Pentecost Sunday

Dear brothers and sisters,

Pentecost Sunday is a beautiful day for the Church. It is the day that life was breathed into her by means of the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the day when we remember our own Baptism and Confirmation through which that same Spirit has been breathed into our own hearts. He is our Counselor, our Strength, our Comforter, and our Advocate. He is the one spoken of by Jesus when he said that “It is better for you if I go,” so that the Spirit might come. The Holy Spirit—“the soul’s most welcome guest”—comes to our aid in a special way on this special day. 

On this day, the moment has come for the fulfillment of the mission of Israel which was to be a light to ALL NATIONS (Is 49:6). On this day there is a new creation—a new “mighty wind” sweeping over the face of the earth (Gen 1:2). And through His Spirit, God creates the new Israel—the Universal Church. In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles, there appeared to them tongues as of fire which rested upon each one of them individually. These tongues of fire symbolized this mission and gave the tools to complete it. The fire gives the courage and strength to go out, the tongues allowed for the reversal of the division brought about through the devastating event at the Tower of Babel by uniting all of humanity under the Gospel proclaimed by the first disciples who give witness to the Incarnate Word. 

Finally, in uniting all peoples under the one Gospel, the Holy Spirit makes us all into one body—the Body of Christ. And as a body, each member has a unique and irreplaceable role to play which no other member can fulfill. At our Baptism and Confirmation we were made part of this one body and have received our own particular mission for the good of the whole body and for the good of the world. Let us be docile to the Holy Spirit so that through us He may “renew the face of the earth.”

~ Michael