Pentecost Sunday, 5/23
Dear friends,
Amid the isolation that we experienced during the past year due to the Pandemic and aswe pick up our normal lives, on this Pentecost Sunday, the Lord gives us a huge consolation. In fact, He himself is our consolation. He tells us, “Peace be with you.” And on another passage, Jesus says, “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” How consoling it is to hear that today, Jesus is sending us his Spirit to guide us to all truth and to give us peace. Even when He ascended into heaven, He still comes to us through the Holy Spirit! As we come celebrate Pentecost, Jesus shows us the face of the Holy Trinity. Jesus’ consolation to our hearts is made through the Advocate He promised to send us– the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit causes us to observe his commandments and to be in Jesus just as when He says, “On that day, you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.” He causes us to be in God and God in us. But only love can do this because love is abiding. He is, therefore, the God who is love (1 Jn 4:16). That is why Jesus asks us to keep his commandments. The basic and central meaning of what the Holy Spirit is and what He effects is ultimately not just “knowledge” but Love.
My dear friends, how does the Holy Spirit make this love, which is his very essence, present among us? In the first place through the Eucharist. In Mass, the Holy Spirit recalls the mystery of Christ and makes it present on the altar. He recalls the most profound mystery of the human being, saved by God’s love on the cross. And this is just not a memory just as we remember something in the past. It is a living memory that makes our faith life. The Holy Spirit is the living memory of the Church. Secondly, the Holy Spirit makes himself present by uniting us with Christ in his mystical body, the Church. As a community we pray together, praise the Father, as we hear it in mass “through Christ, with him and in him.” Our Faith is strengthened and confirmed by the Holy Spirit, always in community. Let us ask the Holy Spirit, then, to increase our love for Jesus and for his Church, so that not only can we keep the commandment of Jesus to love but also to always remain in him, especially through the sacraments. Our special greetings to all the graduating class of 2021! As I have shared and reflected with some of you, memory helps our faith alive. Let us thank God for the wonderful memories and experiences you have for these past four years and let us find God working in us through those memories. Let Mary be our teacher to listen to the Holy Spirit, welcoming him, and pondering everything in our hearts. God bless you all!
Nelson Villamor, SCV