The Feast of Pentecost C

Pentecost Sunday C

Acts 2:1-11. Psalm 103: 1, 24. 29-31. 34.Rv. 30. Romans 8:8-17. John 14: 15-16. 23-26

We hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.

May my thoughts be pleasing to him. I find my joy in the Lord

The Spirit of God has made his home in you.

We shall come to him and make our home with him

  

John 14:15-16, 23-26

If you love me you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you for ever, ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth whom the world can never accept since it neither sees nor knows him; but you know him, because he is with you, he is in you.

Jesus replied: Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him. ²⁴ Anyone who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not my own: it is the word of the Father who sent me. ²⁵ I have said these things to you while still with you; ²⁶ but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.

Take his help

            People affect us in different ways. Some people make us believe we are lost. Their attitude and their words depress us. The result is we feel inadequate. Other people have the opposite effect. When they are around we feel enthusiastic and ready to give ourselves for the cause in hand. Churchill during the Second World War galvanized a nation and gave it the power to sacrifice and defeat its enemy. He actually didn’t give it anything but brought out what the nation already had. Psychologists tell us that we use only a fraction of our ability. We all have great potential but it sleeps. We don’t believe in ourselves, consider ourselves failures even before we begin and so are paralyzed. We need someone to get us going and then we are amazed at what we can do.

            Jesus had been with the disciples for two years. They had seen him at work and listened to him preaching. He was their Master and Guru. Now he was going away. They felt lost. They were dependent on him. But he told them, “It is better for you that I go away... If I go away it is to send the Helper to you” (John 16:7). Jesus will send the Holy Spirit. What Jesus was in the foundation of the Church the Holy Spirit will be during the life of the Church. Jesus handed his mission of Salvation to us and sent the Holy Spirit to assist us in this work. But the work is ours. If we welcome the Spirit he will put new life and enthusiasm into us. He will galvanize us more than any leader can galvanize a nation. People who are filled with the Spirit will experience powers they never thought they had. He will give them courage and fortitude. He will bring out from the recesses of their minds what Jesus had taught but they had forgotten. They will be the same people but now on fire with enthusiasm, boldness and wisdom. The Spirit is the great Animator. He encourages us to love, bring peace and justice and develop all the other qualities we call the fruits of the Spirit.

            Jesus was a man like us in all things but sin. He was a quiet man going about his business in Nazareth. Then at the Jordan River he welcomed the Spirit in a new way. He enjoyed the fellowship of the Spirit (2 Cor.13:13). The Spirit ever with him set him on fire with a mission, encouraged him to have great faith and trust and love for his Father. Combined with a consuming love for men and women he could heal their sicknesses and give them the Word of life.

            This Pentecost let us welcome the Spirit into our lives and we will blossom in ways we never dreamt of.  

Father, may I experience a new Pentecost in my life and be transformed.