I Am More Than That - Pentecost

Today we celebrate the great Solemnity of Pentecost (the coming of the Holy Spirit). We need to remember that we do not celebrate some distant singular moment in the past. What we celebrate today is an ongoing event. An ever new, ever expanding, presence of the Holy Spirit still at work in the world.  We live in the time of the Spirit.

 Perhaps, we can best think about this coming as a process unfolding.  The oncoming spirit; who was with God before the beginning, who was there at the creation of the cosmos as the breath of God, who came as wisdom for the prophets, who was at the incarnation and baptism of Jesus, who came anew in his resurrection and who was sent by the ascended Lord, as Advocate and Teacher, to those who believe.

  The Sanctifying Spirit continues to come to us through our baptism and is active in us through receiving of the sacraments, our prayer life, in the graces we receive, the charity we do, the love shown others, and as a community gathered. Clearly we do not celebrate the dead past, we celebrate the living present. We celebrate the one spirit given to the apostles at Pentecost which is the same Spirit given to us.

  We have carved up time and given its pieces names to meet our needs. We have marked space by grids of longitude and latitudes. We have done this because, you and I need bite size time and space (not to mention we need the laws of physics and biology for we are human and limited by our nature).

  But, the Holy Spirt does not need time and space. The Holy Spirit is time and space. The Holy Spirit does not need the laws of the physical universe. The Holy Spirit enlivens the known, as well as, the unknown universe.

  We know there is one spirit, but we often think and speak as if there were many. I have the Holy Spirit, you have the Holy Spirit, they have the Holy Spirit. It is as if there were individual spirits floating about. It is critical we understand that there is only One Spirit and what we receive at baptism is not a spirit, or even the spirit, what we receive is the sharing in the life of the One Spirit. And if we share the life of the One Spirit we certainly share in the Spirit’s work and we share the fruits of that work. This sharing in the work of the one Spirit makes Jesus present, makes the sacraments work, gathers and binds the Church to the communion of Saints.

  For the Holy Spirit there is no past or future, only the devine present. And we share, in an imperfect and limited way, the spirit’s own freedom from the limitations of time and space and from the finality of death itself. Jesus points to this timelessness in his promise to be with us until the end of time.

  "I will be with you always. I not leave you orphans, because the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you. Peace I leave you my peace I give you."

  Indeed, Jesus will never leave us, because, the Holy Spirit in collapsing all time and space into the divine present, makes Jesus (in the spirit) present. Not as a past memory or magic, or some vague future coming, but in the reality of here and now.

  In this holy timelessness the Church (both glorified and pilgrim) dwells and operates. The work of the Holy Spirit is the sacramental life of the Church.  For the Holy Spirit, our baptism was not one in a long line of baptisms, it is the only baptism. Today's Eucharist is not one of many, it is the only Eucharist.

   In the spirit’s timelessness the Church (that was, that is and that will be) is made present. The Communion of Saints becomes a living reality for us. In this communion our beloved Christian dead are ever present to us, as well.  All of this and more is the work of the Spirit and today we celebrate the fact we share in, this work.

  Yet it is in Jesus that the Spirit has become most known; the overshadowing of Mary by the Creative Spirit, the Sanctifying Spirit descending like a dove at Jesus' baptism, the miracles performed in the Healing Spirit and today, Jesus' sending of the Spirit as Advocate.

  In the Gospel of John we see a personal, intensely intimate, remembering of the giving of the Holy Spirit. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the door was locked, the risen Jesus came and revealed himself by showing them his hands and side. He looks at them in piercing tenderness and says “peace be with you. And in an unimaginable warmth he shares his breath (God's creative breath) saying receive the Holy Spirit. And now enlivened by the Spirit of Truth the apostles are sent forth to wittiness the Good News, as Jesus was sent (as the Good News) to proclaim the Kingdom of God.

 In the first reading of the Acts of the Apostles, Luke's community remembers the coming of the Spirit as more dramatic, more forceful, like creation itself - all wind and fire. As tongues of fire the life giving Spirit pours through locked doors and enflames all present. Suddenly, in new truth and clarity the confusion of languages and custom was overcome. Of course, there were still many languages, but in the One Spirit there was now one Word, one Gospel, one faith being proclaimed and being understood by a new emerging community of many becoming one. In the spirit of truth and unity this new community of believers, bound together by the Spirit, begins to stretch from sea to sea. The Spirit like a wild fire is spreading among the peoples of the earth.

  Now there is more individual, practical side to the Holy Spirit who distributes gifts of Grace and Charism.

In the second reading, St Paul tells the Corinthians

  “In the one body there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the one spirit. There are different forms of service but the same lord. There are different workings but the same God who produces them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the spirit is given for some benefit.”

 This last point is crucial. We know that the many splendid gifts are only truly from the spirit if they benefit others. Gifts of the spirit are always meant to be given away. They are not ours! They are meant to build up and unify, heal and mend, inspire and drive forward and above all else the Spirit moves us to love without counting the cost.

   Today, we celebrate the coming of the Spirit of Peace. And the peace of the spirit establishes a new way of living that is beyond race, culture and ideology, beyond time and place.

 We have a new life filled with the gifts of the spirit, as well as, our own enthusiasm, engagement and joy. And we are sent, in the Spirit, to go forth everywhere and anywhere doing what the Spirit does. So, Rejoice! Pentecost is not the end but the beginning. It is not a singular event, but an ongoing transfiguration of the world and of us. The Holy Spirit continues to teach, guide and accompany us. 

