the angels, all the heavens, every power –

The cherubim, the seraphim –

unceasingly, they cry:

“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts:

heaven and earth are full of the majesty of your glory!”

The glorious choir of Apostles –

The noble ranks of prophets –

The shining army of martyrs –

all praise you.

Throughout the world your holy Church proclaims you.

– Father of immeasurable majesty,

– True Son, only-begotten, worthy of worship,

– Holy Spirit, our Advocate.

You, Christ:

– You are the king of glory.

– You are the Father’s eternal Son.

– You, to free mankind, did not disdain a Virgin’s womb.

– You defeated the sharp spear of Death, and opened the kingdom of heaven to those who believe in you.

– You sit at God’s right hand, in the glory of the Father.

– You will come, so we believe, as our Judge.

And so we ask of you: give help to your servants, whom you set free at the price of your precious blood.

Number them among your chosen ones in eternal glory.

The final part of the hymn may be omitted:

Bring your people to safety, Lord, and bless those who are your inheritance.

Rule them and lift them high for ever.

Day by day we bless you, Lord: we praise you for ever and for ever.

Of your goodness, Lord, keep us without sin for today.

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us.

Let your pity, Lord, be upon us, as much as we trust in you.

In you, Lord, I trust: let me never be put to shame.

Let us pray.

Lord God,

you sanctify your Church in every race and nation

by the mystery we celebrate on this day.

Pour out the gifts of the Holy Spirit on all mankind,

and fulfil now in the hearts of your faithful

what you accomplished when the Gospel was first preached on earth.

[We make our prayer] through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

Amen.

Prayer of the Week:

ACT OF CHARITY

O MY GOD, I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured.

Catholic

Almanac:

Sunday, June 12
Liturgical Color: Red
Today is the Solemnity of Pentecost. Red vestments are worn at Mass today symbolizing the love of the Holy Spirit and commemorating the tongues of fire by which He appeared on the first Pentecost.

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for: June 12, 2011
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Almighty and ever-living God, you fulfilled the Easter promise by sending us your Holy Spirit. May that Spirit unite the races and nations on earth to proclaim your glory. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

RECIPES

ACTIVITIES

PRAYERS

12th

Pentecost Sunday Old Calendar: Pentecost Sunday

"And when the days of Pentecost were drawing to a close, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as of fire, which settled upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign tongues, even as the Holy Spirit prompted them to speak" (Acts 2, 1-4).

Pentecost (Whitsunday), with Christmas and Easter, ranks among the great feasts of Christianity. It commemorates not only the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Disciples, but also the fruits and effects of that event: the completion of the work of redemption, the fullness of grace for the Church and its children, and the gift of faith for all nations.

Pentecost
After Jesus had ascended to heaven from Mt. Olivet, the apostles and disciples returned to the Holy City. They remained together in the Upper Room or Cenacle, the place where Jesus had appeared to them and which may well be called the first Christian church. About a hundred and twenty persons were assembled there. They chose Matthias as an apostle in place of the unhappy Judas; they prayed and waited for the Paraclete.

Ten days had passed, it was Sunday, the seventh Sunday after the resurrection. At about nine o'clock in the morning, as they were together praying fervently, the Holy Spirit descended upon them. Note how all the great theophanies in Christ's life occurred during the course of prayer. After His baptism, for instance, when Jesus was praying the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove; likewise, it was during prayer at night that the transfiguration took place on Tabor. Surely too it was while Mary was praying that Gabriel delivered his message, and the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. Pentecost followed precedent. The small community of Christians had prepared themselves through prayer for the coming of the Paraclete. The same is true at Mass today, every day; through prayer we ready our souls for the advent of the Spirit.

The descent upon the apostles was internal and invisible in nature although accompanied by certain visible phenomena. There came a mighty roar, like the onrush of a violent wind. It came suddenly, from heaven; but unlike storms that strike a structure from without, this one penetrated and filled the room where the disciples were gathered. Therefore it was not a natural wind, it was a miracle peculiar to the occasion. A second visible sign consisted in tongues of fire that descended upon each one present. These fiery tongues gave visible evidence that the Holy Spirit had descended upon them.

Today at Mass, particularly at holy Communion, the power of the Holy Spirit will come down upon us; fiery tongues will not be seen, but invisible tongues of fire will not be absent. There was still another external manifestation of the Holy Spirit; the apostles and disciples were enabled to speak various languages.

After the roar of the wind many of Jerusalem's pilgrims hurried to the Cenacle. Pentecost was one of the three festivals which obliged all Jews to be present in Jerusalem. Jews from distant lands, and Jewish converts from paganism too, attended these feasts. As a result, a colorful crowd speaking a variety of languages surrounded the house. Now the apostles, who so shortly before had hid in fear behind locked doors, came forth and courageously walked among the multitude speaking to each in his native tongue. It was indeed amazing! Galileans, and multilingual?

But the malicious too were present; they had the answer. Nothing marvelous at all! Those Galileans were simply drunk, and their drunken babble sounded like a foreign language! Peter showed no hesitation in answering the charge. None of their number, he said, were intoxicated; it was but nine o'clock in the morning, and at that hour men usually are sober. What the multitude saw was, in fact, the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy: In those days (of the Messiah), God will pour forth His Spirit upon men and they will prophesy. . . . Then the apostle pointed his words more directly against the accusers: they had killed Jesus, had nailed Him to the Cross; but God had awakened Him and after His departure to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit.

The pilgrims who had heard Peter give this first pentecostal sermon "were pierced to the heart and said: Brethren, what shall we do? But Peter said to them: Repent and be baptized; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Three thousand responded.

One final question: why the miracle of tongues? In answer, recall the story regarding the tower of Babel. Puffed up by pride, men attempted to build a tower that would touch the heavens. To punish their sin, God confused their speech. Sin causes confusion and division. Now Christ came to gather all men into His Church and thereby to unite them to Himself. This should result in creating but one family of nations again. To this blessed state the miracle of tongues points.

Yes, even we as individuals have a gift of tongues which all men can understand. It is the gift of love infused into us by the Holy Spirit. Love unites, love is a common language, by means of love we can speak to all nations.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Things to Do:

Meditate on Fr. Roger Landry's homily for Pentecost Sunday.

Mass Readings

Viewing the Church Through the Lens of the Holy Spirit

Year A

Receive the Holy Spirit

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Friday, June 10, 2011

Let the Fire Fall! Reflections on the Readings for Pentecost

Our God Sits High, Yet Looks Low! A Meditation on the Fact that We are Nearly Invisible From Space.

First Huddle, then Hustle! On Pentecost and Evangelization

I Have Come to Cast A Fire On the Earth! – A Meditation on the Feast of Pentecost

In Latin

In English

Office of Readings

Daily Readings for: June 12, 2011(Readings on USCCB website)

RECIPES

ACTIVITIES

PRAYERS

Pentecost Sunday Old Calendar: Pentecost Sunday

Daily Readings for: June 12, 2011
(Readings on USCCB website)