They Were All Filled with the Holy Spirit!
Introduction: May you
continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that you may use the gifts (charismata
or charisms) which GOD has given you for the edification (building up) of the community
of believers.
On this Pentecost Sunday, people throughout the world will gather to
celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. We celebrate the empowerment of the apostles
and disciples so that they can then go out and continue the ministry of the Risen
and Ascended Lord Jesus. This is truly a special day and a fitting close to the
Easter Season. Yet, we do not just celebrate what happened nearly two thousand years
ago. We also remember that we are part of the apostolic church and therefore have
the privilege and obligation to continue the work of the Lord Jesus by furthering
the ministry of Jesus and proclaiming the Good News. Each of us who call ourselves
Christian are commissioned to use the gifts which GOD has given us for the spread
of the faith. We are also empowered to carry the Gospel to others, to those in our
families, to those in our workplace/school, to those who are in need of help throughout
the world.
First Reading Acts 02,01-11
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began
to speak
Commentary: The ministry of Jesus
starts with the coming of the Spirit at his Baptism, and so the ministry of the
Church begins with the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. There can be no witness
to Jesus or to his message, no spreading of the Kingship of God, without the Spirit
of Jesus. Another lesson from this parallelism is that the task of the Church and
the life of the Church are the same as those of Jesus himself: to bring God’s kingship
to its fulfilment by bringing healing, love, and joy through the message of the
Risen Christ. The rushing wind and the tongues of fire are an allusion to the coming
of God’s Spirit in the Old Testament upon Moses and the elders. So, the new message
is the fulfilment of the Old Testament, breaking out beyond the boarders of Judaism
to include all peoples of the world. The union of all these peoples, all understanding
one language in their own way, is a deliberate contrast to the scene at the Tower
of Babel, when all the peoples of the world were split up by their inability to
understand one another’s languages. The list of unpronounceable peoples is itself
a witness to the universality of the Church!
Psalm 104 celebrates God's creative power, wisdom, and sustaining presence
in the natural world. It encourages praise, awe, and gratitude for God's ongoing
care and renewal of His creation. The psalmist's reflections invite us to contemplate
the wonders of the world around us and recognize the divine hand behind it all.
Commentary: The slightest glance
round a churchful of people is enough to show the variety within the Christian community.
But it needs the hints given us by Paul to remind us that every member of that community
has his or her own special gift to contribute. Mercifully, these gifts are all different.
It is valuable to reflect on the natural gifts that we find all around us. It is
also valuable to reflect how dull, or even intolerable, life would be if I lived
with a lot of clones of myself, all with the same gifts and the same faults as myself!
Every one of us contributes something different and valuable in its own way, whether
it is the baby squeaking as a sign of new, developing life or the older person contributing
wisdom, experience and even the suffering of Christ. The other inspiring thought
is that all these varied and diverse people go to make up the Body which is Christ.
We all have experience of various corporate bodies, organisations and companies,
but none of these other bodies makes up a person. That Person is Christ, since as
Christians we all live and operate through Christ’s Spirit.
Commentary: At first sight this
is a surprising gospel reading for Pentecost, but of course the event of Pentecost
came too late to be a subject for the gospels, and we read the account of another
incident where the Risen Christ gave the Spirit to his disciples. There are two
emphases in the account. The first is peace. Christ brings peace to his disciples
with the double greeting of peace, and peace is a Christian watchword. Peace was
the song of the angels at Jesus’ birth. Each of Paul’s letters opens with a greeting
of peace. The letter to the Ephesians proclaims that Christ is our peace, the reversal
of all worry, strife, envy, jealousy, self-seeking ambition. ‘Go in peace’ is Jesus’
dismissal of those he cures, and also the dismissal at the end of Mass. Peace was
Jesus’ bequest to his disciples after the Last Supper. The second watchword is forgiveness,
for God was always known as a God of mercy and forgiveness, as Jesus came to show
by his constant approach to sinners. But the Lord’s Prayer shows that if we do not
ourselves forgive, we block God’s forgiveness of ourselves too.
Reflection: Do you know and experience
in your own life the gift and power of the Holy Spirit? After his death and resurrection
Jesus promised to give his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit. He said to them,
Receive the Holy Spirit! (John 20:22) Jesus knew that his disciples would need the
power of the Holy Spirit to carry out the mission entrusted to them. The gift of
the Holy Spirit was conditional upon the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of
the Father. That is why Jesus instructed the apostles to wait in Jerusalem until
you are clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). Why did they need power from
on high? The Gospels tell us that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit when he
was baptized at the Jordan River:
"And John bore witness, 'I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from
heaven, and it remained on him... this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit'"
(John 1:32,33; Mark 1:8; Matthew 3:11).
"And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan,
and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness... and Jesus returned
in the power of the Spirit into Galilee" (Luke 4:1,14).
