SEND FORTH YOUR SPIRIT, O LORD.

SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOST - Acts 2:1-11

At Pentecost, fifty days after Passover, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, which led to the beginning of the Church with the great mission of announcing the gospel of Jesus Christ. At Pentecost, we celebrate the Holy Spirit and the Church as the new people of God, constituted by Christ, so that there is no Church without the presence and the action of the Holy Spirit.

The first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, narrates how the Apostles made the experience of the Holy Spirit. They were gathered together for a prayer meeting. So the Holy Spirit came upon the Church gathered together. The presence of the Spirit creates community, uniting people together in the name of Jesus Christ. He came “like a powerful wind from heaven” (Act 2:2), similar to that “wind from God”, which “swept over the face of the waters”(Gn 1:2 RSV). This wind from God - which is the Spirit - pre-announces God’s creative action - the creation of a new people based on a New Covenant in Jesus Christ. The wind is the first great symbol of Spirit, and so great it is that in Hebrew and Greek the same word could mean wind or spirit, depending on the context. The Spirit of God may be like a mighty wind (Ez 1:g4) that uproots and destroys everything in its path, indicating the power and the strength of God to overpower the enemy and lead us to victory (Ex 14:21). He may be like a cool breeze that brings comfort, respite and peace, which fill the heart with joy (1 Kg 19:12. Or he may be the breath of life which Gods breathes into us like he did to Adam (Gn 2:7). The Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles as “a mighty rushing wind” in order to shake up the Apostles, so that they could overcome the fear and strengthen the resolve to carry out the mission entrusted to them.

Then, what appeared to be like tongues of fire “rested on each one of them”. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Act 2:3-4). This fire brings to mind God’s revelation to Moses in the burning bush, when “the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (Ex 3:2). In their travelling out of Egypt, the people of Israel were guided by “a pillar of fire to give them light” (Ex 13:21). When God revealed himself to the people on Mount Sinai, the mount “was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire” (Ex 19:18). Fire is a sign of the glory of God, which we must approach in awe and wonder. In the letter to the Hebrews, we are told to “offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Hb 12:28-29). But fire may be also linked to punishment, and Jesus, speaking of the Holy Spirit, tells us that “he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (Jn 16:8).

The Holy Spirit comes upon us as fire - the fire of love, which propagates itself and consumes everything in love. Although burning within, it cannot be hidden, since it gives light for everybody to see.

The Holy Spirit - the Spirit of the Lord - is the foundation of a new community, the community of disciples who become one body in Jesus Christ. It is as a community of universal dimensions, open to people of all nations, languages and cultures.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to come again as a strong wind to shake us out of our lethargy, to breed new life in the Church, and to set our hearts ablaze with the fire of love.