 Come, Holy Spirit, Come

Who teaches all things and reminds us of all things.
Come fill our hearts and minds, with your flames of truth and love.
Come, Holy Spirit, Come.

 

 

 Pentecost II

The Church celebrates three great solemnities, great moments where God’s glory and power breaks into the world in unexpected ways; the Incarnation, the Resurrection, and today, the Church celebrates Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. You and I live in the time of the Holy Spirit.

There are several varied accounts of the coming Spirit.  The Spirit comes as an intimate breath of life.

In their sorrow and confusion did the disciples in Jerusalem, fearful and locked in the room, remember Jesus's words?

"I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.”

Did they remember Jesus’ promise?

"The Father will give you another Advocate, to be with you always, the Spirit of Truth"

We will never know what was in their minds that day, but we do know that the gift of the Holy Spirit changed their lives. In the receiving the Holy Spirit each disciple was made new, transformed from fearful and timid, to bold and confident.  Those locked doors were forever flung open, never to be closed again. They felt this transformation in themselves and saw this in each other.

 And the Holy Spirit comes as an intensely physical and overwhelming event; experienced as a driving wind of flames which consumed and filled all present. So joyfully disruptive was the event that it spills out of the room and a large crowd gathered at the excitement.  To their amazement they understood and were moved by what they heard. It was clear the Holy Spirit was already at work - in those proclaiming and those hearing. Open hearts heard with newly opened ears and suddenly Mede and Eliamite understood the Galilean. In that moment, diverse languages and cultures were made irrelevant, because, the Holy Spirit knows no boundary. Not time and space, not physics or biology and certainly not language and human culture. We should hold this fact fast; the Spirit of Truth cannot be limited or restricted by any human means.

Those gathered together that day; both proclaimers and hearers, disciple and stranger, could joyfully proclaim together in one voice “Jesus is Lord” because regardless of their differences, they were united in the same Spirit of Truth.

 The experience of the coming Spirit remembered by John’s community and written down in John’s Gospel brings us back to the upper room. It was less dramatic, an almost tender, receiving of the Holy Spirit.

But, it was no less physical and life changing.

They gathered, uncertain and anxious, because Jesus had told to remain in Jerusalem and wait for the Spirit. And so they did. In the very midst of their fear, anxiety and doubt, Jesus made himself present and in a very familiar way greeted them “Peace be with you”. But this was no greeting it was a statement of fact - “Peace is with you” To convince them of his physical reality Jesus show them the very real marks left by the nails.

 And the disciples rejoiced that Jesus was with them again. Indeed, peace was with them.

Jesus tells them 

“as the Father has sent me, so I send you”

And then he breathed on them 

“ Receive the Holy Spirit”.

Jesus’ action forever links receiving the Holy Spirit with sending forth on mission; gift and responsibility, receive and do. 

But, there is more to it than that. The Spirit received, is also the Spirit let loose into the world - to transform it according to God’s plan of Salvation. The Spirit goes where it needs to go and it is relentless and fruitful.

 The Spirit swirled around Jesus’ earthly mission and when the Holy Spirit was given - Jesus’ Spirit became the Church’s guiding Spirit.  It became our Spirit alive and active in our very lives.

We all share his Spirit and we are moved by his Spirit. It is the same Holy Spirit the Father anointed Jesus with and that Jesus breathed into the disciples and which was poured out onto all those present at Pentecost, disciple and outsider, and it is the same Spirit we are baptized in. There is no secondary Spirit, no lesser Spirit, there is only one Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.And baptized with that same Holy Spirit we too can become bold, confident, and joyful.We too understand with new hearts and hear with new ears and speak with new tongues. We can go beyond language, race, and culture to reach out beyond ourselves to do God’s work of salvation. The Holy  Spirit is a missionary Spirit.  Pope Francis reminds us in the “Joy of the Gospel”

“In all the baptized, from the first to the last, the sanctifying power of the Spirit is at work compelling us to evangelization”

The Catechism of the Church is very blunt

“The mission of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is continued in the Church”

 This is true in the sacramental life where the Spirit changes bread and wine into the body and blood of Our Lord in the Eucharist and it is true in you and I who proclaim by our lives the Good News everywhere and always.

 As varied and richly diverse as the tapestry of our lives are, the Holy Spirit matches that diversity with varied gifts; gifts to prepare and strengthen us (wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord).  Each gift builds us up and strengthens us as Christians and human beings.  Each gift, if we use it wisely, and for the good of others, bears the good fruit of the Spirit; Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Generosity, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Modesty, Self-Control, Chasity. 

 But, we must remember these gifts and fruits are not wishes.  They are not magic, we do wake to find them at the foot of our bed nor do we pluck them from a tree. We not merit them or earn them, but we are given them, by God, to be used and we must use them. In the Spirit we choose to become the gift that we receive.

Want joy?  Be joyful.  Want kindness? Be kind. Want love?  Then love. Want holiness? Be holy.

Choosing in the Holy Spirit, and practicing the life of the Spirit, is how we share in the work of salvation.   It is how we are able to see the glory of God everywhere passing before us and we boldly confess, by our lives, that Jesus is Lord.

 
This is the Spirit of Truth, this is Pentecost, but everyday must be an echo of this great solemnity as each morning we wake up to our hearts crying out “Come, Hol