! COME HOLY SPIRIT ! Acts 2:1-11; 1 Cor 12:3b-7,12-13; Jn 20:19-23 (Easter B)

! COME HOLY SPIRIT ! 

Acts 2:1-11; 1 Cor 12:3b-7,12-13; Jn 20:19-23 (Easter B)

God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, crying ‘Abba, Father’, alleluia. 

The Greek word Pentecost means “fiftieth”. Today, on fiftieth day of Jesus’ resurrection we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit. We accomplish the season of Easter. And today is the day of the birth of the church. According to the Old Testament, for the Jews, it was a day of gratitude and a day of thanksgiving for the completion of the harvest.  It occurred seven weeks after the Passover and on this day the first fruits of the wheat crop were offered to God. On this day, Jews celebrated the event where God gave his Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. On this same day, according to the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit came down upon Mother Mary, and the apostles. And thus, it marks the birth of Church. On this fiftieth day after the resurrection of Jesus a great transformation took place in the small group of disciples.

Today’s feast indicates that it is an on-going reality, which still touches our lives every single day. The Holy Spirit is given to all who are baptized into Jesus Christ to enable us to live a new way of life - a life of love, peace, joy, and righteousness (Rom 14:17). The Holy Spirit fills our hearts with the love of God (Rom 5:7), and he gives us the strength and courage we need in order to live as faith-filled disciples of the Lord Jesus. The Spirit helps us in our weakness (Rom 8:26), and enables us to grow in spiritual freedom - freedom from doubt, fear, and from slavery to our desires of the flesh (2 Cor 3:17; Rom 8:21). The Spirit instructs us in the ways of God, and guides us in living according to God's will. The Spirit is the source and giver of all holiness. Isaiah foretold the seven-fold gifts that the Spirit would give: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (Is 11:2). 

We are here because of the Holy Spirit. We are here because of the action of the Holy Spirit at our baptism and confirmation, transforming us into the People of God. We are here because of the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives calling us to serve the Lord. Peter and Paul often spoke about how the Holy Spirit directed them, to go to some place, to do certain things. The Holy Spirit directs us in the same way! We just have to be open to the Holy Spirit.

 After his resurrection Jesus “breathed” on his disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit. Just as God breathed life into Adam, so the gift of the Holy Spirit is an impartation of “new life” for his people. With the gift of the Holy Spirit a new creation begins. God recreates us for his glory. Jesus' gift of peace to his disciples was more than an absence of trouble. His peace included the forgiveness of sins and the fullness of everything good. Do we want such power to live a faith-filled life as a disciple of Jesus? St Irenaeus says that like parched ground, which yields no harvest unless it receives moisture, we who were once like a waterless tree could never have lived and borne fruit without this abundant rainfall from above!! Let us ask the Father to fill us with the power of his Holy Spirit (Lk 11:13).

Send forth your spirit and new life will begin; you will renew the face of the earth. Alleluia.