PENTECOST SUNDAY
24 MAY 2026
The Jewish Feast of Pentecost occurs 50 days
after the Feast of Passover. Jewish
people would gather in Jerusalem to celebrate the giving of the Law, because
Pentecost was one of the three Jewish feasts that involved a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem. That is why there are Jewish
people from all over the Mediterranean Sea gathered in the Holy City. While the language of the Liturgy is Hebrew, they
speak the language of the individual areas where they live. In our own day, Catholics who speak their own
language from around the world gather in Rome when the Pope celebrates
Mass. He speaks the commons of the Mass
in Latin, the official liturgical language of the Catholic Church. But the readings and Universal Prayer are
proclaimed in some of the individual languages of people assembled.
On this pilgrimage feast, the
disciples are gathered in the upper room, following the instructions of Jesus
at the Ascension. Suddenly, there comes
from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind. And it fills the entire house
in which they are. There appears to them
tongues as of fire, which parts and comes to rest on each of them. Those outward manifestations reveal that they
are filled with the Holy Spirit. Instead
of locking themselves in the room out of fear, as they had done on the day of
the Lord’s resurrection, the Spirit drives them into the public space, where
they speak to the gathered throng. They
are doing what the risen Lord told them to do after he had broken through the
locked door on the day of the resurrection.
Each person hears them speaking in his or her own language of the mighty
acts of God. Some people in the crowd
sneer that these are simple Galileans, and that they have had too much new
wine!
Today, we conclude the Easter Season
by reaffirming that the Lord continues to give us the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who has kept the
Catholic Church alive for over 2,000 years, despite the sinfulness and
weaknesses of her leaders. The Holy
Spirit continues to be given to our parish community, enabling us to proclaim
the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this area of South Bend for almost one hundred
years. Saint Paul reminds us that the
Holy Spirit is given to each of us individually. Each of us has our own unique gifts, and the
Holy Spirit gives us the courage to put our gifts in service to this
community. We can see how our different
gifts are given in service when a family is confronted by death. Annie uses her gifts to schedule a time for
the funeral and alert the rest of the team.
The team works together to plan the liturgy and welcome the grieving
people. Deacon Mel conducts the funeral
liturgy, and musicians help people to pray and sing. Some use their gifts to prepare food, while
others set up the hall and clean it afterwards.
Parishioners use their different gifts to proclaim the good news that
death is not the end, and that the Lord keeps his promise that those who mourn
will be consoled.
The miracle of Pentecost continues
today, so that we speak a common language to communicate the love of God. That language is desperately needed in a
noisy world without a high regard for the truth. Sometimes Christians need to learn new
languages. That is why Bishop Rhoades is
sending Father Augustine to Spain to be immersed in Spanish. Hispanic parishioners are the future of Saint
John. All of us must learn new
languages. We need to speak the language
of grief when someone’s life is marked by loss.
We need to speak the language of resilience to someone who has been
unjustly treated. We need to speak the
language of curiosity to a young person full of questions. We need to speak the language of patience to
someone who has been hurt very badly.
The Holy Spirit does not make it any easier to speak these
languages. Instead, the Holy Spirit
gives us courage to speak them so that others can understand.
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