Acts 2:1-11; Ps 103 (104); Rm 8:8-17; Jn 20:19-23
Who is the Holy Spirit?
Dear friends, today is the feast of Pentecost, the day when the disciples of Jesus received the Holy Spirit. Jesus had promised this when he was about to ascend into heaven. Pentecost comes from the Greek word pentēkostē, meaning fifty days. It is the fiftieth day after the resurrection and marks the end of the Easter Season. The Jews called it Shavout, and it was celebrated 50 days after the Sabbath following the day of Passover, when God delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians. For Christians, this is the day when the community of believers was born through the preaching of Peter and his colleagues. “Those who accepted the message were baptized, and about three thousand believers were added that day” (Acts 2:41). This community of believers became the Church built on the foundation of the apostles. “You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my Church” (Mt. 16:18)
Just as the Jews’ Passover set the people of Israel free from the Egyptians, Pentecost marks the liberation of the believers from the slavery of sin and ignorance of God’s love. But who is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity. During the creation of the world, we read that the Spirit of God, ruach (רוּחַ), translated as “Wind,” was hovering over the waters (Gen 1:2).
Throughout the Old Testament texts, we see how God inspired prophets, judges, and kings with his Spirit to do a certain task on his behalf. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the image of a dove. Today, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit upon his disciples, and they are filled with courage to preach to the same people they were afraid of earlier. This same Holy Spirit continues to dwell in us through the Sacraments of the Church. By sacraments, we mean the visible signs of the invisible grace that Christ himself established to impart or increase grace in the lives of those who believe. If you do not believe in sacraments and partake of them with the correct disposition, they will have no effect on you.
God chose to reveal himself to us, not as a solitary being living somewhere very far from us, but rather as a community, the Holy Trinity. The entire history of salvation can be divided into three major phases. Each phase has one person of the Trinity as its protagonist. Phase one is the creation of the universe, the election of the nation of Israel as the bearers of the salvation of the world, and God’s intervention in the lives of his people through judges, prophets, and kings. In this phase, God the Father is the protagonist.
Phase two is the phase of God the Son, Jesus the Christ. This comprises the birth, ministry, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. The Son of God was sent into the world to bring salvation to all who would believe in him. His mission was foretold by the prophets long before (see Is 61:1). God decided to send his own Son to save his people from various forms of slavery and ignorance.
Phase three runs from the day of Pentecost until the present day. It is the time of the New Covenant made not only to the Jews but to all the nations of the earth. God continues to create, sustain, and save his people through the Holy Spirit. The universal Church is the new Israel represented by the twelve apostles.
In the same way, some people misunderstood Jesus during his days; today, too many people neither understand who the Holy Spirit is nor his role in the salvation journey. While the Scripture presents to us the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Triune God, some think that he is a kind of power or force at the service of the believers. Some Christians even think that they have the authority to command the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inspires individuals and communities of believers to live the values of the Kingdom of God to attain salvation. Do you feel inspired by the Holy Spirit in your life?
In the first reading, we read that the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples and made them speak in tongues. What is interesting is that the disciples did not speak different languages at the same time, but rather everyone present could understand them in their native language. This is very different from making strange noises and uttering words that no one can understand, including those who utter them. This alludes to that in the narration in Genesis chapter 11, when God confused at the tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9). During Pentecost, people who spoke different tongues understood what the apostles were saying without a translator. This is how the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of unity and not of division or competition. He makes us understand one another. If the members of a Christian community find it difficult to understand one another, then what they have is not the Holy Spirit but some other spirit.
St. Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is the one who moves our wills towards the perfect will of God. The Holy Spirit enables us to understand the will of God that was revealed to us by Christ Jesus. God the Father and the Son continue to live in our communities through the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the advocate who defends us against the forces of evil. If we want the Holy Spirit to work in us, we must collaborate with him.
Dear friends, the Holy Spirit is available to everyone who believes and is disposed. You do not need anyone to summon the Holy Spirit over you. This is why we say that the Sacraments of the Church are self-efficacious through the Holy Spirit. They work on those that are conferred on them if they find the correct disposition. Do not be deceived by miracle entrepreneurs who act as if they own the Holy Spirit. If you allow them to deceive you, what you get has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit but has everything to do with their own spirit of greed and your ignorance or naivety.
Have a blessed Sunday.
Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD
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