Pentecost Cycle A. 14-15/05/2005

My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Joining with the church today, we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit. This is an important feast of our church, for many reasons, but one main reason is that the Holy Spirit is the one who is sent to give a new life and renew the face of the church and make the church becomes a living church and bear her fruit. For that reason, today, we are indeed celebrating the birthday of our church. It is all started with the first reading that we heard today when St. Luke tells us how the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples: ‘when Pentecost day came round, the apostles had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.’

Here we can see a difference, a difference before and after the presence of the Holy Spirit. These differences are obvious: Before the Holy Spirit came, the disciples were so afraid of the outsiders, the Jews. They did not even have energy to go anywhere or do anything. They were even ashamed of themselves in confronting others from the outside and chose to remain inside the closed door. But when the Holy Spirit came, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign languages. The gift of the Holy Spirit is not about the speaking in different languages, but the gift of the Holy Spirit here is to lift them up from their shyness; the gift of the Holy Spirit is to empower them giving them an inner strength, so that from this moment, they were not afraid any more in proclaiming or witnessing to the good news of our Lord, Jesus Christ. From now on, the message of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be preached and proclaimed everywhere. The power of The Holy Spirit has changed them from passive persons into active ones, from persons afraid of everything to persons willing to speak with courage about what they have experienced with our Lord, Jesus Christ; and from a timid attitude of avoiding the authority to one of full confidence in confronting them. That is an important message that we should learn on this feast of Pentecost today.

The second message for us to learn on the feast of Pentecost is to think on the words of Jesus in the gospel today. ‘After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’ Jesus is confirming that only with the power of the Holy Spirit, one can forgive or retained the sins. This is very true in the practise of our church today. For in the formula of the absolution, the church proclaims: ‘God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The presence of the Holy Spirit is essential in the sacrament of reconciliation. For one, who approaches the sacrament already has the presence of the Holy Spirit in them. For the Holy Spirit has given them an inner strength to recognize their weakness and brokenness and they are asking the Lord for forgiveness and peace with God again.

Moreover, the power of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of reconciliation not only helps us to reconcile ourselves with God, but the power of the Holy Spirit in this sacrament also helps us in building up and healing our broken relationship with one another. For the Holy Spirit on one side is helping us to be aware of our weakness and enable us to say ‘I am sorry’ I have made a mistake in offending you, and at the same time, the power of the Holy Spirit enables us to open our hearts to accept other people when they come to us and say I am sorry too. The power of the Holy Spirit is working both ways. Only with the presence of the Holy Spirit, can we be reconciled in ourselves and with one another.

My dear Brothers and Sisters, The Holy Spirit was sent by the Father and he empowered the disciples, he renews the church and makes the church become a living church and bear great fruit. Let us today as we celebrate the feast of Pentecost lift up our hearts in prayer and ask our Lord to give us the same Spirit that he had sent down on the disciples. We do need him in our life and in the church. And let each one of us today opens our hearts to receive the Holy Spirit. Let him deepen his life in us So that, with his power, he can help us change, help us so that we can change our life to be a better Christian and to change our world to be a better place in which to live. Let us not forget to make a good act of peace or reconciliation with the one we have trouble with during this week. May the Holy Spirit bless you abundantly as we begin a new week today. Amen.