PENTECOST SUNDAY
(Acts 2)
You may remember the story. It comes from the Acts of the Apostles. Paul meets a group of “disciples” as he travels through Asia Minor. He asks them if they had received the Holy Spirit. They answer, “We have never even heard of the Holy Spirit.” None of us can say that exactly. We invoke the name of the Spirit every time we cross ourselves. But would it be unfair to say that few of us have a real appreciation of the Holy Spirit? Today, Pentecost Sunday, a kind of “feast of the Holy Spirit,” we should reflect on who the Holy Spirit is and what it does for us.
The Holy Spirit, first of all, is God. If God reveals Himself to us in Jesus Christ, He enables us to know and love Himself through the Holy Spirit. We might think of the Spirit as a tongue of fire as in the reading from Acts today. This flame enlightens our minds to recognize God as our creator and savior. It also warms our hearts to desire God as the ultimate goal of life. But this is putting the mystery mildly. The Holy Spirit is perhaps more like a brush fire that transforms each of us into the conflagration of God who gives life to the world.
Someone might think then that the Spirit renders us all the same like grains of volcanic ash. But that is not the case. Rather the Holy Spirit allows each of us to act according to our capacities for the good of all. In that reading from Acts the Spirit enables each of the disciples “to speak in different tongues.” This is the birth of the Church. We as members of the Church continue, in a way, to “speak in different tongues.” Some of us will serve Church members exclusively as ministers of the Eucharist or catechists. Others will minister in the world by bringing special fervor to our jobs. A physician may give testimony to God by treating His people with care. But even a dishwasher may exemplify God’s care by conscientiously performing his job to the heath and edification of the public.
Some people today are calling into question the Spirit’s presence within the Church. They not only suspect Church leaders as being self-serving. They also find Church teachings outmoded and even harmful. For example, one person criticizes the Church for teaching abstinence (and not “protective sex”) as a preventative of AIDS. Promoting abstinence will only lead to more AIDS, the woman writes, because it ignores human desire. But perhaps it is modern times that really can’t comprehend human desire. Left on its own, desire will lead to all kinds of trouble as the lives of so many people who have died before their time testify. The Spirit continues to act in the Church by facilitating a path of disciplined love for travelers.
What is the “Holy Spirit”? This is not a stupid question. We have heard of it, but the Holy Spirit remains the most mysterious person of the God of mystery. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes no fewer than eight symbols for the Holy Spirit in Scripture. Like water it gives us life. Like fire it transforms us. Like anointing it prepares us to minister in the world. Like a seal it secures us forever. Like cloud and light it leads us onward. Like a hand it heals us when we fall. Like a finger touches our hearts with truth. Like a dove it brings us peace. The Holy Spirit permeates our faith. Today Pentecost Sunday we celebrate its presence to us. Yes, today we celebrate the Holy Spirit.
