PENTECOST SUNDAY
23 MAY 2021
Saint
Luke’s account of the coming of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles is
filled with wonderful special effects.
The Spirit is manifested not in a gentle breeze, but in a strong driving
wind, much like the violent and rushing storm experienced by Moses and the
Israelites at Mount Sinai. He says that
tongues as of fire part and come to rest on each one of them. They are not small flickers, but incoming
bursts of flame. These special effects
are seen in a painting in the Louvre in Paris.
The French artist Jean Restout captures the power, awe, and raw emotion
of the event. The apostles and Mary are
depicted in a large, Roman-style courtyard.
The Holy Spirit descends dramatically in tongues of fire that bolt from
the cloudy sky to reach them below. The
emotions on their faces reveal the special effects. Mary is in the center, completely calm, full
of grace. The others, on the other hand,
are shocked. They are clearly bewildered
by what they are experiencing. They are
taken aback by the awe of it.
As dramatic
as that event may have been, Pentecost is not about the creation of special
effects. It is about the creation of a
special people. The Holy Spirit has
created a new people are given the task of proclaiming the Paschal
Mystery. Through the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has called his special people out of darkness
to become the new reality of being the Body of Christ in our world.
When Peter and the other apostles
speak in a language understood by everyone who had gathered for the Feast of
Pentecost in Jerusalem, they do not talk about the special effects they have
just experienced. They talk about Jesus
Christ. They tell the story of his life
and of his death and resurrection. They
invite the massive congregation to put their trust and faith in the One who
died and rose again.
Pentecost
is the birthday of the Church. Just as
the Holy Spirit blew the Apostles out of their comfort zone to proclaim the
Lord’s death and resurrection, the Spirit blows us out of our comfort zones to
proclaim the same Mystery. We do that
best by giving ourselves in humble service to the needs of our community, the
poor, and our parish. In her witness
talk last Sunday, Carrie Brackett told how the Holy Spirit blew her out of her
comfort zone. Jon Housand, a fellow
worker, urged her to let go of her fear of being lost in a large parish make a
commitment to serve. Her first step
involved preparing a casserole for the homeless shelter. Now, in addition to other ways in which she
is serving, she is the head of that ministry.
We can give ourselves to the needs of others, fulfilling Christ’s
command to love others as he loved us.
If you have not done so, please fill out the form we sent home to renew
or begin your stewardship of service.
Just as the
Holy Spirit brought to birth the Church some 2,000 years ago, the Holy Spirit
is present to us as we begin the process of bringing rebirth to the life of our
parish as we emerge from this pandemic.
That same Holy Spirit pushes us to discern the gifts that each of us has
received. The Holy Spirit impels us to
put our many different gifts at the service of this parish community. Just as the Apostles trusted that the Holy
Spirit would guide them, the Holy Spirit will guide us. The Holy Spirit will not spare us from
differences of opinion. The Holy Spirit
will not protect us from criticism and rejection and disappointment. But the Holy Spirit will provide the same presence
to us as the Spirit did for the earliest Church. We heard about the work of the
Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles every Sunday during the Easter Season. As we move out of the Easter Season and away
from this pandemic, we can see that action in our lives.
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