Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15
Pentecost was originally one of the three major pilgrim festivals of Israel, celebrated fifty days after the feast of the Unleavened Bread. Its being a pilgrim feast explains the presence of “devout Jews of every nation under heaven” in Jerusalem (Acts 2:5). What happened on this particular day, as recounted in today’s First Reading, is the core of the celebration now—the coming of the Holy Spirit and its effects on the disciples and the people. The feast of Pentecost shows that the Church was born to be universal, for the Spirit brings all the scattered peoples to unity.
Pentecost was originally one of the three major pilgrim festivals of Israel, celebrated fifty days after the feast of the Unleavened Bread. Its being a pilgrim feast explains the presence of “devout Jews of every nation under heaven” in Jerusalem (Acts 2:5). What happened on this particular day, as recounted in today’s First Reading, is the core of the celebration now—the coming of the Holy Spirit and its effects on the disciples and the people. The feast of Pentecost shows that the Church was born to be universal, for the Spirit brings all the scattered peoples to unity.
The Reading describes the immediate effect of the coming of the Holy Spirit: the fire in the hearts of the apostles and the light in their minds. The Spirit gives strength, confidence, love, and zeal which propel them to go out into the world to testify publicly to the resurrection of Christ, and to the grace of forgiveness that God offers in Jesus’ name.
Furthermore, this event is a confirmation of the abiding presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The apostles and the believers do more than preach after they receive the Holy Spirit. They live lives that give credible witness to Christ. Thus, Pentecost is a celebration of transformation, a change brought about by a revelation of what is already present in us.
In the Gospel for Year A (Jn 20:19-23), Jesus appears to a fearful group of disciples. Jesus then “breathes on them” the Holy Spirit. Just as the breath of God created a human being (Gn 2:7), the Spirit creates new beings in the disciples. They are completely transformed.
The Gospel today (Year B) speaks of Jesus’ revelation of the Holy Spirit at the Last Supper. The Spirit will continue Jesus’ work once Jesus ascends to the Father. The revelation is one: what Jesus reveals about the Father, the Holy Spirit will take from Jesus and declare to the disciples. He will testify to Jesus and enable the disciples to make the same testimony to their risen Lord.
The Church, of which we are a part, is the Body of Christ, formed and animated by the Holy Spirit. It is a community of forgiven sinners to whom the risen Jesus gives his gift of Shalom (peace) which operates through forgiveness of sins. Though at times the Church may be racked by scandals, it will never fall apart because the Spirit of Jesus holds it together. Scandals may even become an instrument of the Spirit to cleanse and renew the People of God.
At the first Pentecost, the apostles became men transformed, filled with God’s Spirit. Moved by the Spirit, they spread the Good News and bore witness to it.
Today’s solemnity of Pentecost is not just a commemoration of a past event. It is a celebration of a mystery which happened once and for all time, but which also unfolds through time. Pentecost must be an everyday celebration, for the Spirit continues its work of building and strengthening the Body of Christ, the Church.