Acts 2:1-11
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues
of the mighty acts of God.”
Gospel
Jn 20:19-23
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
Homily
More than skin color, Language tells us that we are different. While language can impart knowledge it can also be an impediment to communication. We often describe people by saying “We don’t speak the same language”, meaning that we have very different views on things. A multiplicity of languages means fragmentation and disharmony. This aptly describes the world in which we live and very often the organizations in which we find ourselves.
Yet that was not God’s plan for the world. The Book of Genesis describes God’s plan for the world. It is harmony within ourselves, harmony with others, harmony with nature, and harmony with God. This is still God’s plan for the world. Human beings frustrate that plan, however we, the followers of Jesus Christ, by baptism and confirmation commit ourselves to working for that plan.
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The first reading for the Mass of today is the account from the Acts of the Apostles of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
We are told that after the experience of the Holy Spirit, peoples of various tongues and languages could understand the messages of the Apostles, all of whom were Galileans.
The people were so surprised that they exclaimed
“Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language……….We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God”
The Spirit changed what caused division into the cause of unity. They all could hear, they all could understand. The Holy Spirit was and is the cause of unity.
In the Gospel reading the disciples through the Holy Spirit are given the power to remove the cause of division and disharmony from the world; “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,”
The lesson is very straight forward. Where God’s Spirit is, there we find unity. Where God’s Spirit is not, there is only division and misunderstanding.
So the Feast of Pentecost calls us to be bearers of God’s Spirit so that we be agents of harmony in our broken and divided world. We are called to ask incessantly for God’s Spirit, for our homes, our organizations, our country and our world.
If we are truly people of faith, then we ask for God’s Spirit always. It is only with God’s Spirit that the harmony which God wants for the world will be brought about.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God we thank you for the gift of your Spirit who changed the disciples from cowards who betrayed your Son into men willing to die for the project of your Son give us also your Spirit so that we too will be able to dedicate our lives to the pursuance of your project, a world of total harmony because of the justice, peace and love which your Spirit brings. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our mother and your Son, Jesus. Amen
