Reflection for Sunday 8th June, 2025

(Pentecost)

The Birth of the Church (Acts 2:1-11)

It is the birthday of the Church, the day when the coming of the Holy Spirit utterly transformed the apostles from being fearful and directionless into a community empowered to carry on the mission of Jesus. Jesus promised them: “When the Advocate comes, whom I shall send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness. And you too will be witnesses.”

Why is it called Pentecost?

Pentecost comes from the Greek word for the fiftieth day. Originally this was a Jewish feast to celebrate the completion of the grain harvest, seven weeks plus one day after commencement. The harvest of the Church began that day with people from many nations who were in Jerusalem for the agricultural festival.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful. Enkindle within us the fire of your love.

The invisible wind

Christian Pentecost commenced with two signs; a mighty wind and tongues of fire. Speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus compared the Spirit to the wind which cannot be seen in itself, but it is recognised in its effects, in the slanting of smoke, clouds scudding overhead, the spiral dance of falling leaves.
G K Chesterton, in his own engaging style wrote that there were five times, make that six today, when the Church went to the dogs. But it was the dogs who died! When the tide is fully out, it turns and rushes in. The unseen Spirit inspires an army of wonderful reformers and saints. And nothing can stop an idea which has reached its time. We are living in a very sick world of wars, famine, an ever-widening gap between avarice and utter poverty. Make America Greedy Again!
Do we trust in the Holy Spirit to reform the Church as happened several times in history?
The late Pope Francis asked for spirit-filled evangelizers to stand up and be counted. Otherwise, we will be depressed by the half-empty churches, hostile media, and the absence of young people. He described how he longed to find the right words to stir up enthusiasm for a new chapter of evangelization full of fervour, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love, and attraction. The enthusiasm of the Apostles attracted people in their thousands.

Tongues of Fire

The second symbol of the Spirit was fire in the form of tongues. In the world of sport, we say how some player was totally on fire. The Apostles were certainly on fire after receiving the Holy Spirit. Another word for this fired-up spirit is enthusiasm, a word which originally meant living in-God. In today’s Second Reading, Saint Paul pleads to us not to be so caught up in unspiritual things that we are unaware that “the Spirit of God has made his home in you.” The Holy Spirit is as near as the breath you take in and release. We breathe in when we invite the Holy Spirit to come to fill the hearts of the faithful. We release our breath when we allow ourselves to be workers for the Spirit in the environment we inhabit.

Spirit-filled evangelizers

Enthusiasm draws its energy from the Spirit of God who longs to be at home in us … if we allow it to happen. Saint Paul’s writings have many beautiful ideas about the Holy Spirit. Pope Francis asked us to make this a Jubilee Year of Hope. His little booklet on hope was inspired by St Paul: “Hope will not let us down, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).

The energy of wind and sun

It fascinates me that we are being advised to replace the use of fossil fuels by harvesting the energy of the wind and the solar power of the great ball of fire that we call the sun. Wind and fire! Is this a sign of a new Pentecost? How prophetic were the words of Teilhard de Chardin who died on Easter Sunday, 1955!
“Someday, after mastering the winds and waves, the tides and gravity,
We shall harness for God the energies of love,
And for a second time in the history of the world,
We will discover fire.”

Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful. Enkindle within us the fire of your love.