Just as Jesus was anointed with the Spirit at the beginning of his
ministry, so the disciples needed the anointing of the Holy Spirit to carry out
the mission entrusted to them by Jesus. The Holy Spirit is given to all who are
baptized into Jesus Christ to enable us to live a new way of life - a life of love,
peace, joy, and righteousness (Romans 14:17). The Holy Spirit fills our hearts with
the love of God (Romans 5:7), and he gives us the strength and courage we need in
order to live as faith-filled disciples of the Lord Jesus. The Spirit helps us in
our weakness (Romans 8:26) and enables us to grow in spiritual freedom - freedom
from doubt, fear, and from slavery to our unruly desires (2 Corinthians 3:17; Romans
8:21). The Spirit instructs us in the ways of God and guides us in living according
to God's will. The Spirit is the source and giver of all holiness. Isaiah foretold
the seven-fold gifts that the Spirit would give: wisdom, understanding, counsel,
fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).
The gift of Pentecost - the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the
spiritual gifts and blessings of God - are made possible through the death, resurrection,
and ascension of the Lord Jesus. After his resurrection Jesus "breathed"
on his disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit. Just as God breathed life into Adam,
so the gift of the Holy Spirit is an impartation of "new life" for his
people. With the gift of the Holy Spirit a new creation begins. God recreates us
for his glory. Jesus' gift of peace to his disciples was more than an absence of
trouble. His peace included the forgiveness of sins and the fullness of everything
good. Do you want power to live a faith-filled life as a disciple of Jesus? Ask
the Father to fill you with the power of his Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13).
Basil the Great (329-379 AD), an early church father,
explains the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives: "The
Spirit restores paradise to us and the way to heaven and adoption as children of
God; he instils confidence that we may call God truly Father and grants us the grace
of Christ to be children of the light and to enjoy eternal glory. In a word, he
bestows the fullness of blessings in this world and the next; for we may contemplate
now in the mirror of faith the promised things we shall someday enjoy. If this is
the foretaste, what must the reality be? If these are the first fruits, what must
be the harvest?" (From the treatise by Basil on The Holy Spirit)
The Lord Jesus offers each one of us the gift and power of his Holy
Spirit. He wants to make our faith strong, give us hope that endures, and a love
that never grows cold. He never refuses to give his Spirit to those who ask with
expectant faith. Jesus instructed his disciples to ask confidently for the gift
of the Spirit: "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who
ask him!" (Luke 11:13). Do you thirst for God and for the abundant life he
offers through the gift of his Spirit?
"Lord Jesus, I thank you for the gift of Pentecost and for the
new life you offer in the Holy Spirit. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and set my
heart ablaze with the fire of your love that I may serve you in joy and freedom."
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: The
Holy Spirit at Pentecost, by Leo the Great, 400-461 A.D.
"To the Hebrew people, now freed from Egypt, the law was given
on Mount Sinai fifty days after the immolation of the paschal lamb. Similarly, after
the passion of Christ in which the true Lamb of God was killed, just fifty days
after his resurrection, the Holy Spirit fell upon the apostles and the whole group
of believers. Thus the earnest Christian may easily perceive that the beginnings
of the Old Covenant were at the service of the beginnings of the gospel and that
the same Spirit who instituted the first established the Second Covenant."
(excerpt from Sermon 75.1)
In the beginning, “the Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground
and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being”
(Gen 2:7). The breath of the Father gives life where previously there was no life.
On His Resurrection evening, Jesus “breathed on” His disciples “and
said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ ” (Jn 20:22). The breath of Jesus brought the Holy
Spirit and peace where previously there had been turmoil and fear.
On the day of Pentecost, “suddenly from up in the sky there came a
noise like a strong, driving wind which was heard all through the house where they
were seated. Tongues as of fire appeared, which parted and came to rest on each
of them. All were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to express themselves
in foreign tongues and make bold proclamation as the Spirit prompted them” (Acts
2:2-4).
The breath of the Holy Spirit brings every good thing (see Jas 1:17).
First the Spirit breathes on us, then He breathes through us. God’s words are given
to us and spoken through us in the spiritual gifts such as teaching, evangelization,
tongues, prophecy. etc. His breath brings life, peace, forgiveness, boldness, miraculous
unity, and worldwide renewal (see Ps 104:30). The Spirit is breathing out. We just
have to breathe in. It’s Pentecost! Take a deep breath and “receive the Holy Spirit”
(Jn 20:22).
Prayer: Holy Spirit, You are Lord of my life (2
Cor 3:17-18). Do whatever You will with me. I love You. To each person the manifestation
of the Spirit is given for the common good.” —1 Cor 12:7. Praise Jesus, Who died,
rose, and ascended so that we could be filled with the Holy Spirit!
The personal action for today: When
have I experienced the Holy Ruah of GOD breathing life into me? How did I feel at
that moment? What was the result of GOD’s Spirit being made evident in my life?
What gift do I wish to receive from the Holy Spirit at this time in my life? How
can I make use of this gift in the spread of Gospel (Good News)?