Jn 20:19-23 Acts 2:1-11 1 Cor 12:3-7.12-13
focus: The Holy Spirit, who is the transforming force of human hearts, can change all of us profoundly, too.
The Star Wars phenomenon, which began 48 years ago as a big screen film, became a billion-dollar media franchise and, after the release of Rise of Skywalker, continues to be part of America’s popular culture. In the face of overwhelming odds and the power of evil, Luke Skywalker, the movie’s hero, called on the ‘force’ to be with him in his fight against evil.
A famous line jumped out of the movie screen into millions of American homes creating a popular mantra, “May the force be with you.” That phrase shows a fascination with “spiritual powers” in our country. Like the popular interest in angels, the force represents America’s hunger for a spiritual energy or power that can accompany one into everyday struggles Today’s solemnity of Pentecost responds to this hunger. Our first reading from Acts describes so impressively how at the first Pentecost the disciples, who had fearfully withdrawn from the outside world, suddenly spoke boldly about the marvels of God “as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim”. The live-giving force of the Holy Spirit had transformed their hearts.
According to the evangelist Luke, three things happened on this memorable day: there was a strong wind, there was fire, and there was a new language. All three of these images build on biblical tradition. The Hebrew word ‘ruach’ and the Greek word ‘pneuma’ mean ‘breath,’ ‘wind’ and ‘God’s Spirit.’ The same Spirit whom God breathed as life breath into the first human being, Adam, this Holy Spirit, now as a strong, driving wind, fills the disciples at Pentecost and enables them to joyfully proclaim that Christ who has died on the cross is now alive!
Fire was a sign of God’s presence on Mt. Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments. Later in the history of Israel, the remembrance of the Sinai event became the content of the Jewish feast of Pentecost. The new Pentecost was an assurance that Jesus’ new Law of Love was meant to be the foundation of Christian life. For the apostles it was an experience of new freedom, too. As they spoke, they themselves and their listeners had the impression that their words were like drops of fire which mingled with their words and made them glow. They experienced them as gift: The Holy Spirit made their words burn like fire, they spoke freely and boldly and they touched the hearts of their listeners deeply!
Finally, with the new language, that is understood by all, the reversal of the language confusion that had happened at Babel takes place. Now the apostles will be able to reach people’s hearts everywhere with their message. It is a language that connects people with one another. Yesterday, during the Pentecost Vigil at St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Pope Leo XIV pointed out that the gift of Pentecost is a spirit of unity, amid all our diversity, grounded in our one Lord Jesus Christ. “The word synodality,” so the pope, “expresses aptly how the Spirit shapes the Church. The word begins with the Greek syllable syn meaning with, which speaks first of the secret of God’s life. God is no solitary; the Father is with the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is with within himself. And God is God with us! – At the same time, synodality speaks of the road ahead. The Greek work hodos means road or way. For where there is the Spirit, there is movement, a journey to be made. In a divided and troubled world, the Holy Spirit teaches us to walk together in unity.”
“Synodality demands that we each recognize our own poverty and our riches, that we feel part of a greater whole, apart from which everything withers, even the most original and unique of charisms,” so the pope.
Today’s second reading expresses this well: All the different workings of the Spirit in the Church, produced by the same God need to be recognized in their benefit! My sisters and brothers in the Lord, We celebrate Pentecost today, the coming down of the Holy Spirit, who is the great transformer of human hearts. The gifts of the Holy Spirit can change all of us profoundly, too.
We need enthusiasm for the Gospel, we need the fire of love, and we need a new language that builds bridges and furthers mutual understanding. We need a listening ear for one another and attentiveness to the working of the Spirit in the other.
Like Luke in the Star Wars movie, we, too, run into evil in everyday situations: the evils of sickness, economic crisis, addictive behaviors, scandal and crime. We Christians, though, have a much more certain promise that the power of God will triumph over evil. By virtue of baptism and confirmation, we believers are ccompanied on our journey through darkness by the very power of God. This God is made present to us by the Holy Spirit. So, we can confidently pray, Holy Spirit, life-giving and uniting force, work in us and through us, all the days of our lives! AMEN.
~Fr. Thomas Leitner, OSB