Pentecost Sunday Reflection By Fr. Benoit Mukamba
-
FROM THE PULPIT
PENTECOST SUNDAY
SCRIPTURE: Acts 2: 1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12: 3b-7, 12-13; John 20: 19-23.
REFLECTION: The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Fr. Benoit Mukamba, CSSp.
It is important to note that the grace which we celebrate today springs out from the paschal mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ. The story of the Acts of the Apostles locates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish feast of Harvests or the fiftieth day that is today. The Evangelist John places it on the evening of the day of the resurrection that is the first day. The essential point is that the giving of the Holy Spirit is the outcome of the work of the risen Lord. These different narratives of the coming of the Holy Spirit help us to understand that the outpouring of the Spirit wasn’t a single event. Also, we take time to realize the empowerment of the Spirit of God in us. The Church’s celebration of baptism for infants separately from their confirmation bears witness to the time and growth factors in the awareness of the presence and effectiveness of the grace of the Holy Spirit received.
The manifestation of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Day is the beginning of the Kerygma that is the proclamation of the faith by the Apostles and disciples. The Spirit of the Risen Lord is a spirit of power; it gathers the disciples together, moves the natural elements and empowers humans to speak and understand God’s Word. “When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared tongues as of fire,…And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim … each one heard them speaking in his own languages of the mighty acts of God” Acts 2: 1-11). The signs of the event of the outpouring of the Spirit have come to fulfillment in our days; the Gospel has been proclaimed to all peoples and heard in their own languages. The Bible has been partly or entirely translated in more than 3,324 languages. Many nations and peoples have been won to the Lord and the missionary work gone on.
The Spirit descended upon many disciples gathered there. The story of the Acts does not mention any exception leaving us to believe that all the disciples received each one’s own measure of the Spirit. The Pentecost Event marks the birth of the Church confident in the presence of the risen Lord and strengthened by the unfolding of the Holy Spirit. This Church would go forth proclaiming the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The outpouring of the Spirit bestows particular gifts to each person in accordance with God’s will and the individual natural predispositions. The spiritual gifts are for some benefits.
Today’s Gospel makes it clear that the coming of the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of the promise of the Lord Jesus, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth” (John 14: 15-17). By associating the gift of the Holy Spirit to Easter, the evangelist emphasizes that the Spirit is the gift of the Risen Lord that conveys the benefits of his passion, death and resurrection. The Spirit becomes the guiding principle of the Christian. She/he lives by the Spirit of Christ, the living Spirit and the Holy Spirit of God. The believer no longer walks in the fear of the Law but rather lives in the freedom of the Spirit through which the Father raised Jesus from the dead.
On the evening of the day of Easter, the risen Christ breathed the Spirit in the disciples making them a new creation empowered by the Holy Spirit so that they may live according to the promptings of the same Spirit. With the gift of the Spirit come peace and the forgiveness and retention of sins. Believers do not feel afraid but may experience guilt in the event of sin. They need forgiveness from their heavenly Father and restoration of their relationships with God, fellow humans and nature. It is the Holy Spirit that makes us detect us in us and around us. The same Spirit makes us yearn for forgiveness and restoration of relationships.
Let us earnestly ask the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit that will enable us to live in the Spirit and become a missionary Church.
