LIKE TONGUES OF FIRE

FEAST OF PENTECOST - Acts 2:1-11

For the Jews, Pentecost, celebrated fifty days after Passover, was a great feast, also called the Feast of Weeks, because of being celebrated seven weeks after Passover. It began as a harvest feast and then became a feast to celebrate the promulgation of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. On that day, the disciples were gathered together, when they had an extraordinary experience that transformed them completely and which led to the beginning of the Church. It was on the day of Pentecost, that they received the Holy Spirit, and since then the Holy Spirit has been the driving force in the life of the Church, inspiring, guiding, strengthening, protecting and defending the Church. There can be no Church without the Holy Spirit, and without the presence and the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church would have disappeared long ago. It is the Spirit that leads us to faith in Jesus Christ and who works within us transforming us  and creating us anew to be like Jesus Christ.

The Spirit is like the wind, blowing “where it chooses”; “you do not know where it comes from or where it goes" (Jn 3:8). Both the Hebrew (rûah) and the Greek (pneuma) words mean at the same time wind or breath and spirit. On the day of Pentecost, they heard “a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting” (Act 2:2). The Holy Spirit is the breath of God, which he breathes upon us.  He may come like a mighty wind, shaking everything and uprooting all that is evil, in order to make a new creation (Ps 104:30), or he may act like a little breeze, which soothes our hearts and heals our souls, bringing peace and joy. He inspires us and guides us towards the truth, which sets us free.

The Holy Spirit is the living water coming from the open heart of Jesus, so that our thirst for life may be quenched.

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” (Jn 7:37-38)

John explains that Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit (Jn 7:39). About this living water, St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote: 

“This is a new kind of water, a living, leaping water, welling up for those who are worthy. But why did Christ call the grace of the Spirit water? Because all things are dependent on water; plants and animals have their origin in water. Water comes down from heaven as rain, and although it is always the same in itself, it produces many different effects, one in the palm tree, another in the vine, and so on throughout the whole of creation. It does not come down, now as one thing, now as another, but while remaining essentially the same, it adapts itself to the needs of every creature that receives it.

In the same way the Holy Spirit, whose nature is always the same, simple and indivisible, apportions grace to each man as he wills.”

And the Holy Spirit is like fire, the fire that purifies and transforms. It is the fire of love, God’s love that he has kindled in our hearts. The Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles as tongues of fire and they were transformed from cowards into people full of courage and boldness to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

May the Holy Spirit come upon each one of us, setting our hearts on fire with God’s love, the true love shown to us by Jesus Christ.