May 19, 2024
The Feast of Pentecost
This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the sending of the Holy Spirit to the disciples by God as promised by Jesus at the time of his Ascension. It is a story from Luke which is familiar to us because we hear it every year in the First Reading for this day (Acts 2:1-11).
It takes place in Jerusalem at the time of the Jewish Feast of Pentecost where the disciples are gathered in the upper room. It is a powerful event reminiscent of the theophanies of God in the Old Testament: “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 to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.” (Acts 2:1b-3).
In the Gospel of John, the Holy Spirit comes to the disciples in a more subdued way with Jesus breathing on them and saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn. 20:22). Jesus refers to the third member of the Trinity as the “Advocate” and “Spirit of truth” (Jn. 14:16-17, 15:26), which can have a legal connotation in the sense of counselor or representative. But the Greek form of the word, “Paraclete,” can be translated in other ways too, like comforter, friend, or helper. These are all fitting descriptions for the role that the Holy Spirit will play as the representative of Jesus for the disciples in his absence.
Perhaps the most important functions of the Holy Spirit are those that enable the disciples to establish the Church which we know and profess today by four unique marks. We pray them in the Creed when we say that we believe in the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.” All of these are seen at the very beginning with the first Pentecost and continue to define the Church today.
That the Church is “one” is a sign of the unity of its members reflected by the Holy Trinity. Jesus prayed that the disciples and their followers would have this unity after his return to the Father: “I pray for those who will believe in me, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us.” (Jn. 17:20-21).
We can see that at the time of Pentecost and the birth of the Church this unity existed among the disciples and their companions. They gathered together as a group and “devoted themselves with one accord to prayer” (Acts 1:14) and as their community grew, they dedicated themselves to the communal life. “All who believed were together and had all things in common.” (Acts 2:44).
This aspect of the Church, the “oneness” of unity is still apparent today. While there is a purpose for personal spirituality, our lives as members of the Church are not intended to solely be about “me and Jesus.” Rather, we are meant to come together for praise and worship, to present our needs to the Father, and for the communion of the Eucharist. As a body united in prayer, we are a powerful group. For Jesus tells us, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt. 18:20).
We also see right from the beginning at the first Pentecost the aspect of the Church which makes it holy. Being holy means being filled with the Holy Spirit, the love that unites the Father and the Son. It is the love of holiness that Jesus breathed on his disciples on the evening of Easter Sunday. And it is the main event which happened in the upper room: “Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:3-4). It enabled those present to immediately proclaim the good news of Jesus, Savior and Messiah.
This aspect of Pentecost is still true today. The main function of our Church is to make people holy, and we do this in a number of ways. We teach, preach, minister, and reach out to feed the hungry, and clothe the poor – all in the service of making people holy. We also have the Sacraments. We have Baptism which makes us holy through the purification of original sin and admits us to the Church and Confirmation which strengthens us and provides us the gifts to serve as mature members of the faith. We have the Eucharist which provides us with the nourishment and sanctity to live a life in Christ and we have Reconciliation to return us to grace when we fail in our efforts.
Another function of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was to make the church “catholic.” Notice the word begins with a lower case “c,” not to serve as a title, but to denote the universality of the Church, the fact that it is available to all people of the world. This facet of the Church was one of the final instructions given by Jesus to the disciples at the time of his Ascension. He told them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” (Mk. 16:15).
After they received the Holy Spirit, the disciples were given the unique ability to do this very thing by speaking to all those present in languages that could be understood. Each of the disciples continued to do this throughout their lives, traveling to faraway lands to preach the Gospel. Some of the examples are Peter who went to Galatia, Cappadocia, and Asia, Andrew along the Black Sea, Thomas to India, and, of course Paul throughout the Mediterranean and as far as Rome.
This is still the purpose of the Church today and one of its principal attributes – that it spans all nations and cultures. It is an international reality present in every time zone making it such that the celebration of the Eucharist is occurring somewhere in the world virtually every moment of every day. This makes the Kingdom of God ever present in our midst and available to us when we travel according to the same tradition which we enjoy in our own home parishes.
Finally, our Church becomes apostolic on Pentecost by the descent of the Holy Spirit on those present in the upper room. Up until this point they have been disciples, students learning from Jesus about the Kingdom of God and their role in its perpetuation. Now the disciples have become apostles sent to deliver these teachings and the good news of the Gospel to others.
Our Church remains apostolic because of the institution of Holy Orders and the ordination of bishops in direct succession with the first apostles. However, the Second Vatican Council makes it clear that all members of the Church are called to this obligation in “The Decree on The Apostolate of The Laity.” This document states, “Christ conferred on the Apostles and their successors the duty of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling in His name and power. But the laity likewise share in the priestly, prophetic, and royal office of Christ and therefore have their own share in the mission of the whole people of God in the Church and in the world.” In fact, the document goes on to stress that the apostolic work of the laity is important now more than ever because of increasing population, continual progress in science and technology, and globalization of business, fields which, for the most part, are open only to the laity.
For over two thousand years since the descent of the Holy Spirt on that first Pentecost, Christians have belonged to an institution uniquely set apart by four marks. On this feast day reflect on your own individual gifts of the Holy Spirit and ask yourself, “How have I been and how can I continue to be a one, holy, catholic, and apostolic member of the Body of Christ?”
* Based on Bishop Baron on Pentecost: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bishop+baron+on+pentecost
