Homily(3) Pentecost Sunday Year B (Mass during the Day): Fr.
Michael U. Udoekpo
Readings: Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 103; I Cor 12:2-3, 12-13 and John
20:19-20.
The Role of the
Holy Spirit in our lives
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Pentecost, 50 days after
the celebration of Easter- the resurrection of Christ. The Jews celebrated this
feast 50 days after the Feast of Passover- thanking God for the gift of harvest
as well for His Sinaitic Covenant with Moses which also occurs 50 days after
the beginning of the Exodus in Egypt. There have been many harvests in our lives!
For us, today marks the end of the Easter Season and
commemorates the day that the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and on
the Church. We are celebrating the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives as
Christian men, women and children. We need this gift of the Holy Spirit in our
lives today more than ever, in order for us to be able to function as true
Christians and agents of evangelization without fear and intimidation, despair,
quarrel, discrimination and desire for vengeance, bigotry, division and
unhealthy competition.
I remember when I was a kid between the ages of 4-10. I always
wanted to hold onto my mum whom I loved and depended on. I always cried, sad
and disturbed the whole neighborhood each time my mother would leave me at home
to go the grocery store or to the local market for shopping. Sometimes we do
feel the same each time somebody we love is about to leave us.
The Apostles felt the same – they were sad when Jesus indicated
last week, in the reading of the Solemnity of Ascension that he was leaving to
go to the Father. But, he promised them the Holy Spirit.
Recall, the same Holy Spirit was important even throughout the
ministry of Jesus. Remember at his baptism the Spirit descended upon
Jesus and named him as he beloved son of the Father. At the beginning of his
public ministry in Luke chapter 4, Jesus invoked the prophecy of Isa 61- “The
Spirit of the Lord has been given to me. He has anointed me to bring Good news
to the poor, and liberty to the captives….” It was this same Spirit
of the Lord that raised Jesus from the dead, and enabled him ascends to the
Father.
Just as it was not easy for me when my mum would leave me home
momentarily to get to the store for groceries or for any us to lose a dear one,
the Bible Readings of today from Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s Letter to the
Corinthian and the Gospel of John not only present us with the challenges that
face the early Christian community after the Ascension of Jesus.
St. Luke tells us in Acts of the Apostles how the persecuted and
frightened and post-ascension church could not really teach the mission of
Jesus to the understanding of everyone from different tribes and culture until
they had received the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit the early church was
filled with fear, wrangling, uncertainties and confusions.
It was the Holy Spirit that enables the Apostles to face with
love and patience the ridicule, the rejection they had to deal with after the
ascension of Jesus. It was the Holy Spirit that enables them to be understood
by people of all nations listed in today’s first reading. The Spirit of unity.
We need this spirit of God (wisdom, understanding, counsel,
fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord) to deal with the challenges
that face us today in our families, in the society, in schools, offices, and places
of work, in our nations as followers of Christ.
Some of these challenges you know better than I do may include,
division, discrimination, quarrels, pride, boasting, abusing our gifts and
selfishness in our homes and in politics and in our communities. These are some
the problems that St. Paul was addresses in the early Corinthian Church, of the
2nd reading.
For Paul in Baptism we are all one body in Christ. Just as
the eye cannot say I don’t need the fingers or the nose, my legs or
ears are not necessarily, we need one another in Christ. You can't say your
next door neighbor or the next person on your left or right is not important. Everyone
is needed. All the gifts we have are important and we need your gifts to
live in fullness with Christ. None of us sitting here is a chance factor
before God or is not gifted with one gift or another. We are all gifted.
For Paul the sharing of these various spiritual gifts enriches
the Church, since they all come from the same Spirit for the common good. In other
words these gifts are meant for the common good, for the community. They
may reside in some of us informs of prophecy, teaching, administration, acts of
charity, healing, speaking in tongues, apostles, prophets, etc . But usually
what this spirit brings should be joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22ff).
This is the Spirit that Jesus breathed on the Apostles on the
evening of that Easter Sunday in today’s Gospel. It is the Spirit of peace, shalom,
wholeness to be agents of evangelization and forgiveness.
Let us pray at
this Mass for the gift of the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives so that
we may constantly not only feel the presence of God, his peace and joy in our
lives, but be able to willingly share it with our neighbors.
