This week we celebrate Pentecost, the feast of the Church’s birth. With a roaring of the heavens and in tongues of fire, the Holy Spirit comes and enlightens the Apostles. Peter begins to preach with boldness and authority what Christ’s life and Death truly means.

From that moment, the great mission of the Church begins. The Apostles were emboldened to spread the Gospel, not on their own, but through the power of the Holy Spirit who descended on the upper room that spring day.

Who and what is the Holy Spirit? In many ways, the Holy Spirit is the most difficult of the three Persons of the Trinity for us to comprehend, yet he is fully and truly God, co-equal with the Father and Son. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and the Son. The mutual, eternal, perfect love of the Father and the Son is the third Person of the Holy Trinity— the Holy Spirit.

When we are baptized, the Holy Spirit is breathed into our souls, but the Spirit’s work within us is intensified in the Sacrament of Confirmation. When we are confirmed, like the Apostles, we are strengthened to give greater witness to the faith. The Holy Spirit comes to each of us, bestowing his gifts. He directs us in a particular way, as a member of the Body of Christ, for the common good of the entire Church.

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The Jewish feast of Pentecost was both a harvest festival and a celebration of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai after the Passover. The events surrounding the giving of

the law can be seen in Exodus, chapters 19 and 20. God demonstrated his power with remarkable signs on Sinai so that the covenant formed with Israel might be riveted in the memories of his people.

The author of the Book of Hebrews speaks of these events in Exodus, contrasting it with the new Christian covenant: “You have not approached  that  which  could  be  touched  and  a  blazing  fire  and gloomy darkness and storm and a trumpet blast and a voice speaking words such that those who heard begged that no message be further addressed to them,” (The author of Hebrews goes on to say, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the    heavenly Jerusalem,” (v. 22; RSV: 2CE). He goes on to also mention the angels and the assembly of the first-born of a new covenant, the mediator of which is not Moses, but Jesus, God Incarnate. Pentecost is this new covenant assembly on Mount Zion, the location of the Upper Room where Mary and the Apostles gathered in prayer to await the gift of God’s Spirit and the fullness of the new covenant in Christ. When we assemble for Mass with the angels and the first-born above to recall that event, we are taken up into that originating event of our faith and united with the heavenly Jerusalem.

In this passage from Paul’s great ecclesiological (relating to the theology of the Church) chapter from 1 Corinthians, we see that God’s new covenant people are Spirit-formed. The principle theme is the unity of the Church born from the one Spirit who inspires all the various gifts with which we are to be endowed. St. Paul’s experience was of a Church rich in spiritual gifts, so that he could say, “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” In the Revised Standard Version the same text (12:7) is rendered, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

We might want to ask ourselves: In what way do I manifest the Spirit to others for the common good of the Church? And if we want to get some ideas as to how we might manifest the Spirit, we should read the middle verses of this passage, which we don’t hear at Mass, 12:8-10. There we see that wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues are given to each one individually as the Spirit wills (v. 11). Is this the Church we see today? If not, perhaps we have not yielded to the coming of the Spirit. This is the day to begin.

In the feast of the Ascension we noted that the Gospel reading for that day actually reported an event prior to the Ascension, a meeting after the Resurrection of Jesus and his disciples in Galilee, during which Jesus told them that they were to disperse throughout the world baptizing and making disciples. Similarly, in the readings for  Pentecost we hear about a post-Resurrection appearance of Jesus to his Apostles prior to Pentecost, in which he tells them about a critical part of their future ministry. Though on the Ascension Jesus instructed the Apostles in their ministry of teaching and Baptism, today he gives them the power to forgive sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus breathes the Spirit on them for this purpose, saying to his bishops, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Here Jesus echoes what he had said earlier to them: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). Now they receive the gift of the Spirit to perform that ministry. Of all the wonderful gifts that the Spirit bestows upon the Church, this is perhaps one of the greatest, coming to us through the ministry of our bishops and priests.

MEDITATION:

RESOLUTION:

Once you have determined a potential gift of the Spirit in your life, consider ways that you might bring that gift into fullness in your family, your work, and your parish. Use your journal to write down your thoughts and reflections and your resolutions.
 

Reprinted from  Opening the Word at Formed.org .
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