Pentecost Sunday (A); May 28, 2023

Acts 2:1-11.  Ps 104.  1 Cor 12:3-7,12-13.  Jn 20:19-23

Deacon Jim McFadden

            When I was a boy in the very distant past,  the 3^rd Person of the Trinity was referred to as the Holy Ghost.  Associating ghosts with spooky movies or novels, I wasn’t too keen on interacting with a ghost, however holy he may be.  This tentativeness was soften a bit by the cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost.  If one liked Casper, why not transfer that affinity to the Holy Ghost.  Well, for whatever reason, it never worked and I never engaged with the Holy Ghost who became remote forgotten Person in my relationship with the Godhead.  But, in the run-up to Vatican 11 (1962-’65), however, we began to speak of the “Holy Spirit”.  Perhaps this made him less intimidating to little kids, but many of us he was and perhaps still is aloof, sort of a phantom shrouded in a mystery.  The Spirit became somewhat secondary—almost as an afterthought.  For many Catholics, the Holy Spirit practically functions as “the Other Guy.”

            This would be a huge mistake because the only way to experience the joy of the experience of God who is close to us as our heavenly Father and Son who is our Brother is through the Spirit who acts in us in our very spirit.  Keep in mind that it is the Risen Christ who gives us the Spirit.  As an afterthought?  No!  Why then?  Because the Holy Spirit is the Lord and giver of Life.  You see the Father pours himself completely into his only begotten Son, who receives all that the Father is: namely, divine Life, which is why Jesus is Life itself.  Through the Incarnation Jesus is going to communicate his divine Life from his Risen and Glorified Body into the mystical Body of the Church.  How does he do that?  Through the Holy Spirit who is the shared Love between the Father and the Son.  God is completely giving himself to us and he does so through the Holy Spirit.

            Brothers and sisters, without the Holy Spirit, we wouldn’t be able to profess our faith that Jesus is Lord and we wouldn’t know the One who sent him, the Father.  Looking back at Salvation History, it was the Spirit who inspired the prophets who prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah.  It was the power of the Holy Spirit that the Blessed Virgin Mary conceived Immanuel in her womb. 

It was the Holy Spirit who manifested Jesus at the Jordan River as the beloved Son of the Father with whom he is well pleased.  It was the Holy Spirit who lead Jesus into the Desert where he would confront Satan and the false interpretations of what it means to be the Son of God.  Throughout all of Jesus’ public ministry he was always obedient to the Spirit of his Father. And, his final act of the Cross was to give over his Spirit to the Father as he entered death, the tomb, and Shoal. And, it was the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was empowered to shatter sin and death and it was the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus on the third day.  Finally, it was through the Holy Spirit that the grace of Christ is poured forth into his Church. 

            And, the Church by her very nature has a passion for evangelizing; in the words of Jesus the Church is commissioned to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19). “Go,” says the Risen Christ to make disciples, that is give everyone the opportunity to come into contact with Jesus, to know and love him.  Up and down the centuries, this has happened.  Did we do this on our own?  Are you kidding?  God is the Doer and we are his instruments and we carry out his evangelical Mission through the power of the Holy Spirit, which is why the Church has grown and been sustained for two millenia, making her the oldest functioning institution/organism in the world. 

            The barque of Peter has been able to navigate through time because the Spirit lights her path.  He not only illuminates the heart of every believer, but is the light that orientates the Church: the Holy Spirit brings clarity, helps us to distinguish what is live giving and what is not, helps us to discern the Father’s will.  This is why we invoke the Holy Spirit often throughout the day, which we did with great diligence during Lent. 

            People of God, without the Holy Spirit, everything would become soulless.  While the Church does possess an institutional model,   that is not her nature; she is more than an institution: she is a living organism who is Jesus’ very mystical Body and it is the Holy Spirit that gives her life.   Without the Spirit the Church would just be a collection of religiously minded individuals.  If we don’t pray in and through the Holy Spirit, we would close in upon ourselves, become sterile and exhausted through endless debates within the cultural wars, which leads to fragmentation and polarization. 

            That’s why St. Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians said, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thes 5:19) because the Spirit is the one who moves your heart, who carries you forth into unknown lands, who brings you consolation on the journey, who energizes you to evangelize and to undertake the Mission of Jesus.  Who is the Church?  The People of God, a community of men and women who proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord and moved by the Holy Spirit we will share this Good News to all the world.  Amen!