Enter the Holy Spirit

Today is Pentecost Sunday.  This is the day when the Church celebrates and remembers the gift of the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus, and confided upon the first apostles.  We need days like this to help us remember the important promises of our God, that faith is never far from us, that hope is always present, that there is always a companion close at hand to walk with us and to encourage us.  Maybe we don't always feel like we need this close friend, but when we do, it's never far away.


Listen in to the homily as it was proclaimed, or read the text at your leisure:

Enter the Holy Spirit

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost.  Today, we finally complete the celebration of the Easter Season.  Today, we rejoice and remember the day when the promise of the Father, spoken by Jesus was fulfilled and the gift of the Spirit was sent to the apostles, the first believers.  This gift is also given to us to be our guide and constant reminder that we are not alone.  

Thanks to the gift of the Spirit, we are able to recognize Jesus’ presence still in our world today.  We are able to see his face and to know his peace.  This is the same gift of peace he confided to his disciples in the upper room in the evening of the same day he rose from the dead.  This is the same gift of the Spirit that was given to his followers, appearing in the form of the rush of a violent wind, which filled the house where they were sitting.  It must have been a rather disturbing and frightening sight, but not for those who understood it as a gift of faith for people of faith.

Sometimes experiences such as these, recounted in the scriptures and in other places, can seem like the stuff of fables, but the thing about gifts given in faith is that their presence and their work in our world today can be proven, if we have the eyes of faith to see, and if we have the hearts of faith to believe.  Thankfully, hearts of faith are the gift of our baptism, and eyes of faith are trained as we continue the routine of prayer, as we come to the table to receive the special food that Jesus first confided to his disciples, as we celebrate forgiveness and reconciliation offered freely out of love, as we look forward to the promise of resurrection and the fullness of life.

The gospel speaks of Jesus breathing on the apostles as he gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit.  I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen too many people who are able to do this, but every now and then I am particularly conscious of a violent wind, whistling through the trees, blowing through an open window, and I wonder (sometimes just for a moment or two) whether it is indeed the breath of God, the breath of the Holy Spirit trying to remind me that I’m not alone.  In truth my friends, none of us is ever alone on our journey of faith.  There are moments of doubt for the human heart, but Jesus is always close, waiting only for us to wake up, to become aware of his presence, to become conscious of the breezes that are blowing.

When we do, we too are given wonderful gifts.  The apostle Paul spoke to the community at Corinth about some of these gifts, and we too need to pay attention to these words of wisdom, for there are indeed varieties of services that can be offered, and varieties of activities to be undertaken.  Just as no two people are exactly alike, so no two people are asked to undertake the same charism, or to offer the same talents, or to look at the world in the same way, or to find the same solutions.  However, we are all asked to offer our talents so that together we can make this world a better place.  Together we help one another to discover the wonders of God, together we assist one another in the task of listening for his voice, of looking out for his various actions and invitations.

Before Jesus left this earth, he promised that he and the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be with us always.  In the Spirit (the third person of the Holy Trinity), Jesus himself, and God the Father too are present in our world.  Be on the lookout for the many ways they make this presence known to us.  Be ready for the day when we too will be asked to respond in faith, to bring God’s love to the world.