Reflections on the Gospel
Friday, April 5, 2024
Scripture Insights
Today is the Solemnity of Pentecost, when we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and their sharing of the Good News of Jesus Christ with the world. This day is acknowledged as the birth of the Church, since it is the day when the frightened and confused disciples emerged from the upper room, boldly proclaiming the mighty acts of God through the crucified and risen Lord.
In these readings, the Holy Spirit is the actor, the subject, the doer of all the verbs. The hymn “Veni, Sancte Spiritus” asks the Spirit to shine, fill, heal, renew, wash, bend, melt, warm, guide, and give joy. In Acts 2, the disciples are first passive recipients of the Spirit’s power; the tongues of fire were perceived by them, and they were filled. Only after the Spirit empowers them do they begin to speak. Paul declares that the Galatians are led by either the Spirit or the law. In John 15 and 16, the Spirit is the active subject of all the verbs: testify, guide, speak, glorify, take, declare. The disciples role? To listen and to be led.
Letting ourselves be led isn't easy. We’re taught to forge our own paths. These readings call us to learn to be led, to become sensitive to the guiding nudges of the Spirit. This does not mean that Christians remain passive. In Acts, as in John, the disciples of Jesus are commissioned to bear witness to the Good News in their preaching, healing, and teaching. But the Spirit’s power is the source of ours.
The Spirit’s work is primary, and ours is secondary. The Christian’s job is to bear fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These virtues may not come naturally to us; some of them might take hard work. As Paul graphically says, we must crucify our sinful desires first. Pentecost teaches that that the fruit of the Spirit is finally the result of the Spirit’s cultivation of the soil of our hearts rather than our striving. We prepare the soil; the Spirit grows the seeds.
We have arrived at the final day of Easter Time! “Alleluia” has filled our heats for 50 days now. Why fifty? In Scripture,seven often symbolizes the number of perfection. Seven days in a week, times seven weeks, gets us to forty-nine; add one to reach fifty, because God is always more than even our most perfect praise! For 50 days we have been celebrating the risen Christ and learning more and more about what he had to teach us. Even tually Jesus had to go back to the Father, today we hear how Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with them and us forever.